Permission to Receive [Paperback]

Lawrence Kelemen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996 | ISBN-10: 1568710992 | ISBN-13: 978-1568710990 | Edition: 1st

Four rational approaches to the Torah's Divine Origin, for those who value both intellectual integrity and the Jewish spiritual inheritance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Targum; 1st edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568710992
• ISBN-13: 978-1568710990
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #627,797 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough and solid., March 11, 2000

By 

John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Cuyahoga Falls, OH) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Permission to Receive (Paperback)

This volume is, I think, much more thorough and solid than the same author's earlier work, _Permission To Believe_, which was a bit more limited in scope and a bit weaker in its arguments (though still recommended).

In this volume, something of a sequel to the other one, R. Lawrence Kelemen develops four basic approaches to the rationality of the belief that the Torah was divinely given.

The first is straightforward enough. R. Kelemen argues that an omnipotent and benevolent God can reasonably be expected to have provided some sort of revelation and ensured its faithful preservation; he then fishes around to see where in the world this revelation might be. There are a number of monotheistic faiths, so how do we choose? Well, every one of these faiths credits the Torah to God, though each also claims to have superseded it. This latter claim undermines itself, since the Torah itself says it will never be superseded. So . . .

The second argument is pretty good too. R. Kelemen's burden in this chapter is to show that the origins of Judaism are well attested by witnesses, whereas the origins of several competing faiths are not. He manages the job well, arguing fairly convincingly that if "all Israel" had _not_ heard God speak at Sinai, there really wouldn't have been any convenient time at which this claim could have been slipped into the Tradition unnoticed and unopposed.

R. Kelemen then defends the status of the Torah as divine revelation against two opposing views: secular biblical criticism, and the (possible) claim that Jews are no more ethical than anyone else even though they possess this supposed revelation.

In the first case, he wonders why secular Bible critics have ignored the mass of commentary in the Talmud expressly devoted to explaining all the apparent textual contradictions that secular critics seem to think nobody ever noticed before. Then he marshals a host of recent archeological evidence indicating that the Torah's history is sound.

In the second case, he sets forth an array of demographic data indicating that not only _are_ Jews unusually ethical, but this unusually ethical behavior is also correlated with Torah-observance.

All in all, the volume is very successful. There may be occasional gaps in the argument and various points over which we might quibble, but R. Kelemen himself notes that he isn't trying to provide rock-solid proof; besides, you can't accomplish everything under the sun in a single book. And the evidence he _does_ present will probably leave the reader thinking that it would take an act of faith _not_ to regard the Torah as God-given.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written & engrossing but, I'm not convinced, September 14, 2005

By 

David E. Levine (Peekskill , NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Permission to Receive (Paperback)

I believe in G-d and I consider Torah to be holy but, I am not convinced that it was literally revealed by G-d at Sinai. I have read Kelemen's earlier book entitled "Permission to Believe." In that book, he argues for the existence of G-d and I agree with his conclusion, in that book, that G-d is real. This book, howver, did not convince me that the nature of G-d is such that He literally revealed Himself. Nonetheless, Kelemen makes a well reasoned argument.

Of four arguments that he makes, the most compelling is that if Torah was not revealed and if the Torah states within it that there were over 600,000 adult males who witnessed it, then later generations would ask previous generations about the event. If the revelation did not take place, when the Torah was "foisted" on us by those claiming it was revealed, those receiving it would ask why they had not heard about it from earlier generations. In other words, Kelemen argues that the divine revelation must have taken place because the Torah states that everyone gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai and if this were untrue, then later descendents of those who were there would have asked, "if the description of the revelation was untrue, wouldn't Grandpa have told us?" Kelemen is stating that if the Torah was later foisted upon us, earlier generations would have revealed its falsity by stating that they were not aware of Torah being revealed and if it had been, they would have been told by their fathers and grandfathers who were there. Kelemen's argument would be compleing except for the fact that the Torah sets forth events taking place subsequent to Sinai, therefore, the finished document could not have been revealed. Rather, it makes more sense that first, the commandments were revealed and the historical account later became part of the finished product. If Torah evolved, then it was not, in fact foisted suddenly. It is easy to see how this evolving legend became accepted because earlier generations were versed in the growing traditions of law. Only, many generations later did the finished document state that it was revealed in front of all the people. Since there was already an eveolving Torah, no one would question events described therein since it was not suddenly written from scrtach.

Kelemen also argues that scientific evidence proves the divine revelation of the Torah. I don't agree. The fact that archeological evidence indicates that there may have been a flood, for example, merely indicates that there was a historic basis for what was written in the Torah, not that the story of Noah and the Ark is true. I certainly agree that there is a fair amount of history in the Torah but this history is general and does not prove the truth of the specific events set forth. Another example given by Keleman is the theory that there was an original ancestor known by scientists as "Eve." However, there was an evolution resulting in this ancestor. Of course we have a common ancestor but, this common ancestor was not created from dust with "Eve" being created from Adam's rib. General truisms do not point to divine revelation.

Another argument of Kelemen's is that we are a very ethical people, more so than any other people. If this is true, it does not prove the divine revelation. Rather, it proves that, as a people, we did very well in our efforts to discover G-d.

I believe in G-d, and I am a practicing Jew. I believe, as does Rabbi Neil Gilman (in several of his books) that G-d is very real and that He is discovered, not revealed. Torah is a very holy record of our discovery of G-d. G-d is unfathomable but, concrete religious wrtings, such as Torah make G-d into an image that we can fathom. That's why Torah is holy, because it has lead us to discover G-d. Again, the book is well written and interesting but, it did not convince me of a literal divine revelation.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoroughly researched, calm, and compelling., February 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Permission to Receive (Paperback)

An exceptionally clear, tightly reasoned, thoroughly well researched argument for the Pentateuch's divine origin. Kelemen has launched the most destructive attack on secular biblical criticism of the century, and he does it with eloquence and intellectual muscle. A must read for readers on either side of the debate. This is the standard text.