Timeline for Sources for seeing the Exodus as metaphorical rather than historical
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
32 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 26, 2021 at 13:54 | comment | added | Al Berko | Third, the historicity of Exodus changes nothing in our observance, we stick to the fixed phrasing of the blessings and prayers, just as the sages ruled with or without scientific proof or support. | |
| Sep 26, 2021 at 13:52 | comment | added | Al Berko | Most importantly, the new views do not fully replace the old ones but remain a "Machlokes", which we love so much, allowing for much better flexibility and adaptation, without losing the core of Jewish observance. | |
| Sep 26, 2021 at 13:50 | comment | added | Al Berko | ... the Flat Earth, and many more. As the scientific world progresses, we, Jews, are forced to update our theological and religious views to stay modern and relevant. I, personally, think we should learn it from the Talmudic sages that didn't fear to update their views (see נראים דבריהם מדברינו). | |
| Sep 26, 2021 at 13:44 | comment | added | Al Berko | Second, we do see that many things that were considered literal for ages, slowly move partially or completely into the metaphorical domain: the story of Creation, 7-days, upper waters, the firmament, heavenly bodies as physical objects, geocentricity, creation from dust, water, etc. God's anthropomorphism was also gradually displaced with abstraction and metaphysics. The flood is also moving steadily to the metaphorical domain. So is the idea of populating the Earth from one (Adam and Eve) or three (Noah's sons) pairs of humans... | |
| Sep 26, 2021 at 9:19 | comment | added | Al Berko | First, until the 20th century, there was no reason to question Exodus historicity, so you can't expect any source to explicitly deny that it happened. Only contemporary rabbis need to deal with scientific reality. | |
| Sep 26, 2021 at 8:52 | history | edited | Al Berko | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Feb 7, 2021 at 1:13 | comment | added | MichoelR | What about the Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim converting some of the events surrounding prophetic visions to part of the vision itself? | |
| Dec 11, 2020 at 22:43 | answer | added | Turk Hill | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 23:52 | answer | added | Harel13 | timeline score: 3 | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 20:40 | comment | added | Harel13 | Okay, thanks. (( | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 20:33 | comment | added | user6591 | @Harel13 It might depend, but in general obscure is fine. I don't mean the 'not part of our mesora' gibberish. But if it's someone nobody has ever heard of, like people who point to Moshe Taku as the official corporealists of Judaism, doesn't interest me because almost nobody has ever even heard of M.T. aside from that one (possibly misinterpreted) comment. Finding something in the Cairo geniza also wouldn't interest me. But obscure as in one of the many commentators people don't usually read is fine. Btw, you can present your source here and see what the other users say. It's not all about me | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 20:13 | comment | added | Harel13 | So not ancient commentators who were shomer Torah and Mitzvot but are more obscure? | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 20:09 | comment | added | user6591 | @Harel13 I would be fine with someone who presented both options. But only when that someone fits the criteria of 'traditionally accepted' as mentioned in the question. | |
| Dec 9, 2020 at 20:03 | comment | added | Harel13 | To clarify: Are you looking for a source that says that Yetziat Mitzrayim can only be viewed allegorically, or are you looking for a source that says that it can also be viewed allegorically? | |
| Sep 9, 2020 at 15:01 | history | bumped | CommunityBot | This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed. | |
| Aug 11, 2020 at 1:05 | comment | added | user6591 | @Alex The possibilities are endless and don't interest me. As you noted in your excellent answer you linked to, reading allegories into the Torah can get out of hand quite quickly and everyone can claim Sadia and co would agree to their logic and take leeway in allegory. I am specifically looking for a source explicitly allowing the exodus to be taken as allegory, as mentioned in the body of the question. I'm not looking for a source saying it is not allowed. And yes, of course he only meant some, not all. | |
| Aug 11, 2020 at 0:58 | comment | added | Alex | @user6591 So you'd be happy with e.g. the Ramban saying it's forbidden to allegorize Mitzraim even though it's still possible that the Rambam says it's permitted to allegorize Mitzraim? But that wouldn't seem to really address your problem - I don't think your interlocutor was saying that everyone agrees that you can allegorize it. He presumably meant that there are some sources that allow for allegorization. | |
| Aug 11, 2020 at 0:09 | comment | added | user6591 | @Alex Only a source addressing Yetzias Mitzraim explicitly. | |
| Aug 10, 2020 at 23:20 | comment | added | Alex | judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/99751/… | |
| Aug 10, 2020 at 23:19 | comment | added | Alex | What would you consider a valid answer in the negative? | |
| Aug 10, 2020 at 6:28 | answer | added | N.T. | timeline score: 0 | |
| Aug 3, 2016 at 3:40 | comment | added | user6591 | @mevaqesh many people who believe in the actuality of the Torah believe some if not many passages are not to be taken literally. In fact many may not be taken literally. Whereas many passages must be taken literally. Where does this account fall? That has nothing to do with biblical criticism. | |
| Aug 3, 2016 at 3:27 | comment | added | mevaqesh |
So, are there any mainstream Jewish opinions* stating the Exodus can be viewed as a 'meaningful story'? *By this I mean a traditionally accepted as a Jewish opinion. I am not posting this to hear biblical criticism, whether or not the critic is Jewish. Isn't this merely a tautology?
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| S Jan 26, 2016 at 20:39 | history | mod moved comments to chat | |||
| S Jan 26, 2016 at 20:39 | comment | added | Monica Cellio | Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. | |
| Jan 26, 2016 at 13:45 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackJudaism/status/691980281641881600 | ||
| Jan 26, 2016 at 12:48 | history | edited | user6591 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 26, 2016 at 2:01 | history | edited | Loewian |
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| Jan 25, 2016 at 20:58 | answer | added | timf | timeline score: -3 | |
| Jan 25, 2016 at 20:21 | history | edited | user6591 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 25, 2016 at 20:08 | history | edited | DanF | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 25, 2016 at 20:00 | history | asked | user6591 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |