From kindergarten on, Jewish children are taught that the Torah as observed today is identical to the Torah given at Sinai. Unfortunately, many adults today, even those at the highest institutions of Torah learning, never develop a more nuanced and complex view of the evolution of the Torah. In another fascinating book, Israel Drazin shows how the Torah has been adapting to and adopting from its surrounding cultures, from the time of the Canaanites, through the Talmudic period, and until today. Although challenging to some preconceived notions, and perhaps even threatening to some dogmatic elements, this richer view of Judaism reveals how a breathing, flexible religion has been essential in upholding the unity of the Jewish people throughout the centuries.
Dr. Israel Drazin served for thirty-one years in the US military and attained the rank of Brigadier General. He has a PhD in Judaic studies, a master's degree in psychology, a master's degree in Hebrew literature, and is an attorney and a rabbi. He developed the legal strategy that saved the military chaplaincy when its constitutionality was attacked in court, and received the Legion of Merit for his service. He was the scholar who recognized that Targum Onkelos incorporated hundreds of words from the Tannaitic Midrashim, edited around 400 CE, and therefore must have been composed after that date, a period much later than has been widely accepted. He is the author of twenty-five books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authored with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth-century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House.
