So, I don't know about anyone else, but for me the idea that Jews were never slaves in Egypt (as Shlomo argues), were perhaps not even servants in Egypt, were not even in Egypt at all?, deeply upsets the core of my Jewish identity. For me, Judaism is not about religion or faith. It's about history.
Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I love reading the Haggadah. I do imagine myself leaving Egypt (though in a slightly more realistic fashion). If the Passover story is a lie concocted by Jewish leaders to convince their brethren to attack Canaan (as I've heard Shlomo claims), I might have to stop being Jewish. We'll see. I'll read the book.
What do you think?
Don't take one book as totally difinitive. It's ancient history - arguing over whether the Egyptian exodus happene (and when/how/who was involved/etc) is kind of like arguing if the Greek poet Homer ever existed. It's possible he was just a literary invention, but it's not something we're ever going to be 100% sure about.
ReplyDeleteAnd I doubt anything as complex as cultural origin stories was *entirely* based on any one thing. Even if an origin story was used to get people to attack Canaan, I doubt those using it made it up out of thin air. They probably based it on stories already existing, even if they picked and altered the version of the story to suit their purpose the best.