Taking Baby Steps...Part Two

This is part two to the previously posted story here....


Uri Zohar was the biggest celebrity in Israel. His films were shown all over Israel and Europe. One fateful day he met a Rabbi Silburman who told him that he could prove that the Torah is from G-d, and that G-d exists. Uri never thought of these things and didn’t believe it was possible for the Rabbi to do as he claimed, but he nonetheless agreed to meet the Rabbi and hear the ‘proof’.

Uri went to the Rabbi’s study and this is what the Rabbi said:

The Torah recounts (Leviticus 11: 1-8) the laws of kosher animals, detailing the fact that an animal must have split hooves and must also chew its cud, in order to be kosher. Horses, tigers, and bears do not have either of these attributes. Cows, sheep and goats have both attributes - split hooves and chew their cuds.

In fact, all split hoofed animals chew their cuds, with the exception of the pig. The Torah points out that the pig is not kosher because “its hoof is split but it does not chew its cud.” (Lev. 11:7)

The Talmud (Hulin 59a) explains that the Torah is telling us that the pig is the only exception to the rule – it is the only split hoofed animal which does not chew its cud. That’s why the Torah writes “its hoof is split but it does not chew its cud.” The Torah is declaring that it (the pig) is the only such animal.

The Talmud even says that if you find a split hoofed animal but cannot verify whether it chews its cud, you can still be sure the animal is kosher as long as you recognize that it is not a swine.

Uri was blown away by this. He had always thought that the Torah, which is also known as the Five Books of Moses, was written by Moshe (Moses) and not G-d. But how could Moshe have known that there were no other animals anywhere in the world that had split hooves and did not chew its cud.

Moshe lived in the Middle East. How could he know that there were no such animals in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, or the Americas? And if Moshe were making the whole thing up, why would he dare risk his credibility by claiming something that could easily be disproved?

Only G-d Himself, who created the world and everything in it could have the confidence to make that assertion. There have been thousands of new species of animals discovered throughout the world since the time of Moshe. Only the Creator Himself could have known that no other exception would ever be found.

As Rabbi Zohar recounted for his audience, his return was premised upon a single point of intellectual integrity. “I somehow knew,” Rabbi Zohar said, “that if it can proved to me that there is a Creator, then it is incumbent upon me to accept that He had a plan for this world. That plan is the Torah, and I have been striving to absorb as much of it as I can ever since.”