What makes the Torah divine?

In my previous post on Torah min Hashamayim I quoted Rambam on why our Torah is divine as opposed to others and Jewish Skeptic made the following, point which seems valid at first blush: (Edited slightly)


The Rambam's arguments are neither here nor there. Christianity can claim it is superior to Judaism in as far as it has been accepted by so many & God’s will is to benefit all mankind & not just a tiny nation. The Jews were scattered throughout the world & despised everywhere - a sure sign of God's displeasure with them. Do I have to quote you more of Christian theology throughout the ages on why they consider their religion superior to ours?The Muslims make similar arguments. In addition they claim that no one can reproduce a book of equal beauty to the Koran. I read it & it is much inferior to our neviim. But of course they'll say I am prejudiced & lack emunas chachomim-Islamic...)So I don’t see the point of quoting the Rambam-if it's all a matter of choice, not based on rationality.

One has to read Rambam in context because he is consistent and sees things in a macro perspective. The question that we have to answer is what is it that Judaism is trying to accomplish? What is the Torah a guide for? The goal is not social justice on its own, nor is it proper interaction with fellow human beings alone nor is it only proper performance of rituals. All these things are only tools that we are supposed to use to arrive at an answer to the most pressing existential issue of humankind – why am here? What is the meaning of this existence?

The Torah starts with stories, stories of Creation – to teach us that by trying to understand the universe we will find God the First Cause. Stories of early humankind – to teach us about the struggles of early humankind to understand their surroundings, the development of idolatry and its consequences in the enslavement of man to their rulers. Stories of the Avot – to tell us about the early development of Judaism and its goals –

יט כִּי יְדַעְתִּיו, לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יְצַוֶּה אֶת-בָּנָיו וְאֶת-בֵּיתוֹ אַחֲרָיו, וְשָׁמְרוּ דֶּרֶךְ יְהוָה, לַעֲשׂוֹת צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט--לְמַעַן, הָבִיא יְהוָה עַל-אַבְרָהָם, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-דִּבֶּר, עָלָיו. 19
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him.'

And finally the stories of the formation of a nation with a covenant with God and the Torah as a tool that will, if used properly and implemented, produce people and leaders that will lead the nation to know God and His ways. This will eventually spread to all nations of the world and it will become universal knowledge.

The Torah’s purpose is thus twofold: individual and National (eventually universal). On an individual basis it gives man the ability through speculation and meditation to grasp the eternal and assimilate it. Understanding God’s ways is taking in the eternal into oneself, a kind of fusion with eternity. It is an experience that we all have in a small scale when we grasp concepts that bring us new understanding. It is the experience of the scientist who discovers a new wrinkle in the laws of nature and contemplates the greatness, intricacy and beauty of it all. Rambam in Hil Yesodei Hatorah 7:1 describes the experience very eloquently:

אדם שהוא ממולא בכל המידות האלו, שלם בגופו, כשייכנס לפרדס ויימשך באותן העניינות הגדולים הרחוקים, ותהיה לו דעת נכונה להבין ולהשיג, והוא מתקדש והולך פורש מדרכי כלל העם ההולכים במחשכי הזמן, והולך מזרז עצמו ומלמד נפשו שלא תהיה לו מחשבה כלל באחד מדברים בטילים, ולא מהבלי הזמן ותחבולותיו, אלא דעתו תמיד פנויה למעלה, קשורה תחת הכיסא, להבין באותן הצורות הקדושות הטהורות, ומסתכל בחכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא כולה מצורה ראשונה עד טבור הארץ, ויודע מהם גודלו--מיד רוח הקודש שורה עליו.

ג ובעת שתנוח עליו הרוח--תתערב נפשו במעלת המלאכים הנקראים אישים, וייהפך לאיש אחר, ויבין בדעתו שאינו כמות שהיה, אלא שנתעלה על מעלת שאר בני אדם החכמים: כמו שנאמר בשאול, "והתנבית עימם; ונהפכת, לאיש אחר" (שמואל א י,ו).

From a universal perspective the goal of the Torah is to create a nation and eventually humanity that contains in itself people that have developed to the point I described. Having reached this understanding, these people will realize that it is their obligation to emulate God’s ways and thus partake with Him in the development and maintenance of the universe and its content. That is the meaning of the prophet’s ultimate goal for humanity;

ט לֹא-יָרֵעוּ וְלֹא-יַשְׁחִיתוּ, בְּכָל-הַר קָדְשִׁי: כִּי-מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ, דֵּעָה אֶת-יְהוָה, כַּמַּיִם, לַיָּם מְכַסִּים. {ס} 9
They shall not hurt nor destroy in my entire holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. {S}

To allow for all this to happen, society has to be stable so that the men who have the natural ability to advance knowledge can develop. There also has to be an ethical and moral underpinning to that society otherwise we will end up with Nazi Germany. It also helps if there is something in the practice of man that will make him aware and remind him that he has to think about existential issues and search for God and tear himself away from the mundane to do so. Thus the need for societal, moral, ethical and ritual laws to address each of the above respectively.

That is how I understand Rambam that I quoted. He is saying that none of the other sacred or legal texts address all these issues. They may address one or the other but none have integrated all that man and humankind needs to attain their ultimate perfection into a harmonious system. A text and a system that does it is divine – none other.

Thus Rambam ends the Moreh thus:

“The object of the above passage is therefore to declare, that the perfection, in which man can truly glory, is attained by him when he has acquired-as far as this is possible for man-the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His Providence, and of the manner in which it influences His creatures in their production and continued existence. Having acquired this knowledge he will then be determined always to seek loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, and thus to imitate the ways of God. We have explained this many times in this treatise.”

The divinity of the Torah is thus internal. The fact that other sacred texts have been adopted by a larger amount of people, that fact that the Jews who try to follow the Torah are persecuted nor any other argument will take away one iota from the Torah's divinity. The goals and the system it proposes to attain them are Divine by definition.