Originally published in The Times Literary Supplement 5005 (1999), p. 12. Michael S. Berger, RABBINIC AUTHORITY. 226pp. Oxford University Press. £36. 0 19 512269 0. In the Jewish tradition, still retained by Orthodoxy, the Pentateuch (the foundation document of the Jewish religion) is seen as a divine work, communicated in its entirety by God to Moses who…