OHR SOMAYACH'S ASK THE RABBI
Issue #285 September 9, 2000 / 9 Elul 5760
Parshat Ki Teitze
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In this issue:
NILE DENIAL
YIDDLE RIDDLE
PUBLIC DOMAIN
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NILE DENIAL

From: Shana in Daytona Beach, FL
<shanalovebug@cs.com>

  Dear Rabbi,
  Hi, I am attending a community college in Daytona Beach before I go
  to Berkeley, and I have a couple questions concerning the angle my
  humanities teacher takes.  He states that there was no great Exodus
  out of Egypt for the Jews because archaeologists could not find
  trash in the desert enough for the "supposed" thousands of Jews
  migrating out from Egypt.  He also states that the Jews were not
  slaves in Egypt.  He admits to there being a small caste of Jews
  that were slaves, but not on the popular belief scale.  I am the
  only Jew in class because he asked any Hebrew to raise their hand
  and mine was the only one that went up, so I stand alone when I ask
  him and question him.  If you could give me any information about
  this I would feel better about the subject.  These are only a few of
  the things my teacher has said that has made me anxious and on
  guard.  Thank you.

Dear Shana,
Your teacher is mistaken on two counts.

First of all, he is simply ignorant of the overwhelming amount of
historical evidence, archeological and otherwise, that there is for
the Exodus.  I'll mention some of this evidence later.

Secondly, even if there were no archeological evidence to prove the
Exodus, that would not necessarily disprove it.  The only way to
disprove something is either to find evidence against it, or to find a
lack of evidence that should be present and for which there is no
plausible explanation for its absence.

But simply to say that something was not proved is a meaningless
statement.  For instance, the fact that they didn't find a harp with
David's name on it or a pair of shoes with the name "Moses" written in
them does not disprove these people's existence.

Now, not finding trash could be "evidence against" the Exodus if the
archeologists knew exactly where such trash should be.  But how would
they know that?  Do they know the exact route that we traveled in the
desert?  How extensive was their digging?

And exactly what kind of trash were they looking for?  Candy wrappers?
The manna that fell from Heaven wasn't wrapped in candy wrappers.
Were they looking for human waste?  The Talmud says that the manna was
miraculous food that was totaly absorbed by the body; a person didn't
have to go the bathroom after eating the manna.  Perhaps, then, they
expected to find worn out clothing?  The verse says, "Your clothes did
not wear out from upon you these forty years (Deuteronomy 8:4)."

Now, an archeologist may say, "But I don't believe in these miracles;
I'm looking for evidence of a purely natural Exodus."

In other words, the Jewish version of the Exodus is rejected at the
outset; instead, evidence is sought for a different event, an event
which we never said happened.

This is like saying:  "If the Jews crossed the Red Sea, they must have
had boats.  If we don't find these boats, it disproves their story."
But this won't disprove our story; we never claimed we crossed the Red
Sea in boats!  So, too, our version of the Exodus does not imply
necessarily that we would have littered the dessert with all sorts of
artifacts.

As I said in the beginning, there is overwhelming historical evidence, 
archeological and otherwise, for the Exodus. For one, we have an
unbroken historical record of these events.  Our record is both a
written record, recorded in our Torah, and an oral record passed on by
word of mouth from parents to their children (like we do the night of
Passover).  See our "Historical Verification of the Torah" at
http://ohr.edu/ask/ask158.htm#Q1

I'll mention here just one piece of archeological evidence, the Ipuwer
papyrus.  Found in the early 19th Century in Egypt, this document
describes events which parallel remarkably events described in the
Book of Exodus:  Violent upheavals in Egypt, starvation, drought,
escape of slaves with the wealth of the Egyptians, and death
throughout the land.  See it on our website at:

http://www.ohr.edu/special/pesach/ipuwer.htm

Finally, let me suggest a few books that bring extensive
archaeological evidence for the Exodus:  The best book on the subject
is Israel in Egypt by James Hoffmeier.  See also Biblical
Personalities and Archaeology by Leah Bronner and Permission to
Receive by Leib Keleman.

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YIDDLE RIDDLE

My older brother is my twin.  Although he is perfectly healthy in
every way, he will not fast this year on Yom Kippur, although I will.
Why?

Answer next week...

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THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Comments, quibbles, and reactions
concerning previous "Ask-the-Rabbi" features

Re:  GOING TO POTTER (http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask282.htm#Q1):

A few months ago, my non-religious, eight-year old nephew arrived in
Israel for the first time and stayed with us one week, Harry Potter
novel in tow.  He was very excited to share his book with his numerous
cousins (our children).  Within the first half hour of greeting them,
he was happily reading aloud to them and showing them the pictures.

It was obvious to me within moments that he should keep this book to
himself for private reading time, when our children were in school.  I
was relieved when my ten-year old whispered to me, "Imma, the book he
is reading isn't nice!"

Another answer to the person who asked whether we should be reading
Harry Potter is this:  Why not read something much more inspiring to
oneself and one's children?   Like Paysach Krohn's phenomenal true
stories (the five volume "Maggid" series), or the four volume Visions
of Greatness by Rabbi Yosef Weiss, and numerous others?

When I read these to our children, we all are uplifted by our own
potential for greatness, and awed by the chesed (kindness), giving,
sensitivity, and selflessness of Jews around the world.  Why aspire to
be a wizard and read about all that violence?  It seeps in to one's
psyche, everything we read.  (please don't print my email address if
you use this letter in the Public Domain).
                                        Name@Withheld

You wrote:  "There's no specific prohibition against 'wizard' stories,
the question is how much time, if any, to spend on them?"  Your
suggestion does not take into consideration the other contents of the
book -- it could be licentious, violent, etc.
                                        Revs. Helmut & Erika Loeffler,
                                        Metro Manila, Philippines
                                        <helmut@loeffler.com.ph>

Re:  OHR SOMAYACH IN THE NEWS

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