AAARGH
LOS ANGELES, April 26 (JTA) - Passover has passed, but Los Angeles
Jews are still heatedly discussing whether the Exodus actually
happened.
The controversy, labeled a "hurricane" by the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, was triggered by Rabbi David Wolpe, the spiritual leader of Conservative congregation Sinai Temple and the author of numerous popular books on Judaism.
In three sermons at the beginning and end of Passover, Wolpe examined current research in biblical archaeology and concluded that "virtually every modern archaeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all."
Some of Wolpe's congregants were shocked,
but normally the sermon would have caused only a few ripples within
the temple. However, during the latter part of Passover The Los
Angeles Times ran a prominent front- page article on biblical
archaeology, leading with the Wolpe sermons under the headline,
"Doubting the story of the Exodus."
The reaction was strong.
"Everybody was in shock," said Orthodox Rabbi Elazar Muskin of Young Israel of Century City.
Even at liberal congregations, many worshipers asked, "did he have to say it during Passover?"
Wolpe forcefully defended his position.
"It's a well-known fact that millions of Jews have doubts about the literal veracity of Bible stories. My sermons emphasized that faith is independent of doubt. I wanted the millions of doubting Jews to know that they can still be faithful Jews," Wolpe said in a statement.
"If scholarly books are written
that question the literal veracity of Bible stories, it does not
help our credibility to pretend that they don't exist. By discussing
these books, we maintain the Jewish tradition of sustaining faith
by seeking truth," he continued. "Ignoring the books,
on the other hand, conveys a message of fear: We are afraid that
science will shake our faith. I don't believe it should, and that
is why I spoke out."
The controversy continues unabated, however. In the current issue
of the Jewish Journal, the entire letters to the editor section
is taken up by 17 pro-and-con arguments.
Actor Kirk Douglas, who at 83 celebrated his second Bar Mitzvah
under Wolpe's auspices last year, wrote that "Rabbi Wolpe
had tremendous courage to stand up and speak about what is essentially
a search for truth. That is the highest form of Jewish learning."
By contrast, Orthodox Rabbi Ari Hier - the son of Simon Wiesenthal
Center founder Rabbi Marvin Hier - wrote that "Rabbi Wolpe
has chosen Aristotle over Maimonides, theories and scientific
method over facts."
Earlier, author and national talk show host Dennis Prager sharply attacked Wolpe's thesis in a lengthy article
"If the Exodus did not occur, there is no Judaism. Judaism
stands on two pillars - Creation and Exodus," Prager wrote.
"Judaism no more survives the denial of the Exodus than it
does the denial of the Creator."
In an opposing view, Reform Rabbi Steven Leder of Wilshire Boulevard Temple argued that "defending a rabbi in the 21st century for saying the Exodus story isn't factual is like defending him for saying the earth isn't flat. It's neither new nor shocking to most of us that the earth is round or that the Torah isn't a history book dictated to Moses by God on Mount Sinai."
Wolpe himself re-emphasized his position in a sermon last week, addressing a jammed sanctuary of 1,300 congregants.
"The Torah is about the spiritual truth of the Jewish people, not about particulars," he said. "Let us be brave together."
[Note: Copied below are some, but not
all, the letters Jewish Journal published on the Wolpe sermons
on the Exodus story.]
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php3?id=6825
Letters | Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles | April 27, 2001
A wealthy, successful Westside Jewish congregation hires a celebrity
rabbi, no doubt pays him a fabulous salary so that they can hear
firsthand that the whole basis of Judaism is false. This doesn't
sound like a spiritually uplifting message on Pesach. In fact,
this doesn't sound like a good deal at all.
Gary Spiegel, Los Angeles
0=0=0=0
It's only 55 years since World War II ended, and people are already
denying that the Holocaust ever took place. Even prestigious universities
and libraries in the United States and other countries are giving
platforms to so-called scholars who deny or trivialize the Holocaust.
We still have survivors who can tell us what they experienced
at the hands of the Nazis.
Were the Hebrews ever in Egypt? The Torah commands us to remember
that our ancestors were once slaves in Egypt and that a great
Exodus took place. Is there any evidence to prove that the Hebrews
were never in Egypt and that there was no Exodus?
Rabbi Shimon Paskow, Thousand Oaks
0=0=0=0
Rabbi Wolpe has chosen Aristotle over Maimonides, theories and
scientific method over facts. There is a clear difference between
asking someone today to believe in a theory versus asking them
to accept the facts as passed down from one generation to the
next. I choose to believe the events of the Holocaust as told
by its survivors rather than enter the debate of what the historians
suppose occurred.
Mass conspiracies through the millennia are very difficult to
sustain, and the Jewish people have been recounting the Exodus
narrative on its anniversary for thousands of years.
Rabbi Ari Hier, Director, Jewish Studies Institute, Simon Wiesenthal
Center
0=0=0=0
The literalist interpretation of the Bible defended by Dennis
Prager ("Faith in Exodus," April 20) and Rabbi David
Eliezrie ("Is There Truth in Archaeology?," April 20)
raises difficult theological questions. Perhaps the most profound
rejoinder to their position, however, comes from the words of
Elie Wiesel, who once said, "Some events do take place, but
are not true; others are [true] - although they never occurred."
Gary Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Claremont
McKenna College
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 26 April 2001.
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First Display on aaargh: 10 May 2001
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