Throw it in the Garbage

According to Rabbi yosef mizrachi and Rabbi Yaron Reuven, if one word is added or deleted in the Torah then that book should be thrown into the garbage. Let's put their book to the test.

10 commandments (one of the extended commandments).

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.” (Exodus 20:17 Masoretic Torah)

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Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, and not thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's. And when it so happens that LORD God brings you to the land of Caanan, which you are coming to posses, you shall set-up there for you great stones and plaster them with plaster and you write on the stones all words of this law. And it becomes for you that across the Jordan you shall raise these stones, which I command you today, in mountain Grizim. And you build there the altar to the LORD God of you. Altar of stones. Not you shall wave on them iron. With whole stones you shall build the altar to LORD God of you. And you bring on it ascend offerings to LORD God of you, and you sacrifice peace offerings, and you eat there and you rejoice before the face of the LORD God of you. The mountain this is across the Jordan behind the way of the rising of the sun, in the land of Caanan who is dwelling in the desert before the Galgal, beside Alvin-Mara, before Sechem. (Exodus 20:17 Samaritan Torah)

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As you can read from the above two versions one is extended. Now using Rabbi yosef mizrachi and Rabbi Yaron Reuven criteria we have a problem. Both rabbis said, if a letter is added or deleted then the whole book should be thrown away, but here we have a chunk added to the commandment. The problem doesn't stop here. If adding a letter nullifies that book, then the Masoretic Torah which both rabbis and 90% Jews use must be thrown in the garbage. The Masoretic was written during the 11th century by the Masoretes, but what did the Masoretes themselves believe?  Did they believe they were perfectly preserving the ancient text?  Did they even think they had received a perfect text to begin with?

History says “no” . . .

Scribal emendations – Tikkune Soferim

Early rabbinic sources, from around 200 CE, mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. . . . Rabbi Simon ben Pazzi (3rd century) calls these readings “emendations of the Scribes” (tikkune Soferim; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masoretes.

In other words, the Masorites themselves felt they had received a partly corrupted text. 

The Samaritan on the other hand is much earlier than the Masoretic text, making is older giving it some credibility. Though we have earlier text than the Samaritan text i.e. the DSS fragments, the Samaritan Torah pre-dates the Masoretic.

This would mean the Samaritan Torah should be used by Jews not the Masoretic. The Masoretic on the other hand should be thrown in the garbage as the rabbis suggested.  Unless you say the Samaritan is corrupted which if that’s the case, then both books should be thrown in the garbage.

Take your pick which Torah should be thrown in the garbage.

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Psalm 151 and the Dead Sea Scrollsby Peter W. Flint

The discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls near Qumran in 1947, and subsequently many more near Qumran and at other sites in the Judean desert, has revolutionized biblical studies. For example, several scrolls offer new insights on the formation and contents of various books that we now call biblical.

In the traditional Hebrew Bible, the Book of Psalms contains 150 psalms, but some early Bibles—namely, the Septuagint and Syriac Bibles—include Psalm 151 and Psalms 152-55.

Psalm 154 is represented in two Qumran scrolls: the Great Psalms Scroll and the Apocryphal Psalm and a Prayer for King Jonathan. Psalm 154 is a wisdom poem, which may be classified as a call to worship. One feature is the personification of Wisdom as a woman (verses 5 onward), which also occurs in the Hebrew Bible (Prov 8:34) and in the book of Sir 1:15. Psalm 155 is also found in the Great Psalms Scroll and may be described as a psalm of thanksgiving that incorporates a plea for deliverance. It contains a large amount of biblical vocabulary and is reminiscent of Ps 22 and Ps 51.

Psalm 151 is the last psalm in the Septuagint (Greek) Psalter and is accepted as canonical by all the Orthodox churches. Before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, this psalm was known only as a single composition in the Septuagint and in the Latin and Syriac translations made from it. A Hebrew copy of Psalm 151 is found in the Great Psalms Scroll, but as two separate compositions—Psalms 151A and 151B.

The discovery of Psalms 151A and 151B among the Qumran scrolls is important for several reasons. As in the Septuagint, the Great Psalms Scroll Psalter ends with Psalm 151. Although the Hebrew text differs from the Greek in many ways, this “Qumran Psalter” shows that by the Common Era some Jews were using a collection of Psalms that also closed with Psalm 151. Having both the Hebrew original and the Greek translation provides important insights on the technique used by the translator. Reworking his source material, he condensed Psalms 151A and 151B into one Greek psalm of seven verses, changing the order of several verses and omitting some material. Additionally, Psalms 151A and 151B (Hebrew) and 151 (Greek) are the only psalms considered to be autobiographical in terms of clearly relating to actual events in David’s life. While some superscriptions to Psalms 1-150 include similar references to David, the actual texts of those Psalms never mention him.

A comparison of the superscriptions in the Great Psalms Scroll and the Septuagint shows the Dead Sea Scroll version to be more Davidic. The Septuagint—although ascribing the Psalm to David and mentioning his encounter with Goliath—declares it to be “outside the number” (of the book of Psalms). This seems to reflect later editors’ concerns about the place of Psalm 151 in the Greek Psalter, in the early centuries of the Common Era, when the form now represented by the Masoretic collection of 150 psalms was becoming increasingly influential for Judaism.

Psalm 151 Version Comparison
Psalm 151 A and B in 11QPsa	Psalm 151 in the Septuagint
(Psalm 151A) Hallelujah! A Psalm of David, son of Jesse.	This psalm is autographical, ascribed to David (but outside the number), after he had fought with Goliath in single combat.
1 I was smaller than my brothers, and the youngest of my father’s sons, so he made me shepherd of his flock and ruler over his little goats. 2 My hands fashioned a reed pipe, and my fingers a lyre;	1 I was small among my brothers, and the youngest in my father’s house; I would shepherd my father’s sheep. 2 My hands made a harp; my fingers fashioned a lyre.
and so I gave glory to the LORD. I said in my mind: 3 “The mountains cannot testify to him, nor can the hills proclaim— lift up my words, you trees, and my compositions, you sheep.	3 And who will tell my Lord?  The Lord himself; it is he who hears.
4 For who can announce, and who can declare, and who can recount my deeds? The Lord of everything has seen, the God of everything has heard, and he has paid attention. 5 He sent his prophet to anoint me, Samuel to raise me up. My brothers went out to meet him, handsome of figure, handsome in appearance. 6 Although they were tall of stature and handsome because of their hair, the LORD God did not choose them. 7 But he sent and fetched me from behind the flock and anointed me with the holy oil, and he made me prince of his people and ruler over the sons of his covenant. (Psalm 151B) At the beginning of po[we]r for [Dav]id, after God’s prophet had anointed him.	4 a It was he who sent his messenger 4b Then he took me from my father’s sheep, 4c and anointed me with his anointing oil. 5 My brothers were handsome and tall, but the Lord was not pleased with them. 6 I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. 7 But I drew his own sword; I beheaded him, and took away disgrace from the people of Israel.
1 Then I s[a]w the Philistine, throwing out taunts from the r[anks of the enemy]. 2 …I…the…

Peter W. Flint, "Psalm 151 and the Dead Sea Scrolls", n.p. [cited 18 Apr 2020]. Online: https://www.bibleodyssey.org:443/en/passages/related-articles/psalm-151-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls