In October 1995, Bible Review magazine published an article by Jeffrey B. Satinover, MD, Ph.D., outlining the history of this statistical research and its basic findings. A psychiatrist with a private practice in psychotherapy, psychiatry and psychopharmacology, Satinover also serves as medical director for the Temenos Institute Psychiatric Clinic, in Westport, Connecticut. We are pleased to present here Dr. Satinover's complete article on the "Codes in Torah," reprinted with permission both from the author and from Bible Review. In a separate section, we also present Dr. Satinover's responses to letters received and printed by Bible Review which commented on his article (these letters, and Dr. Satinover's responses, appeared in the February 1996 issue).
Divine Authorship?
Computer Reveals Startling Word Patterns
Article ©1995 Dr. Jeffrey
B. Satinover
Reprinted with permission from
Bible Review, Vol. IX, No. 5, October 1995
Complete and Unedited
Letters to the Editors
of Bible Review: Dr. Satinover Responds
Dr. Satinover's response to
readers'
questions and comments, many of which echoed objections
originally made to this work by
statistical professionals. Dr. Satinover's piece explains some of the
statistical researchers'
responses
to these common objections to their findings, and adds more details
about the tests required by the
review committee for Statistical Science
before they would publish
this research.
(Note that readers' letters are
not reproduced here, and names (where Dr. Satinover used them) have
been
removed.)
Cracking the Bible Code, a book by Dr.
Jeffrey B. Satinover:
Review and Recommendation by Stan Tenen
Review ©1997 Stan Tenen
Articles Critical of the "Codes in Torah"
Many well-reasoned criticisms of this work have also been written, and studies have been designed to point out flaws in the statistical methods used by Witztum, Rips, and Rosenberg (the authors of the original Statistical Science article). Statistician Prof. Abraham Y. Hasofer of Australia has written criticisms of the Statistical Science paper from a methodological point of view, and also (and somewhat more accessibly to the average reader) has strongly criticized their use for outreach (as is done in the "Discovery Seminars"). He originally published his Codes in Torah: A Rejoinder in 1993 in the journal B'Or Ha'Torah, vol. 8E. He has recently revised this article, which is now titled Torah Codes: Reality or Illusion. We highly recommend Prof. Hasofer's article.
Torah
Codes: Reality or Illusion
(abridged version)
©1998 Prof. A.Y. Hasofer
This abridged version of Prof. Hasofer's article is posted on a website maintaned by Prof. Brendan McKay, one of the chief critics of the "Codes" research (and indeed, of what he calls "mathematical miracles" in general). Prof. McKay's page of links on the "Torah Codes" material includes pointers to other articles on this subject which may be of interest.
In addition to Profs. Hasofer and McKay, many other mathematical professionals have also expressed strong reservations about the "Codes in Torah". Prof. Barry Simon of Cal Tech has organized a petition that expresses some of their major concerns.
Mathematicians'
Statement on the Bible Codes
Maintained by Prof. Barry Simon
Essays by Stan Tenen on the Equal Interval Letter Skip Patterns and the "Codes in Torah"
We believe that Meru Foundation's work may shed some light on the equal-interval letter skip patterns: how they might have been generated, and what their significance might be. Below are some informal essays and other material by Stan Tenen presenting our speculations on the subject.
Equal Interval Letter Skip Patterns:
Specific
Solutions ©1996 Stan Tenen
This unpublished letter by Stan
Tenen to Bible Review magazine comments on
Dr. Satinover's article, Divine
Authorship?, and on the "Codes in Torah" in general.
Comments on Torah and Science: The "Torah
Codes"
Comment posted on a Jewish-oriented mailing list by
Isaac
Zlotchower, and
a clarification he sent via email to Stan Tenen
Comments on Prof. Hasofer's article,
Torah
Codes: Reality or Illusion ©1998 Stan Tenen
These informal comments on Prof. Hasofer's
article
were composed as a response to
the electronic mail correspondent who first sent it to
us. This piece covers only a few
selected topics, and is not intended to be a formal
review
of Prof. Hasofer's article.
In the summer of 1997, Stan Tenen did two radio interviews on the Bible Codes on Art Bell's Coast to Coast, an all-night program devoted to unusual and esoteric topics. Note that this program is designed for a general audience, with no background in Jewish learning, and only a slight awareness of science. However, the format allows the speaker enough uninterrupted time each half-hour to make a coherent presentation, and so the feedback we have received on these interviews is quite positive. Audio records of this interview may be available from the Coast to Coast AM website. The dates are below.
Art Bell's Interview of Stan Tenen, 9 June 1997 (2 hours)
Art Bell's Interview of Stan Tenen, 7 July 1997 (3 hours)
Contents of this page are ©1997 Meru
Foundation,
524 San Anselmo Ave. #214, San Anselmo, CA 94960.
Email inquiries to: meru@meru.org