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Following a series of events in my life that served as a wake-up call, I returned to Judaism after nearly six decades of estrangement.
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April 26, 2001

The Exodus Debate

Following a series of events in my life that served as a wake-up call, I returned to Judaism after nearly six decades of estrangement. I began to study with some of the brightest rabbinical minds in this country and in Israel. I used to joke that I knew more rabbis than Jews. Some two years ago, I began to study weekly with Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple.

My time with him is always enriching and stimulating. Rabbi Wolpe encourages exploration where others shrink in fear of it. He is not afraid of being challenged. Not once in my time with him have I found myself confined to a Judaism that was narrow or parochial.

In this day and age, we need teachers, rabbis and leaders willing to move forward, unafraid to tackle the issues that arise with modern learning in the secular world. The story of the Exodus, as an actor, I find interesting and dramatic. I am not concerned with the archaeological authenticity of the story: I am interested in what the metaphor teaches me about my own spiritual journey. And Judaism is the language I speak, the path I walk, the origin and the destination of that journey.

Rabbi Wolpe had tremendous courage to stand up and speak about what is essentially a search for truth. That is the highest form of Jewish learning. He walks in the company of our greatest teachers. I, for one, look forward to our next study session.

Kirk Douglas, Beverly Hills

Over the past four years, Rabbi Wolpe has reinvigorated Sinai Temple with sermons marked by extraordinary erudition that have combined religious commitment and intellectual honesty in ways that have deepened both our knowledge and our faith. His sermons ask not that his congregants automatically agree with him, but rather that they grapple with the fundamental issues confronting all Jews — both religious and secular — in ways that reflect the lasting values of our religion. His sermons regarding many issues, such as the Ashkenazi-Persian relationship or the Passover sermon on Exodus, were part of that tradition and already have generated major discussions and learning within our congregation and in the community.

As a congregation, we have given him the liberty to speak from the pulpit, and we trust he will continue to deliver sermons that challenge and inspire us.

Jimmy Delshad, President Sinai Temple

A wealthy, successful Westside Jewish congregation hires a celebrity rabbi, no doubt pays him a fabulous salary so that they can hear firsthand that the whole basis of Judaism is false. This doesn’t sound like a spiritually uplifting message on Pesach. In fact, this doesn’t sound like a good deal at all.

Gary Spiegel, Los Angeles

It’s only 55 years since World War II ended, and people are already denying that the Holocaust ever took place. Even prestigious universities and libraries in the United States and other countries are giving platforms to so-called scholars who deny or trivialize the Holocaust. We still have survivors who can tell us what they experienced at the hands of the Nazis.

Were the Hebrews ever in Egypt? The Torah commands us to remember that our ancestors were once slaves in Egypt and that a great Exodus took place. Is there any evidence to prove that the Hebrews were never in Egypt and that there was no Exodus?

Rabbi Shimon Paskow, Thousand Oaks

I don’t know whether this will throw any light on the subject, but several years ago while wandering through the incredible Cairo Museum, I happened upon a hieroglyph which was translated as follows: “I have pursued the Hebrews into the desert and destroyed them. Their seed is no more.”

The museum noted that this is the only known artifact that records the existence of Jews in ancient Egypt. I have never doubted the veracity of the Exodus, although I do believe the report of the Jews’ demise has been greatly exaggerated.

Aaron J. Shuster, Los Angeles

Rabbi Wolpe has chosen Aristotle over Maimonides, theories and scientific method over facts. There is a clear difference between asking someone today to believe in a theory versus asking them to accept the facts as passed down from one generation to the next. I choose to believe the events of the Holocaust as told by its survivors rather than enter the debate of what the historians suppose occurred.

Mass conspiracies through the millennia are very difficult to sustain, and the Jewish people have been recounting the Exodus narrative on its anniversary for thousands of years.

Rabbi Ari Hier, Director, Jewish Studies Institute, Simon Wiesenthal Center

The literalist interpretation of the Bible defended by Dennis Prager (“Faith in Exodus,” April 20) and Rabbi David Eliezrie (“Is There Truth in Archaeology?,” April 20) raises difficult theological questions. Perhaps the most profound rejoinder to their position, however, comes from the words of Elie Wiesel, who once said, “Some events do take place, but are not true; others are [true] — although they never occurred.”

Gary Gilbert, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Claremont McKenna College

Here in Jerusalem, we hear only the outlines of the furor surrounding Rabbi David Wolpe’s recent comments on historical scholarship and the Exodus. But I’ve heard enough to feel bitter pain for a man who is both my friend and one of my most admired models of what a rabbi should be.

In Rabbi Wolpe, we have a rabbi whose devotion to the spiritual and profoundly religious dimension of Judaism cannot be questioned, a man whose books and sermons have touched the hearts of many thousands of people. Now, in addition to inspiring us, Rabbi Wolpe has chosen to push us. He pleads with us to embrace the intellectual challenges that modernity places before us, in full confidence that the richness and beauty of Jewish life will not suffer, but in fact, will be enhanced by the maturity and depth of the religious worlds that will emerge from this encounter.

We owe it to Rabbi Wolpe and to the future of Jewish life to applaud those with the courage to challenge us and to push us to grow, particularly when we know how deep is their love for the Jewish people, our tradition and our Torah.

The Jewish people have enough enemies. Let’s focus our vitriol on them, and not on those who are our greatest assets and our most gifted teachers.

Dr. Daniel Gordis, Founding Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, Jerusalem

There was a time when rabbis could disagree, and both interpretations were considered Torah. Today, however, we seem to have developed gurus who not only give their opinions, but who also then state that if you disagree you are destroying Judaism.

Dennis Prager’s remarks were both unfortunate and dangerous. Rabbi Wolpe not only has the right, but indeed the obligation to teach us Torah as he understands it. That is what our rabbis have been doing for centuries. Not only did they reinterpret the Torah, they also had the courage to eliminate some of the practices.

Many of us join Rabbi Wolpe with a faith that far transcends doubt. Each morning, in our liturgy, we thank G-d for our minds and our intellect. Let’s not be afraid to use them.

Norman Pell, Los Angeles

It was a pleasure to read Rob Eshman’s editorial about the latest controversy about the possibility that not every word of the Bible is true (“Wolpe’s Hurricane,” April 20).

Rabbi Wolpe’s short message in his own defense (“Is There Faith After Doubt?,” April 20) emphasized the importance of what every thoughtful religious person must do: try to reconcile faith and reason, which are often in conflict.

Rabbi Steven Leder’s article (“Torah Truths,” April 20) then exemplifed just such an attempt, as he described trying to explain the story of Noah to his daughter in a way which that would avoid the dangers of both an overly literal as well as an overly metaphorical interpretation. Not an easy task, but isn’t that the point?

And then we get to Dennis Prager. He starts off by decrying the anti-religious bias of the Times and other newspapers, asserting that it is “unimagineable” that any paper would “ever print a front-page article on Martin Luther King’s extramarital affairs on Martin Luther King Day.” Oh, really? Well, I find it highly imagineable that if a well-known African American minister of one of the leading African American churches delivered such a sermon on Martin Luther King Day, a story on that event would indeed hit the front page of many papers the very next day.

Suzanne Zaharoni, Beverly Hills

Any student who has taken philosophy 101 and studied epistemology could tell us that our knowledge and understanding of the past is largely dependent on our individual belief systems.

Here we have two competing belief systems — one placing belief in scientific method and the other placing belief in the divine, but both, ultimately, based on faith. Sometimes they overlap, but often they simply do not. This may be a case in which they do not. It is, therefore, perfectly reasonable for rational, clear- thinking individuals to accept the literal truth of the Torah without verification from outside authorities such as archaeologists and historians. After all, one faith-based system such as religion should be as acceptable to achieving knowledge and truth as any other.

Avi Davis, Westwood

One who denies the authenticity of the Torah no longer can be leaned upon for his knowledge of halacha and thus does not deserve the title of rabbi. Any editor of a Jewish publication who supports the poisoning of the roots of Judaism should no longer hold such a position. As for Wolpe’s lecture, I ask, if the Exodus never happened, then as American Jews why not celebrate Passover on the 4th of July, the American day of liberty throughout the land?

David Nisenbaum, Los Angeles

Corrections

In his article on the Exodus controversy, Jewish Journal Editor Robert Eshman wrote: “Radio talk show hostDennis Prager spent almost two hours fielding calls from across the region, and let callers know of his own strong disagreement with Wolpe.”

It is entirely understandable why Eshman wrote this, as I mentioned to him that I discussed the issue for two hours on my radio show. But I never discussed Rabbi Wolpe or his sermon. The reason is simple: In 19 years of radio I have never discussed anything I myself did not hear or read, and I certainly was not going to make an exception in the case of my friend Rabbi David Wolpe.

Both on the air and in print I discussed the issue, not a talk that I never heard.

The error was, as noted, entirely understandable, but it is important that it be corrected.

Dennis Prager, KRLA Radio

An editing mistake led to a factual error in Rabbi David Eliezrie’s article (“Is There Truth in Archaeology?,” April 20). The sentence should have read: “The great Spanish sage Rabbi Yehuda Halevi documents the conversation between the rabbi and the King of the Khazars.”

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