What Is Jewish Belief?
Jewish belief affirms that the history of humanity and of Israel depend on the actions of the people of Israel.
It is based on a contract concluded at Sinai: to strengthen it, we check whether the Creator carries out His commitments, through the prophecies.
Three criteria of a true prophecy: precise, against nature, verifiable.
A prophecy must be written before the events; the course relies on the minimum consensus of 2300 years (the Septuagint).
Now that we understand that belief means “trust that commitments will be kept,” we can define precisely what Jewish belief is.
Everything that will happen to humanity and to the people of Israel depends on its actions. The course acknowledges that this claim may seem bold, even arrogant, and explains that it is based on something concrete.
The Jewish transmission affirms that a contract was signed between the Creator and the people of Israel. According to the course, this is not a metaphor: it is a real legal contract, established at Mount Sinai 3300 years ago and written by Moshe Rabbenu in the Torah.
In this contract, G-d committed: “If you listen to Me, I commit to this. And if you do not listen to Me, I commit to that.”
Jewish belief is tied to a fundamental question: will the Creator keep His commitments? One who believes keeps the contract; for one who does not believe, there was no commitment: he can do as he pleases and solve problems his own way.
Rav Ziegler asks: how can we consolidate our trust that history depends on our actions? Answer: we check whether the Creator carries out His commitments, just as the driver checks month after month whether his boss pays him.
The Creator prophesied what would happen to the people of Israel. Today we can check whether what He said has come true. Every commitment verified strengthens belief.
According to the Rav, a survey was made of all the books in the world: one finds all sorts of vague prophecies that can be interpreted in every way (Nostradamus and others). No one dared make a precise, clear prophecy, except in two places: Christianity (a few clear prophecies) and Judaism (thousands).
For a precise prophecy to come true, one must dominate part or all of nature and humanity, since it goes against logic and nature.
Criterion 1: precision. “Tomorrow a good event will happen” is not a prophecy: anything could match it.
Criterion 2: against nature. “Tomorrow at 6:55 the sun will rise” is very precise, but in line with nature: this does not make one a prophet.
Criterion 3: verifiable in our lifetime. A three-headed child born on January 15, 2235 is precise and against nature, but cannot be verified: one would have to wait.
A prophecy must be written before the events; otherwise it is history. The Rav addresses dating: the Torah was given 3300 years ago, but biblical criticism places some writings 2900 years ago.
The minimum consensus: everyone agrees on at least 2300 years, since the Bible was then translated into Greek (the Septuagint), and it is hard to translate a book that does not exist.
According to the Rav: “There are so many prophecies that I do not need to demonstrate today that the Bible was given 3300 years ago. Although it can be demonstrated.”
Quiz — Jewish Belief
Five questions to check