Parashat Va’era (5760)

With God’s help, on the eve of the holy Sabbath of Parashat Va’era, 5760

The Plagues of Egypt: Did They Happen, or Did We Dream a Dream?

At the end of the previous portion, Parashat Shemot, God promises Moses: ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh,

for by a mighty hand he will let them go, and by a mighty hand he will drive them from his land’ (Exodus 6:1). In our portion, the Torah begins to describe what

God does to Egypt as the fulfillment of His promise at the end of the previous portion. God brings down, through Moses

and Aaron, ten plagues upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt.

Recently, a public debate has arisen regarding the Bible’s historical significance. In articles

in the newspaper Haaretz over the past few weeks, a debate has taken place among archaeologists, some of whom argue

that there is no archaeological corroboration for many details in the Bible, and they cast doubt on its historical reliability,

while others, by contrast, argue that the findings generally confirm the biblical picture. In the context of

the plagues of Egypt, which did not arise in that debate, an interesting and instructive discussion took place several decades ago,

teaching something about the value of discussions of this kind, and about the censorship (apparently unintended)

that translated literature undergoes when it is rendered into Hebrew.

Some researchers (archaeologists and historians) argue that a dramatic phenomenon such as the plagues

of Egypt ought to have left a major historical echo in the ancient world, and there ought to have been found documentation

that would at least mention these wondrous phenomena. Since such documentation has not been found, they tend

to conclude that they never happened at all.

Precisely with respect to the Ten Plagues, we learn an instructive lesson in this context. In 1952, a

Jewish physician of Russian origin, Immanuel Velikovsky, published

a book called Ages in Chaos, in which he argues

that the historical chronology of the ancient Near East, as it is accepted by historians today, requires

a shift of about six hundred years. If one makes such a shift, many historical enigmas

are resolved, and one discovers a remarkable synchronization between the archaeological findings and the Bible. The book

is fascinating, written in a popular style, and recommended reading.

This book was published after Velikovsky’s first book, Worlds in

Collision, which advanced several revolutionary astronomical claims,

many of which were later found to be accurate by astronomical research in the several decades following Velikovsky’s death. His first book

was boycotted and ostracized by the scientific community, and the only scientist who agreed to examine his claims

on their merits was none other than Albert Einstein.[1] His second book as well, Ages in Chaos,

which deals with ancient history, received similar treatment. It should be understood that Prof. Adam Zertal, who in

the above-mentioned debate

in Haaretz supported the historical reliability of the biblical picture, claims that his findings

receive no attention whatsoever. They are simply ignored. Velikovsky, by contrast, could claim even more than that:

the publishers of his writings were warned by various establishment astronomers and historians

with boycotts and ostracism, and were threatened not to dare publish his books. Velikovsky was not

merely ignored; he was actively persecuted. It should be noted that there were also scientists of intellectual

integrity who supported him, and their words appear in the introductions to his books. Some of them said that if he

was right, then what he wrote in this book was the greatest contribution ever made to the study of ancient history.

It is interesting to note in this connection the words of Azriel Carlebach (founder and first editor of

Ma’ariv), about a year after the book’s publication, marveling that the book had still not been translated

into Hebrew. The phenomenon is even more astonishing in our own time, after nearly fifty years have already passed, and whereas

these books had been bestsellers around the world many years ago, the Hebrew reader is only now beginning

to receive a Hebrew translation of these books

through Velikovsky’s daughter, and not, Heaven forbid, through an established publishing house willing to undertake it. As Carlebach wrote,

the so-called rational and open-minded inhabitants of the Holy Land

are apparently not interested in hearing an opinion that supports the reliability

of the Bible. Rational creatures such as these will surely not let facts interfere with their theory.

In our context, let us note the passage in the book that deals with the Ten Plagues. Velikovsky argues that after the shift

of history by six hundred years relative to what is accepted by establishment scholars, we find

a papyrus that corresponds (according to Velikovsky’s dating) exactly to the Exodus from Egypt. This is the

Ipuwer Papyrus, housed in the museum in Leiden, Holland, and it describes the plagues of Egypt. There is a

striking parallel between what is recounted there and what is described in our portion and in Parashat Bo, and we shall cite only a few examples

(Ages in Chaos, p. 19 ff.): ‘All the water that was in the Nile turned to blood’ (Exodus 7:20),

and alongside it: ‘The river is blood’ (Papyrus 10:2). ‘The hail struck all the vegetation of the field, and every tree

of the field was shattered’ (Exodus 9:25), and alongside it: ‘Trees are destroyed… no fruit or greens can be found’

(Papyrus 1:6). ‘And there was thick darkness throughout all the land of Egypt’ (Exodus 10:22), and alongside it: ‘The land

is without light’ (Papyrus 11:9). These are only some of the examples of this astonishing parallel. How

can one ignore it? Apparently science is allowed anything.

Have a peaceful Sabbath.

This sheet may be placed for respectful disposal in any synagogue or rabbinical seminary. Comments are welcome.

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[1] Velikovsky’s correspondence with Einstein was translated into Hebrew by his daughter (Shulamit

Kogan, who lived in Givatayim) in the book Before Dawn. It is interesting to note that Velikovsky’s father

was Shimon Yehiel Velikovsky, one of the founders of Kibbutz Ruhama in the northern Negev. He published

important articles in the study of the Bible and the Hebrew language; in fact, he edited the first scholarly collection to appear

in Hebrew, Writings of the University and the Library in Jerusalem (with Yosef Klausner), a collection

whose collaborative authorship was one of the foundations for the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

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