Introduction
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I began practising as an advocate of what was then known as the Supreme Court of South Africa in 1967. In 1982, I was appointed senior counsel, and in 1987, became a judge of that Court. I retired as a judge in 2008 and have since practised as an arbitrator. For 50 years, I have been intimately concerned with litigation involving a great variety of cases, including those of murder, fraud, corruption, divorce and contractual, corporate, delictual and labour disputes of all kinds. Litigation involves essentially two enquiries: what is the law and what is the truth about the facts in dispute? In virtually every case, the facts and the search for the truth are much more complicated and difficult than the law. After studying and painstakingly analysing factual disputes for 50 years, I have become much more of a mechanic of fact – a mechanic of establishing the truth – than a mechanic of the law. I have applied the expertise of my lifelong experience in analysing facts and assessing truth to two central questions: does God exist and is the Torah - the Five Books of Moses- true? Much has been written on these two questions, and I do not intend repeating at length arguments which are well known and have assisted me in reaching my conclusion. I have restricted the insights which follow to those I believe to be substantially original. The task of the advocate in preparing a closing argument and that of the judge in formulating a judgment is to extract from a multitude of facts and factors those which are crucial and then to state them as concisely and as easily comprehensibly as possible. That is how I have tried to write The Verdict. Insights 1 – 4 are about the existence of God, and Insights 5 – 15 about the authenticity of the Five Books of Moses. “Bring ideas in and entertain them royally, for one of them may be the king.” - Mark Van Doren The advantage of the digital presentation of The Verdict is that additions or corrections can be made at any time and need not await further editions, as is the case with a book. The launch of the website in July 2017 was followed by changes in some of the Insights, as well as radio interviews and videos, which were added to the site. Thereafter “New Insights on the Existence of God”, “New Insights on the Authenticity of the Torah” and a “Postscript”, containing “More Reasons for the Authenticity of the Torah, mainly from the literature”, were added. |