Tanach Thoughts

(image by Gustave  Doré, taken from here ) It is well known that biblical critics are immensely bothered by the Book of Yesha'ayahu. The reason that they are bothered by it is not  because it's, as they claim, made up of two to fifty (roughly) different books of different prophets, of whom only one is named (Yesha'ayhu I), but really because they deny the very possibility of prophecy. To them, prophets were the ancient world's equivalent of thinkers and political advisors. No spiritual capabilities whatsoever. As long as the prophets gave generalized apocalyptic "prophecies" that could mean anything and may not even come true, the prophets were in the clear. No, what really bothers critics is when prophets got something right . Then the prophet is a goner: He or she will be pushed from their classically-accepted era to the future, a time in which everyone  knew what had transpired, thus removing any real prophetic abilities from them. But what really bothers c...

Or, "My uneducated thoughts on the "The Pentateuchal Dietary Proscription against Finless and Scaleless Aquatic Species in Light of Ancient Fish Remains" study by Adler and Lernau".  Last week, a study came out called " The Pentateuchal Dietary Proscription against Finless and Scaleless Aquatic Species in Light of Ancient Fish Remains " by Dr. Yonatan Adler and Prof. Omri Lernau, both Israeli archeologists. Naturally, the world was shaken to its core from their conclusion that ancient Israelites and even later Jews did not, it seems, adhere to fish kashrut laws. I read the study a couple of times and thought I'd put down my thoughts on the matter. But beforehand, I'd like to know how much of the conclusions of the study were written by Dr. Adler. Adler is a religious Jew who works in the University of Ariel, not necessarily one of those Tel Aviv minimalists. However, the study includes arguing for a Hellenistic dating of Nechemiah. What. Huh? C...

Earlier this week I heard a class  by Rabbi Yoel Elitzur, where he demonstrated why the popular view of the Exodus - for those that believe it happened - happened in the 13th century BCE. Later that day, or the next, I heard a class  by Dr. Aryeh Borenstein where he explained why - when accepting the p'shat or simple understanding of the Tanachic text - the Exodus must be dated to 1442 BCE. Both classes were given during the same Charedi archeological convention - Mitachat Lifnei Hashetach 3 - and both lecturers brought mountains of archeological evidence to strengthen their views. I found it interesting that the Exodus is viewed as a practically timeless event, and it seems that this even extends backwards, to the Exodus itself and even before that, it seems. It appears that the Exodus could, in fact, have happened in many different generations; several different Egyptian dynasties seem to fit. In the infamous words of Ollivander: "Curious! Very curious." Or as they say,...

 Malbim on Chronicles 1:9:2  writes that ch. 9 is parallelized by chapter 11 of Nechemiah. The two complete one another. Each is based on different info sources that were in front of Ezra (Nechemiah originally being part of the Book of Ezra). Per this, I had an idea earlier today to try and recreate the full list. I did this by first making a chart that compared both chapters (Apologies in advance that it's only in Hebrew at the moment): דברי הימים א' ט' נחמיה י"א וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל הִתְיַחְשׂוּ וְהִנָּם כְּתוּבִים עַל סֵפֶר מַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וִיהוּדָה הָגְלוּ לְבָבֶל בְּמַעֲלָם.   וְהַיּוֹשְׁבִים הָרִאשֹׁנִים אֲשֶׁר בַּאֲחֻזָּתָם בְּעָרֵיהֶם יִשְׂרָאֵל הַכֹּהֲנִים הַלְוִיִּם וְהַנְּתִינִים. וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָׂרֵי הָעָם בִּירוּשָׁלָ‍ִם וּשְׁאָר הָעָם הִפִּילוּ גוֹרָלוֹת לְהָבִיא אֶחָד מִן הָעֲשָׂרָה לָשֶׁבֶת בִּירוּשָׁלַ‍ִם עִיר הַקֹּדֶשׁ וְתֵשַׁע הַיָּדוֹת בֶּעָרִים. וַיְבָרֲכוּ הָעָם לְכֹל הָאֲנָשִׁים ...

 As you can see, I'm making up for the last month or so of no posts. I heard today a class by Dr. Chagai Misgav, a religious doctor of archeology in the Hebrew University. One of the things he said was that a few years before the class was given (the class is from the year 5773, so we're talking about around 5768), an ostracon - i.e. a piece of ancient pottery with writing on it - was discovered in the Beit Ha'elah Valley. This discovery was considered very dramatic in the world of archeology. Why? Well, until that point, it had been widely accepted that the proto-Hebraic alphabet had evolved from the proto-Canaanite alphabet. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me explain: This is what the proto-Canaanite looks like: (image taken from here ) and this is what proto-Hebrew looks like: (image taken from here ) When comparing the various inscriptions and ostracons found, the archeological world managed to create the following theory of development: (image taken...

 Warning: This post is at least a little political, so if that's not your thing, feel free to not read. :) As mixed Jewish and Arab cities in Israel continue burning, many people, myself among them, have been thinking about the myth of multiculturalism. A concept pushed by the West, that all cultures can coexist peacefully. I say myth, because I think the last week or so bear evidence that this claim is not true. This eventually led me to wonder what the Tanach says about multiculturalism. Of course, the Torah already tells us "You shall not copy the practices of the land of Egypt where you dwelt, or of the land of Canaan to which I am taking you; nor shall you follow their laws" ( Vayikra 18:3 ). From this verse and surrounding ones we have the halachot of "chukot hagoyim" and "darkei ha'emori"; i.e. t not follow the practices of the non-Jews. But say we don't follow their ways and merely allow them to coexist with us, or say we don't foll...