Several weeks ago I was sent the following ‘interesting’ excerpt from The Daily Telegraph (7th Dec 2014):
“Four years ago, for instance, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, aired a view that attracted significant interest.”
“It depended on moving the location of the phenomenon from the Red Sea to an ancient branch of the Nile – near Lake Timsah, known as “The Reed Sea” – where the water could have been as little as 6ft deep 3,000 years ago.”
“They calculated that an east wind that blew all night, as the Bible describes, could have created a two-mile land bridge across the mudflats for around four hours. A subsequent reversal in the direction of the wind would have returned the path to the turbulent river and drowned anyone attempting to cross in pursuit.”
In conjunction with this clipping, a similar ‘discovery’ amongst scientists – where they find scientific justification to something written in our Torah – was also sent to me:
“In the 1990’s two scientists published in The Am J of Meteorology [peer reviewed] Oceanographic Explanation of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. 40 miles an hour wind out of the east for 8 hours opened the waters where they conjectured the crossing was.”
Understandably these types of scientific discoveries will not be able to justify the hundreds of miracles that took place at The Splitting of the Sea; Egyptian riders did not fall off their horses as they were tossed around in the waters, Hashem shot the horses and the riders together towards the waters, instead of shooting things at them. We also know that twelve separate lanes opened up in the waters to allow each tribe its unique passage through the Yam Suf, to mention just a few of the Miracles. Even if one was to fully embrace the scientific theory as an explanation of the splitting of the sea – one would still have to ‘admit’ the freak timing of such an occurrence – exactly as the Yidden approach the waters they split only to come crashing down precisely at the moment the Yidden step out onto dry land. The Splitting of the Sea experience was so overwhelming that even the simplest Jew transcended to a level of prophecy.
As one Rabbi responded, “It is absolutely absurd, disrespectful and downright backwards to turn this magnificent symphony of love with precision, providence that empowered the Jewish people with a new faith in Hashem and Moshe into something that needs to be rationalized by a scientist.”
There is however I believe a tremendous message that we can gain from these scientific discoveries which will serve to boost and strengthen our belief.
The questions one must ask after reading these excerpts is, “Why do you think a group of scientists would even care? Why is good taxpayer’s money being spent so a bunch of scientists can justify the ten plagues? Wouldn’t it be easier [and cheaper] for them to just dismiss the stories of the bible out of hand? Let them just be legends or parables. But hard facts. Why the bother?
The hopefully obvious answer is that the stories in the bible were 100% true. The entire Jewish Nation took part in every single detail as it is described in the Torah. The trueness of what is contained in the Torah is innately credible information to everyone! One cannot dismiss that which must be true. The splitting of the sea as recorded in the Torah is an account of something that millions of people took part in. This, I believe, is a tremendous way to concretise and make us steadfast to our belief’s – to read of people spending such energy to try and rationalise the stories in the Bible.
Take note that the Bible is the most sold book in the world. Almost every hotel room around the world contains a copy of the St James Bible. Although I did once meet a monk on a flight to Israel who told me that he reads the entire bible weekly, I highly doubt the bibles in hotel rooms round the world are read as bedtime stories! (Perhaps it would put people to sleep pretty fast!). The only reason the bible is so well received is because of its highly acclaimed author! The authenticity of the Bible supersedes any seemingly reason for it not to be so well read. Even the Christians couldn’t do away with it but had to make a sequel to it – The New Testament.
Good Shabbos
Yaakov