Q: Shalom Rabbi Oury Cherki, As far as I know, Orthodox Jews generally reject the results of both Higher and Lower criticism of the Bible (as was developed by German scholars). My question is: Do the Jews reject the criticism because they don’t share the same basic assumptions [about the Bible] with the critics (for example, because the critics assume that miracles cannot happen, or that religion evolves, etc.), or is it more because the results of the criticism themselves are not convincing? (For example, based on the available evidence, gathered by the method of the criticism itself, we cannot really conclude that Moshe didn’t write the Pentateuch.) I see that non-Orthodox Jews have begun to accept the validity of this criticism (despite its anti-Semitic origins) because in their opinion the evidence strongly supports it. How do the Orthodox Jews respond to this claim by non-Orthodox Jews? Thank you.

Higher Criticism of the Bible says that the Pentateuch was not written by Moshe, but that it is rather a collection of documents written or edited by several editors in a much later age (than the time of Moshe). The texts that refer to G-d as Elohim are known by the symbol E, and the texts that refer to G-d as YHWH is known by the symbol J. The third source that follows the same pattern as E is known by the symbol P (the Priestly source), and the fourth source that underlies the book of Deuteronomy is known by the symbol D. So there are four sources for the Pentateuch: E, J, P, and D sources. In this way, repetitions and contradictions in the Pentateuch can be explained.