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The Exodus
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This article is about the events related in the Torah. For the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament, see The Book of Exodus. For other uses, see Exodus (disambiguation).
"Departure of the Israelites", by David Roberts, 1829
The Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος exodos, "going out") is the founding myth of Israel; its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the Mosaic covenant.[1] It tells of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt following the death of Joseph, their departure under the leadership of Moses, the revelations at Sinai, and their wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan.[2] The exodus story is told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and their overall intent was to demonstrate God's actions in history, to recall Israel's bondage and salvation, and to demonstrate the fulfillment of Israel's covenant.[3]
The historicity of the exodus continues to attract popular attention, but most histories of ancient Israel no longer consider information about it recoverable or even relevant to the story of Israel's emergence.[4] The archeological evidence does not support the story told in the Book of Exodus[5] and most archaeologists have therefore abandoned the investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".[6] The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the exodus story was shaped into its final present form in the post-Exilic period,[7] although the traditions behind it are older and can be traced in the writings of the 8th century BCE prophets.[8] How far beyond that the tradition might stretch cannot be told: "Presumably an original Exodus story lies hidden somewhere inside all the later revisions and alterations, but centuries of transmission have long obscured its presence, and its substance, accuracy and date are now difficult to determine."[3]
The Exodus has been central to Judaism: it served to orient Jews towards the celebration of God's actions in history, in contrast to polytheistic celebrations of the gods' actions in nature, and even today it is recounted daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated in the festival of Pesach. In secular history the exodus has served as inspiration and model for many groups, from early Protestant settlers fleeing persecution in Europe to 19th and 20th century African-Americans striving for freedom and civil rights.[9]
Contents [hide]
1 Origins of the Exodus story
2 Cultural significance
3 Historicity 3.1 Numbers and logistics
3.2 Archaeology
3.3 Anachronisms
3.4 Chronology
3.5 Route
3.6 Date
4 Extra-biblical accounts
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
Origins of the Exodus story[edit]
A Semitic slave. Ancient Egyptian figurine. Hecht Museum
The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the Torah (the series of five books which consist of the book of Genesis plus the books in which the Exodus story is told) was shaped in the post-Exilic period.[7] There are currently two important hypotheses explaining the background to this: the first is Persian Imperial authorisation, the idea that the post-Exilic community needed a legal basis on which to function within the Persian Imperial system; the second relates to the community of citizens organised around the Temple, with the Pentateuch providing the criteria for who would belong to it (the narratives and genealogies in Genesis) and establishing the power structures and relative positions of its various groups.[10] In either case, the Book of Exodus forms a "charter myth" for Israel: Israel was delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belongs to him through the covenant.[1]
The completion of the Torah and its elevation to the center of post-Exilic Judaism was as much or more about combining older texts as writing new ones – the final Pentateuch was based on earlier traditions.[11] While the story in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is the best-known account of the Exodus, there are over 150 references throughout the Bible.[12] The earliest mentions are in the prophets Amos (possibly) and Hosea (certainly), both active in 8th century BCE Israel; in contrast Proto-Isaiah and Micah, both active in Judah at much the same time, never do; it thus seems reasonable to conclude the Exodus tradition was important in the northern kingdom in the 8th century BCE, but not in Judah.[8]
In a recent work, Stephen C. Russell traces the 8th century BCE prophetic tradition to three originally separate variants, in the northern kingdom of Israel, in Trans-Jordan, and in the southern kingdom of Judah. Russell proposes different hypothetical historical backgrounds to each tradition: the tradition from Israel, which involves a journey from Egypt to the region of Bethel, he suggests is a memory of herders who could move to and from Egypt in times of crisis; for the Trans-Jordanian tradition, which focuses on deliverance from Egypt without a journey, he suggests a memory of the withdrawal of Egyptian control at the end of the Late Bronze Age; and for Judah, whose tradition is preserved in the Song of the Sea, he suggests the celebration of a military victory over Egypt, although it is impossible to suggest what this victory may have been.[12]
Cultural significance[edit]
Main article: Passover
The exodus is remembered daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated each year at the feast of Passover. [13] The Hebrew name for this festival, Pesach, refers to God's instruction to the Israelites to prepare unleavened bread as they would be leaving Egypt in haste, and to mark their doors with the blood of slaughtered sheep so that the "Angel" or "the destroyer" tasked with killing the first-born of Egypt would "pass over" them. (Despite the Exodus story, scholars believe that the Passover festival originated not in the biblical story but as a magic ritual to turn away demons from the household.)[14]
Jewish tradition has preserved national and personal reminders of this pivotal narrative in daily life. Examples include the wearing of tefillin (phylacteries) on the arm and forehead, the wearing of tzitzit (knotted ritual fringes attached to the four corners of the prayer shawl), the eating of matzot (unleavened bread) during the Pesach, the fasting of the firstborn a day before Pesach, and the redemption of firstborn children and animals.
Historicity[edit]
Possible Exodus routes. The traditional Exodus route is in black; other possible routes are in blue and green.
Numbers and logistics[edit]
The consensus among biblical scholars today is that there was never any exodus of the proportions described in the Bible.[15] According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock.[16] Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up.[17] The 600,000, plus wives, children, the elderly, and the "mixed multitude" of non-Israelites would have numbered some 2 million people,[18] compared with an entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE of around 3 to 3.5 million.[19] Marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long.[20] No evidence has been found that indicates Egypt ever suffered such a demographic and economic catastrophe or that the Sinai desert ever hosted (or could have hosted) these millions of people and their herds.[21] It is also difficult to reconcile the idea of 600,000 Israelite fighting men with the information that the Israelites were afraid of the Philistines and Egyptians.[22]
Some scholars have rationalised these numbers into smaller figures, for example reading the Hebrew as "600 families" rather than 600,000 men, but all such solutions have their own set of problems.[23] The view of mainstream modern biblical scholarship is that the improbability of the Exodus story originates because it was written not as history, but to demonstrate God's purpose and deeds with his Chosen People, Israel.[5] The most probable explanation of the 603,550 delivered from Egypt (according to Numbers 1:46) is that this number is a gematria (a code in which numbers represent letters or words) for bnei yisra'el kol rosh, "the children of Israel, every individual;"[24] while the number 600,000 symbolises the total destruction of the generation of Israel which left Egypt, none of whom lived to see the Promised Land.[25]
Archaeology[edit]
A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has found no evidence which can be directly related to the Exodus captivity and the escape and travels through the wilderness,[5] and most archaeologists have abandoned the archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".[6] A number of theories have been put forward to account for the origins of the Israelites, and despite differing details they agree on Israel's Canaanite origins.[26] The culture of the earliest Israelite settlements is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El, the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite, and almost the sole marker distinguishing the "Israelite" villages from Canaanite sites is an absence of pig bones, although whether even this is an ethnic marker or is due to other factors remains a matter of dispute.[27]
Anachronisms[edit]
Despite the Bible's internal dating of the Exodus to the 2nd millennium BCE, details point to a 1st millennium date for the composition of the Book of Exodus: Ezion-Geber, (one of the Stations of the Exodus), for example, dates to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with possible further occupation into the 4th century BCE,[28] and those place-names on the Exodus route which have been identified – Goshen, Pithom, Succoth, Ramesses and Kadesh Barnea – point to the geography of the 1st millennium rather than the 2nd.[29] Similarly, Pharaoh's fear that the Israelites might ally themselves with foreign invaders seems unlikely in the context of the late 2nd millennium, when Canaan was part of an Egyptian empire and Egypt faced no enemies in that direction, but does make sense in a 1st millennium context, when Egypt was considerably weaker and faced invasion first from the Persians and later from Seleucid Syria.[30] The mention of the dromedary in Exodus 9:3 also suggests a later date of composition – the widespread domestication of the camel as a herd animal was thought not to have taken place before the late 2nd millennium, after the Israelites had already emerged in Canaan,[31] and they did not become widespread in Egypt until c.200–100 BCE.[32]
Chronology[edit]
The chronology of the Exodus story likewise underlines its essentially religious rather than historical nature. The number seven, for example, was sacred to God in Judaism, and so the Israelites arrive at Sinai, where they will meet God, at the beginning of the seventh week after their departure from Egypt,[33] while the erection of the Tabernacle, God's dwelling-place among his people, occurs in the year 2666 after God creates the world, two-thirds of the way through a four thousand year era which culminates in or around the re-dedication of the Second Temple in 164 BCE.[34][35][Notes 1]
Route[edit]
Main article: Stations list
The Torah lists the places where the Israelites rested. A few of the names at the start of the itinerary, including Ra'amses, Pithom and Succoth, are reasonably well identified with archaeological sites on the eastern edge of the Nile delta,[29] as is Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites spend 38 years after turning back from Canaan, but other than that very little is certain. The crossing of the Red Sea has been variously placed at the Pelusic branch of the Nile, anywhere along the network of Bitter Lakes and smaller canals that formed a barrier toward eastward escape, the Gulf of Suez (SSE of Succoth) and the Gulf of Aqaba (S of Ezion-Geber), or even on a lagoon on the Mediterranean coast. The biblical Mt. Sinai is identified in Christian tradition with Jebel Musa in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, but this association dates only from the 3rd century CE and no evidence of the Exodus has been found there.[36]
Date[edit]
Main article: Pharaoh of the Exodus
Attempts to date the Exodus to a specific century have been inconclusive.[37] 1 Kings 6:1 says that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the construction of Solomon's Temple; this would imply an Exodus c.1446 BCE, during Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty.[38] However, it is widely recognised that the number in 1 Kings is symbolic,[39] representing twelve generations of forty years each.[40] (The number 480 is not only symbolic – the twelve generations – but schematic: Solomon's temple (the First Temple) is founded 480 years after the Exodus and 480 years before the foundation of the Second Temple).[41] There are also major archeological obstacles in dating the Exodus to the Eighteenth Dynasty: Canaan at the time was a part of the Egyptian empire, so that the Israelites would in effect be escaping from Egypt to Egypt, and its cities were unwalled and do not show destruction layers consistent with the Bible's account of the occupation of the land (e.g., Jericho was "small and poor, almost insignificant, and unfortified (and) [t]here was also no sign of a destruction". (Finkelstein and Silberman, 2002).[42]
William F. Albright, the leading biblical archaeologist of the mid-20th century, proposed an alternative 13th century date of around 1250–1200 BCE for the Exodus event and the entry into Canaan described in the Book of Joshua.[43] (The Merneptah Stele indicated that a people called "Israel" were already known in Canaan by the reign of Merneptah (1213–1203 BCE), so a date later than this was impossible). His argument was based on many strands of evidence, including archaeologically attested destruction at Beitel (Bethel) and some other cities at around that period and the occurrence of distinctive house-types and round-collared jars which, in his opinion, were "Israelite".[43] Albright's theory enjoyed popularity at the time, but has now been generally abandoned in scholarship:[43] the so-called "Israelite" house-type, the collar-rimmed jars, and other items which Albright thought distinctive and new have now been recognised as continuations of indigenous Canaanite types,[44] and while some "Joshua" cities, including Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo and others, have destruction and transition layers around 1250–1145 BCE, others, including Jericho, have none or were uninhabited during this period.[45][46]
Details in the story hint that a complex and multilayered editing process has been at work: the Exodus cities of Pithom and Rameses, for example, were not inhabited during most of the New Kingdom period, and the forty years of wilderness wanderings are also full of inconsistencies and anachronisms.[47] It is therefore best to treat the Exodus story not as the record of a single historical event but as a "powerful collective memory of the Egyptian occupation of Canaan and the enslavement of its population" during the 13th and 12th centuries (Ann Killebrew, 2005).[47]
Extra-biblical accounts[edit]
The earliest non-Biblical account of the Exodus is in the writings of the Greek author Hecataeus of Abdera, who arrived in Egypt c.320 BCE; in his version the Egyptians blame a plague on foreigners and expel them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, takes them to Canaan.[48] The most famous is by the Egyptian historian Manetho (3rd century BCE), known from two quotations by the 1st century CE Jewish historian Josephus. In the first, Manetho describes the Hyksos, their lowly origins in Asia, their dominion over and expulsion from Egypt, and their subsequent foundation of the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Josephus (not Manetho) identifies the Hyksos with the Jews.[49] In the second story Manetho tells how 80,000 lepers and other "impure people", led by a priest named Osarseph, join forces with the former Hyksos, now living in Jerusalem, to take over Egypt. They wreak havoc until eventually the pharaoh and his son chase them out to the borders of Syria, where Osarseph gives the lepers a law-code and changes his name to Moses.[50] (The identification of Osarseph with Moses in the second account may be a later addition).[50][51]
See also[edit]
Ipuwer Papyrus
The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story
Va'eira, Bo, and Beshalach: Torah portions telling the Exodus story
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ See Thompson, The Mythic Past (1999), pages 73 and following, for an overview of the place of the exodus in the biblical chronology.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Sparks 2010, p. 73.
2.Jump up ^ Redmount 1998, p. 59.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Redmount 1998, p. 63.
4.Jump up ^ Moore & Kelle 2011, p. 81.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Meyers 2005, p. 5.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Dever 2001, p. 99.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Enns 2012, p. 26.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Lemche 1985, p. 327.
9.Jump up ^ Tigay 2004, p. 107.
10.Jump up ^ Ska 2006, p. 217, 227–228.
11.Jump up ^ Carr & Conway 2010, p. 193.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Russell 2009, p. 1.
13.Jump up ^ Tigay 2005, p. 106–107.
14.Jump up ^ Levinson 1997, p. 58.
15.Jump up ^ Walton 2003, p. 258.
16.Jump up ^ Exodus 12
17.Jump up ^ Numbers 1
18.Jump up ^ Kantor 2005, p. 70.
19.Jump up ^ Butzer 1999, p. 297.
20.Jump up ^ Cline 2007, p. 74.
21.Jump up ^ Dever 2003, p. 19.
22.Jump up ^ Miller 2009, p. 256.
23.Jump up ^ Grisanti 2011, p. 240ff.
24.Jump up ^ Beitzel 1980, p. 6–7.
25.Jump up ^ Guillaume 1980, p. 8, 15.
26.Jump up ^ Shaw 2002, p. 313.
27.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 176.
28.Jump up ^ Practico 1985, p. 1–32.
29.^ Jump up to: a b Van Seters 1997, p. 255ff.
30.Jump up ^ Soggin 1998, p. 128–129.
31.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 334.
32.Jump up ^ Faye 2002, p. 3.
33.Jump up ^ Meyers 2005, p. 143.
34.Jump up ^ Hayes & Miller 1986, p. 59.
35.Jump up ^ Davies 1998, p. 180.
36.Jump up ^ Hoffmeier 2005, p. 115ff.
37.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 151.
38.Jump up ^ Shea 2003, p. 238–239.
39.Jump up ^ Moore & Kelle 2005, p. 81.
40.Jump up ^ Thompson 1999, p. 74.
41.Jump up ^ Hughes 1990, p. 40.
42.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 77–79, 82.
43.^ Jump up to: a b c Kitchen 2003, p. 309–310.
44.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 175–177.
45.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 82.
46.Jump up ^ Dever 2003, p. 44–46.
47.^ Jump up to: a b Killebrew 2005, p. 152.
48.Jump up ^ Assmann 2009, p. 34.
49.Jump up ^ Droge 1996, p. 121–122.
50.^ Jump up to: a b Droge 1996, p. 134–135.
51.Jump up ^ Feldman 1998, p. 342.
Bibliography[edit]
Assmann, Jan (2009). "Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt". Oxford Bible Commentary. Harvard University Press.Beitzel, Barry (Spring 1980). "Exodus 3:14 and the divine Name: A Case of Biblical Paronomasia" (PDF). Trinity Journal (Trinity Divinity School) 1: 5–20.Butzer, Karl W. (1999). "Demographics". In Bard, Kathryn A.; Shubert, Steven. Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Routledge. ISBN 0-907459-04-8.Carr, David M.; Conway, Colleen M. (2010). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts. John Wiley & Sons.Davies, Graham (2001). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". In Barton, John. Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. p. 37.Davies, Graham (2004). "Was There an Exodus?". In Day, John. In search of pre-exilic Israel: proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Continuum.Davies, Philip (1998). Scribes and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures. Westminster John Knox.Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5.Dever, William (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5.Droge, Arthur J. (1996). "Josephus Between Greeks and Barbarians". In Feldman, L.H.; Levison, J.R. Josephus' Contra Apion. Brill.Enns, Peter (2012). The Evolution of Adam. Baker Books.Faye, Bernard (2013). "Classification, History and Distribution of the Camel". In Kadim, Isam T.; Mahgoub, Osman; Faye, Bernard. Camel Meat and Meat Products. CABI.Feldman, Louis H. (1998). Josephus's interpretation of the Bible. University of California Press.Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The Bible Unearthed. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86912-8.Gmirkin, Russell E. (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and The Date of the Pentateuch. T & T Clark International.Grisanti, Michael A. (2011). "The Book of Numbers". In Merrill, Eugene H.; Rooker, Mark; Grisanti, Michael A. The World and the Word. B&H Publishing.Guillaume, Philippe. "Tracing the Origin of the Sabbatical Calendar in the Priestly Narrative, Genesis 1 to Joshua 5" (PDF). Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. 5, article 13, Spring 1980.Hayes, John Haralson; Miller, James Maxwell (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox.Hoffmeier, James K (1999). Israel in Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195130881.Hoffmeier, James K (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195155464.Killebrew, Anne E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity. Society of Biblical Literature.Kitchen, Kenneth (2006). "Egyptology and the traditions of early Hebrew antiquity (Genesis and Exodus)". In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press.Knight, Douglas A (1995). "Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomist". In Mays, James Luther; Petersen, David L.; Richards, Kent Harold. Old Testament Interpretation. T&T Clark.Lemche, Niels Peter (1985). Early Israel: anthropological and historical studies. Brill.Levinson, Bernard Malcolm (1997). Deuteronomy and the hermeneutics of legal innovation. OUP.McDermott, John (2002). Reading the Pentateuch. Paulist Press.McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press.Meyers, Carol (2005). Exodus. Cambridge University Press.Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E. (2011). Biblical History and Israel's Past. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802862600.Miller, William T. (2009). The Book of Exodus: Question by Question. Paulist Press.Noll, K.L. (2001). Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction. Sheffield Academic Press.Practico, Gary D. (Summer 1985). "Nelson Glueck's 1938–1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR). No. 259: 1–32.Redmount, Carol A. (1998). "Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt". In Coogan, Michael D. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. OUP.Rofé, Alexander (2002). Deuteronomy: Issues and Interpretation. T&T Clark.Rogerson, John W (2003). "Deuteronomy". In Dunn, James D. G. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans.Rohl, David (1995). Pharaohs and Kings. Crown Publishers.Russell, Stephen C. (2009). Images of Egypt in early biblical literature. Walter de Gruyter.Shaw, Ian (2002). "Israel, Israelites". In Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert. A dictionary of archaeology. Wiley Blackwell.Shea, William H. (2003). "The Date of the Exodus". In Grisanti, Michael A.; Howard, David M. Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts. Kregel Academic.Ska, Jean Louis (2006). Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch. Eisenbrauns.Soggin, John (1998 [tr.1999]). An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah. SCM Press. Check date values in: |date= (help)Sparkes, Kenton L. (2010). "Genre Criticism". In Dozeman, Thomas B. Methods for Exodus. Cambridge University Press.Thompson, Thomas L. (1999). The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel. Basic Books.Tigay, Jeffrey H. (2004). "Exodus". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi. The Jewish study Bible. Oxford University Press.Van Seters, John (1997). "The Geography of the Exodus". In Silberman, Neil Ash. The land that I will show you. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 978-1850756507.Walton, John H. (2003). "Exodus, date of". In Alexander, T.D.; Baker, David W. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. InterVarsity Press.Whitelam, Keith W. (2006). "General problems of studying the text of the bible...". In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus
The Exodus
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This article is about the events related in the Torah. For the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament, see The Book of Exodus. For other uses, see Exodus (disambiguation).
"Departure of the Israelites", by David Roberts, 1829
The Exodus (from Greek ἔξοδος exodos, "going out") is the founding myth of Israel; its message is that the Israelites were delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belong to him through the Mosaic covenant.[1] It tells of the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt following the death of Joseph, their departure under the leadership of Moses, the revelations at Sinai, and their wanderings in the wilderness up to the borders of Canaan.[2] The exodus story is told in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, and their overall intent was to demonstrate God's actions in history, to recall Israel's bondage and salvation, and to demonstrate the fulfillment of Israel's covenant.[3]
The historicity of the exodus continues to attract popular attention, but most histories of ancient Israel no longer consider information about it recoverable or even relevant to the story of Israel's emergence.[4] The archeological evidence does not support the story told in the Book of Exodus[5] and most archaeologists have therefore abandoned the investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".[6] The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the exodus story was shaped into its final present form in the post-Exilic period,[7] although the traditions behind it are older and can be traced in the writings of the 8th century BCE prophets.[8] How far beyond that the tradition might stretch cannot be told: "Presumably an original Exodus story lies hidden somewhere inside all the later revisions and alterations, but centuries of transmission have long obscured its presence, and its substance, accuracy and date are now difficult to determine."[3]
The Exodus has been central to Judaism: it served to orient Jews towards the celebration of God's actions in history, in contrast to polytheistic celebrations of the gods' actions in nature, and even today it is recounted daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated in the festival of Pesach. In secular history the exodus has served as inspiration and model for many groups, from early Protestant settlers fleeing persecution in Europe to 19th and 20th century African-Americans striving for freedom and civil rights.[9]
Contents [hide]
1 Origins of the Exodus story
2 Cultural significance
3 Historicity 3.1 Numbers and logistics
3.2 Archaeology
3.3 Anachronisms
3.4 Chronology
3.5 Route
3.6 Date
4 Extra-biblical accounts
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 Bibliography
9 External links
Origins of the Exodus story[edit]
A Semitic slave. Ancient Egyptian figurine. Hecht Museum
The opinion of the overwhelming majority of modern biblical scholars is that the Torah (the series of five books which consist of the book of Genesis plus the books in which the Exodus story is told) was shaped in the post-Exilic period.[7] There are currently two important hypotheses explaining the background to this: the first is Persian Imperial authorisation, the idea that the post-Exilic community needed a legal basis on which to function within the Persian Imperial system; the second relates to the community of citizens organised around the Temple, with the Pentateuch providing the criteria for who would belong to it (the narratives and genealogies in Genesis) and establishing the power structures and relative positions of its various groups.[10] In either case, the Book of Exodus forms a "charter myth" for Israel: Israel was delivered from slavery by Yahweh and therefore belongs to him through the covenant.[1]
The completion of the Torah and its elevation to the center of post-Exilic Judaism was as much or more about combining older texts as writing new ones – the final Pentateuch was based on earlier traditions.[11] While the story in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy is the best-known account of the Exodus, there are over 150 references throughout the Bible.[12] The earliest mentions are in the prophets Amos (possibly) and Hosea (certainly), both active in 8th century BCE Israel; in contrast Proto-Isaiah and Micah, both active in Judah at much the same time, never do; it thus seems reasonable to conclude the Exodus tradition was important in the northern kingdom in the 8th century BCE, but not in Judah.[8]
In a recent work, Stephen C. Russell traces the 8th century BCE prophetic tradition to three originally separate variants, in the northern kingdom of Israel, in Trans-Jordan, and in the southern kingdom of Judah. Russell proposes different hypothetical historical backgrounds to each tradition: the tradition from Israel, which involves a journey from Egypt to the region of Bethel, he suggests is a memory of herders who could move to and from Egypt in times of crisis; for the Trans-Jordanian tradition, which focuses on deliverance from Egypt without a journey, he suggests a memory of the withdrawal of Egyptian control at the end of the Late Bronze Age; and for Judah, whose tradition is preserved in the Song of the Sea, he suggests the celebration of a military victory over Egypt, although it is impossible to suggest what this victory may have been.[12]
Cultural significance[edit]
Main article: Passover
The exodus is remembered daily in Jewish prayers and celebrated each year at the feast of Passover. [13] The Hebrew name for this festival, Pesach, refers to God's instruction to the Israelites to prepare unleavened bread as they would be leaving Egypt in haste, and to mark their doors with the blood of slaughtered sheep so that the "Angel" or "the destroyer" tasked with killing the first-born of Egypt would "pass over" them. (Despite the Exodus story, scholars believe that the Passover festival originated not in the biblical story but as a magic ritual to turn away demons from the household.)[14]
Jewish tradition has preserved national and personal reminders of this pivotal narrative in daily life. Examples include the wearing of tefillin (phylacteries) on the arm and forehead, the wearing of tzitzit (knotted ritual fringes attached to the four corners of the prayer shawl), the eating of matzot (unleavened bread) during the Pesach, the fasting of the firstborn a day before Pesach, and the redemption of firstborn children and animals.
Historicity[edit]
Possible Exodus routes. The traditional Exodus route is in black; other possible routes are in blue and green.
Numbers and logistics[edit]
The consensus among biblical scholars today is that there was never any exodus of the proportions described in the Bible.[15] According to Exodus 12:37–38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock.[16] Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550 men aged 20 and up.[17] The 600,000, plus wives, children, the elderly, and the "mixed multitude" of non-Israelites would have numbered some 2 million people,[18] compared with an entire Egyptian population in 1250 BCE of around 3 to 3.5 million.[19] Marching ten abreast, and without accounting for livestock, they would have formed a line 150 miles long.[20] No evidence has been found that indicates Egypt ever suffered such a demographic and economic catastrophe or that the Sinai desert ever hosted (or could have hosted) these millions of people and their herds.[21] It is also difficult to reconcile the idea of 600,000 Israelite fighting men with the information that the Israelites were afraid of the Philistines and Egyptians.[22]
Some scholars have rationalised these numbers into smaller figures, for example reading the Hebrew as "600 families" rather than 600,000 men, but all such solutions have their own set of problems.[23] The view of mainstream modern biblical scholarship is that the improbability of the Exodus story originates because it was written not as history, but to demonstrate God's purpose and deeds with his Chosen People, Israel.[5] The most probable explanation of the 603,550 delivered from Egypt (according to Numbers 1:46) is that this number is a gematria (a code in which numbers represent letters or words) for bnei yisra'el kol rosh, "the children of Israel, every individual;"[24] while the number 600,000 symbolises the total destruction of the generation of Israel which left Egypt, none of whom lived to see the Promised Land.[25]
Archaeology[edit]
A century of research by archaeologists and Egyptologists has found no evidence which can be directly related to the Exodus captivity and the escape and travels through the wilderness,[5] and most archaeologists have abandoned the archaeological investigation of Moses and the Exodus as "a fruitless pursuit".[6] A number of theories have been put forward to account for the origins of the Israelites, and despite differing details they agree on Israel's Canaanite origins.[26] The culture of the earliest Israelite settlements is Canaanite, their cult-objects are those of the Canaanite god El, the pottery remains in the local Canaanite tradition, and the alphabet used is early Canaanite, and almost the sole marker distinguishing the "Israelite" villages from Canaanite sites is an absence of pig bones, although whether even this is an ethnic marker or is due to other factors remains a matter of dispute.[27]
Anachronisms[edit]
Despite the Bible's internal dating of the Exodus to the 2nd millennium BCE, details point to a 1st millennium date for the composition of the Book of Exodus: Ezion-Geber, (one of the Stations of the Exodus), for example, dates to a period between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE with possible further occupation into the 4th century BCE,[28] and those place-names on the Exodus route which have been identified – Goshen, Pithom, Succoth, Ramesses and Kadesh Barnea – point to the geography of the 1st millennium rather than the 2nd.[29] Similarly, Pharaoh's fear that the Israelites might ally themselves with foreign invaders seems unlikely in the context of the late 2nd millennium, when Canaan was part of an Egyptian empire and Egypt faced no enemies in that direction, but does make sense in a 1st millennium context, when Egypt was considerably weaker and faced invasion first from the Persians and later from Seleucid Syria.[30] The mention of the dromedary in Exodus 9:3 also suggests a later date of composition – the widespread domestication of the camel as a herd animal was thought not to have taken place before the late 2nd millennium, after the Israelites had already emerged in Canaan,[31] and they did not become widespread in Egypt until c.200–100 BCE.[32]
Chronology[edit]
The chronology of the Exodus story likewise underlines its essentially religious rather than historical nature. The number seven, for example, was sacred to God in Judaism, and so the Israelites arrive at Sinai, where they will meet God, at the beginning of the seventh week after their departure from Egypt,[33] while the erection of the Tabernacle, God's dwelling-place among his people, occurs in the year 2666 after God creates the world, two-thirds of the way through a four thousand year era which culminates in or around the re-dedication of the Second Temple in 164 BCE.[34][35][Notes 1]
Route[edit]
Main article: Stations list
The Torah lists the places where the Israelites rested. A few of the names at the start of the itinerary, including Ra'amses, Pithom and Succoth, are reasonably well identified with archaeological sites on the eastern edge of the Nile delta,[29] as is Kadesh-Barnea, where the Israelites spend 38 years after turning back from Canaan, but other than that very little is certain. The crossing of the Red Sea has been variously placed at the Pelusic branch of the Nile, anywhere along the network of Bitter Lakes and smaller canals that formed a barrier toward eastward escape, the Gulf of Suez (SSE of Succoth) and the Gulf of Aqaba (S of Ezion-Geber), or even on a lagoon on the Mediterranean coast. The biblical Mt. Sinai is identified in Christian tradition with Jebel Musa in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, but this association dates only from the 3rd century CE and no evidence of the Exodus has been found there.[36]
Date[edit]
Main article: Pharaoh of the Exodus
Attempts to date the Exodus to a specific century have been inconclusive.[37] 1 Kings 6:1 says that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the construction of Solomon's Temple; this would imply an Exodus c.1446 BCE, during Egypt's Eighteenth Dynasty.[38] However, it is widely recognised that the number in 1 Kings is symbolic,[39] representing twelve generations of forty years each.[40] (The number 480 is not only symbolic – the twelve generations – but schematic: Solomon's temple (the First Temple) is founded 480 years after the Exodus and 480 years before the foundation of the Second Temple).[41] There are also major archeological obstacles in dating the Exodus to the Eighteenth Dynasty: Canaan at the time was a part of the Egyptian empire, so that the Israelites would in effect be escaping from Egypt to Egypt, and its cities were unwalled and do not show destruction layers consistent with the Bible's account of the occupation of the land (e.g., Jericho was "small and poor, almost insignificant, and unfortified (and) [t]here was also no sign of a destruction". (Finkelstein and Silberman, 2002).[42]
William F. Albright, the leading biblical archaeologist of the mid-20th century, proposed an alternative 13th century date of around 1250–1200 BCE for the Exodus event and the entry into Canaan described in the Book of Joshua.[43] (The Merneptah Stele indicated that a people called "Israel" were already known in Canaan by the reign of Merneptah (1213–1203 BCE), so a date later than this was impossible). His argument was based on many strands of evidence, including archaeologically attested destruction at Beitel (Bethel) and some other cities at around that period and the occurrence of distinctive house-types and round-collared jars which, in his opinion, were "Israelite".[43] Albright's theory enjoyed popularity at the time, but has now been generally abandoned in scholarship:[43] the so-called "Israelite" house-type, the collar-rimmed jars, and other items which Albright thought distinctive and new have now been recognised as continuations of indigenous Canaanite types,[44] and while some "Joshua" cities, including Hazor, Lachish, Megiddo and others, have destruction and transition layers around 1250–1145 BCE, others, including Jericho, have none or were uninhabited during this period.[45][46]
Details in the story hint that a complex and multilayered editing process has been at work: the Exodus cities of Pithom and Rameses, for example, were not inhabited during most of the New Kingdom period, and the forty years of wilderness wanderings are also full of inconsistencies and anachronisms.[47] It is therefore best to treat the Exodus story not as the record of a single historical event but as a "powerful collective memory of the Egyptian occupation of Canaan and the enslavement of its population" during the 13th and 12th centuries (Ann Killebrew, 2005).[47]
Extra-biblical accounts[edit]
The earliest non-Biblical account of the Exodus is in the writings of the Greek author Hecataeus of Abdera, who arrived in Egypt c.320 BCE; in his version the Egyptians blame a plague on foreigners and expel them from the country, whereupon Moses, their leader, takes them to Canaan.[48] The most famous is by the Egyptian historian Manetho (3rd century BCE), known from two quotations by the 1st century CE Jewish historian Josephus. In the first, Manetho describes the Hyksos, their lowly origins in Asia, their dominion over and expulsion from Egypt, and their subsequent foundation of the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Josephus (not Manetho) identifies the Hyksos with the Jews.[49] In the second story Manetho tells how 80,000 lepers and other "impure people", led by a priest named Osarseph, join forces with the former Hyksos, now living in Jerusalem, to take over Egypt. They wreak havoc until eventually the pharaoh and his son chase them out to the borders of Syria, where Osarseph gives the lepers a law-code and changes his name to Moses.[50] (The identification of Osarseph with Moses in the second account may be a later addition).[50][51]
See also[edit]
Ipuwer Papyrus
The Parting of the Sea: How Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Plagues Shaped the Exodus Story
Va'eira, Bo, and Beshalach: Torah portions telling the Exodus story
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ See Thompson, The Mythic Past (1999), pages 73 and following, for an overview of the place of the exodus in the biblical chronology.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b Sparks 2010, p. 73.
2.Jump up ^ Redmount 1998, p. 59.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Redmount 1998, p. 63.
4.Jump up ^ Moore & Kelle 2011, p. 81.
5.^ Jump up to: a b c Meyers 2005, p. 5.
6.^ Jump up to: a b Dever 2001, p. 99.
7.^ Jump up to: a b Enns 2012, p. 26.
8.^ Jump up to: a b Lemche 1985, p. 327.
9.Jump up ^ Tigay 2004, p. 107.
10.Jump up ^ Ska 2006, p. 217, 227–228.
11.Jump up ^ Carr & Conway 2010, p. 193.
12.^ Jump up to: a b Russell 2009, p. 1.
13.Jump up ^ Tigay 2005, p. 106–107.
14.Jump up ^ Levinson 1997, p. 58.
15.Jump up ^ Walton 2003, p. 258.
16.Jump up ^ Exodus 12
17.Jump up ^ Numbers 1
18.Jump up ^ Kantor 2005, p. 70.
19.Jump up ^ Butzer 1999, p. 297.
20.Jump up ^ Cline 2007, p. 74.
21.Jump up ^ Dever 2003, p. 19.
22.Jump up ^ Miller 2009, p. 256.
23.Jump up ^ Grisanti 2011, p. 240ff.
24.Jump up ^ Beitzel 1980, p. 6–7.
25.Jump up ^ Guillaume 1980, p. 8, 15.
26.Jump up ^ Shaw 2002, p. 313.
27.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 176.
28.Jump up ^ Practico 1985, p. 1–32.
29.^ Jump up to: a b Van Seters 1997, p. 255ff.
30.Jump up ^ Soggin 1998, p. 128–129.
31.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 334.
32.Jump up ^ Faye 2002, p. 3.
33.Jump up ^ Meyers 2005, p. 143.
34.Jump up ^ Hayes & Miller 1986, p. 59.
35.Jump up ^ Davies 1998, p. 180.
36.Jump up ^ Hoffmeier 2005, p. 115ff.
37.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 151.
38.Jump up ^ Shea 2003, p. 238–239.
39.Jump up ^ Moore & Kelle 2005, p. 81.
40.Jump up ^ Thompson 1999, p. 74.
41.Jump up ^ Hughes 1990, p. 40.
42.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 77–79, 82.
43.^ Jump up to: a b c Kitchen 2003, p. 309–310.
44.Jump up ^ Killebrew 2005, p. 175–177.
45.Jump up ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002, p. 82.
46.Jump up ^ Dever 2003, p. 44–46.
47.^ Jump up to: a b Killebrew 2005, p. 152.
48.Jump up ^ Assmann 2009, p. 34.
49.Jump up ^ Droge 1996, p. 121–122.
50.^ Jump up to: a b Droge 1996, p. 134–135.
51.Jump up ^ Feldman 1998, p. 342.
Bibliography[edit]
Assmann, Jan (2009). "Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt". Oxford Bible Commentary. Harvard University Press.Beitzel, Barry (Spring 1980). "Exodus 3:14 and the divine Name: A Case of Biblical Paronomasia" (PDF). Trinity Journal (Trinity Divinity School) 1: 5–20.Butzer, Karl W. (1999). "Demographics". In Bard, Kathryn A.; Shubert, Steven. Encyclopedia of the archaeology of ancient Egypt. Routledge. ISBN 0-907459-04-8.Carr, David M.; Conway, Colleen M. (2010). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts. John Wiley & Sons.Davies, Graham (2001). "Introduction to the Pentateuch". In Barton, John. Oxford Bible Commentary. Oxford University Press. p. 37.Davies, Graham (2004). "Was There an Exodus?". In Day, John. In search of pre-exilic Israel: proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Continuum.Davies, Philip (1998). Scribes and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures. Westminster John Knox.Dever, William (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know, and When Did They Know It?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5.Dever, William (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. Eerdmans. ISBN 3-927120-37-5.Droge, Arthur J. (1996). "Josephus Between Greeks and Barbarians". In Feldman, L.H.; Levison, J.R. Josephus' Contra Apion. Brill.Enns, Peter (2012). The Evolution of Adam. Baker Books.Faye, Bernard (2013). "Classification, History and Distribution of the Camel". In Kadim, Isam T.; Mahgoub, Osman; Faye, Bernard. Camel Meat and Meat Products. CABI.Feldman, Louis H. (1998). Josephus's interpretation of the Bible. University of California Press.Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001). The Bible Unearthed. Free Press. ISBN 0-684-86912-8.Gmirkin, Russell E. (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and The Date of the Pentateuch. T & T Clark International.Grisanti, Michael A. (2011). "The Book of Numbers". In Merrill, Eugene H.; Rooker, Mark; Grisanti, Michael A. The World and the Word. B&H Publishing.Guillaume, Philippe. "Tracing the Origin of the Sabbatical Calendar in the Priestly Narrative, Genesis 1 to Joshua 5" (PDF). Journal of Hebrew Scriptures. 5, article 13, Spring 1980.Hayes, John Haralson; Miller, James Maxwell (1986). A History of Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox.Hoffmeier, James K (1999). Israel in Egypt. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195130881.Hoffmeier, James K (2005). Ancient Israel in Sinai. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195155464.Killebrew, Anne E. (2005). Biblical Peoples and Ethnicity. Society of Biblical Literature.Kitchen, Kenneth (2006). "Egyptology and the traditions of early Hebrew antiquity (Genesis and Exodus)". In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press.Knight, Douglas A (1995). "Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomist". In Mays, James Luther; Petersen, David L.; Richards, Kent Harold. Old Testament Interpretation. T&T Clark.Lemche, Niels Peter (1985). Early Israel: anthropological and historical studies. Brill.Levinson, Bernard Malcolm (1997). Deuteronomy and the hermeneutics of legal innovation. OUP.McDermott, John (2002). Reading the Pentateuch. Paulist Press.McEntire, Mark (2008). Struggling with God: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Mercer University Press.Meyers, Carol (2005). Exodus. Cambridge University Press.Moore, Megan Bishop; Kelle, Brad E. (2011). Biblical History and Israel's Past. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802862600.Miller, William T. (2009). The Book of Exodus: Question by Question. Paulist Press.Noll, K.L. (2001). Canaan and Israel in Antiquity: An Introduction. Sheffield Academic Press.Practico, Gary D. (Summer 1985). "Nelson Glueck's 1938–1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal". Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research (BASOR). No. 259: 1–32.Redmount, Carol A. (1998). "Bitter Lives: Israel In And Out of Egypt". In Coogan, Michael D. The Oxford History of the Biblical World. OUP.Rofé, Alexander (2002). Deuteronomy: Issues and Interpretation. T&T Clark.Rogerson, John W (2003). "Deuteronomy". In Dunn, James D. G. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible. Eerdmans.Rohl, David (1995). Pharaohs and Kings. Crown Publishers.Russell, Stephen C. (2009). Images of Egypt in early biblical literature. Walter de Gruyter.Shaw, Ian (2002). "Israel, Israelites". In Shaw, Ian; Jameson, Robert. A dictionary of archaeology. Wiley Blackwell.Shea, William H. (2003). "The Date of the Exodus". In Grisanti, Michael A.; Howard, David M. Giving the Sense: Understanding and Using Old Testament Historical Texts. Kregel Academic.Ska, Jean Louis (2006). Introduction to Reading the Pentateuch. Eisenbrauns.Soggin, John (1998 [tr.1999]). An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah. SCM Press. Check date values in: |date= (help)Sparkes, Kenton L. (2010). "Genre Criticism". In Dozeman, Thomas B. Methods for Exodus. Cambridge University Press.Thompson, Thomas L. (1999). The Mythic Past: Biblical Archaeology And The Myth Of Israel. Basic Books.Tigay, Jeffrey H. (2004). "Exodus". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi. The Jewish study Bible. Oxford University Press.Van Seters, John (1997). "The Geography of the Exodus". In Silberman, Neil Ash. The land that I will show you. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 978-1850756507.Walton, John H. (2003). "Exodus, date of". In Alexander, T.D.; Baker, David W. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. InterVarsity Press.Whitelam, Keith W. (2006). "General problems of studying the text of the bible...". In Rogerson, John William; Lieu, Judith. The Oxford handbook of biblical studies. Oxford University Press.
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Jewish atheism
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Jewish atheism refers to atheism as practiced by people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish. Because Jewishness encompasses ethnic as well as religious components, the term "Jewish atheism" does not necessarily imply a contradiction. Based on Jewish law's emphasis on matrilineal descent, even religiously conservative Orthodox Jewish authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as fully Jewish.[1] A 2011 study found that half of all American Jews have doubts about the existence of God, compared to 10–15% of other American religious groups.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Organized Jewish life
2 Jewish theology
3 Secular Jewish culture
4 Notable people
5 See also
6 Notes
Organized Jewish life[edit]
There has been a phenomenon of atheistic and secular Jewish organizations, mostly in the past century, from the Jewish socialist Bund in early twentieth-century Poland to the modern Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Society for Humanistic Judaism in the United States. Many Jewish atheists feel comfortable within any of the three major non-Orthodox Jewish denominations (Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist). This presents less of a contradiction than might first seem apparent, given Judaism's emphasis on practice over belief, with even mainstream guides to Judaism suggesting that belief in God is not a necessary prerequisite to Jewish observance.[3] However, Orthodox Judaism regards the acceptance of the "Yoke of Heaven" (the sovereignty of the God of Israel in the world and the divine origin of the Torah) as a fundamental obligation for Jews. Even among non-Orthodox Jews, espousing atheism remains problematic outside of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Society for Humanistic Judaism. The Reform movement, for example, has rejected efforts at affiliation by atheistic temples.[4] The presence of atheists in all denominations of modern Judaism, from Secular Humanistic Judaism to Orthodoxy, has been noted.[5]
Jewish theology[edit]
Much recent Jewish theology makes few if any metaphysical claims and is thus compatible with atheism on an ontological level. The founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, Mordechai Kaplan, espoused a naturalistic definition of God, while some post-Holocaust theology has also eschewed a personal God.[6] The Jewish philosopher Howard Wettstein has advanced a non-metaphysical approach to religious commitment, according to which metaphysical theism-atheism is not the issue.[7] Harold Schulweis, a Conservative rabbi trained in the Reconstructionist tradition, has argued that Jewish theology should move from a focus on God to an emphasis on "godliness." This "predicate theology", while continuing to use theistic language, again makes few metaphysical claims that non-believers would find objectionable.[8]
However, some Jewish atheists remain deeply uncomfortable with the use of any kind of theistic language. For such Jews traditional practice and symbolism can still retain powerful meaning. They may continue to engage in Jewish rituals such as the lighting of Shabbat candles and find meaning in many aspects of Jewish culture and religion. For example, to an atheist Jew, the Menorah might represent the power of the Jewish spirit or stand as a symbol of the fight against assimilation. No mention of a divine force in Jewish history would be accepted literally; the Torah may be viewed as a common mythology of the Jewish people, not a faith document or correct history.[citation needed]
Secular Jewish culture[edit]
See also: Jewish secularism
Many Jewish atheists would reject even this level of ritualized and symbolic identification, instead embracing a thoroughgoing secularism and basing their Jewishness entirely in ethnicity and secular Jewish culture. Possibilities for secular Jewishness include an identification with Jewish history and peoplehood, immersion in Jewish literature (including such non-religious Jewish authors as Philip Roth and Amos Oz), the consumption of Jewish food, the use of Jewish humor, and an attachment to Jewish languages such as Yiddish, Hebrew or Ladino. A high percentage of Israelis identify themselves as secular, rejecting the practice of the Jewish religion (see Religion in Israel). While some non-believers of Jewish ancestry do not consider themselves Jews, preferring to define themselves solely as atheists, some would argue that Judaism is arguably a culture and tradition that one can easily embrace without religious faith, despite Jewish culture revolving around God.[neutrality is disputed][9]
Notable people[edit]
See also: List of Jewish atheists
A number of well-known Jews throughout history have rejected a belief in God. Some have denied the existence of a traditional deity while continuing to use religious language. In 1656 the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated by Amsterdam's Sephardic synagogue after advancing a pantheist notion of God that, according to some observers, is both compatible with and paved the way for modern atheism.[10] Deeply influenced by Spinoza, Albert Einstein used theistic language and identified strongly as a Jew, while rejecting the notion of a personal god.[11] The astrophysicist Carl Sagan was born into a Jewish family and was a non-theist.[12]
Karl Marx was born into an ethnically Jewish family but raised as a Lutheran, and is among the most notable and influential atheist thinkers of modern history; he developed dialectical and historical materialism which became the basis for his critique of capitalism and his theories of scientific socialism. Marx became a major influence among other prominent Jewish intellectuals including Moses Hess. In one of his most cited comments on religion he stated: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".
Many other famous Jews have wholeheartedly embraced atheism, rejecting religiosity altogether. Sigmund Freud penned The Future of an Illusion, in which he both eschewed religious belief and outlined its origins and prospects. At the same time he urged a Jewish colleague to raise his son within the Jewish religion, arguing that "If you do not let your son grow up as a Jew, you will deprive him of those sources of energy which cannot be replaced by anything else."[13] The anarchist Emma Goldman was born to an Orthodox Jewish family and rejected belief in God, while the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, when asked if she believed in God, answered "I believe in the Jewish people, and the Jewish people believe in God."[14] More recently, the French Jewish philosopher Jacques Derrida stated somewhat cryptically, "I rightly pass for an atheist".[15] In the world of entertainment, Woody Allen has made a career out of the tension between his Jewishness and religious doubt ("Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends").[16]
See also[edit]
Conversion to Judaism
Christianity and Judaism
Ethical Culture
Haskalah
Humanistic Judaism
Jewish Bolshevism
Jews in apostasy
Schisms among the Jews
Who is a Jew?
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ What Makes a Jew "Jewish"? – Jewish Identity
2.Jump up ^ Winston, Kimberly (September 26, 2011). "Judaism without God? Yes, say American atheists". USA Today. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
3.Jump up ^ See, for example: Daniel Septimus, Must a Jew Believe in God?
4.Jump up ^ "Reform Jews Reject a Temple Without God", New York Times, June 13, 1994.
5.Jump up ^ Berlinerblau, Jacques. "In Praise of Jewish Atheism". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012.
6.Jump up ^ See, for example, Mordechai Kaplan, The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (New York: Behrman’s Jewish book house, 1937); Richard Rubenstein, After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966).[page needed]
7.Jump up ^ Howard Wettstein, The Significance of Religious Experience (Oxford University Press, 2012)[page needed]
8.Jump up ^ See Harold M. Schulweis. Evil and the Morality of God (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1984);[page needed] For Those Who Can't Believe : Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith (Harper Perennial, 1995).[page needed]
9.Jump up ^ An example of an atheist rejecting Jewish identification is cited in "Hipster Antisemitism," Zeek, January 2005
10.Jump up ^ Christopher Hitchens, ed., The Portable Atheist (Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2007), 21.
11.Jump up ^ "The Religious Non-believer: Einstein and his God", Moment, April 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Sagan, Carl (February 12, 1986). "Chapter 23". Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Ballantine Books. p. 330. ISBN 0-345-33689-5.
13.Jump up ^ David S. Ariel, What Do Jews Believe? (New York: Shocken Books, 1995), 248.
14.Jump up ^ See Emma Goldman, "The Philosophy of Atheism," in Christopher Hitchens, ed., The Portable Atheist (Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2007), 129–33; Golda Meir is quoted by Jonathan Rosen in "So Was It Odd of God?", The New York Times, December 14, 2003.
15.Jump up ^ Scott Mclemee (October 11, 2004). "Jacques Derrida, Thinker Who Influenced and Infuriated a Range of Humanistic Fields, Dies at 74". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006.
16.Jump up ^ Woody Allen Quotes – The Quotations Page
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Jewish atheism
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The Greek word "atheoi" ("[those who are] without God") as it appears on the early 3rd-century Papyrus 46
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Jewish atheism refers to atheism as practiced by people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish. Because Jewishness encompasses ethnic as well as religious components, the term "Jewish atheism" does not necessarily imply a contradiction. Based on Jewish law's emphasis on matrilineal descent, even religiously conservative Orthodox Jewish authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as fully Jewish.[1] A 2011 study found that half of all American Jews have doubts about the existence of God, compared to 10–15% of other American religious groups.[2]
Contents [hide]
1 Organized Jewish life
2 Jewish theology
3 Secular Jewish culture
4 Notable people
5 See also
6 Notes
Organized Jewish life[edit]
There has been a phenomenon of atheistic and secular Jewish organizations, mostly in the past century, from the Jewish socialist Bund in early twentieth-century Poland to the modern Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Society for Humanistic Judaism in the United States. Many Jewish atheists feel comfortable within any of the three major non-Orthodox Jewish denominations (Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist). This presents less of a contradiction than might first seem apparent, given Judaism's emphasis on practice over belief, with even mainstream guides to Judaism suggesting that belief in God is not a necessary prerequisite to Jewish observance.[3] However, Orthodox Judaism regards the acceptance of the "Yoke of Heaven" (the sovereignty of the God of Israel in the world and the divine origin of the Torah) as a fundamental obligation for Jews. Even among non-Orthodox Jews, espousing atheism remains problematic outside of the Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the Society for Humanistic Judaism. The Reform movement, for example, has rejected efforts at affiliation by atheistic temples.[4] The presence of atheists in all denominations of modern Judaism, from Secular Humanistic Judaism to Orthodoxy, has been noted.[5]
Jewish theology[edit]
Much recent Jewish theology makes few if any metaphysical claims and is thus compatible with atheism on an ontological level. The founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, Mordechai Kaplan, espoused a naturalistic definition of God, while some post-Holocaust theology has also eschewed a personal God.[6] The Jewish philosopher Howard Wettstein has advanced a non-metaphysical approach to religious commitment, according to which metaphysical theism-atheism is not the issue.[7] Harold Schulweis, a Conservative rabbi trained in the Reconstructionist tradition, has argued that Jewish theology should move from a focus on God to an emphasis on "godliness." This "predicate theology", while continuing to use theistic language, again makes few metaphysical claims that non-believers would find objectionable.[8]
However, some Jewish atheists remain deeply uncomfortable with the use of any kind of theistic language. For such Jews traditional practice and symbolism can still retain powerful meaning. They may continue to engage in Jewish rituals such as the lighting of Shabbat candles and find meaning in many aspects of Jewish culture and religion. For example, to an atheist Jew, the Menorah might represent the power of the Jewish spirit or stand as a symbol of the fight against assimilation. No mention of a divine force in Jewish history would be accepted literally; the Torah may be viewed as a common mythology of the Jewish people, not a faith document or correct history.[citation needed]
Secular Jewish culture[edit]
See also: Jewish secularism
Many Jewish atheists would reject even this level of ritualized and symbolic identification, instead embracing a thoroughgoing secularism and basing their Jewishness entirely in ethnicity and secular Jewish culture. Possibilities for secular Jewishness include an identification with Jewish history and peoplehood, immersion in Jewish literature (including such non-religious Jewish authors as Philip Roth and Amos Oz), the consumption of Jewish food, the use of Jewish humor, and an attachment to Jewish languages such as Yiddish, Hebrew or Ladino. A high percentage of Israelis identify themselves as secular, rejecting the practice of the Jewish religion (see Religion in Israel). While some non-believers of Jewish ancestry do not consider themselves Jews, preferring to define themselves solely as atheists, some would argue that Judaism is arguably a culture and tradition that one can easily embrace without religious faith, despite Jewish culture revolving around God.[neutrality is disputed][9]
Notable people[edit]
See also: List of Jewish atheists
A number of well-known Jews throughout history have rejected a belief in God. Some have denied the existence of a traditional deity while continuing to use religious language. In 1656 the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher Baruch Spinoza was excommunicated by Amsterdam's Sephardic synagogue after advancing a pantheist notion of God that, according to some observers, is both compatible with and paved the way for modern atheism.[10] Deeply influenced by Spinoza, Albert Einstein used theistic language and identified strongly as a Jew, while rejecting the notion of a personal god.[11] The astrophysicist Carl Sagan was born into a Jewish family and was a non-theist.[12]
Karl Marx was born into an ethnically Jewish family but raised as a Lutheran, and is among the most notable and influential atheist thinkers of modern history; he developed dialectical and historical materialism which became the basis for his critique of capitalism and his theories of scientific socialism. Marx became a major influence among other prominent Jewish intellectuals including Moses Hess. In one of his most cited comments on religion he stated: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".
Many other famous Jews have wholeheartedly embraced atheism, rejecting religiosity altogether. Sigmund Freud penned The Future of an Illusion, in which he both eschewed religious belief and outlined its origins and prospects. At the same time he urged a Jewish colleague to raise his son within the Jewish religion, arguing that "If you do not let your son grow up as a Jew, you will deprive him of those sources of energy which cannot be replaced by anything else."[13] The anarchist Emma Goldman was born to an Orthodox Jewish family and rejected belief in God, while the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, when asked if she believed in God, answered "I believe in the Jewish people, and the Jewish people believe in God."[14] More recently, the French Jewish philosopher Jacques Derrida stated somewhat cryptically, "I rightly pass for an atheist".[15] In the world of entertainment, Woody Allen has made a career out of the tension between his Jewishness and religious doubt ("Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends").[16]
See also[edit]
Conversion to Judaism
Christianity and Judaism
Ethical Culture
Haskalah
Humanistic Judaism
Jewish Bolshevism
Jews in apostasy
Schisms among the Jews
Who is a Jew?
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ What Makes a Jew "Jewish"? – Jewish Identity
2.Jump up ^ Winston, Kimberly (September 26, 2011). "Judaism without God? Yes, say American atheists". USA Today. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
3.Jump up ^ See, for example: Daniel Septimus, Must a Jew Believe in God?
4.Jump up ^ "Reform Jews Reject a Temple Without God", New York Times, June 13, 1994.
5.Jump up ^ Berlinerblau, Jacques. "In Praise of Jewish Atheism". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012.
6.Jump up ^ See, for example, Mordechai Kaplan, The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (New York: Behrman’s Jewish book house, 1937); Richard Rubenstein, After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1966).[page needed]
7.Jump up ^ Howard Wettstein, The Significance of Religious Experience (Oxford University Press, 2012)[page needed]
8.Jump up ^ See Harold M. Schulweis. Evil and the Morality of God (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1984);[page needed] For Those Who Can't Believe : Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith (Harper Perennial, 1995).[page needed]
9.Jump up ^ An example of an atheist rejecting Jewish identification is cited in "Hipster Antisemitism," Zeek, January 2005
10.Jump up ^ Christopher Hitchens, ed., The Portable Atheist (Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2007), 21.
11.Jump up ^ "The Religious Non-believer: Einstein and his God", Moment, April 2007.
12.Jump up ^ Sagan, Carl (February 12, 1986). "Chapter 23". Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science. Ballantine Books. p. 330. ISBN 0-345-33689-5.
13.Jump up ^ David S. Ariel, What Do Jews Believe? (New York: Shocken Books, 1995), 248.
14.Jump up ^ See Emma Goldman, "The Philosophy of Atheism," in Christopher Hitchens, ed., The Portable Atheist (Philadelphia: Da Capo Press, 2007), 129–33; Golda Meir is quoted by Jonathan Rosen in "So Was It Odd of God?", The New York Times, December 14, 2003.
15.Jump up ^ Scott Mclemee (October 11, 2004). "Jacques Derrida, Thinker Who Influenced and Infuriated a Range of Humanistic Fields, Dies at 74". Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on February 6, 2006.
16.Jump up ^ Woody Allen Quotes – The Quotations Page
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_atheism
Society for Humanistic Judaism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The “humanorah” is the primary symbol of the Society for Humanistic Judaism.
The Society for Humanistic Judaism (SHJ), founded in 1969 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine [1][2] embraces a human-centered philosophy that combines the celebration of Jewish culture and identity with an adherence to humanistic values and ideas.
The Society for Humanistic Judaism is the central body for the Humanistic Jewish Movement in North America and assists in organizing new communities, supporting its member communities, and in providing a voice for Humanistic Jews. The Society gathers and creates educational and programmatic materials, including holiday and life cycle celebrations. It sponsors training programs and conferences for its members. HuJews, the Humanistic Youth Group offers programs for teens and young adults, including an annual conclave. The Society for Humanistic Judaism publishes a monthly e-newsletter and a biannual topical journal and member newsletter.
The Society participates in both the Jewish and the Humanist worlds as a Hillel partner, a participant in the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America and as a member of the Secular Coalition for America.
Miriam Jerris is the rabbi of the Society for Humanistic Judaism.[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Humanorah
2 Congregations
3 Political alignment
4 See also
5 References
Humanorah[edit]
The “humanorah” is the primary symbol of Humanistic Judaism used by the Society, intended as a non-theistic alternative to other Jewish symbols such as the Star of David or the tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was developed and trademarked by the Society, and has been its logo since the early 1980s.[4]
The name humanorah is a portmanteau of “human” and “menorah,” representing the convergence of Humanistic beliefs with Jewish identity. The symbol itself is a combination of these two elements. A human figure stands with its arms raised, while two other branches cross over the figure's torso to form a total of six arms. Stylized flames emerge from all six.
Congregations[edit]
The Society for Humanistic Judaism has 10,000 members in 30 congregations spread throughout the United States and Canada. These include:
Or Emet (Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota)
City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (Manhattan, New York)
Kahal B'raira (Greater Boston, Massachusetts)
Machar (Washington, DC Metro Area)
Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Kol Shalom (Portland, Oregon)
Political alignment[edit]
The Society for Humanistic Judaism has issued a series of statement which aligns them with Liberalism in the United States in a number of core topics defining the "liberalism" vs. "conservativism" divide in American politics, notably on abortion and gay marriage.
A statement issued in 1996 read, "we affirm that a woman has the moral right and should have the continuing legal right to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in accordance with her own ethical standards. Because a decision to terminate a pregnancy carries serious, irreversible consequences, it is one to be made with great care and with keen awareness of the complex psychological, emotional, and ethical implications." [5] They also issued a statement in 2011 condemning the then-recent passage of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” by the U.S. House of Representatives, which they called "a direct attack on a women’s right to choose".[6] In 2012 they issued a resolution opposing conscience clauses that allow religious-affiliated institutions to be exempt from generally applicable requirements mandating reproductive healthcare services to individuals or employees.[7] In 2013 they issued a resolution stating in part, "Therefore, be it resolved that: The Society for Humanistic Judaism wholeheartedly supports the observance of Women's Equality Day on August 26 to commemorate the anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing women to vote; The Society condemns gender discrimination in all its forms, including restriction of rights, limited access to education, violence, and subjugation; and The Society commits itself to maintain vigilance and speak out in the fight to bring gender equality to our generation and to the generations that follow." [8]
In 2004 the Society for Humanistic Judaism issued a resolution supporting "the legal recognition of marriage and divorce between adults of the same sex," and affirming "the value of marriage between any two committed adults with the sense of obligations, responsibilities, and consequences thereof."[9] In 2010 they pledged to speak out against homophobic bullying.[10]
See also[edit]
Humanistic Judaism
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "SHJ: Society for Humanistic Judaism". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
2.Jump up ^ New York Times
3.Jump up ^ "Humanistic Judaism’s Rabbi Miriam Jerris will be leading Rosh Hashanah services at Kol Hadash next month. - j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". Retrieved 15 February 2015.
4.Jump up ^ Guide to Humanistic Judaism. Society for Humanistic Judaism. 1993.
5.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/Choice.htm
6.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/NewsAbortionFunding.html
7.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/ConscienceClauses.html
8.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/WomensEqualityDay.html
9.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/MarriageEquality.htm
10.Jump up ^ http://www.shj.org/Homophobic%20Bullying.html
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Humanistic_Judaism
Society for Humanistic Judaism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The “humanorah” is the primary symbol of the Society for Humanistic Judaism.
The Society for Humanistic Judaism(SHJ), founded in 1969 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine[1][2]embraces a human-centered philosophy that combines the celebration of Jewish culture and identity with an adherence to humanisticvalues and ideas.
The Society for Humanistic Judaism is the central body for the Humanistic Jewish Movement in North America and assists in organizing new communities, supporting its member communities, and in providing a voice for Humanistic Jews. The Society gathers and creates educational and programmatic materials, including holiday and life cycle celebrations. It sponsors training programs and conferences for its members. HuJews, the Humanistic Youth Group offers programs for teens and young adults, including an annual conclave. The Society for Humanistic Judaism publishes a monthly e-newsletter and a biannual topical journal and member newsletter.
The Society participates in both the Jewish and the Humanist worlds as a Hillel partner, a participant in the General Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America and as a member of the Secular Coalition for America.
Miriam Jerrisis the rabbi of the Society for Humanistic Judaism.[3]
Contents [hide]
1Humanorah
2Congregations
3Political alignment
4See also
5References
Humanorah[edit]
The “humanorah” is the primary symbol of Humanistic Judaismused by the Society, intended as a non-theistic alternative to other Jewish symbols such as the Star of Davidor the tablets of the Ten Commandments. It was developed and trademarked by the Society, and has been its logo since the early 1980s.[4]
The name humanorah is a portmanteauof “human” and “menorah,” representing the convergence of Humanistic beliefswith Jewish identity. The symbol itself is a combination of these two elements. A human figure stands with its arms raised, while two other branches cross over the figure's torso to form a total of six arms. Stylized flames emerge from all six.
Congregations[edit]
The Society for Humanistic Judaism has 10,000 members in 30 congregations spread throughout the United States and Canada. These include:
Or Emet(Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Minnesota)
City Congregation for Humanistic Judaism(Manhattan, New York)
Kahal B'raira(Greater Boston, Massachusetts)
Machar(Washington, DC Metro Area)
Oraynu Congregation for Humanistic Judaism(Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Kol Shalom (Portland, Oregon)
Political alignment[edit]
The Society for Humanistic Judaism has issued a series of statement which aligns them with Liberalism in the United Statesin a number of core topics defining the "liberalism" vs. "conservativism" divide in American politics, notably on abortionand gay marriage.
A statement issued in 1996 read, "we affirm that a woman has the moral right and should have the continuing legal right to decide whether or not to terminate a pregnancy in accordance with her own ethical standards. Because a decision to terminate a pregnancy carries serious, irreversible consequences, it is one to be made with great care and with keen awareness of the complex psychological, emotional, and ethical implications." [5]They also issued a statement in 2011 condemning the then-recent passage of the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” by the U.S. House of Representatives, which they called "a direct attack on a women’s right to choose".[6]In 2012 they issued a resolution opposing conscience clauses that allow religious-affiliated institutions to be exempt from generally applicable requirements mandating reproductive healthcare services to individuals or employees.[7]In 2013 they issued a resolution stating in part, "Therefore, be it resolved that: The Society for Humanistic Judaism wholeheartedly supports the observance of Women's Equality Dayon August 26 to commemorate the anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution allowing women to vote; The Society condemns gender discrimination in all its forms, including restriction of rights, limited access to education, violence, and subjugation; and The Society commits itself to maintain vigilance and speak out in the fight to bring gender equality to our generation and to the generations that follow." [8]
In 2004 the Society for Humanistic Judaism issued a resolution supporting "the legal recognition of marriage and divorce between adults of the same sex," and affirming "the value of marriage between any two committed adults with the sense of obligations, responsibilities, and consequences thereof."[9]In 2010 they pledged to speak out against homophobic bullying.[10]
See also[edit]
Humanistic Judaism
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^"SHJ: Society for Humanistic Judaism". Retrieved 15 February2015.
2.Jump up ^New York Times
3.Jump up ^"Humanistic Judaism’s Rabbi Miriam Jerris will be leading Rosh Hashanah services at Kol Hadash next month. - j. the Jewish news weekly of Northern California". Retrieved 15 February2015.
4.Jump up ^Guide to Humanistic Judaism. Society for Humanistic Judaism. 1993.
5.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/Choice.htm
6.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/NewsAbortionFunding.html
7.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/ConscienceClauses.html
8.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/WomensEqualityDay.html
9.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/MarriageEquality.htm
10.Jump up ^http://www.shj.org/Homophobic%20Bullying.html
[show]
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Jewish life in the United States
Categories: Jews and Judaism in the United States
Humanistic Judaism
Humanist associations
Organizations established in 1969
Secular Jewish culture in the United States
Navigation menu
Create account
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Article
Talk
Read
Edit
View history
Main page
Contents
Featured content
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This page was last modified on 13 March 2015, at 14:26.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Useand Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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