Torah and Judaism

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Indications of Torah Authenticity
by Yosef Sebag, physicist, electrical engineer
www.dafyomireview.com/430

Here are some "food for thought" indications (not proofs) of the Divine origin of the Torah. These points were prepared by an orthodox Jew and are meant for thought provoking purposes only.

Torah and Judaism

Reason Testifies - many aspects of the natural world on our planet appear to have been designed with vast wisdom and ability. Since man is the star here, and this Intelligence is hiding from us, it follows that some sort of communication should exist for Him to explain to us what this enigma is all about. This leads us to the first and foremost book on prophecy, the source and basis of most religious belief^[1] on our planet.
Uniqueness of the Torah - the most popular book of all time. No other book has been as widely copied, read, and cherished as the Torah. Even today it has been translated into more languages than any other book. Likewise, it is the most influential book of all time and has shaped the core of humanity in so many ways. The two great world religions - Christianity and Islam are but daughters, though sometimes ungrateful daughters, of Mother Zion. Whether or not they realize it, they have spread to humanity, at their level, major concepts of Judaism. (see here for more).
Unique Rules of Conversion - Judaism is different from all other major religions (l'havdil) in that it does not easily accept converts. On the contrary it piles on difficulties to those who want to convert. Judaism wants only the true, the sincere. We are confident that the true truth seeker will find it with G-d's help. Likewise, we can observe that G-d hides from us, hinting to us through the divine wisdom manifested in nature. For He built this world around the concept of free will. This is why every phenomena including life has an opening for being interpreted according to the atheistic views. G-d does not want to force human beings to believe in Him. He wants this and our other choices which touch on morality to come from our own free will (for only in such a situation of struggle can a person attain true levels of righteousness and holiness).
Uniqueness of the Hebrew Language - there is something much more to it than plain convention as explained here. There is an African prince by the name of Natan Gamedze, fluent in 14 different languages, whose conversion to Judaism came through studying Hebrew. Hebrew words are formed from roots by changing vowels and by adding a wealth of prefixes and suffixes to that root word. Thus they can pack in enormous depth of information and parallel layers of hidden meanings through hints, ambiguities, numerical values, permutations, combinations, cross-references, root word relations, letter expansions, and more. Unlike other languages which are mere convention, the Hebrew language is an extremely sophisticated, intelligently designed code language. See the lecture "DNA of Creation" by Rabbi Becher here or "Wonders of the Hebrew language" here from "Classic Sinai" or the Chabad video series "Letters of Light" here for an intro. Even the forms of letters contain lessons as the Talmud discusses (Shabbat 104a, and likewise in Midrash Otiot d'Rebbi Akiva and Sefer Yetzira).
Unique Cultural Survival of Judaism as explained in this lecture by Rabbi Mordechai Becher. Ancient Tefilin and Mikves have been found which meet all halachic requirements of today's. Judaism today is almost exactly what it was thousands of years ago, see there amazing words. This indicates a special providence on the Jews more than any other nation as explained there.
No need to be Jewish - Judaism claims that you don't need to be a Jew to be counted among the righteous, go to paradise, etc. (at some level, for gentiles through fulfilling the 7 commandments of Bnei Noach (out of belief in the Torah) such as don't kill, don't steal, respect for G-d etc., what may be called natural religion). Even though you never kept the Sabbath, you never put on Tefilin - you are considered a good, fulfilled human being. (see here for more. This is another reason we don't proselytize). Other religions damn those who don't practise their creed and promise them eternal hell. For example, according to Christianity it is sufficient to "believe" in Jesus in order to atone for all of your sins. And he who does not believe in Jesus will, according to them, be damned in hell forever and ever - regardless of how upright and G-d fearing he may be. According to this view, those cruel people who savagely tortured and slaughtered non-believers will go to heaven while their poor helpless victims will go to hell. Likewise, a study of history shows how early Christianity and Islam spread. They did not go about debating people but rather used political force and brutal violence as explained here.

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Footnotes

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