Why the Torah Will Never Change

Gila asked: "Hello. One of the main principles of our faith is to believe that the Torah will never change. This is a belief passed down through generations, and I have no doubt about it. However, I am curious if this can be proven? Thank you."

In the previous article, we explored through reason and logic why the Torah could not be replaced, as the commandments teach us the purpose of our existence on earth: "For it is your life" (Deuteronomy 32:47).

Additionally, we can prove that the Torah will never change by understanding who the Holy Giver of the Torah is...! In this article, we will examine the eternity of the Torah - due to its Creator.

1. Hashem commanded us to keep His Torah forever: "This shall be an everlasting statute for them throughout their generations" (Leviticus 17:7).

Let's see what the Giver of the Torah Himself commands us:

"An everlasting statute for your generations" (Leviticus 3:17), "And you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may be good for you and your children after you, and that you may prolong your days on the land which Hashem your God gives you - all the days" (Deuteronomy 4:40).

"And the children of Israel shall keep the Shabbat, to observe the Shabbat throughout their generations - an everlasting covenant, between Me and the children of Israel, it is a sign forever" (Exodus 31:16), "The revealed things belong to us and our children forever - to do all the words of this Torah" (Deuteronomy 29:28).

Hashem declared and commanded us to keep His Torah eternally, and thus Israel kept its identity from the giving of the Torah to this day.

This fact has always troubled Christians and Muslims, seeing the people of Israel keeping the Torah and commandments for 2000 years of exile, refusing to convert. They understood that as long as Israel exists and passes down its Torah, there is a living testament to the "troubling" fact that Hashem has not changed His Torah...

Since the Torah is also a book of prophecy, it guides not only our ancestors to keep the commandments but also directs us to return in repentance and keep the commandments in the end days:

"And it shall be when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you take them to heart among all the nations where Hashem your God has driven you, and you return (-repent) to Hashem your God and obey His voice according to all that I command youtoday - you and your children, with all your heart and all your soul: then Hashem your God will bring back your captivity and have mercy on you" (Deuteronomy 30:1).

We are explicitly told here that the solution to anti-Semitism and numerous tribulations is a return to our Jewish roots, by keeping the commandments given at Mount Sinai: "according to all that I command you today".

2. Hashem does not change, and therefore His will does not change: "For I, Hashem, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6).

Those who understand that the Blessed Creator is infinite and eternal, unchanging in essence, also recognize that His will does not change. Hashem is not like a person who wishes one thing today and another tomorrow: "The Eternal One of Israel will not lie or repent, for He is not a man that He should repent" (1 Samuel 15:29).

The Torah is a revelation of Hashem's will. Since Hashem's will does not change, the Torah will never change. This is evidence of the Torah's eternal nature - according to its Creator.

Christianity and Islam are therefore built on a juvenile belief in a God who changes His mind, as if today He chose Israel and tomorrow He will abandon them, today He established one Torah and tomorrow desires another... But a most basic principle concerning the Creator is to understand that He does not change just as He does not age. Therefore, His choice of Israel is unchanging, as stated by the prophet: "For I, Hashem, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed" (Malachi 3:6) - just as Hashem is eternally unchanging, so too His election of Israel is eternally unchanging.

Thus, Hashem will not retract His choice after revealing His will in choosing us: "You shall be holy for Me, for I, Hashem, am holy, and I have separated you from the peoples to be Mine" (Leviticus 20:26), and said: "Hashem your God has chosen you to be a treasured people from all the peoples on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more numerous than all peoples that Hashem desired you and chose you, for you are the fewest of all peoples" (Deuteronomy 4:4).

3. Hashem sees the future and foretells it, and therefore does not change His choices: "Who has performed and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Hashem, the first and with the last I am He" (Isaiah 41:4).

This topic connects to the previous proof. Hashem, as known, is not bound by time, was, is, and will be, and therefore would not choose a Torah or a people He would not desire in the future, for the Creator sees to the end of all generations.

The Tanakh contains numerous prophecies about all generations, including the end times, proving Hashem's knowledge of the future and His control over historical events. One of the great prophecies in the Torah is the prophecy of the exile of the people of Israel to all corners of the earth, as well as the return to the land of Israel in the end days.

As we saw above, Hashem guided Israel in His Torah to return in repentance and keep the commandments to be saved in the end days: "In distress, and all these things happen to you in the end days, and you return to Hashem your God and obey His voice" (Deuteronomy 4:30).

The prophets of the Tanakh famously foretold about the end days and the coming redemption, announcing that Israel was and will be the chosen people to keep the Torah and commandments.

One of the most surprising prophecies in the Torah is the prophecy foreseeing the claims of the nations against us, the claims of Christians and Muslims, towards Israel in its exile:

"And the last generation will say, your children who arise after you, and the stranger who comes from a distant land; when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which Hashem has struck it... And all nations will say, 'Why has Hashem done thus to this land? What is the heat of this great anger?' Then people will say, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of Hashem, the God of their ancestors, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt'" (Deuteronomy 29:21). Isn't this amazing? The Torah predicted thousands of years ago that nations would think Hashem broke the covenant with the children of Israel!

This is indeed the essence of prophecy - to foresee the future, and one who foresees the future clearly does not change decisions!

4. Hashem does not retract His promises, for: "God is not a man, that He should lie" (Numbers 23:19).

The integrity of Hashem is beyond doubt, and no one can contest the principle that "the seal of Hashem is truth" (*Shabbat* 55a). Hashem does not retract His promises, not just because He is an eternal reality, or because He knows all generations from the beginning, but also because "The Eternal One of Israel will not lie"!

The nations wish to believe Hashem abandoned the people of Israel because they sinned, but Hashem promised that His Torah will never be forgotten, and even promised not to abandon Israel even when they sin: "This people will arise and stray after the gods of the foreigners of the land, where it is entering among them, and they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them... Now many evils and troubles have come upon them, and this song will testify before them as a witness, because it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants, for I know their nature, what they are doing today before I have brought them to the land which I swore" (Deuteronomy 31:16). Hashem promised regarding His holy Torah: "And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Hashem, My Spirit which is upon you and My words which I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants, says Hashem, from now and forever" (Isaiah 59:21).

Regarding the long exile of Israel, Hashem promised in His Torah:

"Yet, for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break My covenant with them, for I am Hashem their God. But I will remember for them the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God: I am Hashem. These are the statutes and judgments and laws which Hashem made between Himself and the children of Israel on Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses" (Leviticus 26:44).

Hashem promised the people of Israel that His Torah is eternal, and the covenant He made with them is everlasting. Anyone who doubts this, doubts - heaven forbid - the integrity of the One who spoke and the world came into being.

In the third and final article of this series, we will explore the strongest proof that the Torah will never change: eyewitness testimony!