MOSES NEVER EXISTED, EXODUS NEVER HAPPENED, Rabbis Tell Congregations

MOSES NEVER EXISTed. EXODUS NEVER Happened, Rabbis Tell Congregations.

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism has released a new commentary on the Torah (Old Testament, which is the main book of Judaism) for their congregations, in which they admit that Moses Never Existed and Exodus Never Happened. Called Etz Hayim (“Tree of Life”), it is the first commentary on the Torah to be published by Conservative J. e. w. s. since 1936.

The New York Times article, titled “As Rabbis Face Facts, Bible Tales Are Wilting,” describes this revision as follows:

“Abraham, the Jewish patriarch, probably never existed. Nor did Moses. The entire Exodus story as recounted in the Bible probably never occurred. The same is true of the tumbling of the walls of Jericho. And David, far from being the fearless king who built Jerusalem into a mighty capital, was more likely a provincial leader whose reputation was later magnified to provide a rallying point for a fledgling nation.

“Such startling propositions-the product of findings by archaeologists digging in Israel and its environs over the last 25 years-have gained wide acceptance among non-Orthodox rabbis. But there has been no attempt to disseminate these ideas or to discuss them with the laity-until now.”

"One contributor to Etz Hayim, rabbi David Wolpe of Los Angeles, says that the rejection of the Bible as literally true “is more or less settled and understood among most Conservative rabbis.” In the back of the new commentary are 41 essays-some quite radical. In one essay on “Ancient Near Eastern Mythology,” Robert Wexler, president of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, says that modern scholarship links the Genesis account of origins and the Flood to Mesopotamian myths, e.g. Gilgamesh (but see Was Genesis copied from pagan mythology?). In another essay on “Biblical Archaeology," Lee I. Levine, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, questions the Biblical account of Jericho, arguing that the town was apparently empty and unprotected when the Hebrew people settled the area."

For the full article, see:

[link to freethoughtfirefighters.org]

Those of use who have read "The Forgery of the Old Testament" by Joseph McCabe or the documentary hypothesis knew this already, but it is refreshing to know the Judaists finally waking up and realizing the obvious.

Since Moses never existed, and Exodus never happened, Judaism (and the notion of a J. e. w.) collapses like a house of cards.