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Friday, February 02, 2024

What exactly did Ezra do with (or to) the Torah?

DR. REBECCA SCHARBACK WOLLENBERG: Did Ezra Reconstruct the Torah or Just Change the Script? (TheTorah.com.
In the second century C.E., 4 Ezra and Irenaeus tell a story of how the Torah was burned by Nebuchadnezzar and reconstructed by Ezra through divine inspiration. Rabbinic texts know of this tradition, but in their version, Ezra’s contribution is changing the Torah into Aramaic writing, or even Aramaic language.
This essay gives some fascinating background to 4 Ezra in Christian and Rabbinic tradition which I didn't know about.

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