R. Yehudah HaChasid

Genesis 36:31 introduces a list of kings who ruled “before a king ruled in Israel,” ostensibly a reference to Saul. Traditional commentators, committed to the Mosaic authorship of the Torah, have long struggled to reinterpret this phrase against its plain meaning, though some accepted its implications.

R. Judah HeḤasid late 12^th cent. asserts that the subject of “he placed Ephraim before Manasseh,” and “I have given you [=Joseph] an extra portion…,” in Jacob’s blessing is not Jacob but Moses, and is referring to when Moses put Ephraim before Manasseh in the tribal listings in Num 2:18-21. This leads R. Judah HeḤasid to conclude that Moses could not be the author of v. 20b.

In contrast to Descartes’ theory of animals as automatons, the Torah and rabbinic text express deep concern for animal suffering. One vivid example is the donkey’s rebuke of Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me?” (Num 22:28).

Numbers 21:16–18 speaks about the Song of the Well, but only records a short snippet. Whereas most commentators assume that the song was simply very short, R. Yehudah HeChasid offers the radical suggestion that the song was actually cut from the Torah and placed in the book of Psalms by none other than King David.

A yeshiva student asks: Is it permissible to believe that parts of the Torah were written after the time of Moses?