The Narrow Place
It happened two years ago, during mid-January,
on a Sunday. My father and I were sitting at the kitchen table, reading.
He was reading the science section of the New York Times, and I was reading
the Sunday comics. We had both been sitting quietly for some time,
maybe ten minutes, when Dad said, “Hannah, there’s an interesting article
in the Science Times today.” I looked up from the comics page as my
father proffered me the relevant page. I took it and looked at the
headline of the page-long article (with color maps and charts included),
which read “Did the Exodus Really Take Place? Dr. Milamber Says No.”
I rolled my eyes. “Is this for real? Nobody really believes in Angel of Death or the parting of the Red Sea, or at least not …”
“Read it first,” Dad interrupted me. He sounded very concerned. So I read it.
It was a very long article, and I’m not going to go into all the details. I’ll just give you a quick summary.
You are probably familiar with the story of the Exodus, in which God and Moses led the Hebrew slaves of Egypt to the Promised Land. If you are Jewish, it forms one of the cornerstones of your religion. You grow up with the Exodus story. Even when you are too old and rational to believe in the Ten Plagues or the Burning Bush, you know that the core of the story is true. Your ancestors were slaves in Egypt for generations, but Moses led them to the Promised Land and freedom. There may not have been any magic or divine miracles involved, but it happened, one way or another. There is no doubt about that.
Dr. Milamber, the very well-accredited archeologist/anthropologist who wrote the article in the science section of the Times, apparently had some doubts about it. In his article, he stated that “The fabled Exodus of the Jewish people (stupid thing to say, we were Hebrews back in those days, not Jews) never took place – there is no data of any kind, scientific or historical, to prove that there was a movement of people from the Nile Valley to Canaan on the scale suggested by the Bible.” It wasn’t the miracles he was debunking, but the whole Exodus itself. “It is possible that a small band of Jewish (Hebrew!) slaves escaped from Egypt, or Egyptian trading expeditions, to their people in what is now Israel; but not in the large numbers described in the Exodus story.” He had a lot of evidence to back it up, too. All sorts of archaeological, anthropological and other –ogical-type data, which spanned from the Nile Valley to modern Israel, by way of the Sanai Peninsula. And, being a rational person who knows the value of good scientific data, I could not possibly argue with him.
My stomach felt like a cold ball of ice as I finished reading. “That’s just…horrible,” I remarked. I was surprised at myself; I am not a religious person, but I felt insulted. What I had just read really hurt me.
Dad was obviously feeling the same way. “That’s what I thought too,” he said. From the tone of his voice, you would think that he had just an obituary for his best friend. Which, in a way, he had.
We were both quiet for about a minute, sort of letting it sink in. Then I asked, “Do you think he’s right?” I looked down at the article again, with the little map that showed the section of the world in question – Egypt, some of Saudi Arabia, and Israel, with a dotted line that marked the path of the Exodus that had never happened.
My father didn’t answer me. The look on his face made me want to cry. And suddenly I felt very angry.
I stood up quickly, startling Dad, and picked up Dr. Milamber’s article from the table. Then I started to tear it up, while my father stared at me as if I were some kind of maniac. After I had reduced the offending article to confetti-sized shreds, I stomped over to the sink and yanked open the cabinet underneath, where we keep the garbage can, and tossed the shreds of paper into the trash. I closed the cupboard, went back to the kitchen table, and sat down, feeling much better.
Dad just looked at me for a moment. Now I felt very embarrassed. I’m pretty sure I blushed. Then my father smiled, slowly. “You have bits of paper in your hair,” he told me. Then he started to laugh.
I rolled my eyes. “Is this for real? Nobody really believes in Angel of Death or the parting of the Red Sea, or at least not …”
“Read it first,” Dad interrupted me. He sounded very concerned. So I read it.
It was a very long article, and I’m not going to go into all the details. I’ll just give you a quick summary.
You are probably familiar with the story of the Exodus, in which God and Moses led the Hebrew slaves of Egypt to the Promised Land. If you are Jewish, it forms one of the cornerstones of your religion. You grow up with the Exodus story. Even when you are too old and rational to believe in the Ten Plagues or the Burning Bush, you know that the core of the story is true. Your ancestors were slaves in Egypt for generations, but Moses led them to the Promised Land and freedom. There may not have been any magic or divine miracles involved, but it happened, one way or another. There is no doubt about that.
Dr. Milamber, the very well-accredited archeologist/anthropologist who wrote the article in the science section of the Times, apparently had some doubts about it. In his article, he stated that “The fabled Exodus of the Jewish people (stupid thing to say, we were Hebrews back in those days, not Jews) never took place – there is no data of any kind, scientific or historical, to prove that there was a movement of people from the Nile Valley to Canaan on the scale suggested by the Bible.” It wasn’t the miracles he was debunking, but the whole Exodus itself. “It is possible that a small band of Jewish (Hebrew!) slaves escaped from Egypt, or Egyptian trading expeditions, to their people in what is now Israel; but not in the large numbers described in the Exodus story.” He had a lot of evidence to back it up, too. All sorts of archaeological, anthropological and other –ogical-type data, which spanned from the Nile Valley to modern Israel, by way of the Sanai Peninsula. And, being a rational person who knows the value of good scientific data, I could not possibly argue with him.
My stomach felt like a cold ball of ice as I finished reading. “That’s just…horrible,” I remarked. I was surprised at myself; I am not a religious person, but I felt insulted. What I had just read really hurt me.
Dad was obviously feeling the same way. “That’s what I thought too,” he said. From the tone of his voice, you would think that he had just an obituary for his best friend. Which, in a way, he had.
We were both quiet for about a minute, sort of letting it sink in. Then I asked, “Do you think he’s right?” I looked down at the article again, with the little map that showed the section of the world in question – Egypt, some of Saudi Arabia, and Israel, with a dotted line that marked the path of the Exodus that had never happened.
My father didn’t answer me. The look on his face made me want to cry. And suddenly I felt very angry.
I stood up quickly, startling Dad, and picked up Dr. Milamber’s article from the table. Then I started to tear it up, while my father stared at me as if I were some kind of maniac. After I had reduced the offending article to confetti-sized shreds, I stomped over to the sink and yanked open the cabinet underneath, where we keep the garbage can, and tossed the shreds of paper into the trash. I closed the cupboard, went back to the kitchen table, and sat down, feeling much better.
Dad just looked at me for a moment. Now I felt very embarrassed. I’m pretty sure I blushed. Then my father smiled, slowly. “You have bits of paper in your hair,” he told me. Then he started to laugh.