tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post3019390091893059689..comments2023-10-22T18:58:50.693-07:00Comments on Kefirah of the Week: The WildernessA Kefirahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-10155182006446867962015-07-21T07:42:17.165-07:002015-07-21T07:42:17.165-07:00Also, Eliyahu, do you have a source for that Ramba...Also, Eliyahu, do you have a source for that Rambam, I could not find it in hilchot shmita u'yovel, but maybe I missed it (I was skimming).A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-15638945131425687542015-07-21T07:37:35.464-07:002015-07-21T07:37:35.464-07:00Well, there is the minority Talmudic opinion that ...Well, there is the minority Talmudic opinion that Yehoshua wrote the last 8 verses of the Torah.A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-73764758129712374902015-07-20T06:53:54.136-07:002015-07-20T06:53:54.136-07:00Eliyahu, as we've come to realize, the Rambam ...Eliyahu, as we've come to realize, the Rambam and other rishonim, amoraim, tanaim were doing their best to make sense of the mishmash that they were seeing in the chumash. It is a bit surprising that it took until the 1600's for someone to notice multiple authorship. Although the ibn Ezra may have, but kept it a secret. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09224559188189953251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-4316510843457864952015-07-17T12:56:10.179-07:002015-07-17T12:56:10.179-07:00Kefira, don't sell yourself short, the blogosp...Kefira, don't sell yourself short, the blogosphere unfortunately gets only a tiny fraction of the Web traffic. Facebook would probably be a better test of how popular a book might become. I know that anonymity is lost on Facebook. Either way, your hard work is greatly appreciated. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09224559188189953251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-30843190539694433832015-07-16T23:24:54.606-07:002015-07-16T23:24:54.606-07:00I love the irony of that Rambam at the end of hilc...I love the irony of that Rambam at the end of hilchos yovel that's quoted in support of kolel learning, that anyone can accept upon themselves to be like the tribe of Levi and learn Torah, based on the midrash that they were the only tribe free of the subjugation to Egypt.Eliyahunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-6887785823214464272015-07-16T19:41:02.287-07:002015-07-16T19:41:02.287-07:00I don't think the market is nearly as big as y...I don't think the market is nearly as big as you might think. Posts here get at most a couple hundred pageviews. That's not nearly enough to justify the tremendous amount of work it would take to publish a long form written work.A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-59651493248413309992015-07-16T15:04:13.778-07:002015-07-16T15:04:13.778-07:00I'm not a scholar, bible or otherwise, but sti...I'm not a scholar, bible or otherwise, but still immensly enjoy these posts. Perhaps the author can compose all these posts into a book format. There's definitely a marketehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09254186169158389657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-59156360400326581262015-07-16T09:11:05.190-07:002015-07-16T09:11:05.190-07:00Only a true bible scholar would refer to these con...Only a true bible scholar would refer to these conversations as 'fun'! I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds it very enjoyable to hypothesize about the human origins of our God. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09224559188189953251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-14258527924821313892015-07-16T05:24:31.025-07:002015-07-16T05:24:31.025-07:00It's not only Levites, but it is true that the...It's not only Levites, but it is true that the vast majority of the Egyptian names are found in Levi. I'm somewhat partial to Friedman's idea that the exodus group *was* the Levites, although I'm not sure I would combine this with the Yahweh worshiping group. At the end of the day, these are fun hypotheses to play with, but there isn't a lot of evidence to back them up.A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-53126594289875619842015-07-16T05:22:34.379-07:002015-07-16T05:22:34.379-07:00Well, it's always possible to propose older ve...Well, it's always possible to propose older versions of deities until we get so far into prehistory that all records are lost. At some point the usefulness of this exercise is lost. What we can ask is when someone started worshiping a deity *named* Yahweh, regardless of the characteristics of that deity.A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-76327011775691110062015-07-15T12:49:23.696-07:002015-07-15T12:49:23.696-07:00Do you have anything to say about the role of Levi...Do you have anything to say about the role of Levi in all this? They're the only tribe with Egyptian names (Moshe, Pinhas, Hur), and the ones administering the cult of YHWH.Eliyahunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-11740429101478198562015-07-15T08:29:14.993-07:002015-07-15T08:29:14.993-07:00Cross definitely takes many leaps to reach his con...Cross definitely takes many leaps to reach his conclusions. The problem is, how can we know whether the desert references to Yahwe we're borrowed from earlier gods? Hayes and others maintain that there was no 'original' or authentic Yahwe cult, and that all of his qualities were taken from earlier pantheons. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09224559188189953251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-13294871181448973032015-07-15T07:25:23.056-07:002015-07-15T07:25:23.056-07:00I think I'm mostly aligned with FM Cross on Ps...I think I'm mostly aligned with FM Cross on Ps. 29, that it's an original hymn to Ba'al, that was rewritten for Yahweh. The reference to far northern locations (lebanon and syria) and the strong storm-god language are what seals it. I don't agree with Cross that it's possible to reconstruct the "original" form, he takes far too many liberties in that regard.A Kefirahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17474560089122987417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6902046896560188094.post-76951037128123930032015-07-15T06:59:54.196-07:002015-07-15T06:59:54.196-07:00Chazak Chazak Kefira! Too bad our ancestors wrote ...Chazak Chazak Kefira! Too bad our ancestors wrote on parchment and not cuiniform, so we're left with speculation. I'd love to hear your understanding of Psalms 29, I think there are some very early yahwistic influences there. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09224559188189953251noreply@blogger.com