Community Magazine January 2014

TORAH RABBI LEIBEL REZNICK F or the Jewish People, ancient Egypt has a much deeper allure. Much of the first two books of the Torah take place in Egypt. The experience of the Israelites in Egypt is so important to the centrality of Judaism that the Exodus from Egypt is mentioned in the very opening of the Ten Commandments: “I am the Lrd your Gd who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Shemot 20:2). Egyptologists have expressed disappointment over the fact that almost nothing relating to ancient Egyptian life or culture can be gleaned from the Bible. Egyptologists claim that the Torah was composed 8-10 centuries after the Exodus and the “Biblical author(s)” had no idea what was going on in ancient Egypt. They are mistaken. For us, however, the lack of cultural references is readily understandable. The Torah is neither a history book nor an anthropological record of ancient societies. It is a guide for everyday life based on human nature and the spiritual loftiness of the Jewish soul, and these elements are timeless. However, having said that, these Egyptologists are mistaken in their assumption that no revelations of ancient Egyptian life can be found in the Torah. For in truth, the Torah indeed contain numerous hints of life in ancient Egypt, as the following examples demonstrate. “…and they sold Yosef to the Yishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver; and they brought Yosef to Egypt.” (Beresheet 37:28) In ancient times, just as in our day and age, prices slowly but steadily increased over the course of time. In ancient Ur, circa 2000 BCE, a slave would cost 10-15 pieces of silver (shekels). During the reign of the Hammurabi dynasty, the price increased slightly to about 20 pieces of silver. For a while, the price of a slave remained fairly stable, but by the last quarter of the second millennium BCE, the price crept up to 30 shekels. During the first quarter of the Assyrian Empire, a healthy slave could fetch 50-60 pieces of silver, and by the middle of the first millennium, the price of a slave soared to over 100 shekels. When the Torah tells us that Yosef was sold for 20 pieces of silver, it was an accurate reflection of the price of a slave in Canaan/Egypt at that time period, about 1500 BCE, according to our Biblical chronology. The name of Yosef’s slave-master was Potifar, and his wife’s name was Osnat (Beresheet 37:36, 41:45). These were in fact Egyptian names in use in Egypt during this time, though they were quite unusual and later fell into disuse. Torah uses the exact expression the contemporary Egyptians used for the foreman of the servants and slaves. Yosef was the overseer of Potifar’s estate, and of the many possible titles that could be given to the chief slave or servant, the Torah chose to call Yosef “the one over the house” (Beresheet 39:4). The Papyrus Brooklyn 53.1446 refers to a chief slave with the title “the one who was over the house.” The Torah uses the exact expression the contemporary Egyptians used for the foreman of the servants and slaves. REVELATIONS OF ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CULTURE The Western world has a fascination with ancient Egypt. The image of the great stone sphinx guarding the lofty pyramiding tombs of the mummified pharaohs, as the once all-powerful king journeyed through the world of darkness, adds to the mysterious lure of ancient Egypt. Over 100,000 books have been written on this inscrutable land and its pharaohs, the first of which was composed over 2000 years ago. By the time the Hellenistic historian Manetho composed his in the third century BCE, around a millennia had passed since the pharaoh of the Exodus was mummified. in the 50 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE