“The Exodus Conspiracy”
Deniers of Ancient Israelite History Exposed
Rachel Neuwirth
I was privileged this week to preview, before its release to the public, what may well prove to be a masterpiece of the documentary film-making art—a new look at the Biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt in the light of contemporary archeology and politics in the Middle East.
Filmmaker Tim Mahoney’s “The Exodus Conspiracy”, [1] due to be released within a few months, seeks to demonstrate the historical accuracy of the Biblical narrative of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt on the basis of recent archaeological discoveries and geographic explorations. A secondary thesis of the film is that the “Red Sea” crossed by the Israelites was the Gulf of Aquaba (called the Gulf of Eilat by modern-day Israelis), rather than “Sea of Reeds” in Egypt, as most Biblical scholars have always assumed, and that the true “Mount Sinai” or “Mount Horeb” of the Exodus narrative is in northern Saudi Arabia, and is not the Mt. Sinai shown to pilgrims and tourists over the centuries in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
At the same time, the film also documents the efforts of Arab governments, especially Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to suppress, or at least to seriously impede, the discovery and publication of archaeological data that would confirm the historicity of the Biblical narrative. Is this a conspiracy to suppress the truth about the ancient history of the Middle East? And if so, who could possibly want to deny the reality of a 3,500 year old event, and why? The film’s answer to these questions is that Arab governments and political circles wish to deny to the Jews the status of indigenous inhabitants of the Middle East; and above all, to deny the 3,000-plus years of continuous Jewish inhabitance of the Land of Israel (called “Palestine” by the Romans, the British, and now the Arabs). The entire Arab justification for 88 years of relentless war against the Jewish people in the Holy Land, and their efforts first to prevent the rebirth of the Jewish nation there, and then to destroy it, rests on the claim that the Jews are alien European “settlers” in the Holy Land, while the Arabs are the “indigenous” native population, who have lived there “since time immemorial.” Archeology that confirms the accuracy of the Biblical narrative, and which documents the ancientness of the Jewish habitation of the land, is thus extremely inconvenient to Israel’s enemies, even though (or rather because) it concerns events in the remote past.
While the archaeological- historical conclusions of The Exodus Conspiracy are controversial, a great deal of support for them can be found in “On the Reliability of the Old Testament”,[ 2] a thoroughly documented and brilliantly presented study by Professor Kenneth A. Kitchen,[3] a professor of archeology and Egyptology at Liverpool University in Britain. Also offering strong support for the historicity of the Israelite worship experience at the Biblical “mountain of God” is the work of Italian archaeologist Emmanuel Anati,[4] who has explored a mountain in the Wilderness of Paran [5] along the Israel-Egyptian border. At this site, Dr. Anati has discovered inscriptions, tools and other remains of worship ceremonies left by ancient Semitic nomads that bear a striking similarity both to those described in the Book of Exodus, and to those found by the explorers of a mountain in Arabia who present their findings in The Exodus Conspiracy. I do not pretend to know which mountain was the original of the Mt. Sinai or Mt. Horeb described in the Book of Exodus. Nevertheless, archeology certainly confirms that ancient Semitic nomadic peoples engaged in worship at the base of desert mountains that was very similar to that described in the Biblical narrative of the exodus.
However, Mr. Mahoney’s description of a major propaganda effort to deny the reality of the Jewish people’s three thousand-plus years’ residence in the Middle East is undeniably true. This effort is documented in numerous reports in the daily press, and in nearly every Arab book, pamphlet or website devoted to the Arab-Israel conflict. It is also documented by the writings of numerous “revisionist” historians and archaeologists, [6] many of them Jewish and some Israeli, who support the Arab side in the Arab-Israel conflict. The attempt to deny the reality of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt has even been joined by a well-known Los Angeles rabbi, David Wolpe.[7] Indeed, Mr. Mahoney could have said much more than he has chosen to say about the non-Arab and non-governmental participants in this war against history.
Conspiracy supports its conclusions with interviews with a wide range of explorers, archaeologists, Biblical scholars, religious leaders, and even senior Israeli political leaders, such as President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Benyamin Netanyahu. It contains brilliant cinematography of ancient archaeological sites and the stark desert landscape in which they are situated, taken from original videos shot by the explorers of these sites. The documentary also contains recreations by actors of parts of the Biblical narrative of the origins of the Israelite people, clips from Cecil B. DeMille’s magnificent original 1920’s silent epic “The Ten Commandments,” and oral narrations of the Exodus story by distinguished “storytellers,” actually scholars and/or religious leaders of different faiths and from all parts of the world, dressed in their traditional national costumes. There are beautifully photographed scenes of present-day Jerusalem, and a truly shocking film clip of an Arab mob destroying Joseph’s Tomb, an ancient holy site sacred to three faiths, during the so-called “Intifada.” In short, there is something here for everyone; The Exodus Conspiracy has great educational value and is first-rate entertainment as well.
To bolster the case for the historicity of the exodus, Mahoney cites recent archaeological work in the region that was once called “the land of Goshen,” described in the Bible as the home of the Israelite people during their four hundred year sojourn in Egypt. These archaeological explorations have uncovered the presence of a substantial Semitic population there—which suddenly disappeared in the 13Th Dynasty of Egypt. This just happens to be the same era in which, many historians have surmised from surviving Egyptian historical records as well as references in the Biblical account, the Exodus must have taken place.
The people who lived in this region on the eastern edge of the Nile Delta, until their sudden and mysterious disappearance, kept sheep, which the Israelites raised and the Egyptians did not raise. The architectural style of their houses was characteristic of the Fertile Crescent region and different from that of contemporary Egyptian houses.
Most interestingly, perhaps, there is an elaborate tomb in this area of a high official of a Pharaoh’s government, which could easily be the tomb of the patriarch Joseph. Remnants of paint on a statue of the man even suggest that he wore a coat of many colors!
At around the same time and the same place, there is evidence of a sharp increase in deaths and mass graves have been found, as if victims of a plague were hastily buried without the usual funeral rites. Evidence of the slaying of the Egyptian first-born by the angel of death, as the Book of Exodus records?
Yet no archaeologist working in this region of Egypt has been willing to say publicly that he or she believes that the Semitic people who inhabited the Land of Goshen , and then mysteriously disappeared from it, were the Israelites. Why not? According to several scholars and archaeologists whom Mahoney interviewed, the answer is fear: the Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, Dr. Zahi A. Hawass, decides personally which archaeologists will be allowed to work in Egypt, and he would never allow any archaeologist who expressed a belief in an ancient Israelite presence in the country to work there.
If there is subtle, quiet intimidation of archaeologists in Egypt, the intimidation of them in Saudi Arabia has been anything but subtle. Explorers convinced that the Biblical ‘mountain of God,” where He revealed the Law to the Israelites, is in northern Arabia, rather than in the Sinai Peninsula where post-Biblical tradition places it, have encountered fierce opposition from the Saudi authorities. One exploration party was subjected to 78 days of imprisonment. Several have encountered armed Saudi soldiers and police ordering them to evacuate the area immediately. Even the personal physician to a high-ranking Saudi prince, armed with a personal letter from the prince authorizing him to explore anywhere in Saudi Arabia, was denied entry to this area by armed guards. Why, Mahoney and his interviewees ask, is the Saudi government so intent on hiding ancient ruins and inscriptions?
One reason may be that the explorers have discovered a mountain on which are located the remains of religious altars, ancient Semitic inscriptions, and evidence of major encampments by nomads at the base of the mountain—all of which are elements, of course, of the Biblical narrative of the Revelation at Sinai. If the Exodus really took place in northern Saudi Arabia as Mr. Mahoney and his interviewees maintain, then the Arab claim to be the sole “indigenous” inhabitants even of the Arabian Peninsula itself, let alone “Palestine,” could be thrown into doubt.
Mahoney also places the obstructionist tactics of the Egyptian and Saudi governments within the broader context of the archaeological “front” of the Arab-Israeli conflict—a “front” that includes denials by Palestinian Arab religious and political leaders that there ever was a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, despite the overwhelming historical and archaeological evidence of the presence of two magnificent Jewish temples there over a 1,000-year period. As a part of their effort to cover up the ancient Jewish presence at the Temple Mount, the Muslim religious authorities who have been allowed to control the site by Israel have carted away and dumped tons of rich ancient soil containing archaeological remains of the two Temples. The shocking desecration and destruction of the tomb of the Biblical patriarch Joseph, who first led the Israelites to Egypt, by Palestinian Arab “militants” in Nablus (the Biblical Israelite city of Shechem) was yet another “action” in the archaeological- historical front of the war. It is as if the Palestinian Arab “militants” think that they can erase the ancient Jewish inhabitant of the land by destroying the surviving physical remains of that presence. The Arabs are waging a war against history itself in an effort to uphold their claims. The Israeli diplomat and scholar Dore Gold, author of The Fight for Jerusalem,[8] in a brief on-camera interview in the film, lucidly summarizes the Jerusalem-Palestine “front” in the Arab war against Israelite-Jewish history. However, additional documentaries are needed to explore more fully this front of the propaganda-misinformation war against Israel and history.
While The Exodus Conspiracy is not the last word on this subject, and many additional documentaries about it should be made in the future, it is a must see for everyone who wants to understand the inseparable connection between the present-day conflict in the Middle East and the ancient events narrated in the Bible.
John Landau Contributed to this Article
footnotes:
[1] http://exodusconspi racy.com/
[2] http://www.amazon. com/Reliability- Old-Testament- K-Kitchen/ dp/0802803962/ ref=pd_bbs_ sr_1?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid= 1208288608& sr=1-1
[3] http://www.liv. ac.uk/sace/ organisation/ people/research_ staff/kitchen. htm
[4] http://www.harkarko m.com/Anati. php
[5] http://www.harkarko m.com/index. php
[6] http://www.aish. com/societyWork/ sciencenature/ Archaeology_ and_the_Bible_ -_Part_2. asp
[7] http://aish. com/societyWork/ sciencenature/ Archaeology_ and_the_Exodus. asp
[8] http://www.amazon. com/Fight- Jerusalem- Radical-Islam- Future/dp/ 159698029X
###
Rachel Neuwirth, an internationally recognized, political commentator and analyst. She specializes in Middle Eastern Affairs with particular emphasis on Militant Islam and Israeli foreign policy. She has been published in prominent news papers of Europe, Asia and the US. She is frequently quoted by reputable Media. Conversant in Arabic and French.
rachterry@sbcglobal .net
Wonderful that such people of courage and tenacity exist. However, they are doomed in the modern world where truth is devalued as a goal or basis for proper living. Accurate reading of history is much less important than creating stability in relations and replacing human curiosity and interest with lifeless automatons that serve power without reference to truth. May Tim Mahoney and those who share his strength be publicly blessed by everyone who reads about their efforts, just as Rachel Neuwirth has done. (Ethics of the Fathers: The World exists on three pillars: truth, peace, and the performance of good deeds.)
Comment by jerry — July 13, 2008 @ 8:13 am
It all sounds wonderful, but the first thought that came to mind was, “Don’t expect to change the ideas in a person’s mind rationally, if these ideas didn’t get in there rationally in the first place.”
In other words, if the crazies (and I include our esteemed “elites”) can entertain thoughts of an Israeli/US conspiracy behind 9/11, nothing that can be written or filmed as any sort of rational proof (as in this case) will be of any value.
Comment by keelie — July 13, 2008 @ 8:39 am
How many days does it take to get by walking from Egypt to Saudi Arabia? Sounds strange this “discovery”. Anyway, we do not need archiological foundings in order to know that the Exodus is reality: any traditional report of a mass expirience of an (ancient) living community is per se true since a mass cannot invent common experience.
Comment by Tar Yag — July 13, 2008 @ 9:29 am
Great Idea for a title, “The Exodus Conspiracy”! I am imagining the PC crowd loving the idea then having what’s left of their minds spiral into collective cognitive dissonance.
Comment by elvis — July 13, 2008 @ 11:34 am
Westerners who cherish Western values, morality, ethics, respect and tolerance for people of other faiths and respect for facts, honesty and truths, should see themselves as representing consummate good in the world.
If we Westerners accept that of ourselves, we should not shirk from stating the only conclusion we can reach as regards the Jew, Christian and Western hating racists such as the Saudis, the Palestinians and even the likes of Egypt that has the thinnest of peace treaties with Israel that these Arabs and Arab nations that revel in beliefs that are antithetical to ours, represent consummate evil in this world.
Comment by Bill Narvey — July 13, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
Bill I see you are locked into your dogmatic understanding that equate goodness and maybe even Judaism with western values or visa versa. Pls. enlighten we un washed masses exactly what you mean by that oft used phrase you are so wont to use?
Now if you will state that Western values have no relationship to Judaism we have a starting point for a discussion.
Comment by yamit82 — July 13, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
Poke in the eye to Richard Dawkins, the famous evolutionay biologist, he does not believe the Exodus happened.
Comment by NoNameDenton — July 13, 2008 @ 4:00 pm
Yamit, you miss my point in saying I have dogmatic understanding in equating our Western values and culture with good and the values of Islamic fundamentalism/radicalism with evil.
We all too often get too deeply involved in the complexities of the issues we opine on.
I have stripped away those complexities or distilled them out of the mix to suggest a simpler way that we Westerners ought to be viewing the world and especially that Islamist and Jihadist world that sets themselves as our enemies against us and our way of life.
The notably brilliant Salim Mansur, Professor of Political Science at Waterloo University, Canada, has written an excellent article, July 12th, 2008, which I commend to you as regards the British experience with fundamentalist Islam, “Sharia - Thin Edge of the Wedge at:
http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/Mansur_Salim/2008/07/12/6135696.php
In his article he observes the inherent weakness of democracy in facing an enemy from within, which in my view extends to facing and confronting an enemy from the outside. Mansur says in part:
We have seen time and again that within our Western democracies, multiculturalism and political correctness, taken to insane lengths and added to the inherent weakness aforesaid of democracy to respond to her enemies, causes us to respond to offence given us by our enemies, by saying ‘no offence taken, but what can we do to avoid offending you and making it up to you for the offence given that we did not intend’?
During WWII, America and her allies equated themselves with good and Nazi Germany as evil. Such simplistic perception allowed the Allies to respond to the enemy without doubt or hesitation, with complete victory as the only objective.
We of course live in a much more complicated global community today then we did during WWII.
While we Westerners are given to deep and complex thinking as regards ourselves, our friends and our enemies, the radical/fundamentalist Islamists be they people, a society or a nation, see things in simple clear terms, both as regards themselves as being good, their enemies as being evil, their objectives and the means they will employ to assure that objective is achieved. For them, their objectives are good and right and the morality and legitimacy of their means to achieve their objective are determined only by consideration of whether such means advance them to their objective.
In the result, I contend that when it comes to facing and beating our fundamentalist, radical Islamist/Jihadist enemy, we must strip away the complexities that so clutter our Western minds and which leads to our indecision, hesitancy and appeasement.
In so doing we should simply see ourselves as representing good and anyone that directly or indirectly in a supportive role, seeks to compromise or defeat us and the Western life and culture we have, as being our enemy and consummate evil.
Comment by Bill Narvey — July 14, 2008 @ 8:10 am
No argument from me Bill, I was questioning your and others references to America in particular as being a society and culture based upon Judeo and Christian values. America today has no Judeo values other than what might be construed as Jewsih based on Christian and specifically Protestant values and interpretations. Thats all! I will admit that Americas founding fathers were influenced by Jewish Values but over time these have been supplanted by values alien to Judaism. Jewish values are nowhere to be seen even amongst American Jews for the most part. I call that Corruption of Judaism by the dominant culture, Protestant Christianity.
Comment by yamit82 — July 14, 2008 @ 9:06 am
Yamit, to say American values are alien to Judaism is only your opinion. It is not a statement of fact.
If you explained precisely what you are getting at with facts to support your conclusive view, I may be in less disagreement with you or at least, we could have a basis for a good focussed discussion and debate.
Comment by Bill Narvey — July 14, 2008 @ 9:24 am
American Values are alien to America, but one could also say Jewish Values are alien to Israel
by Detective Phil Worts
Comment by elvis — July 14, 2008 @ 11:12 am
Lets be very frank about this. History and theology make for a terrible brew. The Old and new testament contains a mixture of myth, parables, poetry and of course very subjective commentaries. Getting at historical fact is hard enough without the added complication of attemtpting to get a correct interpretation of what is stated in scripture.
Comment by larry gordon — July 14, 2008 @ 2:45 pm
When the Messiah comes on the clouds of Heaven to claim that which is His, this world is all that they are ever going to get! The Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt is also going to be our Exodus from Satan’s prison planet and I dare say that it is fitting and proper for the God of Israel to make one final deliverance of Israel in the site of the entire world as it gathers together for war against this tiny little state. What’s even greater is that this world is all that murderous terrorist Muslims are going to get! The same fires of Allah called against the Jewish Nation of Israel by Islamic states, will recoil on themselves. Bye! Bye! Nations of Islam! Goodbye!
Oh, the laughter and dancing of resurrected Jews and Israelis who were faithful to the God of Israel! How wonderful it will be to see the victory of those slain by the beast and the false prophet! And what a miracle the final Exodus of Israel will be when Earth’s Messiah comes back to claim that which is His, versus what is man’s.
Comment by sunstartmf33 — July 14, 2008 @ 5:17 pm
Why do you “dare say”? This is Tanach prophecy 101. There’s none of your Jesus messiah anywhere therein. Whoever the messiah is, will be a human being with 10 fingers and toes, and won’t claim anything as his, certainly not with a capital “H”.
Now run along and play with your Revelation dragon.
Comment by Shy Guy — July 14, 2008 @ 11:30 pm
Bill, the best way in a short limited space is to make a broad general statement that the Judaism practiced in the exile is so different than the Judaism that should be practiced in the Land of Israel. In practical terms, there is no difference between the Jews of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem and Boro Park in Brooklyn. Their religious practices are the same even though Judaism of the Holy Land and the Exile is vastly different.
I will get back to this train of thought but first know that there was one Torah given, with it’s 613 mitzvot that no practicing Jew can perform as at least half must be done or are relevant only to the Land of Israel and the Temple ritual. So Judaism for no other reason as practiced and understood by All in the exile and is practiced is understood by the vast majority has little relationship to the Judaism practiced in the Land of Israel during the Temple period and afterward in the Land of Israel.
Rabbinical Judaism morphed into a self preservation mode of building layers of walls around the Torah in order to protect its precepts from being corrupted by Gentile societies, In spite of their efforts many changes by deseign and evolution found their way through the cracks and little by little became accepted a Jewish but if one were to analyze many you will see these practices have little or no Jewish roots but were adopted from the general Gentile societies were Jews lived sometimes for centuries sometimes for millenia.
Judaism morphed into a highly ritualistic religion at the expense of bringing the Jew Closer to God as was originally intended instead it created a wider gulf in which ritual became more important in itself than developing a close personal relationship between each Jew and his creator.
Here is an example:Religious Jews shamefully concentrate on technicalities, however important, rather than the big issues. I find it scandalous with religious parties in the Knesset scream over the court’s refusal to fine a handful of establishments which sold leavened bread on Pesach in Jerusalem, but stay in the government which admits to negotiating the giveaway of Jerusalem to Arabs and has actually abandoned the Temple Mount to Muslims. In one reformer’s words, “Hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin [which the Torah does not require], but neglected the weightier matters of the law.” He saw it correctly that many religious Jews concentrate on the easy rites of superfluous observance instead of going through with the really hard issues of core Judaism. It is obscene for a religious Jew in Jerusalem to wrap his kitchen with foil on Pesach to avoid the microscopic crumbs of leavened bread, while his Knesset representatives do nothing about the daily shelling of Shderot.
Paganism is contagious. Once a nation allows some traces of paganism in, it erodes the religion with ever-increasing speed. The latest centuries saw a tremendous spike in truly pagan rites among Jews. From the reinstated pagan sacrifice of rooster (kaparot) to blowing kisses to mezuzah, to superstitious maintenance of “milk” and “meat” dish sets. Many rites have profound meaning, such as putting the right shoe on first (because Jews always start with right things, the loving-kindness) and lacing the left shoe first (to practice restraint in tying, withholding, punishing). However profound, however, a rite remains a rite. Hellenistic pagans undoubtedly ventured profound ethical, theological, and moral explanations of worshipping Zeus. The Torah painfully expunges the least traces of paganism from sacrifices and other rites which the Hebrew crowd was used to but which were given an entirely new meaning in Judaism. Just think of it, the altar was made of earth and later of unhewn stones so that Jews won’t adorn it in the familiar pagan fashion, but Torah scrolls are given silver crowns. We laughed at those who kiss statues and icons – only to see Jews kissing the Torah scrolls.
Superstition is a belief that trivial things affect the divine will. And so many religious Jews carefully choose salt and lipstick “kosher for Pesach,” say blessings after successfully visiting latrine or seeing a lightning – but the immense desecration of the Holy Land by foreigners and Jewish traitors is of no immediate concern to them.
For centuries, Jews poured a fifth glass of wine during the Pesach dinner, but left it untouched for the Prophet Eliyahu. The previous four glasses signify fulfillment of the divine promises given during the Exodus, but the fifth one refers to his promise to bring us into the Land of Israel. There was no other promise involved, whether of the Temple, Messiah, or a decent government – that’s our responsibility to do. In 1947, God has brought us into the land that he promised to Abraham, and did so with great fanfare, but I may be the only Jew who drinks the fifth glass.
Paganism is a theological system which places rites and symbols between the men and their Creator. The Jews who speed-mumble standardized prayers three times a day, every single day, who plead for return to Zion instead of buying an air ticket there, who implore for Messiah instead of voting for Kahane, or Marzel, or even Feiglin, who supplicate for the Temple instead of building it – they surely have some big obstacles in the way of their communication with God.
Shavuot (the Feast of Weeks) is known as the holiday marking the giving of the Torah, not the holiday marking the acceptance of the Torah. Giving the Torah was indeed a matter for weeks; for it to be accepted, dozens or even hundreds of years had to pass, and some say - it still hasn’t been really accepted.
Giving the Torah was a one-time act, a ceremony. It isn’t a process; it was a miraculous event, an act of Divine grace bringing together the time, the people and the conditions that were right for the gift, the inspiration, the great Heavenly grant, the insertion of spirit into body, of soul to flesh and blood. Theories of history can do no more than go around in circles, explaining the conditions and circumstances of the recipients, but they can never use rationality or explanations to penetrate the revelation, the giving.
Historians are good at explaining a posteriori the necessity in events. But with hindsight they cannot explain the events at Mt. Sinai. And the factual emphasis on the “giving” as opposed to the “acceptance” proves there is no point in talking about a “ripening of conditions” or a “necessity of circumstances” or a “link in a chain of events.”
An act of genesis is at the basis of the entire description of the giving of the Torah. It isn‚t the continuation of a chain of events but the breaking of a chain, a breaking that that cannot be explained with words from our sociological or historical vocabulary.
All the events of the hundreds of years that followed were no more than an immanent accepting of the previous transcendental giving. The judges and kings and prophets fought among themselves and with their nation for the acceptance of the Torah. This battle is subject to analysis and research and explanation, just as is everything in nature that followed the first moment of Genesis.
The secret of this genesis is also the secret of many other phenomena. It is the secret of the beginning of life, of true poetry, of the birth of ideas. Doctors can see all the secrets of pregnancy and birth but only the secret of the original life of the seed - is still a deep secret.
Therefore one does not decide on ideas. Ideas are given by revelation and they exist. You decide and fight for their acceptance, to spread them or allow them to penetrate. Therefore Mt. Sinai was held over the heads of the nation during the giving of the Torah [in the legend in which Israel was offered a choice between the Torah or being buried under the mountain], because the Torah is not the result of evolution, during which all the right conditions were quietly and calmly prepared till the bodies were ready and eagerly awaiting it. It is always a revolution, meaning something coming in opposition to what the nation is ready for and consciously desires.
Now, from the world of the Torah in general to one part of it: sovereignty.
In the past few generations, only a few extraordinary prophets taught sovereignty, gave the Torah of modern Hebrew sovereignty.
But great is the distance from this new revelation to its acceptance. And apparently it, too, must pass through two stages: first the stage of being forced upon the people from above, and only afterwards, the stage of learning it from below, from inside.
And if you want to know where we stand today on our journey through the desert, let it be told: we are standing before the golden calf.
Another more recent example of the corruption of Judaism and what influence the exile has had:
During the 6 day war when we liberated the Temple mount what did we do? The Temple Mount was conquered and not liberated. We are down below and our enemies sit above as if we are not living in the State of Israel, as if we are not in charge in the age of Tzahal . We deal with the recidivism of an exilic soul. Zionism had two sources: a positive root in the sovereign will to redemption, to return, to renew our days as of old, and a second, negative root, in escape from oppression, in the despair of emancipation. It is this second one that won. For truly Zionism was forced on us. Even this miraculous war, with its liberation of Jerusalem, was forced on us to our shame.
And so, to the extent that memories and emotions played a role–and they certainly did–they were memories and emotions that went as far as the Wall of Teras. They did not go higher than that Wall, not to the establishment if decisive facts in Jewish redemptive history. The Mount was liberated–and abandoned.
An intimidated, wavering rabbinate shaped by exilic traditionalism joined hands with a political establishment on which the entire issue had been forced, and who could not forget that its main demand had always been free access to the Wailing Wall. Behold, this was now achieved.
There was yet another factor. Was it not clear, as a matter if course, that should the city fall into the hands of Jews –even if the mosques on the Temple Mount should survive the battles–that the Temple Mount itself appropriated and removed from the control of the political-religious-nationalist Waqf, with its incitement to kill the Jews?
Would one not expect that Jews, following both Halachic prescriptions and their generations of longing, renew their prayers on the Mount? Could anything be more natural? After all the Hasmoneans and the Zealots fought for the Temple Mount, not for the Wall.
But no: the Jews abandon the Mount and go down to the Wailing Wall. At that moment, it dawned upon the Muslim Arabs that the battle might be over, but the war was not. There was no decision, and the heart of El Quds remained in their hands.
Now real Jewish Values lets start with Jewish Concept of the value of life: Pikuach nefesh. (misapplied )
If life is above values, then Jews should convert to Islam (which is definitely not idolatry) and save themselves from wars with Arabs. In terms of saving lives, our only objective is to save the lives of reasonably righteous Jews – but they must establish their righteousness by killing and risking their lives to further Jewish values.
Ignorant rabbis allude to the view that one only endangers his life to abstain from idolatry, incest, and murder; never mind they commit idolatry continuously and sanction the assimilation which is no better than incest. That rule applies to observant Jews. Jewish tradition economizes on words; written down explicitly, the rule would run as follows, “An observant Jews should endanger his life only when forced to commit idolatry, incest, or murder.” Non-observant, apostate Jews are executed as usual. When the apostasy is public, executing them is a major religious obligation; no court verdict is required. Pinchas merited eternal blessing for his descendants when he killed a Jew who peacefully married a shiksa.
Contrary to pikuah nefesh, the Torah values not every life, but only the lives of reasonably righteous people: they are defended with a brutally efficient “a bruise for a bruise.” The Torah doesn’t hesitate at dispersing capital punishments for criminal acts, Shabbat violation, religious immorality, and other types of un-Jewish behavior.
Jews are mandated to accept death rather than being forced to publicly violate any commandment whatsoever. “Publicly” - in the presence of even ten people. And how much do we praise such Jews in the Book of Maccabees!
Talmudic sages greatly expanded the number of capital offenses. Sensible rabbis detailed hanging, asphyxiating, burning, decapitating, and stoning the offenders. They would have been not a bit surprised to know that “saving lives is the major commandment in the Torah.” Strictly speaking, there’s no such commandment at all. In recent times, the absolutely authoritative Orach Chaim (ch.329), based on the Talmud, mandates that Jews fight even on Sabbath if the enemy asks for just for “straw and hay.” The libertarian rabbis should read this: Jews must kill the enemies in any conflict whatsoever, down to “straw and hay” dispute. Jewish religious authorities from Moses to Rambam to Rav Kook established that lives hold no value at all when Jewish national interests are at stake.
God concurs. He could save plenty of lives by planting in the Canaanites’ hearts the idea of abandoning the land; he did so in 1948. God, however, commanded that Hebrews liberate a space for themselves, losing many of our own and killing many Canaanites in the process. God, who has told us to annihilate Amalek – does he care of lives? Striving to emulate him, should we care?
Comment by yamit82 — July 15, 2008 @ 7:48 am
The 13 Foundations of Judaism
Principle I. To know the existence of the Creator
To believe in the existence of the Creator, and this Creator is perfect in all manner of existence. He is the cause of all existence. He causes them to exist and they exist only because of Him. And if you could contemplate a case, such that He was not to exist…then all things would cease to exist and there would remain nothing. And if you were to contemplate a case, such that all things would cease to exist aside from the Creator, His existence would not cease. And He would lose nothing; and oneness and kingship is His alone. Hashem of strength is His name because He is sufficient with His own existence, and sufficient [is] just Him alone, and needs no other. And the existences of the angels, and the celestial bodies, and all that is in them and that which is below them…all need Him for their existence. And this is the first pillar and is attested to by the verse, “I am Hashem your God.”
Principle II. The unity of God
Meaning to say to accept that this is the quintessential idea of Oneness. It is not like the oneness of a pair (i.e. pair of shoes - one group) and not one like a species. And not like man that has many individual (members) nor like a body that divides into many different parts until no end (every part being divisible). Rather, God is one and there is no other oneness like His. This is the second principle and is taught in what it says, “Hear Israel, Hashem is Our God, Hashem is one.”
Principle III. The denial of physicality in connection with God
This is to accept that this Oneness that we have mentioned above (Principle II) is not a body and has no strength in the body, and has no shape or image or relationship to a body or parts thereof. This is why the Sages of blessed memory said with regards to heaven there is no sitting, nor standing, no awakeness, nor tiredness. This is all to say that He does not partake of any physical actions or qualities. And if He were to be a body then He would be like any other body and would not be God. And all that is written in the holy books regarding descriptions of God, they are all anthropomorphic. Thus said our great Rabbis of blessed memory, “The Torah speaketh in man’s language” (i.e. using human terms to offer some understanding). And the Rabbis have already spoken at length on this issue. This is the third pillar and is attested to by the verse, “For you saw no image” meaning that you did not see an image or any form when you stood at Sinai because as we have just said, He has no body, nor power of the body.
Principle IV. God’s Antiquity
This is that God existed prior to everything, and exists after everything. This is proved many times throughout scripture and is attested to by the verse, “Meuna Elokei kedem.”
Principle V. That God, blessed be He is worthy that we serve Him, to glorify Him, to make known His greatness, and to do His commands
But not to do this to those that are below Him in the creation. Not to the angels or to the stars or the planets or anything else, for they are all created things in nature and in their functioning, there is no choice or judgment except by God Himself. Also it is not fitting to serve them as intermediaries to God. Only to God should you incline your thoughts and your actions. This is the fifth principle and it warns against idolatry and most of the Torah speaks out against this.
Principle VI. Prophecy
And this is that it is known to man that this (prophet) is a type of man who are created beings of great stature and perfection of the character traits. Who have tremendous knowledge until a different intelligence attaches to them when the intelligence of the person clings to the intelligence of God and it rests upon him. And these are the prophets; and this is prophecy; and the idea of it. The explanation of it is very long and the intention is not to bring a sign for every fundamental and to explain it all, encompassing of all knowledge (i.e. God’s knowledge) but it is mentioned to us in a story form and all of the Torah attests to this.
Principle VII. The prophetic capacity of Moses our Teacher, peace be upon him
And this is that we accept that he was the father of all prophets that were before him and that will be after him. He was on a qualitatively different level than any other, and he is chosen from all other people before and after him of any that have any knowledge of God; for his was the greatest. And he, peace be upon him, rose to the levels of the angels. He was granted all areas of knowledge and prophecy and his physical attributes did not diminish. His knowledge was different and it is through this difference that it is ascribed to him that he spoke to God without any intermediary or angel.
My intention was to explain this puzzling concept and to open up the sealed areas in the Torah regarding the verses of “face to face” and other similar references, but its length would be tremendous and it would require numerous proofs from the Torah and other sources and encompass many areas. Even to write it the briefest of briefest it would require 100 pages, so I will save it and write it in another book. I will now return to the intent of this seventh fundamental that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, was different from all others in 4 ways:
1) Regarding all other prophets, God spoke to them through intermediaries. Regarding Moses, it was without one, as it says, “face to face I spoke to him”.
2) Regarding all other prophets, prophecy came to them at night while they were asleep in a dream as it says, “in a dream of the night” and other such references; or in the day but only after a deep sleep-like state came over them, and all their senses were shut off except their thoughts. Not so by Moses. Moses would receive a prophecy any time when he would stand between the two figures [fixed] on the ark, as God attests to it, “and I will make it known to you there” and “not so my servant Moses. Face to face I speak to him.”
3) When a prophet would receive prophecy he would not be able to stand the intense effect and he would shake and not be able to stand, as it relates regarding Daniel in his encounter with the angel Gabriel. Regarding Moses, he did not suffer from this. As it says, “Face to face do I speak to him as a person speaks to his friend”. And even though this is the greatest connection to God, still, he did not suffer.
4) All other prophets could not receive prophecy at their will, [but] only when God desired to tell them. Some would go days or months without prophecy. Even if they wanted or needed something, sometimes it would be days or months or years or even never that they would be told [a prophecy]. Some would have people play music to put them in a good mood such as Elisha. But Moses, peace be upon him, received prophecy whenever he wanted, as it says, “Stand here and listen to what God will tell you what to do” and “God said to Moses tell Aaron your brother that he can’t come to the holy of holies at any time [he wants]”. Our rabbis said, “Aaron was prohibited to come whenever he wanted, but not Moses.
Principle VIII. That the Torah is from heaven [God]
And this is that you believe that all of this Torah that was given by Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, that it is all from the mouth of God. Meaning that it was received by him entirely from God. And it is not known how Moses received it except by Moses himself, peace be upon him, that it came to him. That he was like a stenographer that you read to him and he writes all that is told to him: all the events and dates, the stories, and all the commandments. There is no difference between “And the sons of Cham were Kush, and Mitzraim, and his wife was Mehatbe’el” and “Timnah was his concubine” and “I am Hashem your God” and “Hear Israel [Hashem your God, Hashem is one]” for it was all given by God. And it is all Hashem’s perfect Torah; pure, holy, and true. And he who says that these verses or stories, Moses made them up, he is a denier of our sages and prophets worse than all other types of deniers [form of heretic] for he thinks that what is in the Torah is from man’s flawed heart and the questions and statements and the dates and stories are of no value for they are from Moses Rabbeinu, peace be upon him. And this area is that he believes the Torah is not from heaven. And on this our sages of blessed memory said, “he who believes that the Torah is from heaven except this verse that God did not say it but rather Moses himself did [he is a denier of all the Torah].” And this that God spoke this and that, each and every statement in the Torah, is from God and it is full of wisdom (each statement) and benefit to those who understand them. And its depth of knowledge is greater than all of the land and wider than all the seas and a person can only go in the path of David, the anointed of the God of Jacob who prayed and said “Open my eyes so that I may glance upon the wonders of Your Torah” (Psalms 119). And similarly the explanation of the Torah was also received from God and this is what we use today to know the appearance and structure of the sukka and the lulav and the shofar, tzitzis, tefillin and their usage. And all this God said to Moses and Moses told to us. And he is trustworthy in his role as the messenger and the verse that teaches of this fundamental is what is written (Numbers 16) “And Moses said, with this shall you know that Hashem sent me to do all these actions (wonders) for they are not from my heart.”
Principle IX. The completeness of the Torah
And this is that the Torah is from God and is not lacking. That to it you can’t add or take away from. Not from the written Torah or from the oral Torah, as it says, “Do not add to it and do not take away from it.” (Deut 3). And we already explained what needs to be explained about this fundamental at the beginning of this essay.
Principle X. That God knows man’s actions and does not remove His eye from them
His knowledge is not like someone who says God abandoned the land but rather like it says (Jer. 32) “Great in council and mighty in deed, Your eyes are cognizant to all the ways of mankind.” “And God saw for the evil of man on the land had grown greatly.” (Gen. 6) And it says, “The disgust of Sodom and Amorrah is great” and this demonstrates the 10th principle.
Principle XI. That God gives reward to he who does the commandments of the Torah and punishes those that transgress its admonishments and warnings
And the great reward is the life of the world to come and the punishment is the cutting off of the soul [in the world to come]. And we already said regarding this topic what these are. And the verse that attests to this principle is (Exodus 32) “And now if You would but forgive their sins - and if not erase me from this book that You have written.” And God answered him, “He who sinned against Me I will erase from My book.” This is a proof that God knows the sinner and the fulfiller in order to mete out reward to one and punishment to the other.
Principle XII. The era of the Messiah
And this is to believe that in truth that he will come and that you should be waiting for him even though he delays in coming. And you should not calculate times for him to come, or to look in the verses of Tanach to see when he should come. The sages say: The wisdom of those who calculate times [of his coming] is small and that you should believe that he will be greater and more honored than all of the kings of Israel since the beginning of time as it is prophesied by all the prophets from Moses our teacher, peace be upon him, until Malachi, peace be upon him. And he who doubts or diminishes the greatness of the Messiah is a denier in all the Torah for it testifies to the Messiah explicitly in the portion of Bilam and the portion of “You are gathered (towards the end of Deut)”. And part of this principle that there is no king of Israel except from the house of David and from the seed of Solomon alone. And anyone who disputes this regarding this family is a denier of the name of God and in all the words of the prophets.
Principle XIII. Resurrection of the dead
And we have already explained it And when the person will believe all these fundamentals and his faith will be clear in them he enters into the nation of Israel and it is a mitzva to love him and to have mercy on him and to act to him according to all the ways in which God commanded us regarding loving your neighbor. And even if he did all of the sins in the Torah due to desire of the emotions, and from his physical aspect’s conquering him, he will be punished for his sins, but he still has a share in the world to come and is among the sinners of Israel. However if he rejects one of these fundamentals he leaves the nation and is a denier of the fundamentals and is called a heretic, a denier, etc., and it is a mitzva to hate him and to destroy him (financially - not physically to kill him. And not to steal either). And regarding him it is said (Psalms 139) “Behold will not the enemy of God be my enemy?”
Comment by yamit82 — July 15, 2008 @ 8:20 am
Bill the Torah was given for all mankind but only the Jews were given the obligation of the 613 commandments: The gentiles fo the World were given the Noahide Laws Given to Noah and revealed in the Torah at Sinai: These are what obligate the gentile world.
Man, the weakest of creatures, is surrounded by forces of life and death far greater than himself. Confronted with the vastness of these universal forces, man might well try to ‘serve them’ in order to protect himself, and better his lot. The essence of life, however, is to recognize the Supreme Being who created the Universe - to believe in Him and accept His laws with awe and love. We must remember that He is aware of all our deeds, rewarding goodness and punishing evil. We are dependent on Him, and to Him alone do we owe allegiance. To imagine that there could be any other power that could protect us or provide for our needs, is not only foolish, but perverts the purpose of life, and, as history has shown, potentially unleashes untold forces of evil in ourselves, and in the world.
1. BELIEF IN G-D
Do not worship Idols
2. RESPECT G-D AND PRAISE HIM
Do Not Blaspheme His Name
3. RESPECT HUMAN LIFE
Do Not Murder
4. RESPECT THE FAMILY
Do Not Commit Immoral Sexual Acts
5. RESPECT FOR OTHERS’ RIGHTS AND PROPERTY
Do Not Steal
6. CREATION OF A JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Pursue Justice
7. RESPECT ALL CREATURES
Do not be cruel to animals.
The Seven Laws of Noah demonstrate that almighty G-d has rules and laws for all human beings …and that G-d loves us all. He does not leave anyone, Jew or non-Jew without guidance. To the non-Jew He has given the Seven Commandments.
Maimonides states “Whoever among the Nations fulfills the Seven Commandments to serve God belongs to the Righteous among the Nations, and has his share in the World to Come.”.
Although there are many reasons for a non-Jew to follow the Laws of Noah (because one finds them moral and/or they appeal to his intellect or his sense of justice), in order to become a ‘Ben Noah’ (Child of Noach), one must, essentially, follow these laws because he recognizes that they were revealed by G-d (Ha shem) through Moses to the children of Israel at Mount Sinai.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad Lubavitch world Jewish movement, universally respected, and revered has said that the Noahide Laws observance by all humankind will bring about universal peace and the Messianic Redemption. The Rebbe explained: because the basic nature of our world is perfect and good, our every good action is real and enduring, while every negative thing is just that — a negative phenomenon, a void waiting to be dispelled. Hence the common equation of evil and good with darkness and light. Darkness, no matter how ominous and intimidating, is merely the absence of light. Light need not combat and overpower darkness in order to displace it — where light is, darkness is not. A thimbleful of light will therefore banish a roomful of darkness.
Comment by yamit82 — July 15, 2008 @ 8:36 am