אנשי אמנה

To the man with the urgent question : How can a person who is convinced of the truth of Bikoret Hamikra continue? How can he maintain a Kesher with Hashem?" It is hard for me to believe that it is really Bikoret Hamikra that brings you to a crisis. Where was He, the Almighty, when His people were being slaughtered, in the Shoah? You see, it is hard to believe in Hashem. Speaking for myself, if rational analysis can do to me what human suffering cannot do, I would doubt my moral perfection. Put differently, I would expect that faith that survives the Shoah, can survive all rational analysis. Regarding the Shoah, a surviving remnant of what once was, one, or two, per family or per clan , flourishes in the Land of Israel. There it turned into a beautiful Keshet of mixtures . Who would have believed it? The Hand of Hashem is clearly in this, though it is what few would have expected. The influence on one's thinking should therefore be profound. It is here, in the profundity of y...

The previous post is, mind you, a free composition of my hand and mind, based on this post and on verses of Yehoshua and Bereshit 34, followed by a fragment of Shemot 17, the war against Amalek, followed by an amalgam of phrases of Devarim 27:1,2,5,6 and Yehoshua 8:33, disclosing the event at Har Eval: the Levites blessing the nation that accepted them. It is a reconstruction, many of the details of which are not very important, as no conclusions depend on them. Rephidim would be the place were the Levites were being supported, recovering from their Brit Milah. When it says "at Rephidim," the meaning would be "when (Israel) was treating them." Note that the fragment is all about support, about Moshe supporting Yehoshua, and about Aharon and Chur supporting Moshe. According to the story, therefore, it is because they accepted and supported the Levites, that the nation of Israel won the support of Hashem, to win the war. One could ask why there would be Brit Milah...

וַיִּסְעוּ מֵהַשִּׁטִּים, וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד-הַיַּרְדֵּן; וַיָּלִנוּ שָׁם, טֶרֶם יַעֲבֹרוּ. וַיְהִי, בִּנְסֹעַ הָעָם מֵאָהֳלֵיהֶם, לַעֲבֹר, אֶת-הַיַּרְדֵּן; וַיַּעַמְדוּ הַמַּיִם הַיֹּרְדִים מִלְמַעְלָה קָמוּ נֵד-אֶחָד, הַרְחֵק מְאֹד באדם (מֵאָדָם) הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר מִצַּד צָרְתָן, וְהַיֹּרְדִים עַל יָם הָעֲרָבָה יָם-הַמֶּלַח, תַּמּוּ נִכְרָתוּ; וְהָעָם עָבְרוּ, נֶגֶד יְרִיחוֹ. וַיְהִי כִשְׁמֹעַ כָּל-מַלְכֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן יָמָּה, וְכָל-מַלְכֵי הַכְּנַעֲנִי אֲשֶׁר עַל-הַיָּם, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-הוֹבִישׁ יְהוָה אֶת-מֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן מִפְּנֵי הָעִבְרִים, עַד-עברנו (עָבְרָם); וַיִּמַּס לְבָבָם, וְלֹא-הָיָה בָם עוֹד רוּחַ, מִפְּנֵי, הָעִבְרִים. וַיְהִי, בִּהְיוֹת יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּירִיחוֹ, וַיִּשָּׂא עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא, וְהִנֵּה-אִישׁ עֹמֵד לְנֶגְדּוֹ וְחַרְבּוֹ שְׁלוּפָה בְּיָדוֹ; וַיֵּלֶךְ יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֵלָיו וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ, הֲלָנוּ אַתָּה אִם-לְצָרֵינוּ. וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא, כִּי אֲנִי שַׂר-צְבָא-יְהוָה--עַתָּה בָאתִי; וַיִּפֹּל יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אֶל-פָּנָיו אַרְצָה, וַיִּשְׁתָּחוּ, וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ...

The Levites are a nation among the nation of the Jews. You can become a Jew, but you cannot become a Levite. Levites are determined by male descent. The Y-chromosomal haplogroup distribution of Levites is quite distinct from other Jews. It is very diverse and wholly incompatible with the idea that Levites are the sons of Levi, whenever he would have lived. The term "sons of Levi" should therefore be taken as a synonym for Levites, rather than be interpreted literally. The Levites came from Mitzrayim, as the nation of Hashem, to live with the Israelites, but with a separate status and a special task. This has been demonstrated by Richard Elliott Friedman in his latest book, " The Exodus ." The Levites came to be the teachers, the priests, of ancient Israel. And also the Jehudites accepted the Levite story. Henceforth, the Jews, the merger of Israelites, Jehudites, and Levites, came to see themselves as the nation of Hashem that had left Mitzrayim, as we do on Pesach....