| The weekly portions (each of approximately four chapters) are a way of dividing the Pentateuch over the weeks of the year so the cycle of reading the Torah in the synagogue will be completed over one full year. We have chosen one or two topics from each portion. The guiding line of our critique will be three focal topics: The period in which the Scriptures were written and changes in the text of the Scriptures, internal contradictions and unnecessary repetitions in the Scriptural text, and the gap between the Scriptural text and its interpretation by Chazal. Reading these essays leads to the conclusion that the Oral Torah is a new teaching which replaces the Scriptural text. |
Genesis
Bereshit
The story of creation is superfluous to the religious because it contains no commandments. We also discuss the Zohar's erroneous claim that the sun does not illuminate on its own and mistaken calculations of the coming of the Messiah.
Noah
The Scriptural calendar is solar and not lunar.
Lech Lecha
Verses in the Torah were written at a later date.
Vayera
The Sages, on their own authority, corrected verses of the Scriptures.
Chaye Sarah
Sages interpret words in any way they imagine is best.
Toldot
Distortions which occurred in the text of the Torah "from Sinai".
Vayetze
G-d changes His laws in keeping with the times.
Vayishlach
Scriptural verses written after Sinai.
Vayeshev
Our rabbis do not rely upon words of Aggadah.
Miketz
Our Sages did not investigate history and chronology.
Vayigash
Testimony of inaccuracies in the words of the Scriptures and of the Sages.
Vayechi
Jacob's prophecies of the End of Days did not come true.
Exodus
Shemot
Changes in the script and language of the Torah since Sinai.
Vaera
Divine revelation at Sinai was not a physical revelation.
Bo
The Sages created new laws and set them a tradition received from Moses at Sinai.
Beshalach
Measurements of length and breadth, written in the Torah, are re-evaluated in each generation by the Sages.
Yitro
The oral story of the Revelation at Sinai did not get passed down through the generations.
Mishpatim
Chazal treated the Scriptural text as their own; a comparison of Torah laws and the laws of Hammurabi.
Teruma
The sages of the generation determine what is holy and about the Holy Temple.
Tetzave
The sacrifices and the laws are determined anew in each and every generation.
Ki Tisa
There is no consistency and order in the method by which our sages learn.
Vayakhel
Actions forbidden on the Sabbath were determined by the Sages and are not even hinted at in the Torah.
Pekudey
The Scriptural text goes on at length about inanities and treats important topics summarily.
Leviticus
Vayikra
The Torah repeats stories and confuses our Sages.
Tzav
Sections of the Torah are written out of the order of occurrence.
Shemini
The Sages learned the identify of the pure and impure birds without actually seeing them. Parashat Shemini “The following you shall abominate among the birds--they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, and the black vulture…” (Leviticus 11:13). The portion of Shemini deals with animals, birds,
Tazria
Our rabbis learn about the natural world from texts and not from the facts of life.
Metzora
A woman's obligation to immerse in water after menstruation is not mentioned in the Written Torah.
Acharei Mot
Ritual slaughter, not mentioned in the Written Torah, causes great anguish to animals.
Kedoshim
The Torah repeats its warnings and confuses those who interpret it.
Emor
Discrimination against women and the disabled amongst cohanim.
Behar
The start of the year in the Scriptural era was in Nissan and during the Second Temple era it was changed to Tishrei.
Bechukotai
The curses written in the Torah are not from G-d.
Numbers
Bemidbar
The Divine teachings as a source for superstition.
Naso
The laws of the Sages are different from the laws of the Written Torah.
Beha’alotcha
The Sages move verses from their original locations in the Torah.
Shelach
Rabbis forbid reading critical studies of the Holy Writ.
Korach
The Torah permits killing people to consecrate them to G-d.
Chukat
The division between idolatry and the worship of G-d are a distinction arbitrarily set by the Sages.
Balak
Halacha permits the killing of gentiles and apostates.
Pinchas
A daughter is the property of her father, according to the Torah.
Matot
One is permitted to kill a gentile, according to the Torah and Halacha.
Masaey
The Torah's unnecessary listing of journeys.
Deuteronomy
Devarim
Ibn Ezra: criticism in the face of tradition.
Vaetchanan
Sages add and subtract commandments.
Ekev
The World to Come: instead of reward in this world.
Re’eh
The laws of the Torah and democratic values.
Shoftim
Man determines the 'Divine laws'.
Ki Tetze
Halacha was ruled based on a mistaken view of reality.
Ki Tavo
he curses and the blessings in the Torah are not prophecies for the future.
Nitzavim
Interpretation of the prophet after the fact.
Vayelech
The author of the Torah and the books of Moses.
Haazinu
The ways of Divine supervision are hidden from the sages.
V’Zot HaBracha
Sections of the Torah were written after the era of Moses.
