Parashat Bo: 4 Sh'vat, 5775

Parashat Bo: 4 Sh’vat, 5775

This week’s parasha is the telling of the final plagues sent to persuade Pharaoh. It is exciting, dramatic, moving, and certainly liberating. But is it true? Is there any proof at all that the Exodus from Egypt really happened?

Some years ago, Rabbi David Wolpe made a controversial statement during his High Holiday sermon. He suggested that the Exodus might not be true; that there may have never been a Moses. Many historians and even theologians nodded knowingly, for Rabbi Wolpe simply articulated what many people believe – that the Exodus story is a myth, albeit a highly important and powerful one.

But now, new scholarship may prove quite the opposite point of view – that the Exodus story could well be based on actual historical evidence. A new book and film by Christian director/producer Tim Mahoney lays out the facts through interviews with biblical scholars, archeologists, Egyptologists, and historians. I saw the film this past Monday night, and was impressed by his argument.

In “Patterns of Evidence,” Mr. Mahoney suggests that modern scholarship is correct – that the conditions for a Hebrew slave-presence in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Ramses is unlikely. The common claim is that, if there is veracity to the biblical Exodus, it must have taken place sometime during the 13^th century B.C.E. That conclusion is reached based on one briefpasuk in the Torah: “So they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor; and they built garrison cities for Pharaoh; Ptom and Ramses (Ex. 1:11). So, the logic goes, the city of Ramses must have been named for the 13^th-century Pharaoh. But, since there is no hard evidence placing the Children of Israel in Egypt in the 13^th century B.C.E, the Exodus must be fictional.

But modern Torah scholars now believe that the Torah was not redacted until the time of Ezra the Scribe in the mid 5^th century B.C.E. So when the building of the city of Ramses is mentioned, it could well have been placed in the wrong time period.

And most strikingly, the filmmaker did find evidence that a people strongly resembling the Hebrews lived in Egypt some two centuries earlier in the 15^th century B.C.E. during what historians call the “Middle Kingdom” period. When we begin the Exodus story here, the parallels are eye-opening.

First, archeologists have uncovered a 15^th century B.C.E. city just outside the ruling center of ancient Egypt that had been inhabited by a people from the north, not Egyptians, who suddenly left the city virtually overnight.

We know that Joseph was the first Jew to migrate to Egypt, and that he rose to the very top of Egyptian society. There is one excavated house in this ancient city that has, on one side, 12 pillars (12 sons of Jacob = 12 tribes perhaps?), and a graveyard with 12 graves one of which is a pyramid-shaped monument, signifying someone in the royal court. Inside is an enormous statue of a royal person. This royal person is depicted with red hair and fair skin -- clearly not an Egyptian. In a few spots of the sculpture, still visible, are the faint remnants of colorful paint, applied in stripes – truly, a coat of many colors. And interestingly, there are no bones in the tomb. Do you recall that after burial in Egypt, Joseph’s bones were taken up and buried in the Promised Land?

Among other bits of evidence this filmmaker presents is an Egyptian papyrus, written by a historian during that same time period in which he describes the dread he and all Egyptians are suffering due to plague, darkness, and famine.

I admit, they have not yet found an empty bottle of Manischewitz at the site, but the idea of considering a shift in our currently accepted historical calendar does offer some intriguing possibilities.   Many scholars, including Rabbi Wolpe, tell us not to be concerned with the veracity of the Exodus – that it does not matter whether it really happened; the teaching we gain from it is enough. But new archaeological research is telling us we don’t have to be content with that. We need not extract meaning from myth or fairy tale. Rather, this year when we read parashat Bo, we are free to examine our spiritual connections anew, buoyed by evolving science that just might finally prove that it really did happen.