If man believes in God he cannot help but see that it is in this book, or, better, collection of books, that He has revealed Himself to man. It is this book, or collection of books, He has chosen as His vehicle. That the record is humanly mediated, that it is coloured by its human background and the minds of its human authors, that it contains error as well as truth, does not affect its claim, or the claim made for it in Jewish tradition, to contain the word of God. We must stress the word 'contain' for the new view of revelation --- of 'Torah from Heaven’ is that this is contained in the Bible, not that the Bible itself is revelation. The words are human, they have a history, there are contradictions and discrepancies in them, the view they present of ancient times is frequently limited by the degree of knowledge their authors possessed, but, for all that, this collection of books, as in no other, the account is there, for all to read how man found God and how God helped man to find Him…. The older view was of the Bible as a precious jewel beyond all price. The new view is that it is rather to be compared to a precious jewel in a setting. If we now have less of the jewel we need no longer be confused through identification of the jewel with its setting and the true jewel can now be seen to shine in all its splendour.

Louis Jacobs

Quoted in Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festivals by Reuven Hammer, RA-USCJ 2003