Yigal Ben Nun
In the entire biblical library there is almost no trace of belief in one, universal, abstract God who denies the very existence of other gods. Throughout the entire royal period until the Persian period, Israelites and Jews worshipped many gods; statues of God, Asherah, and other gods were placed in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the people bowed down to them; God is a new god who originated in northern Arabia and arrived here not before the days of Jehoshaphat and the house of Omri; God had a consort, Asherah; Shaphan ben Ajjahu initiated a theological-political reform and compiled its principles in the Book of Deuteronomy; Shaphan’s ritual reform from the time of Josiah failed but influenced the birth of Judaism; belief in a supreme God, creator of heaven and earth, developed under the influence of Persian culture (because in the days of the First Temple he was perceived as a territorial god, that is, as ruling only in his own land while the gods of other nations ruled in their lands); … the Jewish religion was born only after the cessation of sacrifices in the Roman period, parallel to the spread of Christianity.”
Rabbi, what do you think of his claims?
Strong arguments, aren’t they?
Yigal Ben Nun is a sensation-seeker who issues theories by the pound without any real basis (not only in the biblical field). He is criticized no less by his fellow researchers than by believers. This has been discussed more than once on the Itra-Hin website, and you can also find materials online.
As for his ‘strong claims’, Shlita:
In the entire biblical library there is no belief in a universal God except in a marginal and negligible place like at the beginning of the Book of Genesis where he creates the heavens and the earth and everything in them (oops, maybe he only hung the sun of the Land of Israel and only created the animals of the land. Sorry I missed that scientific possibility).
Throughout the biblical period, people did engage in idolatry and were rebuked and punished for it. What does this prove? That people sin from time to time? Or do we accept the biblical description of them engaging in idolatry, but not of them being rebuked and punished? Why? Because that’s how we like it. After all, this is a multidisciplinary artist with two doctorates from Paris, so he has the right to say whatever he wants and be considered to be making strong claims.
And of course, how could I forget. The Jewish religion was born with the spread of Christianity. In fact, Moses was a Christian who became a Jew. The Christians crucified him because of his apostasy in Jesus. Jesus grew up in Pharaoh’s house when the Egyptians decreed that all newborn sons should be killed by Christians…
So please, spare me and all of us this collection of nonsense. I don’t even intend to continue arguing or engaging in it. I have more useful pursuits.
Oh, in any case, congratulations to God for finding a beautiful and pious spouse, Ashra Talita. Perhaps this explains the Ashra ritual and worship of it, as we are accustomed to: how do we dance before the bride…
God is a new god who originated in North Africa and whose name is Yigael, or Yigal for short.
Rabbi Michael Avraham, your answer was important, thank you!
Regarding the questioner, although 8 months have passed, but you know, I stopped taking Mr. Yigal Ben Nun seriously as soon as I read that he said in an interview (very seriously!) that the Ark of the Covenant is not found in the stories of the patriarchs, it simply does not exist! (As a reminder, Yigal holds the opinion that the Torah scrolls are a late invention during the Persian and Greek periods, but even according to his opinion, there is no reason to talk about the Ark of the Covenant during the patriarchal period, since it was not yet created. After all, even the inventors of the Bible know what they are inventing, but for some reason, Mr. Yigal does not understand this! And you are doomed.) With that, I stopped taking him seriously and anyone who takes him seriously.
Should I ask him if the Jews/Jews learned to breathe on their own or did they also steal it from Persian and Hellenistic culture?
Anti-Semitic trend of erasing Jewish history. Well, this is not new, the ‘writer of Psalms’ already wrote “Let us destroy them and the name of Israel will be remembered no more…”.
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