The American Jewish world. [volume] (Minneapolis ;) 1915-current, 1921-04-22
TWO items in connection with
Israel's birth as nation may be

tradition, and, therefore, as undoubted
and indisputable historic facts; name
ly, the Exodus from Egypt, and the
leadership of Moses during that event.
A people never invents the story of
it's humble beginning, such humble be-
ginning as it's liberation from bond
age implies. It is only when nations
or tribes speak of their divine or
heroic origin that we may look for
the mythopoeic tendency.
Around the historic fact of the
Exodus itself and the personality of
Moses there soon began to cluster
legendary elements that grew in guam
tity and in Righteousness as the event
itself receded into dim distance. So
that most of the stories about Moses
and the Exodus recorded in the Bible
itself may be considered as essentially
legendary. Their very supernatural
ness and exaggeration stamps them
as such. With these Biblical stories
as nuclii, the later "haggadistic" in
terpreters of the Bible gave their i'm
aginations free rein, made the legends
more legendary, and added consider
ably to their volume.
To begin with, the Bible tells us
that the first act Of the oppression of
the Israelites in Egypt was their
forced labor on the two store-cities,
Pithom and Raamses, under the lash
of task masters. The rabbis add to it
that Pharaoh used consummate cum
ming in engaging the Israelites in
these labors. His decree was that all
citizens be called upon to furnish such
labor, and that they receive regular
wage for it; but that gradually the
Egyptians withdrew, leaving the Is
raelites to prosecute the work alone,
under Egyptian task masters, and
that after while the wage be de-
MED them, and they be forced to labor
without it. Thus the Israelites were
ensnared. Only the tribe Of Levi, the
tribe to which Moses belonged, seeing
through the scheme from the begin
ming, did not allow itself to be thus
inveigled.
In connection with the miraculous
birth-story of Moses, the rabbis tell
the following: Pharaoh dreamed that
while sitting on his throne there stood
before him an old man holding in his
hand pair of large scales. He hung
them up, put in one of the balances
all the elders of Egypt, her princes
and officers, and in the other lamb;
and behold the lamb outweighed them
all. When Pharaoh awoke, he sent
for his counselors and related his
dream to them. But they were dumb
with amazement. He then sent for
the wisest of his magicians, Bileam,
the son of Beor. Bileam interpreted
the dream as follows: A great evil
is about to befall Egypt. A son is to
be born in Israel who will destroy
Egypt, kill it's inhabitants, and liber-
ate his people. Thereupon Bileam
suggests the killing Of all the newly
born male children of the Israelites.
When this suggestion was adopted,
and Pharaoh's decree to throw all the
male children into the river was being
carried out, God sent his ministering
angels into the waters, who picked up
the infants as soon as they were
thrown in, and placed them upon the
adjoining cliffs. God formed breasts
out of the cliffs to give the infants
suck, and thus they survived.
Moses childhood, according to Bible
story, was spent at Pharaoh's court.
Later legend relates the following:
When Moses was three years old,