Thursday, May 31, 2007
Just the facts
‘Just the facts Ma’am’. That’s all Joe Friday needed or wanted. But it is those elusive facts which make life here at Torahlab so fun and exciting. How are we to piece together those slippery pieces of information – the ‘facts’ – into a narrative which fits with the story? Was grandmother eaten by the wolf, or did the wood cutter arrive in time to save her? How did the wolf die? Why was Little Red walking through the forest by herself when the Brothers Grimm were roaming free? (And why did her mother never tell her not to speak to strange wolves?)
We are about to celebrate the festival of freedom, when we left the bondage of Egypt and set off into the desert for a date with destiny at Mount Sinai. But what happened before that? How long did we spend in Egypt? How long was the slavery? There are so many different sources of information, most of which seem to contradict each other.
There are very clear words in the Torah as to how long the Israelites were in Egypt, and we even have a specific year in which they left (relative to the construction of the First Temple, which we can date fairly accurately). Yet the Seder Olam and other sources from Chazal, followed by Rashi and many of the commentaries override the simple meaning of the words and give alternative dates. Everyone knows that we were only in Egypt for 210 years, even though the text states clearly that it was 430 years (not to mention that G-d told Avraham we would be there for 400 years).
Even that is not so simple, because the Ramban and Kli Yakar (and I hope to find others) disagree with all the other commentators and with Chazal, to give alternate chronologies. And then, when you look at other sources such as Josephus, or Egyptian records and archaeology, you are left with an entirely different time line.
The goal is simple: untangle this knot of contradictory material and present it in a clear and straightforward way.
Hopefully Torahlab will produce a worksheet on this very soon. Until that time stay tuned. And if you have any insights or sources on how to deal with this tangled ball of string facts please share them with me via e-mail.
Originally from Wellington, New Zealand, Rabbi David Sedley now lives in Jerusalem with his wife and children. He currently teaches at both Midreshet Rachel and Darche Noam Yeshiva. Previously he served for four years in Scotland as the Rabbi of Edinburgh Hebrew Congregation, followed by four years as Rabbi of Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue in Leeds, England.
