[Avodah] Discovered text

[Akiva Miller]

.
R' Joel Rich asked:

> How do those who propound the theory that texts recently
> discovered were kept out of the main stream by god’s will,
> understand why did he allow us to find them now? As a test
> or as a hint that now is the time to incorporate them or
> something else?

I can't imagine what "test" you might be referring to. Could you be
suggesting that if we were to find a genuine text written by a genuine
authority, but it had been only recently discovered, we should treat that
text as an evil temptation?

My approach to this is to remember that for the first 2448 years of this
world's existence, all of Torah Sheb'ksav was in the category you describe.
There was a time before that when (in a certain respect) Torah consisted of
nothing more than Sheva Mitzvos Bnei Noach. And before that there was only
one mitzvah.

Please don't quibble over any details in that paragraph; it was a bit
poetic, true. My point is that the world changes, and what's right for one
generation is not the same as what another generation needs, and it is
obvious to me that Hashem gives us what we need exactly when we need it.

(If a text was lost, Hashem had a reason for it. So too when it was found.
Sometimes I wonder if Ravina and Rav Ashi had edited and finalized a Gemara
Bavli on one or more of the missing masechtos. Perhaps they did, and every
single copy got burnt in the bookburnings, or otherwise lost somehow or
other. Perhaps it was Hashem's judgement that we didn't really need them?)

A related question is how much weight to assign to those discovered texts.
If it was written by a rishon, for example, but discovered nowadays, do we
treat it as a rishon, despite missing out on centuries of vetting and
comparison with other writings? This is way above my pay grade, and I will
not attempt to answer it.

Akiva Miller
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