ystems of
philosophy and theology were built upon it. Nay more, the Torah became
divine Wisdom itself,(103) the architect of the Creator, the beginning and
end of creation.(104)

While the term Torah thus received an increasingly comprehensive meaning,
the rabbis, as exponents of orthodox Judaism, came to consider the
Pentateuch as the only book of revelation, every letter of which emanated
directly from God. The other books of the Bible they regarded as due only
to the indwelling of the holy spirit, or to the presence of God, the
_Shekinah_. Moreover, they held that changes by the prophets and other
sacred writers were anticipated, in essentials, in the Torah itself, and
were therefore only its expansions and interpretations. Accordingly, they
are frequently quoted as parts of the Torah or as "words of
tradition."(105)

6. Orthodox Judaism, then, accepted as a fundamental doctrine the view
that both the Mosaic Law and its Rabbinical interpretation were given by
God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. This viewpoint is contradicted by all our
knowledge and our whole mode of thinking, and thus both our historical and
religious consciousness constrain us to take the position of the prophets.
To them and to us the real Torah is the unwritten moral law which
underlies the precepts of both the written law and its oral
interpretation. From this point of view, Moses, as the first of the
prophets, becomes the first mediator of the divine legislation, and the
original Decalogue is seen to be the starting point of a long process of
development, from which grew the laws of righteousness and holiness that
were to rule the life of Israel and of mankind.(106)

7. The time of composition of the various parts of the Pentateuch,
including the Decalogue, must be decided by independent critical and
historical research. It is sufficient for us to know that since the time
of Ezra the foundation of Judaism has been the completed Torah, with its
twofold aspect as _law_ and as _doctrine_. As _law_ it contributed to the
marvelous endurance and resistance of the Jewish people, inasmuch as it
imbued them with the proud consciousness of possessing a law superior to
that of other nations, one which would endure as long as heaven and
earth.(107) Furthermore, it permeated Judaism with a keen sense of duty
and imprinted the ideal of holiness upon the whole of life. At the same
time it gave rise also to ritualistic piety, which, while tenaciously
clinging to the