S_SH+Moses

We need to remember the difference between a religious approach to Jewish history, and a secular approach. Religious people think that what is stated in the Bible, the Torah, is actually true. The secular approach looks for what really happened to the Jews, what they in fact experienced. We now use not only stories told by ancient Jewish writers, but also stories written down by neighboring peoples, and archeaological evidence -- such as bits of cooking ware, weaponry, tools, etc. found in stone or fossils. We talked about the fact that Jews, at first, were nomads in the desert - that is, people without land who take all their belongings and animals with them as they traveled. The Jews were already a tribal people, but Moses gave them very strong leadership, and unified them in three ways: 1) Leading his people out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt; 2) Confirming belief in a single god, Yahweh, through their difficulty years wandering the desert, and 3) Belief in a set of Moral Codes. For secular Jews, it is the importance of being free, and the idea of freedom, as well as the Moral Codes that are the most important aspects or lessons of this period of history, and which contributed so importantly to the distinctiveness of the Jews. What is a Moral Code? A body of social rules that reflect how people of the tribe should interact with each other. It reflects their values and their priorities. What was unusual about Moses was that he created a set of moral codes that his fellow Jews came to believe in. Many of the moral codes of the Jews were adopted, or borrowed, from neighboring peoples, and then adapted, or slightly changed, to fit particular Jewish beliefs regarding how people should behave. Overall, what was unusual about these codes was that they tried to control the 'passions' of people, to restrain people from just doing what they wanted selfishly and individually. Instead, the codes made people think about others and the community as a whole. Examples of these moral codes are: no murder; no stealing; no jealousy; be true to your wife; no lying. These codes enabled nomadic Jews to develop a sense of self-worth, specialness, and dignity, and united them as Jews. These moral codes sought to encourage kindness and respect for others. Since it was Moses, as far as we know (assuming he did exist), who developed these codes, Jews had great respect for him as a leader. Also, Moses probably had great skill in leading his people so that they would survive as nomads in the desert. The bible 'miracle' stories (such as parting of the waters in the sea) were made up or exaggerated, but do imply that Moses was an important and skilled leader. It is believed that, at some point prior to 1,000 BCE, Moses led the Jews back from the desert and into the land of Judah (although he died before they arrived, so the story goes). He provided them with a sense of 'peoplehood' and defining themselves as Jews not only because of monotheism, but also because of these social rules to which Jews as a people were committed to and wanted to defend and promote, and because of their commitment to the idea of freedom. Later in history, the moral codes of the Jews would be further developed and expanded, resulting in what came to be called the Deuteronomic Code (more on that in a later session), but overall the social rules of the Jewish people have, throughout history, served as an important aspect of our collective identity.

//Source//: __A History of the Jews__, Abram Leon Sachar, pages 11-22.