A link to purchase Prof. Adler’s new book The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal (affiliated): Kindle amzn.to/3jYiiEG Hardcover amzn.to/3Ixfk41
All of the Anchor Yale books in the series are excellent. I have a number and have learnt a huge amount from them. Watch out for the publication dates when you view the catalogue though: scholars have moved on from the ‘60s when the earlier volumes were produced and some of these older editions contain theses which have been revised in the meantime.
@@pamelaleibowitz3019 - Adler is an archeologist and studies archeological finds that indicate behaviors following or not following the Torah. Do you think his archeological work would benefit from studying the Torah more and, if yes, how?
ruclips.net/video/9lEyuXql4QE/видео.html The earliest Judaic text is 1200BC, so 1k years off this video's incorrect date. Its at minimum hundreds of years older than that.
Most people going into Babylonian Exile were Judahites. Some of their ancestors were probably Israelites fleeing to Judah after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722BC. But they left Babylon as Jews, that sounds correct.
Abraham was born 1800 BEFORE Christ and he was a "GENERAL" of what LATER the Egyptians would call the Hycksos, they were refugees with the Egypcians later took advantage of their host and came to power then there were the 2 exodous (YES TWO) first was in war they were expelled by foce not mentioned in the bible, the second (in bible) was self expelled. It is believed that the Jews are an upshoot of Akhanaten (Amenhotech the 4) he was a desendant of the Hycksos by his mother (minor wife aka concubine) father was Egyptian after Akhanaten's death like 100 years later the first mention of Jews come about (it could have been a group of priests of Akhanaten's religion, mixed with cannan influences). So the leader is not older than 4K years old (Abraham, politeist) the Jews per say like 1200 before christ so less than 3.5k years from today.
@@JustMe99999 No evidence ah? Welcome to organize religion, where everything you suppose to believe no matter how extraordinary and unnatural it may be is based of FAITH ONLY. As Jonathan Swift said: "if horses would talk and reason the way humans do, their God would look like a horse" as an anonymous teen once said: "well... we have to believe what religion says because they tell us to believe it, for all I care it could be martians from a UFO and we suppose to believe it?" That is how organized religion impose themselves on the masses to control them, controlled by people in power and or position of influence. GOD exist with and wtihout bible, or jews. Organized religion is just social poison.
Very well structured and ably conducted interview of a well-known and highly respected archaeologist on a difficult topic that people feel great attachment to! Adler's book is bound to be debated for years to come. Thank you to the interviewer Mr. Alex Tseitlin and I hope to see many more such illuminating contributions in the future!
I have just discovered this channel - what a treat! i did my theology degree at Cambridge over 4O years ago - I just wish the lectures i heard then were as riveting as this one! Very clear explanation of the methodology and as with most religious history things look so much simpler when viewed at a distance. For Jews and Christians this opens up so many possibilities!
Thank you, stay tuned as we are about to release a few episodes filmed during our recent travel to Cambridge this month, we interviewed some of the best scholars, the first will be released in a day or two
@ianbrowne8871 There is a problem: absence of proof is not proof of absence. He said he doesn't know. In Israel archeological sites ancient and new are destroyed by our enemies. We are forbidden to dig under the Temple Mount. There are many limitations. We (Jews) we would like to know just as much as averybody else. Proof lf this is that this Israeli professor is catering for your need of truth. Some simple people still believe in Jewish conspiracies. I hope you are not one of them . Thank you for reading my comment.
"For Jews and Christians this opens up so many possibilities!" Like what? Jews and Christians parted ways 2000 years ago and for classical Judaism, Christianity is an abomination and for classical Christianity, Judaism is dead.
Thank you, Kedem, and Professor Yonatan Adler. very informative and well spoken. I personally would like a series like this one on all the world religions. Given the data available. Again Thank you.
Judaism today is not same as it was in OT is what I am getting from this which makes sense. The destruction of the temple in 70AD changed a lot about Judaism. I love looking at religion from a academics standpoint like this
The destruction of the temple indeed changed Judaism a lot: Sadducees and Essenes disappeared, Jewish Christians split off, Pharisees in Babylon developed Rabbinical Judaism. Adler's research focused on the time BEFORE 70AD: how the life of the people changed in the 2nd century BC by starting to follow the Torah. Most of the Old Testament or Hebrew bible was already written by then.
Admirable is the amount of work Professor Adler put into this research. One of my science professors taught me that when one looks to observe specific things then one is only going to find those things, or not. Therefore, the correlation of such observations with other observations of a different perspective is made difficult by the incompleteness intrinsic in such an approach. In fact, Professor Adler points this out himself. Thank you for all your intriguing work, Professor Adler.
I also admire that he was faithful to himself. Through his research I see him and his wise equilibrium. He has succeeded were Jews can fail. Josephus and other famous Jews have failed because they sought to please non-Jews. Professor Adler has succeeded in my opinion, and as I said, I find it worthy of praise.
What a surprise. I always thought Judaism an “ancient” religion- especially compared to Christianity- but - Christianity emerging less than 300 years after Judaism?? Completely unexpected
It’s because Judaism as we know it to be is “newer” than what the beliefs of the Israelites, people of Judah, Levites, etc. Its gone through a long process of development and evolution and eventually reaching its “final stage,” or more well know state, in approx the 6th and 5th centuries with developments continuing into the common era. However, Judaism as a whole is ancient with its earliest beliefs dating back thousands of years ago in the Levant
Judaism is based on the Biblical narrative. I really don't see how you can bring together 'science' or secular history with this religion. The Hebrew scriptures have been such an integral part of the Jewish experience, how can any Jew mesh this history with his faith?
@@jamesr8584 well, maybe you should've watched the video ...then you'd know They explain in detail how and why they use that very methodology at the beginning
But you can find also times before the beginning when no version was around for sure. Together with your earliest version you can get a range of time for when a begin was possible.
@@Achill101 The world doesn't owe us that. I said it somewhere, but it seems like it's more like the opposite, rabbinic judaism in it's earliest form started with jewish colonies. I'm not disputing some cross polinization after, almost certainly it happened, but it's not an accident that ethiopian priests work like rabbies.
In the 3rd century BC, about the time the Torah was cobbled together from ancient texts at Alexandria, an Egyptian priest named Manetho said Judaism had originally been formed by an Osirian priest who changed his name from Osarseph and led a group of Sethians out of Avaris. So it is apparent that the Hebrews were appropriating snippets of literature and history going back a thousand years as their foundation myth. Interestingly, you can find pagan carved stones of the Heron (parent of Horus the Brave) in the Rift Valley of Israel just at Mt Horeb is its image on a grand scale. You can find Egyptian scarabs in Canaan seemingly spelling out divine names. We can find statues and drawings of Asherah. And in the north, we can find mosaic zodiacs even in the synagogue! So sometime betweeen the 3rd century BC and the time of Jesus, Sethian sage traditions going back at least a thousand years are being hidden or driven underground by monotheist iconoclasts. Jesus was, apparently, one attempting to bring back the wisom tradition. A great Seth image is engraved on his tomb (see the left side of the facade of the Talpiot Tomb). Several ancient historians carry the story of the donkey god's statue being found in the Temple when it was invaded in the 2nd century BC. jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Facade.jpg scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=the+ass+in+the+temple&btnG= The rise of Seth at the demise of Orion/Osiris can be found around the world. I could show you proof among the Maya, the Ojuelans and the Nyonyosi. But it appears to be a sudden reversal of the Milky Way -- a Creation story. It is the rise of Lepus and the fall of Orion such is due again to occur in the approaching Apocalypse. The Bundahisn, chapter 4, says in the Taurian apocalypse the sky turned right. This time, it will turn left and an equatorial landmass -- some suspect India --will find itself at the new north pole.
What an enjoyable presentation…so appreciate your videos and all the effort you put into seeking out scholars and approaching such wonderful topics! Thank you again!🇨🇦☺🇮🇱
yes "the lack of evidence is not evidence for lack", but if you take every significant torah law behavior and for each one of them you don't find evidence before the hashmonenan period , I think you can say most for certain that the Jewish religious way of life started in that period. Thanks Alex for another excellent talk
What are significant Thorah behaviors? Is not eating pigs one of them? IIRC there's evidence that pig eating in the Highlands of the Iron Age was on the decline, for whatever reason (maybe appearance of chickens). Another rule said the right feet of sacrificed animals belonged to the priests (sorry, Idk the passage name): in Tel Dan, an Israelite temple from before 722BC, they found accumulated right feet IIRC. That doesn't mean Torah existed (it did not), but that some older, traditional rules about pigs and right feet entered the Torah and became Jewish law later.
@@Achill101 or that means Torah existed. In a similar manner the priestly blessing was found on two silver amulets dating from the 7th century BC by Prof G Barkay. I am sure that there are more evidence that was ignored.
@@reggievonramstein - yes, the evidence discussed here puts an earliest point only on the wide-spread acceptance of Torah. But there's other, literary evidence that large portions of the Torah were not composed before the Babylonian Exile: most famously, the story of Noah that has close parallels to the story of Ushnapishtin in the Gilgamesh Epos. But also that many parts of the Torah are never referred to by the Prophets. . . . That does NOT mean that all parts of the Tanach were only written down in the Exile or later: some passages clearly reveal knowledge of the time before 850BC. But most bible scholars today think that those written sources from earlier times were incorporated into larger writings later, edited and possibly rewritten to fit to other passages. The original writings, like the Chronic of the Kings of Israel and Chronic of the Kings of Judah, were lost, because they held less religious significance and were not copied carefully by later generations.
So Akal Panu we’re produced in the 2nd century? You’ll have to prove that. As far as the evidence is concerned, all the archeology shows a 5th century completion date. This guy is focusing on rabbinic Judaism. Yeah, ofc it arises in the 2nd century. Judaism and the Torah are much older and the stories are proven. More Troy nonsense.
I enjoyed this very much. I find the point that the written regulations underlyiingJudaism might have arisen as a result of the influence of the Greek custom of having written laws to be very interesting.
Thank you for this archeological view on when Jews accepted the Pentateuch as law. I have two questions: 1. Can we see which came first, the Maccabean revolt or some acceptance of the Torah around Jerusalem? (In other words: did the Hasmoneans enforce the law, or was there a time of a larger Torah-obeying movement that later birthed or inspired the Hasmoneans?) 2. The Pentateuch was also accepted as law in Samaria. Do we have any evidence that the law was accepted at about the same time in Samaria and Jerusalem, or did one region come before the other? Biblical scholars are today not certain which region accepted the Torah first, maybe archeology could help?
I don't see much dietary kosher stuff in the writings of the prophets 900-587 BCE. We hear more about not doing justice, no protection of orphans, widows, and by 600 BCE opposing murdering children in human sacrifices. It is with Ezrah and Nehemiah where there is an enforcement of practices like Shabbat, Kosher foods,...
@@elpidiogonzalez8193 - the Torah was certainly not the guiding law of Judaism in Palestina in the 5. century BC. We can conclude that from the Elephantine letters that don't reveal any knowledge of the Torah but seem to indicate a normal relationship to Jerusalem and to its temple. Was it Ezra who brought the Pentateuch to and made it law in Jerusalem around 430BC? Or did it happen later, like 160BC as this video suggest, and the Book of Ezra is a pious projection of later developments into an earlier time, to give the development more authority?
@@messianic_scam - the expression "archeological view" was a reference to the video, in which the archeologist Adler describes the evidence for a relatively late adoption of the Pentateuch as law among the common people living around Jerusalem. The adoption seem to have happened only in the 2nd century BC.
The Samaritans could have been from anywhere in the Assyrian Empire, prisoners captured during war deported to the Kingdom of Israel. They were not Israelites. They worshipped idols at first. In the North the tribes of Israel were more open and assimilated, and lived side by side the strangers that lived in the North. If they later embraced the Torah: good for them. But it is not part of our History as fascinating as the story of those transferred people is. Usually the Assyrians never kept prisoners, they would slaughter them. So they were probably Assyrians that Nabuchadnezar 🤔 wanted to get rid of. And in Jerusalem people were building and forming a Jewish identity based on Torah. Because those transferred Asyrians were not part of the nation, ( I understand your question better now ) I understand the question has meaning from a Christian perspective. Sorry, as a Jew I was confused at first.
@@KEDEMChannel hello sir, I tell you something. I absolutely agree with your version of decoding history. This is what I have been screaming in top of my voice. Because I understand what idol worship is all about. These HABIRUs were Outlaws, bandits thugs and thieves troublemakers who were exiled into canan by neighbouring countries. I mean they were dumping convicts Into canan to fend for themselves. Desert is a hostile place, you don't get food. What option left with them other than loot people for survival?. Abraham was a politician, a HABIRU, who proclaimed himself as a prophet. No prophet ever visited earth. Bad people claimed themselves as prophets. The worst of them was MOHAMMUD. . the so called Islamic Prophet
I have listened to that interview, and read many of the comments. It baffles me that almost everyone is asking questions based on false premises. Everybody seems to confuse Torah teachings with Judaism. Some even use the idea of "Jews" in the sixth century BCE. This amount of confusion is a result of Rabbinical Judaism which emerged out of the Talmud and the Mishnah way after the return from captivity. The Nomer "Judaism" did not even exist back then. No one thought of a religion called Judaism. The people that went and came out of Egypt were not Jews. They were Israelites: children of Jacob (Israel). They were named by the patriarchal name of each tribe, examples: Danites, Levites, Ephraimites, Benjamites, etc. All Jews are Israelites, but all Israelites are not Jews. The kingdom of the North wasn't known as Jews. They were Israelites. In the South we had Judah. The children of Benjamin had joined themselves to the tribe of Judah; thefore, their identity became fused with that of the Yahudim. Some of the Levites had also joined the house of David. Prophetically, the scepter would not depart from Judah. Thus the Law stayed with Judah. Therefore, since the latest powers that conquered the children of Israel, were dealing with the children of Judah, from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus to the Greeks (Hellenist Antichus Epiphanes), then the Romans, they thus called the sort of what Jews were doing as the religion of Judah, or the religion of the Jews. Only children of Judah are Jews. This is what Rabbinical Judaism deliberately doesn't tell people. The misinformation is so pervasive that I've heard remarks regarding Jacob and even Abraham being Jews. Can you imagine? They also want you to beleive that you are Jewish by your mother, only, which automatically excludes the 12 sons of Jacob, 99% of today's Jews, the converted sons of Ashkenaz (Ashkenazi Jews who look different from Middleastern Jews, to this day). The concept of a religion called Judaism is wholly recent, and different from authentic Torah teachings. Of course, most people don't know that, for they only regurgitate what Rabbi or Rambam so and so says. They all replaced the mitzvots of HaShem Elohim by their own teachings, so that they can receive honor from one another. According to prophet Isaiah they've caused my people to forget my Name. This is why, for those of you who don't know, they teach Judaists to say HaShem, meaning the Name, as though HaShem means G'd, which is false; but, what is His Name? They won't tell you? There is so much more to say. We don't have enough space, here.
This was a really good interview, thanks. I found it quite funny that you said that around 1st century CE even the Romans didn't put the emperor's figure on coins minted in Judea. It means that NT story of the "Who's image is on the coin... Render to Caesar..." blah blah blah, is a load of rubbish.
Awesome! And so refreshing to see scientists conducting their research in religious history, even when their findings, theories and conjectures are at odds with religious orthodoxy
a few centuries BC? Well that was the start of the worst period in human history, because of these beliefs. We are still suffering under this rule today.
@@everythingisalllies2141 can you just say it all? I'm a Jew nothing bad will happen to you. We believe in freedom of speech. You are free. You can say anything. Just attacking us and depriving ourselves from our lives is legally forbidden. Because we are human beings.
@@KEDEMChannel I read a book called The Wondering Who by Gilad Atzmon and a book called The Invention Of The Jewish People by Shlomo Sand of a university of Israel. It's a bit complicated at times, and I am not Jewish, but the history of this faith fascinates me. I did enjoy the video.
Excellent summary. I like Alder's specificity regarding what he's actually discussing and his methodology for exploring the question he's investigating. It's also refreshing that he explicitly explains that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." There are too many writers who don't understand that principle and who thusly don't account well enough for the reality that new discoveries can occur, or that absence of evidence may actually be a reasonable or even an expected outcome, depending on the conditions under which related ancient activities may have occurred.
@@TheThinkersBible Then if absence of evidence is sufficient to warrant personal belief, the presence of conflicting evidence must surely warrant confident disbelief. Asking for those of us who aren't scientists.
@@woodygilson3465 depends on the situation but often if not generally yes. That said, in a scientific scenario one must always be open to the possibility that new evidence can be discovered that overturns currently held opinion, however deeply held. Technically, science is based more on degree of confidence, technically not as much on certainty. But probability can be very high (99.9999999% confident, etc.).
@@woodygilson3465 that's also why we should always be careful when judging people. Not that we can't draw conclusions, but we should do so thoughtfully and with humility, not rashly and in a self-focused manner.
I had assumed that "Judaism" (the practice thereof) didn't actually emerge until the Babylonian exile (or more likely the Persian period and the return to Palestine under Cyrus). The miraculous-seeming nature of that development I always assumed was the spark that led to the development of most of the Tanakh (including even some/most parts of the Torah). But the limited evidence from the Persian and Hellenistic periods suggests the penetration of at least the praxis of Judaism (and maybe even the writing down of the laws in the Torah!) actually took centuries MORE... Wow.
Perhaps you expect this: ....Palestine?.... .... / is Arafat before Cyrus? Is the Roman Empire before Cyrus. I won't bother to extend myself because you are obviously a highly educated person. So, what moves you is not ignorance, but will. I am puzzled as to the fact that such an elevated and bright mind could so easily be clouded when it comes to semantically grouping the Philistines with the Palestinians. How is it that even the brightest of minds succumbs to darkness when it is about the Jews. When it is about the Jews, the most high up intellectuals fall pray to primitive history changing medieval thought. It's astounding.
I find it interesting and comforting that Professor Adler discusses evidence that Judaism in the time of Jesus was essentially the same as later Rabbinic Judaism because of the popular contrary view. Many Christians building on the ideas of Michael Heiser maintain that the Jews at the time of Jesus would have no problem with the Trinity. These Heiserites explain that monotheism in Judaism today comes from the Middle Ages and was completely different in the time of Jesus when Yahweh was only the main God who presided over a Council of lesser gods.
I disagree and think: Judaism in the time of Jesus was very diverse. From Saducees over Essenes to Pharisees, there were many ways to practice Judaism. And Christians before 70CE, like Paul, thought of themselves as part of Judaism, too. The destruction of the temple and the Bar Kochba revolt changed that, even if some Christians observed Jewish holidays and feasts until the 4th century CE. . . . I agree with you about the trinity. It is a description of the mystery of God, following the Christology of the gospel according to John that itself was written AFTER 70CE. While later Christian exegets saw the trinity in the Old Testament, too, like the three men visiting Abraham, that was not how Judaism had seen it. The trinity is a Christian concept only.
PS The idea of Yahweh presiding over a council of lesser gods might have been the religion of the old Israelite northern kingdom: Baal and Yahweh were both seen as real, and only Yahweh should be worshipped by Israel. But in the Babylonian Exile, Judaism became monotheistic, see Deutero-Isaiah. In the time of the Hasmoneans, Judaism had no notions of lesser gods.
Initially, I was shocked by Dr Adler's exposition because I thought Judaism was much older by some 600 years, but I'm persuaded by his arguments and the evidence he mounts, which is extensive. I'm a convert ! I've always had a hunch that the Hasmodian Dynasty played a key role in the rise of Judaism, but now I understand that it's key to forming the notion of Jewish statehood.
Really Interesting. In my opinion I see religion as an evolution of ideas of man's relation to the infinite and incomprehensible. Formed over time within the specifics of various cultures throughout history.
@@oftin_wong Not sure what you mean by that, or if I agree. Social and cultural issues don't stem from a void. They change and form from preexisting conditions.
@@bohem5568 who mentioned social or cultural issues or a void ?...all religions are built on a framework of the previous religion Example ...Judaism- Christianity - church of Mormon All come from the origins of Judaism ...no need to get upset I just thought you might be open to learnt something ...no matter If you were to google the two words 'religious synchronisity' you could see for yourself ...it's a thing
I only found your channel today as I was searching for Prof Finkelstein’s work, then I found a video with Prof Adler and then another one with Prof Maeir. I look forward to learning more about this ancient history from more scholars. Thank you for bringing this scholarly work to the public 🙏.
Very interesting. And then you have Dr. Russell Gmirkin, who points to reasons to believe the Torah was mainly composed in the mid-third century BCE. So it would have been around for about a hundred years when the Hasmoneans gave it prominence..
Interesting theories to the origin of Jewish legal culture. I´d recommend reading Russell E. Gmirkin´s book "Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible" in this regard.
The Quran specifically states that Noah, Abraham were not Jews because they had not received the Torah but they worshiped the one true God.. and all food was lawful to them..
@@KEDEMChannel - I posed the question in my own reply, here again: can archeology help us to decide when Samaritans adopted the Torah, like before or after the people in Jerusalem? Maybe you could ask Prof. Adler?
What about the events described in the text? At the time of the exodus, might there not have been a birth of Judaism that then dissipated and was rekindled in the 3rd century BC? Is that plausible?
Great conversation. Must admit that I not in my lane with this comment, but Prof Adler’s findings seem to raise significant questions about the theology most of us know today. For instance, what is the distinction between “Jewish” as a people and “Jewish” as a belief system? And do his findings have significance for such Biblical stories as the Exodus? Would love to see more conversation with the Professor.
This is very amazing what Professor Adler is saying. The implications of his research and methodology changes my ideas of ancient Judaism. I am wondering if the keeping of the Torah among the common people, which Prof. Adler seems to date as likely beginning only a few centuries BCE, may be tied to the establishment of the synagogue within Judaism. If my understanding is correct, the synagogues began to be a part of religious life about the same time as widespread observance of Torah. Previous to this, the almost exclusive place of worship was the temple, which was not very convenient to most people living outside of Jerusalem. With the establishment of synagogues, religious instruction and participation could become much more common in rural areas and smaller towns. I wonder if the professor has any comment on this possible connection.
If the establishment of synagogues was the main place of the teachings of Judaism and they were established in many places outside Jerusalem, was there any central authority over the many centuries that was responsible for teaching "the true Judaism"? Or, would different rabbis at different locations be teaching different interpretations of the Torah? I would wonder if this was a recognized inconsistency within Judaism and perhaps the reason why the Christian Church used the words quoted from Jesus to establish "Peter" as the rock upon which the Church would be built. They established a central authority. Yet, even that never halted the many interpretations of the Gospel nor the schism 1500 years later. Judaism, or at least the temple, was crushed in 70 AD by the Romans. How was it taught after that period?
@@helenamcginty4920 Right. I reviewed that section, and he does suggest such a connection. I had watched the video in sections and missed that crucial part the first time I watched it. Thank you.
The Elephantine letters indicate that worship and sacrifice in Judaism of the 5th century BC was not exclusive to the temple. And why would it be? The archeological research by Adler indicates the Torah wasn't followed, until the Hasmoneans enforced it in the areas they conquered. That probably applied both to which food to eat and where to worship. From the Hasmonean kingdom, following the Torah probably spread to Jews outside of it.
It surprises me that the evidence of ritual purity with regard to sacrifice isn’t noted as important or included in this discussion, there are numerous ancient sites that include only remains of clean animals throughout Israel, many which date before the Davidic era, additionally the textual development of the Hebrew language suggest a much more sophisticated literate people than the author suggests. Even the presence of an elaborate Temple from the time of Nehemiah suggests a more complex Temple pattern of anthropology.
@@NuisanceMan , given the average understanding of what Christianity and Judaism project are their "ancient" roots, I expected these traditions to be at least 1500 years BCE, and unknowingly, considered them possibly older. Particularly when the perception is, these traditions are older than Celtic Mesolithic dates. Couple that with known homo sapiens and variants co-existing tens of thousands of years prior to this, it's vital to put chronologies in actual comparison to any other known belief system. The Judeo-Christic centering of history at Ground Zero is too often ignored and stultifying.
This was some VERY cool stuff. Contrary to what others might expect here, I was actually surprised by the sheer number of identifiably Jewish practices that we have evidence of BCE.
What's interesting about Adler as a man is that, according to his bio, he was educated in a yeshiva founded by Kook and was ordained a rabbi in the Orthodox mode. Would be interesting to know how he got from there to where he is now.
What we would recognize as a mature form Torah-based Judaism did not come about until Hellenistic times. Before that, and especially prior to the Babylonian Captivity and the Achaemenid Period, it is highly unlikely that the Israelites were in any way distinguishable from other Canaanites in either their religious practices or material culture.
It is exciting, but I have my doubts. We know the ancient Jews had a high rate of literacy. Sabbath is mentioned in the bible long before 200 BCE. Now, if you accept the bible as pre-200 BCE, how is that possible? Also, the reason for the rebellion with the Greeks was over these religious practices. We may be talking of widespread use, not beginning.
To find out what to expect when religions end, you could look at countries that suppressed it like Soviet-union, China, or Albania. Welcome to the new world.
THANK YOU, Dr. Adler for pointing out that the community at Elephantine was founded contrary to Scripture. So many people try to promote issues of Biblical religion based on that community while ignoring the command that "you shall never return to Egypt". This also affects the production of the LXX as well.
Yes, I agree that was the beginning of the "Hillelian" interpretation of the Torah, as simple as that. All examples talk about a contemporary understanding of the Jewish practice, and interpretation of the Torah according to , which started to increase in its popularity toward the end of the Second Temple. The Shammai practices were older and didn't require building of the mikvah. Torah talks about going to rivers, and works around the ceramic issues of impurity is just a specific group of rabbis' solution to Torah laws. Yes, Jesus if to believe Christian scripture was part of this movement, but those scriptures don't cover multiple laws too. I don't remember Shavuot there or a New Year celebration. We don't have good sources, unfortunately. I am happy that this book seems to prove the ancient roots of rabbinic practices because many claim later inventions. Yet the way he puts together this as proof that Jews didn't know Torah before is a stretch if not a lie.
The Christian scriptures that have survived were written in Greek and influenced by Paul of Tarsus (except maybe the Didache). Paul de-emphasized the rules of Jewish life in favor of a theological view of God and Jesus. The Jewish life we see in the gospels is more of a background to the "real story" of Jesus' life and sacrifice.
Adler is saying that archaeology cannot prove widespread adherence to Torah before the Hasmoneans. He also says absence of proof is not proof of absence.
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 - Isn't using Adler a rhetorical slight of hand when implying from "Thorah as a whole wasn't observed before Hasmoneans" to "there is no archeological evidence for some Jewish rules long before the Hasmoneans"? Because IIRC there is ample archeological evidence for avoiding pigs in Judah 600BC and some evidence of keeping the right feet of slaughtered animals for the Tel Dan temple 750BC. Those traditional rules then made it into the Torah, too.
I think he is stretching when he uses the ban on figurative depictions as the delineation. One thing about religion of all kinds is that in different times it has differing interpretations. In ancient times some parts of religious practice were only for the priests or monks. With the printing press we started to see people with religious texts outside of holy houses. This is true of Abrahamic faiths, Buddhism and Hinduism. Likewise, some of these rules were only enforced among the priesthood, not on the laity. With the Jews especially we see them taking their rules much more seriously after the Babylonian period. In first temple Judaism the rules were more important the closer to the temple.
I know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but from other sources (Israel Finkelstein and others), we do know that settlements in the Levant after the Late Bronze-Age Collapse generally speaking do not show evidence of significant percentages pig bones, where they do have cattle, sheep, and goat bones (and sites like Gath do show significantly higher percentages of pig bones). This would not disprove Adler's thesis, but it would show that there are at least some Jewish cultural identity markers going back to at least around 1100ish BCE. Whether this is evidence of "following the Torah" or evidence that the Torah followed a cultural custom already established is up for debate, I suppose, and there is some more recent data showing that the divide between Iron Age Philistine and Hebrew sites may not be as wide as previously thought, but any discussion of historical Kashrut should account for the data. This of course does not invalidate all the stuff he was talking about with ritual pools and phylacteries and coins with graven images, which I do not doubt there is little to no evidence of before the 2nd century BCE.
Yes, it was hilarious. I especially giggled when Prof. Adler said Alexander the Great began to reign in 330's BC/BCE. I found Prof. Adler to be right up there with Bruce Gore et-al.
Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices (not a genetic or racial inheritance). So if you're Jewish but you don't believe in or practice it, how are you Jewish?
Because being a people, and practicing the culture are two different things. If you are French, have 2 French parents, but were brought up in Japan and don't speak french, or eat croissants, does that make you not French?
Jewish, in Hebrew, is the same word as Judean, "Yehudi". That is, a Jewish person in that context is a person from the Kingdom of Judah, or a descendant of that kingdom. This is what I figured, anyhow.
@@shainazion4073 - I don't think your example is especially good, because I would say about that person, raised in Japan, not speaking French: the person is not French. There must be more than a connection by genes, maybe a desire to learn the French language and have started learning it, despite difficulties.
Wow! My theory exactly! I have never heard an academic or scholar describe this, but i had this same idea when i was teenager, back in the 1960s, after reading some history -- and although i never followed through with it, i just felt it was "right." As a Jew, i THANK YOU for collecting, analyzing, and publishing the data.
The Greek OT (Septuagint) contains written evidence of Jewish religious practices in the two books of the Maccabees, the events of which occur in the first and second centuries B.C.
Excellent work and solid conclusions. We forget sometimes the people were always around Religions emerged and evolved driven by circumstances and leaders or conquerors.
"religions emerged" God came first, we didn't invent the true God he invented us. It's common knowledge people even non believers will pray in times of great hardship. God has not abandoned us, we abandoned God.
@@technicianbis5250 It is common knowledge that many do not pray in times of hardship too. SO What! It is also true theists pray to many different gods and get the same (or worse) results than not doing so or praying to a Milk Jug. A comfortable fantasy feels good, but it does not mean it true.
@@technicianbis5250 Sure, some would but they are culturally indoctrinated into whatever the prevailing religious conditioning has planted in them. A Hindu would be praying to one of the Hindu gods. Non-believers are most often ex-believers so are primed in this sense. Interesting that this happens in a Crisis when the brain may not be functioning properly, or fear and terror are flooding the mind with chemicals. We still see plenty who don't so your sweeping statement is wrong, also when they do the prayer has NO discernable effect so is useless. Further demonstrating their conditioned emotional belief is wrong and adding to the no god evidence pile.
@@stultusvenator3233 "sure some" True and this is why we peeach the gospels in their lands as well. Jesus commanded us to go into the world and preach the good news even unto death. While true most non believees today were once believers, when they see Christ return they also will become believers again but maybe too late for them so we warn them to return. "no discernable effect" Remember Christians don't live for this life, we live for the kingdom of God in that even if we die, we are resurrected to life eternal just as Jesus was. "further demonstrating" Belief by faith is paramount, we have evidence of Christs life among us but faith is paramount, remember the apostle thomas who wouldn't believe Jesus was alive till he saw him? Well he saw him and was told by Christ himself "how happy are those who don't see yet believe"
I think the most important artifacts of people looking to the Torah as authoritative are unpreservable- did they believe that HaShem is the Creator / deliver them from Egypt …all the way to how they preserved the laws in social life- not only contracts but did they refrain from prohibited relationships etc…
good for using English, because I need to know about Judaism. Judaism for me is a fundamental of my faith, I am Christian from Indonesia , and my country majority are Muslim. often Christian got hit by Muslim because we lack of knowledge about the of Judaism. I think the root came from the history of Abraham Who had the kids in which Muslim and Christian claim each others. So by listening this lecture can be help about whose Jews are. Thank you for sharing this knowledge .
Muslims are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites because they are conventionally descended from the Egyptian slave woman who bore Ishmael before Sarah bore Isaac. Muslims claim Ishmael received the blessing and inheritance of Abraham,as a polemic against Jews and Christians. The Muslim identity and doctrine is cadged together from apocryphal sources that give a very tendentious take on Jewish amd Christian traditions, and vaunt Arabs as ‘God’s most-favored nation’ parodying Jewish nationalism which itself is based on poor understanding of the Covenant God plights with his beloved Israel. Islam is a sad accident of religious history that doesn’t stand up to serious scholarship.
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 Thank You for Answering my comment, I hope my people will read this statement, so that not judge us as different from them. Thanks.
In the youtube search bar, type in Pfander Films or Jay Smith and you will learn a lot (from a Christian viewpoint) about the origin of Islamic customs, beliefs, scriptures, etc. that even most Muslims don't know. There are a few other channels that address this topic too.
Prof. Adler keeps referring to the time just before the Hasmonean period as the 'third century of the common era'. That would be the 'third century BEFORE the common era'. Correct?
Modern day Judaism (Rabbinical) began with the destruction of the 2nd Temple is 70 AD but the grounds for Rabbinical Judaism really started with the Babyloniam exile in 586 BC.
What do you mean with "the grounds of Rabbinical Judaism"? If you mean writings that later entered the Tanach unmodified, then we don't know that. If you mean writings that entered modified, one could see also pre-exile and even Israelite time (750BC) as the grounds.
@@Achill101 I mean the prayers that replaced the animal sacrifices. That's Rabbinical Judaism as opposed to the actual religion of the Israelites that had the Priesthood and animal sacrifices.
@@MrJoebrooklyn1969 - I think we agree that with destruction of temple in 70CE, animal sacrifices ended. Do you claim the prayers that replaced the sacrifice in Rabbinical Judaism but are not in the bible were formulated in Babylonian exile already? I had expected them to be from after 70CA, too, when the Talmud was written.
I dont understand his logic. That papyrus was clearly talking about passover because it has the exact dates and talks about leaven. Why cant it be used as evidince that the people kept Judaism? It seems like he may not want to admit this evidence because it doesnt fit his agenda that there is no evidence earlier than the Hasmonean period.
As far as I understand, חמרא is not necessarily leaven. Specifying dates without the relevant context is not an indicator of them celebrating Passover. It could be, but it is not a proof as far as I understand Adler
No archeology is an absolute proof. This seems to me like pretty good evidence because it is the exact dates and it means beer and talks about storing it away. That is a lot of circumstancial evidence that it is talking about Pesach. The problem is if Dr Adler does not want to accept this evidence, how do I know there is not other evidence that he does not want to accept?
I understood the professor as saying that the extant text, taken by itself, can only tell us a certain amount. The reconstructed text presumes to represent what might have been written.
Well paid absent minded professors are a dime a dozen. Ph.D p iled h igh and d eep. Obeying what's written isn't their forte. Probing incessantly with inconclusive results is.
Wonderful conversation. So interesting. Alas STUFFED with multiple ads. THIS NUMBER OF ADS IS JUST GREEDY FOR REVENUE. PLEASE SET TO REDUCE THE AD CONTENT. THE CONSTANT INTERRUPTIONS REALLY SPOIL THE FLOW OF INFORMATION. THIS AN IMPORTANT ACADEMIC VIDEO THAT SHOULD BE PUBLISHED WITH MORE RESPECT FOR VIEWERS. (PLEASE FORGIVE MY SHOUTING.)
As a goy who is interested in all things Judaica, I say this video is great stuff! Mazel! / I would've thought 'Jewishness' originated during David's time or before...? Maybe even 1,000 BCE...! But the various layers of the HUGE body of Jewish writing related to law, customs, and mode of living came much later, yes...? Late antiquity and the medieval era in Iraq...?
Shalom professor Jonathan yonatan adler very nice and informative lecture baruch HASHEM as a Persian yahoodi chabadnik proud of my faith my emunah is growing and my bina is getting better ☝️😉😙🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱😚😎🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰😍😜☝️🇮🇱🇮🇱Shabbat 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇱shalom good shabbos from new York USA America
Adler ignores the Ketef Hinnom amulets from the First Temple period. Indeed, we have strong evidence that a form of Judaism existed even in 2nd millennium BC Ugarit. What were Canaanites doing observing an early form of Judaism? Of course modern rabbinic Judaism does begin with Hillel and his associates, but that is not the beginning of Judaism.
Ugaritic culture was centered around El Elyon and the Elohim. In that culture Yahu (the northern version of Yahweh) is a child god of El Elyon. Yahu (E.g. the orogin of the word Yahudah) would be at the same level as Anat, Hadat, Molock, etc. There were 70 of these children gods. The cunieform tablets at Ebla tell us that Yahu was syncretic with Ea and Enki. Ea was the father of Marduk who replaced Enlil as the power god in Akkad and Sumer. El Elyon was an imported god, it was brought to Canaan in the conquests of 2500 BC, El was to be a wilderness god, it was the god that protected Sumerian traders. The Sumerians and Akkadians established trading posts so that they could trade in the west (Egypt, Cypress, anatolia). Each settlement large enough had a patron deity. What was the city of the Enki. The city the egyptians identified as Beth Lahmu was the guardian of Enki, this city in the Iron age is known as Bethlehem. So that it "appears" that bethlehem was the center of Yahudah at some point in and before the LBAC.
All the Ketef Hinnom finds prove is that at least some people believed in Yahweh, and some sayings were around that later made it into the Bible. That's it. As he pointed out, he isn't concerned about what people believed, he's only concerned about what people actually did.
@@keith6706 Ketef Hinnom demonstrate that the primary priestly blessing for Yom Kippur was already normative, not to mention the possible enclosure in a mezuzah or phylactery. Minimalism always ignores actual evidence.
King Hezekiah was in 7th century BCE and although no coins have been found, we find his seals on objects. This seal contains Egyptian iconography with no kings portrait at a time when Israel was a vassal state of Egypt. This doesnt mean that Torah laws were not being kept.
Judah (not Israel) of King Hezekiah was not a vassal of Egypt. While not proving the laws weren’t being kept, it also does not prove the contrary. The most we can say is that we don’t know.
@@KEDEMChannel what evidence is there that he was not a vassal of Egypt? I would think that his seal bearing the royal Egyptian eagle and his name are pretty good indicators of where his loyalties lay at this time. The Bible is full of examples where various kings supported Egypt or Assuria.
@@JakobVirgil No TULIP , unmerited grace, everyone's a sinner, all classic themes but not truth. No Christians just Born Again Jews. I have a Ytube video series covering all these topics called 'Myths in so-called Christianity', you may be interested.
The word Saturday in Hebrew: Shabbat mining rest. It's very likely that the people who named it that way, much earlier then 200bc, lived in society that rest on Saturday.
@@KEDEMChannel The names of the others days are not Akkadian names, they are just numbers. Shabbat could maintain the Akkadian name if he had relevant mining in Hebrew or at list unique status.
@@yosefgreen3130 Hebrew is a Canaanite dialect. *"Canaanite languages - Britannica"* ("Group of Northern Central or Northwestern Semitic languages including ***Hebrew,*** Moabite, Phoenician, and Punic.") "As the Hebrew Bible notes, the Hebrew language itself is a Canaanite language, literally the “lip of Canaan” (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן; Is. 19:18), and so it cannot often be distinguished by modern scholars from other Canaanite inscriptions on purely linguistic grounds." *"Polytheism and Ancient Israel’s Canaanite Heritage. Part V | theyellowdart"*
If the Torah existed, perhaps for centuries, before it's adoption as the basis of Jewish identity and observance by the masses, some questions arise. 1) Where was it, who were it's custodians, and who was its audience? Without knowing anything about the subject it's an attractive idea that the laws were originally the preserve of a priestly caste at the temple. If that is the case, then how extensive an influence did this caste have on Judean life? 2) During those centuries, was the text still evolving? 3) Before generalised observance of the laws among the masses, what bound Judean identify?
About Judean identity: the Hasmoneans brought Torah observance to many areas with the sword, like Idumaea, Galilee. By the first century CE, Jewish identity in Galilee was strong, as you can see from Jesus and his followers but also from Jewish history after 70CE when Galilee became a center for Jewish Rabbis.
There were actually two Jewish temples in Egypt: One at Elephantine in upper Egypt, which had been established well before the Persian period, and a second at Tell El-Yahudieh in lower Egypt, which was established by the high priest Onias IV in the Hellenistic period.
@@BobSmith-lb9nc The Greek Oligarchy did not create the "jews" until 70 BCE. At least according to the mainstream narrative. They render it as "Roman conquest of the Chanian Greek ("Canaan") colony Palestine", or as later Roman texts renamed it - "Judea". "Ancient Egypt" was a myth invented by Thales of Miletus to combat Balkan "anti-Semitism". The Greeks were in the process of colonising the Balkans, from their native Asia Minor, and were not appreciated by the Balkan natives, to put it softly. Thales tried to convince them that dark people are not inferior, because in Africa, "once upon a time, there was Great Egypt". So Ancient Egypt was already either a myth or just a concept for future - cement stucco on sterile ruins fraud, at 500 BCE. And nobody knew of any "jews" for another 400 years. Note that I don't capitalise the word jews. That's because it was a profession - an agent of the Greek Oligarchy, not a tribe or a nation.
Personally, I find it a bit arrogant that neither of Professor Adler's 2 theories as to the origins of Judaism included what many Jews have claimed for at least 2000 years and the Torah for far longer, that the law was given to the people at Sinai, and they've been to follow the law since, with massive failures as documented all over Tanach.
The conflation between what is called "Judaism" today and actual Torah is the main problem. Today's Judaism in an invention that includes the addition of the Talmud and even Kabbalah. They are BOTH called Torah by the tenets of today's "Judaism". BUT the Torah states that adding or subtracting to and from the Torah is prohibited. Today ONLY a group of Jews follow the Torah without additions . They are called Karaites and are hated by the followers of the amalgamation called "Judaism" today. By the way the Talmud was invented in the year 500 CE. which is WAY after Christianity.
@@kristine8338 However the claim by today's "Judaism" is that the Talmud is actually Torah "she baal pe or oral Torah" given at Mt. Sinai and that is what makes the whole thing self evidently spurious. If it was purported as just a Torah commentary there would not be any self evident spurious claims thus there would be no loss of credibility. The main problem with the whole Talmudian claim is that such Rabbinic invention is put at the same level (or superior) to the actual Torah to the point that contradicting Talmudian Rabbis requires death (or today's equivalent) expulsion from the community. And Karaites are hated because they follow only Torah .
@@raviarjuna9839 The Masoretes wrote copies of the Torah...The real Torah. Plus they were about from the 5th to the 10th century thus they really can not be used as a testimony for a Talmud that supposedly was originally from Mt. Sinai as claimed by today's "Judaism".
I believe that it’s interesting that Judaism the religion is able to add an extra couple hundred of years to its mythology by also naming the Israelites as Jewish ancestors and thus having both Judaism the religion and Jewish the race under the same name.
It is very interesting indeed, though not at all exclusive to Judaism. As a matter of fact, all Abrahamic religions' current followers connect and relate themselves to the very same Abraham (who was not Jewish nor Israelite). The modern days Greeks relate themselves to Mycenaean Greece, the Italians to the Roman Empire and so on... A whole lot of people seem to seek and find their roots in the deep past. This common tendency has of course a whole lot of implications for the actual present.
@@KEDEMChannel right, that’s a very good point. This is by no means exclusive to Judaism, I think they’re simply the most successful current group. Many of the modern traditions have become amalgamations of various ancient cultures that were starkly different from our own. I believe many far eastern belief systems do this as well they just aren’t as publicized or documented in our modern western Judeo-Christian society. I’d love a Time Machine to see what our ancient ancestors would think of what we’ve done to their traditions lol I’m sure most would see us as blasphemous no matter how strict we were in our adherence to the current system.
Belief in God has given us all freedoms that many around the world can only wish they had. This is why refugees flee to Christian based nations, why they don't flee to non Christian countries.
@@technicianbis5250 - you claim refugees flee only to Christian nations, not non-Christian ones. Is that really so? Or do refugees flee where they can? Millions of Syrians fled to Turkey from Syrian civil war. Hundreds of thousand Burmese Muslims fled to Hinduist India from Buddhist oppression at home. Millions of Afghans fled from the Soviet invasion to Pakistan (where many of the younger ones, unfortunately, were put into Islamist madrassas and trained as Taliban, "students").
The old testament is composed as follows: 40% taken/stolen from Egypt, 30% from Sumerians, 20% from Cannan and 10% just made up by writers to make things fit. The new testament: 30% is Plato's phylosophy (Greeks), 30% Roman trama and 30% Jew tradition (forced so later could claim prophesy). In general the bible "NEVER" has been written contemporarily but rather going back once things have happened hence the realization of the predictions (of course when written, they already knew the outcome and heavily manipulated since it had a social purpose sometimes going back for more than 500 years, so how accurate it could be?). OLD TESTAMENT IS LESS THAN 2K YEARS OLD, TORAH LESS THAN 3K YEARS OLD, NEW TESTAMENT LESS THAN 1.5K YEARS OLD (everything is man made to control other men that is all folks), question is: what was God's name any time BEFORE 4K y/o? your guess is as good as mine. Abraham was born 1800 BEFORE Christ and he was a "GENERAL" of what LATER the Egyptians would call the Hycksos, they were refugees with the Egyptians later took advantage of their host and came to power (making slaves out of Egyptians) then there were the 2 exodus (YES TWO) first was in war they were expelled by force not mentioned in the bible, the second (in bible) was self expelled. It is believed that the Jews are an up-shoot of Akhanaten (Amenhotech the 4) he was a descendant of the Hycksos by his mother (minor wife aka concubine) father was Egyptian after Akhanaten's death like 100 years later the first mention of Jews come about (it could have been a group of priests of Akhanaten's religion, mixed with cannan influences). So the leader is not older than 4K years old (Abraham, polytheist) the Jews per say like 1200 before Christ so less than 3.5k years from today. As a result the creation of organized religion is imposed on to people basically with the purpose of social control, since from old times it was very easy to control the masses when a war conflict but very difficult in peace time, hence the introduction of religion.
A link to purchase Prof. Adler’s new book The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal
(affiliated):
Kindle
amzn.to/3jYiiEG
Hardcover
amzn.to/3Ixfk41
All of the Anchor Yale books in the series are excellent. I have a number and have learnt a huge amount from them.
Watch out for the publication dates when you view the catalogue though: scholars have moved on from the ‘60s when the earlier volumes were produced and some of these older editions contain theses which have been revised in the meantime.
Prof Adler appears not to study the Torah in depth.
@@pamelaleibowitz3019 - Adler is an archeologist and studies archeological finds that indicate behaviors following or not following the Torah. Do you think his archeological work would benefit from studying the Torah more and, if yes, how?
ruclips.net/video/9lEyuXql4QE/видео.html The earliest Judaic text is 1200BC, so 1k years off this video's incorrect date. Its at minimum hundreds of years older than that.
Absolutely ridiculous, Biblical narrative isn't actually real, it's mere mythology
I once heard a Jewish scholar say that "we entered Babylon as Israelites and we left there as Jews."
Most people going into Babylonian Exile were Judahites. Some of their ancestors were probably Israelites fleeing to Judah after the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 722BC.
But they left Babylon as Jews, that sounds correct.
I think that makes sense.
Orthodox-G - G-Ddamn right.
And of course the jerk was wrong. THEY is the word he or she should have said.
@@mauricematla8379 - insults weaken your claim.
It is a revelation to me to come to grips with the fact that Judaism is not nearly as old as I thought. Very informative video thanks for posting.
Thank you 🙏
It cant be that old.. according to their BIBLE.. IT ALL BEGAN ABOUT 5000 YEARS AGO..IN ISREAL..AND GOD IS A JEW!!
Abraham was born 1800 BEFORE Christ and he was a "GENERAL" of what LATER the Egyptians would call the Hycksos, they were refugees with the Egypcians later took advantage of their host and came to power then there were the 2 exodous (YES TWO) first was in war they were expelled by foce not mentioned in the bible, the second (in bible) was self expelled. It is believed that the Jews are an upshoot of Akhanaten (Amenhotech the 4) he was a desendant of the Hycksos by his mother (minor wife aka concubine) father was Egyptian after Akhanaten's death like 100 years later the first mention of Jews come about (it could have been a group of priests of Akhanaten's religion, mixed with cannan influences). So the leader is not older than 4K years old (Abraham, politeist) the Jews per say like 1200 before christ so less than 3.5k years from today.
@@JG-lx5pm There is no evidence for nearly everything you posted, and what you posted does not match the scholarly consensus.
@@JustMe99999 No evidence ah? Welcome to organize religion, where everything you suppose to believe no matter how extraordinary and unnatural it may be is based of FAITH ONLY. As Jonathan Swift said: "if horses would talk and reason the way humans do, their God would look like a horse" as an anonymous teen once said: "well... we have to believe what religion says because they tell us to believe it, for all I care it could be martians from a UFO and we suppose to believe it?" That is how organized religion impose themselves on the masses to control them, controlled by people in power and or position of influence. GOD exist with and wtihout bible, or jews. Organized religion is just social poison.
Very well structured and ably conducted interview of a well-known and highly respected archaeologist on a difficult topic that people feel great attachment to! Adler's book is bound to be debated for years to come. Thank you to the interviewer Mr. Alex Tseitlin and I hope to see many more such illuminating contributions in the future!
Thank you, much appreciated!
🙏thank you
I second that.
@@KEDEMChannel what was Reuben calling?
I have just discovered this channel - what a treat! i did my theology degree at Cambridge over 4O years ago - I just wish the lectures i heard then were as riveting as this one! Very clear explanation of the methodology and as with most religious history things look so much simpler when viewed at a distance. For Jews and Christians this opens up so many possibilities!
Thank you, stay tuned as we are about to release a few episodes filmed during our recent travel to Cambridge this month, we interviewed some of the best scholars, the first will be released in a day or two
@ianbrowne8871 There is a problem: absence of proof is not proof of absence. He said he doesn't know. In Israel archeological sites ancient and new are destroyed by our enemies. We are forbidden to dig under the Temple Mount. There are many limitations. We (Jews) we would like to know just as much as averybody else. Proof lf this is that this Israeli professor is catering for your need of truth. Some simple people still believe in Jewish conspiracies. I hope you are not one of them . Thank you for reading my comment.
"For Jews and Christians this opens up so many possibilities!" Like what? Jews and Christians parted ways 2000 years ago and for classical Judaism, Christianity is an abomination and for classical Christianity, Judaism is dead.
Thank you, Kedem, and Professor Yonatan Adler. very informative and well spoken. I personally would like a series like this one on all the world religions. Given the data available. Again Thank you.
Great suggestion, thank you!
Unfortunately he’s got a lot of falsehood
@@orangemanbad and what are those? vague statements with no information = very weak counter position.
@@matthewstewart5113 yes. I’m not typing out a novel in a RUclips comment. There’s plenty of archaeology and research. Very easy to find. Use google.
Judaism today is not same as it was in OT is what I am getting from this which makes sense. The destruction of the temple in 70AD changed a lot about Judaism. I love looking at religion from a academics standpoint like this
The destruction of the temple indeed changed Judaism a lot: Sadducees and Essenes disappeared, Jewish Christians split off, Pharisees in Babylon developed Rabbinical Judaism. Adler's research focused on the time BEFORE 70AD: how the life of the people changed in the 2nd century BC by starting to follow the Torah. Most of the Old Testament or Hebrew bible was already written by then.
A link to purchase Prof. Adler’s new book The Origins of Judaism: An Archaeological-Historical Reappraisal
(affiliated): amzn.to/3gOWslI
Unfortunately, the book is out of stock :(
Admirable is the amount of work Professor Adler put into this research. One of my science professors taught me that when one looks to observe specific things then one is only going to find those things, or not. Therefore, the correlation of such observations with other observations of a different perspective is made difficult by the incompleteness intrinsic in such an approach. In fact, Professor Adler points this out himself. Thank you for all your intriguing work, Professor Adler.
I also admire that he was faithful to himself. Through his research I see him and his wise equilibrium. He has succeeded were Jews can fail. Josephus and other famous Jews have failed because they sought to please non-Jews. Professor Adler has succeeded in my opinion, and as I said, I find it worthy of praise.
What a surprise. I always thought Judaism an “ancient” religion- especially compared to Christianity- but - Christianity emerging less than 300 years after Judaism?? Completely unexpected
It’s because Judaism as we know it to be is “newer” than what the beliefs of the Israelites, people of Judah, Levites, etc. Its gone through a long process of development and evolution and eventually reaching its “final stage,” or more well know state, in approx the 6th and 5th centuries with developments continuing into the common era. However, Judaism as a whole is ancient with its earliest beliefs dating back thousands of years ago in the Levant
Very very interesting had me to the end.
Love to see good science and religion together and not just biblical bias
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Judaism is based on the Biblical narrative. I really don't see how you can bring together 'science' or secular history with this religion. The Hebrew scriptures have been such an integral part of the Jewish experience, how can any Jew mesh this history with his faith?
@@jamesr8584 well, maybe you should've watched the video ...then you'd know
They explain in detail how and why they use that very methodology at the beginning
Judaism partially transitioned from a national identity to a religious identity: From Israelite to Jew
Regardless of the definition, you never find the beginning, only the earliest version you can find.
But you can find also times before the beginning when no version was around for sure. Together with your earliest version you can get a range of time for when a begin was possible.
@@Achill101 The world doesn't owe us that.
I said it somewhere, but it seems like it's more like the opposite, rabbinic judaism in it's earliest form started with jewish colonies.
I'm not disputing some cross polinization after, almost certainly it happened, but it's not an accident that ethiopian priests work like rabbies.
In the 3rd century BC, about the time the Torah was cobbled together from ancient texts at Alexandria, an Egyptian priest named Manetho said Judaism had originally been formed by an Osirian priest who changed his name from Osarseph and led a group of Sethians out of Avaris. So it is apparent that the Hebrews were appropriating snippets of literature and history going back a thousand years as their foundation myth.
Interestingly, you can find pagan carved stones of the Heron (parent of Horus the Brave) in the Rift Valley of Israel just at Mt Horeb is its image on a grand scale. You can find Egyptian scarabs in Canaan seemingly spelling out divine names. We can find statues and drawings of Asherah. And in the north, we can find mosaic zodiacs even in the synagogue! So sometime betweeen the 3rd century BC and the time of Jesus, Sethian sage traditions going back at least a thousand years are being hidden or driven underground by monotheist iconoclasts.
Jesus was, apparently, one attempting to bring back the wisom tradition. A great Seth image is engraved on his tomb (see the left side of the facade of the Talpiot Tomb). Several ancient historians carry the story of the donkey god's statue being found in the Temple when it was invaded in the 2nd century BC.
jamestabor.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Facade.jpg
scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=the+ass+in+the+temple&btnG=
The rise of Seth at the demise of Orion/Osiris can be found around the world. I could show you proof among the Maya, the Ojuelans and the Nyonyosi. But it appears to be a sudden reversal of the Milky Way -- a Creation story. It is the rise of Lepus and the fall of Orion such is due again to occur in the approaching Apocalypse. The Bundahisn, chapter 4, says in the Taurian apocalypse the sky turned right. This time, it will turn left and an equatorial landmass -- some suspect India --will find itself at the new north pole.
What an enjoyable presentation…so appreciate your videos and all the effort you put into seeking out scholars and approaching such wonderful topics! Thank you again!🇨🇦☺🇮🇱
My pleasure! Thank you😊
A masterful presentation of controversial ideas that few could take offense at. Fascinating, and a starting point for further learning.
Good point 👍
yes "the lack of evidence is not evidence for lack", but if you take every significant torah law behavior and for each one of them you don't find evidence before the hashmonenan period , I think you can say most for certain that the Jewish religious way of life started in that period. Thanks Alex for another excellent talk
Thank you 🙏
What are significant Thorah behaviors? Is not eating pigs one of them? IIRC there's evidence that pig eating in the Highlands of the Iron Age was on the decline, for whatever reason (maybe appearance of chickens). Another rule said the right feet of sacrificed animals belonged to the priests (sorry, Idk the passage name): in Tel Dan, an Israelite temple from before 722BC, they found accumulated right feet IIRC. That doesn't mean Torah existed (it did not), but that some older, traditional rules about pigs and right feet entered the Torah and became Jewish law later.
@@Achill101 or that means Torah existed. In a similar manner the priestly blessing was found on two silver amulets dating from the 7th century BC by Prof G Barkay. I am sure that there are more evidence that was ignored.
@@reggievonramstein - yes, the evidence discussed here puts an earliest point only on the wide-spread acceptance of Torah. But there's other, literary evidence that large portions of the Torah were not composed before the Babylonian Exile: most famously, the story of Noah that has close parallels to the story of Ushnapishtin in the Gilgamesh Epos. But also that many parts of the Torah are never referred to by the Prophets.
. . . That does NOT mean that all parts of the Tanach were only written down in the Exile or later: some passages clearly reveal knowledge of the time before 850BC. But most bible scholars today think that those written sources from earlier times were incorporated into larger writings later, edited and possibly rewritten to fit to other passages. The original writings, like the Chronic of the Kings of Israel and Chronic of the Kings of Judah, were lost, because they held less religious significance and were not copied carefully by later generations.
So Akal Panu we’re produced in the 2nd century? You’ll have to prove that. As far as the evidence is concerned, all the archeology shows a 5th century completion date.
This guy is focusing on rabbinic Judaism. Yeah, ofc it arises in the 2nd century. Judaism and the Torah are much older and the stories are proven. More Troy nonsense.
I enjoyed this very much. I find the point that the written regulations underlyiingJudaism might have arisen as a result of the influence of the Greek custom of having written laws to be very interesting.
Thank you for this archeological view on when Jews accepted the Pentateuch as law. I have two questions:
1. Can we see which came first, the Maccabean revolt or some acceptance of the Torah around Jerusalem? (In other words: did the Hasmoneans enforce the law, or was there a time of a larger Torah-obeying movement that later birthed or inspired the Hasmoneans?)
2. The Pentateuch was also accepted as law in Samaria. Do we have any evidence that the law was accepted at about the same time in Samaria and Jerusalem, or did one region come before the other? Biblical scholars are today not certain which region accepted the Torah first, maybe archeology could help?
I don't see much dietary kosher stuff in the writings of the prophets 900-587 BCE. We hear more about not doing justice, no protection of orphans, widows, and by 600 BCE opposing murdering children in human sacrifices. It is with Ezrah and Nehemiah where there is an enforcement of practices like Shabbat, Kosher foods,...
@@elpidiogonzalez8193 - the Torah was certainly not the guiding law of Judaism in Palestina in the 5. century BC. We can conclude that from the Elephantine letters that don't reveal any knowledge of the Torah but seem to indicate a normal relationship to Jerusalem and to its temple. Was it Ezra who brought the Pentateuch to and made it law in Jerusalem around 430BC? Or did it happen later, like 160BC as this video suggest, and the Book of Ezra is a pious projection of later developments into an earlier time, to give the development more authority?
where is the archaeological evidence or view! I don't see anything
@@messianic_scam - the expression "archeological view" was a reference to the video, in which the archeologist Adler describes the evidence for a relatively late adoption of the Pentateuch as law among the common people living around Jerusalem. The adoption seem to have happened only in the 2nd century BC.
The Samaritans could have been from anywhere in the Assyrian Empire, prisoners captured during war deported to the Kingdom of Israel. They were not Israelites. They worshipped idols at first. In the North the tribes of Israel were more open and assimilated, and lived side by side the strangers that lived in the North. If they later embraced the Torah: good for them.
But it is not part of our History as fascinating as the story of those transferred people is. Usually the Assyrians never kept prisoners, they would slaughter them. So they were probably Assyrians that Nabuchadnezar 🤔 wanted to get rid of. And in Jerusalem people were building and forming a Jewish identity based on Torah. Because those transferred Asyrians were not part of the nation, ( I understand your question better now ) I understand the question has meaning from a Christian perspective. Sorry, as a Jew I was confused at first.
Well done. Fascinating and well covered.
Thanks 🙏
Thank you Alex, and thank you Prof Adler. Great talk
Thank you!
@@KEDEMChannel hello sir, I tell you something. I absolutely agree with your version of decoding history. This is what I have been screaming in top of my voice. Because I understand what idol worship is all about. These HABIRUs were Outlaws, bandits thugs and thieves troublemakers who were exiled into canan by neighbouring countries. I mean they were dumping convicts Into canan to fend for themselves. Desert is a hostile place, you don't get food. What option left with them other than loot people for survival?.
Abraham was a politician, a HABIRU, who proclaimed himself as a prophet. No prophet ever visited earth. Bad people claimed themselves as prophets. The worst of them was MOHAMMUD. . the so called Islamic Prophet
I have listened to that interview, and read many of the comments. It baffles me that almost everyone is asking questions based on false premises. Everybody seems to confuse Torah teachings with Judaism. Some even use the idea of "Jews" in the sixth century BCE. This amount of confusion is a result of Rabbinical Judaism which emerged out of the Talmud and the Mishnah way after the return from captivity. The Nomer "Judaism" did not even exist back then. No one thought of a religion called Judaism. The people that went and came out of Egypt were not Jews. They were Israelites: children of Jacob (Israel). They were named by the patriarchal name of each tribe, examples: Danites, Levites, Ephraimites, Benjamites, etc. All Jews are Israelites, but all Israelites are not Jews. The kingdom of the North wasn't known as Jews. They were Israelites.
In the South we had Judah. The children of Benjamin had joined themselves to the tribe of Judah; thefore, their identity became fused with that of the Yahudim. Some of the Levites had also joined the house of David. Prophetically, the scepter would not depart from Judah. Thus the Law stayed with Judah.
Therefore, since the latest powers that conquered the children of Israel, were dealing with the children of Judah, from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus to the Greeks (Hellenist Antichus Epiphanes), then the Romans, they thus called the sort of what Jews were doing as the religion of Judah, or the religion of the Jews. Only children of Judah are Jews. This is what Rabbinical Judaism deliberately doesn't tell people. The misinformation is so pervasive that I've heard remarks regarding Jacob and even Abraham being Jews. Can you imagine? They also want you to beleive that you are Jewish by your mother, only, which automatically excludes the 12 sons of Jacob, 99% of today's Jews, the converted sons of Ashkenaz (Ashkenazi Jews who look different from Middleastern Jews, to this day).
The concept of a religion called Judaism is wholly recent, and different from authentic Torah teachings. Of course, most people don't know that, for they only regurgitate what Rabbi or Rambam so and so says. They all replaced the mitzvots of HaShem Elohim by their own teachings, so that they can receive honor from one another. According to prophet Isaiah they've caused my people to forget my Name. This is why, for those of you who don't know, they teach Judaists to say HaShem, meaning the Name, as though HaShem means G'd, which is false; but, what is His Name? They won't tell you?
There is so much more to say. We don't have enough space, here.
This was a really good interview, thanks. I found it quite funny that you said that around 1st century CE even the Romans didn't put the emperor's figure on coins minted in Judea. It means that NT story of the "Who's image is on the coin... Render to Caesar..." blah blah blah, is a load of rubbish.
Q&A session with professor Yonatan Adler follows up this episode
ruclips.net/video/-A1j1jVqRJg/видео.html
Awesome! And so refreshing to see scientists conducting their research in religious history, even when their findings, theories and conjectures are at odds with religious orthodoxy
Thank you 🙏
a few centuries BC? Well that was the start of the worst period in human history, because of these beliefs. We are still suffering under this rule today.
@@everythingisalllies2141 please say more, I don't understand and it sounds interesting. What are we suffering today?
@@margasa8548 the world has been tricked and deceived since this cult began, that's why they are so despised by those who study history.
@@everythingisalllies2141 can you just say it all? I'm a Jew nothing bad will happen to you. We believe in freedom of speech. You are free. You can say anything. Just attacking us and depriving ourselves from our lives is legally forbidden. Because we are human beings.
Excellent video/interview!! Thank you so much for your work!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Another great interview, Alex, and I have the book on order from Yale!
Thank you!
Thanks a lot. You cannot beat listening to a fascinating talk to make the housework go smoothly.
😀 Glad you enjoy it!
@@KEDEMChannel I read a book called The Wondering Who by Gilad Atzmon and a book called The Invention Of The Jewish People by Shlomo Sand of a university of Israel. It's a bit complicated at times, and I am not Jewish, but the history of this faith fascinates me. I did enjoy the video.
Excellent summary. I like Alder's specificity regarding what he's actually discussing and his methodology for exploring the question he's investigating. It's also refreshing that he explicitly explains that "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." There are too many writers who don't understand that principle and who thusly don't account well enough for the reality that new discoveries can occur, or that absence of evidence may actually be a reasonable or even an expected outcome, depending on the conditions under which related ancient activities may have occurred.
And yet, absence of evidence is exactly how we discern truth from falsehood in our everyday lives, is it not?
@@woodygilson3465 yes but that's drawing intuitive personal conclusions. That's not the standard for systematic scientific inquiry.
@@TheThinkersBible Then if absence of evidence is sufficient to warrant personal belief, the presence of conflicting evidence must surely warrant confident disbelief. Asking for those of us who aren't scientists.
@@woodygilson3465 depends on the situation but often if not generally yes. That said, in a scientific scenario one must always be open to the possibility that new evidence can be discovered that overturns currently held opinion, however deeply held.
Technically, science is based more on degree of confidence, technically not as much on certainty. But probability can be very high (99.9999999% confident, etc.).
@@woodygilson3465 that's also why we should always be careful when judging people. Not that we can't draw conclusions, but we should do so thoughtfully and with humility, not rashly and in a self-focused manner.
I had assumed that "Judaism" (the practice thereof) didn't actually emerge until the Babylonian exile (or more likely the Persian period and the return to Palestine under Cyrus).
The miraculous-seeming nature of that development I always assumed was the spark that led to the development of most of the Tanakh (including even some/most parts of the Torah).
But the limited evidence from the Persian and Hellenistic periods suggests the penetration of at least the praxis of Judaism (and maybe even the writing down of the laws in the Torah!) actually took centuries MORE...
Wow.
Perhaps you expect this: ....Palestine?.... .... / is Arafat before Cyrus? Is the Roman Empire before Cyrus. I won't bother to extend myself because you are obviously a highly educated person. So, what moves you is not ignorance, but will. I am puzzled as to the fact that such an elevated and bright mind could so easily be clouded when it comes to semantically grouping the Philistines with the Palestinians. How is it that even the brightest of minds succumbs to darkness when it is about the Jews. When it is about the Jews, the most high up intellectuals fall pray to primitive history changing medieval thought. It's astounding.
I find it interesting and comforting that Professor Adler discusses evidence that Judaism in the time of Jesus was essentially the same as later Rabbinic Judaism because of the popular contrary view. Many Christians building on the ideas of Michael Heiser maintain that the Jews at the time of Jesus would have no problem with the Trinity. These Heiserites explain that monotheism in Judaism today comes from the Middle Ages and was completely different in the time of Jesus when Yahweh was only the main God who presided over a Council of lesser gods.
I disagree and think: Judaism in the time of Jesus was very diverse. From Saducees over Essenes to Pharisees, there were many ways to practice Judaism. And Christians before 70CE, like Paul, thought of themselves as part of Judaism, too. The destruction of the temple and the Bar Kochba revolt changed that, even if some Christians observed Jewish holidays and feasts until the 4th century CE.
. . . I agree with you about the trinity. It is a description of the mystery of God, following the Christology of the gospel according to John that itself was written AFTER 70CE. While later Christian exegets saw the trinity in the Old Testament, too, like the three men visiting Abraham, that was not how Judaism had seen it. The trinity is a Christian concept only.
PS
The idea of Yahweh presiding over a council of lesser gods might have been the religion of the old Israelite northern kingdom: Baal and Yahweh were both seen as real, and only Yahweh should be worshipped by Israel. But in the Babylonian Exile, Judaism became monotheistic, see Deutero-Isaiah. In the time of the Hasmoneans, Judaism had no notions of lesser gods.
Initially, I was shocked by Dr Adler's exposition because I thought Judaism was much older by some 600 years, but I'm persuaded by his arguments and the evidence he mounts, which is extensive. I'm a convert ! I've always had a hunch that the Hasmodian Dynasty played a key role in the rise of Judaism, but now I understand that it's key to forming the notion of Jewish statehood.
Really Interesting.
In my opinion I see religion as an evolution of ideas of man's relation to the infinite and incomprehensible. Formed over time within the specifics of various cultures throughout history.
Thank you 🙏
Bingo. Agreed.
"Religious synchronisity" is a fascinating journey into what you are observing there
@@oftin_wong Not sure what you mean by that, or if I agree. Social and cultural issues don't stem from a void. They change and form from preexisting conditions.
@@bohem5568 who mentioned social or cultural issues or a void ?...all religions are built on a framework of the previous religion
Example ...Judaism- Christianity - church of Mormon
All come from the origins of Judaism ...no need to get upset
I just thought you might be open to learnt something ...no matter
If you were to google the two words 'religious synchronisity' you could see for yourself ...it's a thing
@ 0:58 Please explain who are Jewish?
very clear interview thanks
Thank you!
I only found your channel today as I was searching for Prof Finkelstein’s work, then I found a video with Prof Adler and then another one with Prof Maeir. I look forward to learning more about this ancient history from more scholars.
Thank you for bringing this scholarly work to the public 🙏.
Very interesting. And then you have Dr. Russell Gmirkin, who points to reasons to believe the Torah was mainly composed in the mid-third century BCE. So it would have been around for about a hundred years when the Hasmoneans gave it prominence..
I didn't know yall had a RUclips channel. I love your tea biscuits and grape juice!
Interesting theories to the origin of Jewish legal culture. I´d recommend reading Russell E. Gmirkin´s book "Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible" in this regard.
What was Benjamin calling?
The Quran specifically states that Noah, Abraham were not Jews because they had not received the Torah but they worshiped the one true God.. and all food was lawful to them..
The Torah preceded it considerable centuries earlier along with thou shalt not add nor subtract from Torah Scripture.
I wonder what this research implies as to the origins of the "Oral Torah" and the Mishnah.
How do we explain the Samaritans and their Torah and customs, which include Passover?
The question is when the Samaritans parted ways, this is highly debatable
@@KEDEMChannel or did Judea drift
@@KEDEMChannel - I posed the question in my own reply, here again: can archeology help us to decide when Samaritans adopted the Torah, like before or after the people in Jerusalem? Maybe you could ask Prof. Adler?
dont u know accepting anthropological evidence of israelite history is supersititious 🤣
2 Kings 17:5-41
A lucid and cogent presentation!
What about the events described in the text? At the time of the exodus, might there not have been a birth of Judaism that then dissipated and was rekindled in the 3rd century BC? Is that plausible?
Great conversation. Must admit that I not in my lane with this comment, but Prof Adler’s findings seem to raise significant questions about the theology most of us know today. For instance, what is the distinction between “Jewish” as a people and “Jewish” as a belief system? And do his findings have significance for such Biblical stories as the Exodus? Would love to see more conversation with the Professor.
This is very amazing what Professor Adler is saying. The implications of his research and methodology changes my ideas of ancient Judaism. I am wondering if the keeping of the Torah among the common people, which Prof. Adler seems to date as likely beginning only a few centuries BCE, may be tied to the establishment of the synagogue within Judaism. If my understanding is correct, the synagogues began to be a part of religious life about the same time as widespread observance of Torah. Previous to this, the almost exclusive place of worship was the temple, which was not very convenient to most people living outside of Jerusalem. With the establishment of synagogues, religious instruction and participation could become much more common in rural areas and smaller towns. I wonder if the professor has any comment on this possible connection.
He actually did suggest this. He suggested that without synagogues the ordinary, illiterate people could not learn about the Torah.
If the establishment of synagogues was the main place of the teachings of Judaism and they were established in many places outside Jerusalem, was there any central authority over the many centuries that was responsible for teaching "the true Judaism"? Or, would different rabbis at different locations be teaching different interpretations of the Torah? I would wonder if this was a recognized inconsistency within Judaism and perhaps the reason why the Christian Church used the words quoted from Jesus to establish "Peter" as the rock upon which the Church would be built. They established a central authority. Yet, even that never halted the many interpretations of the Gospel nor the schism 1500 years later. Judaism, or at least the temple, was crushed in 70 AD by the Romans. How was it taught after that period?
@@helenamcginty4920 Right. I reviewed that section, and he does suggest such a connection. I had watched the video in sections and missed that crucial part the first time I watched it. Thank you.
The Elephantine letters indicate that worship and sacrifice in Judaism of the 5th century BC was not exclusive to the temple. And why would it be? The archeological research by Adler indicates the Torah wasn't followed, until the Hasmoneans enforced it in the areas they conquered. That probably applied both to which food to eat and where to worship. From the Hasmonean kingdom, following the Torah probably spread to Jews outside of it.
It surprises me that the evidence of ritual purity with regard to sacrifice isn’t noted as important or included in this discussion, there are numerous ancient sites that include only remains of clean animals throughout Israel, many which date before the Davidic era, additionally the textual development of the Hebrew language suggest a much more sophisticated literate people than the author suggests. Even the presence of an elaborate Temple from the time of Nehemiah suggests a more complex Temple pattern of anthropology.
Is there a sector of academia that detests everything biblical?
If I recall correctly, in the Septuagint, there was an issue about pursuing war on the Sabbath. Maybe that was written in the Hasomanean period?
Thank you. Rabbi is very easy to listen to.
Also, I particularly appreciate when Prof. Adler says "I don't know"... Honest people are able to say "I don't know" when they don't know something
Rabbi?
Very interesting to learn so much of Judaic teaching and practice is essentially very modern, archeologically speaking.
Well... it's still ancient, really.
@@NuisanceMan , given the average understanding of what Christianity and Judaism project are their "ancient" roots, I expected these traditions to be at least 1500 years BCE, and unknowingly, considered them possibly older. Particularly when the perception is, these traditions are older than Celtic Mesolithic dates. Couple that with known homo sapiens and variants co-existing tens of thousands of years prior to this, it's vital to put chronologies in actual comparison to any other known belief system. The Judeo-Christic centering of history at Ground Zero is too often ignored and stultifying.
This was some VERY cool stuff. Contrary to what others might expect here, I was actually surprised by the sheer number of identifiably Jewish practices that we have evidence of BCE.
Why would you think Judaism started in Jesus time?
@@North95 ?????????????????????????????? Sorry, I can't comprehend what I posted for you.
What's interesting about Adler as a man is that, according to his bio, he was educated in a yeshiva founded by Kook and was ordained a rabbi in the Orthodox mode. Would be interesting to know how he got from there to where he is now.
What we would recognize as a mature form Torah-based Judaism did not come about until Hellenistic times. Before that, and especially prior to the Babylonian Captivity and the Achaemenid Period, it is highly unlikely that the Israelites were in any way distinguishable from other Canaanites in either their religious practices or material culture.
@Pray without ceasing - True for the former. As to the latter, it’s an interesting premise; not one I subscribe to, but interesting all the same.
@@dorianphilotheates3769 *subscribe to
@@bluebee5266 - Thanks for catching that - corrected.
Well said, thankfully because I was having trouble wording it clearly!
@@amazinggrace5692 - Which part?
Merci pour cette présentation visuelle. Professeur Yonatan Adler vous êtes un bon pédagogue. ❤
It is exciting, but I have my doubts. We know the ancient Jews had a high rate of literacy. Sabbath is mentioned in the bible long before 200 BCE. Now, if you accept the bible as pre-200 BCE, how is that possible? Also, the reason for the rebellion with the Greeks was over these religious practices. We may be talking of widespread use, not beginning.
Bart Ehrman says that about 5% of Israel could read or write
I wonder what happened to my previous answer, anyway I doubt this is true, Check this study www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200910110828.htm
Next topic; When will it (and all religions) end?
I do enjoy learning about religions though. I see them as fascinating pathologies.
To find out what to expect when religions end, you could look at countries that suppressed it like Soviet-union, China, or Albania. Welcome to the new world.
Здравтвуйте ! Поздравляю с расширением линейки ( языковой) . По моему скромному мнению было удачно - понятно и не очень заумно... (нет отторжения ..)
🙏
Спасибо !
THANK YOU, Dr. Adler for pointing out that the community at Elephantine was founded contrary to Scripture. So many people try to promote issues of Biblical religion based on that community while ignoring the command that "you shall never return to Egypt". This also affects the production of the LXX as well.
Yes, I agree that was the beginning of the "Hillelian" interpretation of the Torah, as simple as that. All examples talk about a contemporary understanding of the Jewish practice, and interpretation of the Torah according to , which started to increase in its popularity toward the end of the Second Temple. The Shammai practices were older and didn't require
building of the mikvah. Torah talks about going to rivers, and works around the ceramic issues of impurity is just a specific group of rabbis' solution to Torah laws. Yes, Jesus if to believe Christian scripture was part of this movement, but those scriptures don't cover multiple laws too. I don't remember Shavuot there or a New Year celebration. We don't have good sources, unfortunately. I am happy that this book seems to prove the ancient roots of rabbinic practices because many claim later inventions. Yet the way he puts together this as proof that Jews didn't know Torah before is a stretch if not a lie.
The Christian scriptures that have survived were written in Greek and influenced by Paul of Tarsus (except maybe the Didache). Paul de-emphasized the rules of Jewish life in favor of a theological view of God and Jesus. The Jewish life we see in the gospels is more of a background to the "real story" of Jesus' life and sacrifice.
Adler is saying that archaeology cannot prove widespread adherence to Torah before the Hasmoneans. He also says absence of proof is not proof of absence.
@claesvanoldenphatt9972 and I am saying his interpretation of what counts as Torah observance is anachronistic.
@claesvanoldenphatt9972 we didn't find Shabbat clocks in ancient Israel that means that didn't keep Shabbat 🙄
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 - Isn't using Adler a rhetorical slight of hand when implying from "Thorah as a whole wasn't observed before Hasmoneans" to "there is no archeological evidence for some Jewish rules long before the Hasmoneans"? Because IIRC there is ample archeological evidence for avoiding pigs in Judah 600BC and some evidence of keeping the right feet of slaughtered animals for the Tel Dan temple 750BC. Those traditional rules then made it into the Torah, too.
I think he is stretching when he uses the ban on figurative depictions as the delineation.
One thing about religion of all kinds is that in different times it has differing interpretations.
In ancient times some parts of religious practice were only for the priests or monks. With the printing press we started to see people with religious texts outside of holy houses.
This is true of Abrahamic faiths, Buddhism and Hinduism.
Likewise, some of these rules were only enforced among the priesthood, not on the laity.
With the Jews especially we see them taking their rules much more seriously after the Babylonian period.
In first temple Judaism the rules were more important the closer to the temple.
This was fascinating.. Thanks
Our pleasure!
I know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but from other sources (Israel Finkelstein and others), we do know that settlements in the Levant after the Late Bronze-Age Collapse generally speaking do not show evidence of significant percentages pig bones, where they do have cattle, sheep, and goat bones (and sites like Gath do show significantly higher percentages of pig bones). This would not disprove Adler's thesis, but it would show that there are at least some Jewish cultural identity markers going back to at least around 1100ish BCE.
Whether this is evidence of "following the Torah" or evidence that the Torah followed a cultural custom already established is up for debate, I suppose, and there is some more recent data showing that the divide between Iron Age Philistine and Hebrew sites may not be as wide as previously thought, but any discussion of historical Kashrut should account for the data.
This of course does not invalidate all the stuff he was talking about with ritual pools and phylacteries and coins with graven images, which I do not doubt there is little to no evidence of before the 2nd century BCE.
Great historical analysis!
Thanking you 🙏
Then what was it called before it emerged into Judaism?
Cult
it was a Canaanite sub sect
Really interesting!
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Awesome, thank you!
Yes, it was hilarious. I especially giggled when Prof. Adler said Alexander the Great began to reign in 330's BC/BCE. I found Prof. Adler to be right up there with Bruce Gore et-al.
Thank you for the insights. That shed light on a lot of misunderstood concepts.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks 🙏
Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices (not a genetic or racial inheritance). So if you're Jewish but you don't believe in or practice it, how are you Jewish?
Because being a people, and practicing the culture are two different things. If you are French, have 2 French parents, but were brought up in Japan and don't speak french, or eat croissants, does that make you not French?
@@shainazion4073 So then (to repeat), on what basis is one part of "a people"? Culture doesn't travel in the genes.
you jewish because your mother was jewish born into not believe in
Jewish, in Hebrew, is the same word as Judean, "Yehudi". That is, a Jewish person in that context is a person from the Kingdom of Judah, or a descendant of that kingdom. This is what I figured, anyhow.
@@shainazion4073 - I don't think your example is especially good, because I would say about that person, raised in Japan, not speaking French: the person is not French. There must be more than a connection by genes, maybe a desire to learn the French language and have started learning it, despite difficulties.
I've read some of your work, very well researched.
I'm now a subscriber.
Thanks and welcome!
Wow! My theory exactly! I have never heard an academic or scholar describe this, but i had this same idea when i was teenager, back in the 1960s, after reading some history -- and although i never followed through with it, i just felt it was "right." As a Jew, i THANK YOU for collecting, analyzing, and publishing the data.
Thank you 😊
The Greek OT (Septuagint) contains written evidence of Jewish religious practices in the two books of the Maccabees, the events of which occur in the first and second centuries B.C.
Excellent work and solid conclusions. We forget sometimes the people were always around Religions emerged and evolved driven by circumstances and leaders or conquerors.
"religions emerged"
God came first, we didn't invent the true God he invented us.
It's common knowledge people even non believers will pray in times of great hardship. God has not abandoned us, we abandoned God.
@@technicianbis5250
It is common knowledge that many do not pray in times of hardship too. SO What!
It is also true theists pray to many different gods and get the same (or worse) results than not doing so or praying to a Milk Jug.
A comfortable fantasy feels good, but it does not mean it true.
@@stultusvenator3233
And yet we see non believers pray.
@@technicianbis5250
Sure, some would but they are culturally indoctrinated into whatever the prevailing religious conditioning has planted in them.
A Hindu would be praying to one of the Hindu gods. Non-believers are most often ex-believers so are primed in this sense. Interesting that this happens in a Crisis when the brain may not be functioning properly, or fear and terror are flooding the mind with chemicals.
We still see plenty who don't so your sweeping statement is wrong, also when they do the prayer has NO discernable effect so is useless. Further demonstrating their conditioned emotional belief is wrong and adding to the no god evidence pile.
@@stultusvenator3233
"sure some"
True and this is why we peeach the gospels in their lands as well. Jesus commanded us to go into the world and preach the good news even unto death. While true most non believees today were once believers, when they see Christ return they also will become believers again but maybe too late for them so we warn them to return.
"no discernable effect"
Remember Christians don't live for this life, we live for the kingdom of God in that even if we die, we are resurrected to life eternal just as Jesus was.
"further demonstrating"
Belief by faith is paramount, we have evidence of Christs life among us but faith is paramount, remember the apostle thomas who wouldn't believe Jesus was alive till he saw him? Well he saw him and was told by Christ himself "how happy are those who don't see yet believe"
More important to ask when did Humanism or Secularism start.
Interesting
Thank you!
I think the most important artifacts of people looking to the Torah as authoritative are unpreservable- did they believe that HaShem is the Creator / deliver them from Egypt …all the way to how they preserved the laws in social life- not only contracts but did they refrain from prohibited relationships etc…
good for using English, because I need to know about Judaism. Judaism for me is a fundamental of my faith, I am Christian from Indonesia , and my country majority are Muslim. often Christian got hit by Muslim because we lack of knowledge about the of Judaism. I think the root came from the history of Abraham Who had the kids in which Muslim and Christian claim each others. So by listening this lecture can be help about whose Jews are. Thank you for sharing this knowledge .
Muslims are called Hagarenes and Ishmaelites because they are conventionally descended from the Egyptian slave woman who bore Ishmael before Sarah bore Isaac. Muslims claim Ishmael received the blessing and inheritance of Abraham,as a polemic against Jews and Christians. The Muslim identity and doctrine is cadged together from apocryphal sources that give a very tendentious take on Jewish amd Christian traditions, and vaunt Arabs as ‘God’s most-favored nation’ parodying Jewish nationalism which itself is based on poor understanding of the Covenant God plights with his beloved Israel. Islam is a sad accident of religious history that doesn’t stand up to serious scholarship.
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 Thank You for Answering my comment, I hope my people will read this statement, so that not judge us as different from them. Thanks.
In the youtube search bar, type in Pfander Films or Jay Smith and you will learn a lot (from a Christian viewpoint) about the origin of Islamic customs, beliefs, scriptures, etc. that even most Muslims don't know. There are a few other channels that address this topic too.
Prof. Adler keeps referring to the time just before the Hasmonean period as the 'third century of the common era'.
That would be the 'third century BEFORE the common era'.
Correct?
Modern day Judaism (Rabbinical) began with the destruction of the 2nd Temple is 70 AD but the grounds for Rabbinical Judaism really started with the Babyloniam exile in 586 BC.
What do you mean with "the grounds of Rabbinical Judaism"? If you mean writings that later entered the Tanach unmodified, then we don't know that. If you mean writings that entered modified, one could see also pre-exile and even Israelite time (750BC) as the grounds.
@@Achill101 I mean the prayers that replaced the animal sacrifices. That's Rabbinical Judaism as opposed to the actual religion of the Israelites that had the Priesthood and animal sacrifices.
@@MrJoebrooklyn1969 - I think we agree that with destruction of temple in 70CE, animal sacrifices ended. Do you claim the prayers that replaced the sacrifice in Rabbinical Judaism but are not in the bible were formulated in Babylonian exile already? I had expected them to be from after 70CA, too, when the Talmud was written.
@Peter T I don't know if they are in the Bible or not, all I'm saying is this began to be a practice after the destruction of the 2nd Temple.
That's not true at all. Todays christianity is Pauline and not Jewish, the faith of Jesus
Excellent and important discussion. But the interruptions for ads are annoying.
I dont understand his logic. That papyrus was clearly talking about passover because it has the exact dates and talks about leaven. Why cant it be used as evidince that the people kept Judaism?
It seems like he may not want to admit this evidence because it doesnt fit his agenda that there is no evidence earlier than the Hasmonean period.
As far as I understand, חמרא is not necessarily leaven. Specifying dates without the relevant context is not an indicator of them celebrating Passover. It could be, but it is not a proof as far as I understand Adler
No archeology is an absolute proof. This seems to me like pretty good evidence because it is the exact dates and it means beer and talks about storing it away. That is a lot of circumstancial evidence that it is talking about Pesach.
The problem is if Dr Adler does not want to accept this evidence, how do I know there is not other evidence that he does not want to accept?
@@danielfreed2988 He speaks about it voluntarily. Why should one worry?
I understood the professor as saying that the extant text, taken by itself, can only tell us a certain amount. The reconstructed text presumes to represent what might have been written.
Well paid absent minded professors are a dime a dozen. Ph.D p iled h igh and d eep. Obeying what's written isn't their forte. Probing incessantly with inconclusive results is.
Wonderful conversation. So interesting. Alas STUFFED with multiple ads. THIS NUMBER OF ADS IS JUST GREEDY FOR REVENUE. PLEASE SET TO REDUCE THE AD CONTENT. THE CONSTANT INTERRUPTIONS REALLY SPOIL THE FLOW OF INFORMATION. THIS AN IMPORTANT ACADEMIC VIDEO THAT SHOULD BE PUBLISHED WITH MORE RESPECT FOR VIEWERS. (PLEASE FORGIVE MY SHOUTING.)
כל הכבוד אלכס אוהבים אותך
תודה רבה!
messianic troller spotted
7:59 this will be interesting. I am pretty sure there was a temple built ~800y before that, which had a lot to do with Torah-proscribed practices.
As a goy who is interested in all things Judaica, I say this video is great stuff! Mazel! / I would've thought 'Jewishness' originated during David's time or before...? Maybe even 1,000 BCE...! But the various layers of the HUGE body of Jewish writing related to law, customs, and mode of living came much later, yes...? Late antiquity and the medieval era in Iraq...?
Goy ,goyim means subhuman.
@@shaheedabdulazeez7366 incorrect
David who may or may not have existed?
@@PrometheanRising I believe there's historical proof of David's existence...? I may be wrong...
Shalom professor Jonathan yonatan adler very nice and informative lecture baruch HASHEM as a Persian yahoodi chabadnik proud of my faith my emunah is growing and my bina is getting better ☝️😉😙🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱😚😎🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰😍😜☝️🇮🇱🇮🇱Shabbat 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇱shalom good shabbos from new York USA America
אלכס פשוט נהדר
Thank you :)
תודה רבה 🙏
What about discussing the message of the biblical texts the scholars are investigating?
Adler ignores the Ketef Hinnom amulets from the First Temple period. Indeed, we have strong evidence that a form of Judaism existed even in 2nd millennium BC Ugarit. What were Canaanites doing observing an early form of Judaism? Of course modern rabbinic Judaism does begin with Hillel and his associates, but that is not the beginning of Judaism.
Ugaritic culture was centered around El Elyon and the Elohim. In that culture Yahu (the northern version of Yahweh) is a child god of El Elyon. Yahu (E.g. the orogin of the word Yahudah) would be at the same level as Anat, Hadat, Molock, etc. There were 70 of these children gods. The cunieform tablets at Ebla tell us that Yahu was syncretic with Ea and Enki. Ea was the father of Marduk who replaced Enlil as the power god in Akkad and Sumer.
El Elyon was an imported god, it was brought to Canaan in the conquests of 2500 BC, El was to be a wilderness god, it was the god that protected Sumerian traders. The Sumerians and Akkadians established trading posts so that they could trade in the west (Egypt, Cypress, anatolia). Each settlement large enough had a patron deity. What was the city of the Enki. The city the egyptians identified as Beth Lahmu was the guardian of Enki, this city in the Iron age is known as Bethlehem. So that it "appears" that bethlehem was the center of Yahudah at some point in and before the LBAC.
@@Darisiabgal7573 Yahu is unrelated in etymology to Yahuda.
All the Ketef Hinnom finds prove is that at least some people believed in Yahweh, and some sayings were around that later made it into the Bible. That's it. As he pointed out, he isn't concerned about what people believed, he's only concerned about what people actually did.
@@keith6706 Ketef Hinnom demonstrate that the primary priestly blessing for Yom Kippur was already normative, not to mention the possible enclosure in a mezuzah or phylactery. Minimalism always ignores actual evidence.
@Bob Smith And this demonstrates the blessing came from the Yom Kippur ritual, and not that a later Yom Kippur ritual later adopted this blessing how?
King Hezekiah was in 7th century BCE and although no coins have been found, we find his seals on objects. This seal contains Egyptian iconography with no kings portrait at a time when Israel was a vassal state of Egypt. This doesnt mean that Torah laws were not being kept.
Judah (not Israel) of King Hezekiah was not a vassal of Egypt. While not proving the laws weren’t being kept, it also does not prove the contrary. The most we can say is that we don’t know.
@@KEDEMChannel what evidence is there that he was not a vassal of Egypt? I would think that his seal bearing the royal Egyptian eagle and his name are pretty good indicators of where his loyalties lay at this time. The Bible is full of examples where various kings supported Egypt or Assuria.
"there is Judaism in the new testament but none in the old testament"
And there is no Christianity in the new testament.
Be ause Judaism began with Judas Iscariot
Judaism is named after judas
@@simonskinner1450 Very little if any at all. I don't see much of Calvin's TULIP for instance.
@@barneygimble8984 Who was Judas named after?
@@JakobVirgil No TULIP , unmerited grace, everyone's a sinner, all classic themes but not truth. No Christians just Born Again Jews. I have a Ytube video series covering all these topics called 'Myths in so-called Christianity', you may be interested.
AT LAST SOMEBODY CAN OBJECTIVELY SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE EMERGENCE OF THE JEWISH TRADITION
The word Saturday in Hebrew: Shabbat mining rest. It's very likely that the people who named it that way, much earlier then 200bc, lived in society that rest on Saturday.
Yes, but the source of the word is way older than Hebrew, in Akkadian the word is šapattu
@@KEDEMChannel The names of the others days are not Akkadian names, they are just numbers. Shabbat could maintain the Akkadian name if he had relevant mining in Hebrew or at list unique status.
@@KEDEMChannel source of the word , but not its intrinsic meaning
@@yosefgreen3130 Hebrew is a Canaanite dialect.
*"Canaanite languages - Britannica"*
("Group of Northern Central or Northwestern Semitic languages including ***Hebrew,*** Moabite, Phoenician, and Punic.")
"As the Hebrew Bible notes, the Hebrew language itself is a Canaanite language, literally the “lip of Canaan” (שְׂפַת כְּנַעַן; Is. 19:18), and so it cannot often be distinguished by modern scholars from other Canaanite inscriptions on purely linguistic grounds."
*"Polytheism and Ancient Israel’s Canaanite Heritage. Part V | theyellowdart"*
Saturday refers to Saturnalia. .. the planet / god Saturn ... the morning star... coincidence it sounds like sabbath day.
If the Torah existed, perhaps for centuries, before it's adoption as the basis of Jewish identity and observance by the masses, some questions arise. 1) Where was it, who were it's custodians, and who was its audience? Without knowing anything about the subject it's an attractive idea that the laws were originally the preserve of a priestly caste at the temple. If that is the case, then how extensive an influence did this caste have on Judean life? 2) During those centuries, was the text still evolving? 3) Before generalised observance of the laws among the masses, what bound Judean identify?
Kedem has another video up with your question and Adler's answer.
About Judean identity: the Hasmoneans brought Torah observance to many areas with the sword, like Idumaea, Galilee. By the first century CE, Jewish identity in Galilee was strong, as you can see from Jesus and his followers but also from Jewish history after 70CE when Galilee became a center for Jewish Rabbis.
Would be interesting to know how he imagine the worshiping practice was like in the temple in Egypt.
Yes, hope to have more interviews with Prof. Adler, I will ask him for his opinion.
There were actually two Jewish temples in Egypt: One at Elephantine in upper Egypt, which had been established well before the Persian period, and a second at Tell El-Yahudieh in lower Egypt, which was established by the high priest Onias IV in the Hellenistic period.
@@KEDEMChannel Please do if at all possible, looking forward to that!
@@BobSmith-lb9nc The Greek Oligarchy did not create the "jews" until 70 BCE. At least according to the mainstream narrative. They render it as "Roman conquest of the Chanian Greek ("Canaan") colony Palestine", or as later Roman texts renamed it - "Judea".
"Ancient Egypt" was a myth invented by Thales of Miletus to combat Balkan "anti-Semitism". The Greeks were in the process of colonising the Balkans, from their native Asia Minor, and were not appreciated by the Balkan natives, to put it softly. Thales tried to convince them that dark people are not inferior, because in Africa, "once upon a time, there was Great Egypt".
So Ancient Egypt was already either a myth or just a concept for future - cement stucco on sterile ruins fraud, at 500 BCE. And nobody knew of any "jews" for another 400 years. Note that I don't capitalise the word jews. That's because it was a profession - an agent of the Greek Oligarchy, not a tribe or a nation.
@@julianpetkov8320 Yes, and Narnia isn't real.
Personally, I find it a bit arrogant that neither of Professor Adler's 2 theories as to the origins of Judaism included what many Jews have claimed for at least 2000 years and the Torah for far longer, that the law was given to the people at Sinai, and they've been to follow the law since, with massive failures as documented all over Tanach.
we deal with science on our channel . This is our perspective
This is a secular channel…
Pigs bones in Iron Age 1 layers preserved almost exclusively for Canaanites - he "forgot" it, as it doesn't fit his narrative
In most of the Canaanites' site there is no evidence of such bones, this was not exclusive to the Israelites
@@KEDEMChannel Actually, you have a discussion at your other channel where this was examined and your guest claimed exactly the opposite 😂
I too recall hearing this in the other channel but there's no need for that attitude.
So? We interview many scholars, they sometimes have different views
@@KEDEMChannel Views can be different, while decision not to touch at all on the most known finding of the bones is what I defined as "forgot"
Very interesting and well explained. Thank you for this video
Glad you liked it! Thanks 🙏
The conflation between what is called "Judaism" today and actual Torah is the main problem. Today's Judaism in an invention that includes the addition of the Talmud and even Kabbalah. They are BOTH called Torah by the tenets of today's "Judaism". BUT the Torah states that adding or subtracting to and from the Torah is prohibited. Today ONLY a group of Jews follow the Torah without additions . They are called Karaites and are hated by the followers of the amalgamation called "Judaism" today. By the way the Talmud was invented in the year 500 CE. which is WAY after Christianity.
Concerning the Talmud, yes this might be True however it adds its value to the basic text.
@@kristine8338 However the claim by today's "Judaism" is that the Talmud is actually Torah "she baal pe or oral Torah" given at Mt. Sinai and that is what makes the whole thing self evidently spurious. If it was purported as just a Torah commentary there would not be any self evident spurious claims thus there would be no loss of credibility. The main problem with the whole Talmudian claim is that such Rabbinic invention is put at the same level (or superior) to the actual Torah to the point that contradicting Talmudian Rabbis requires death (or today's equivalent) expulsion from the community. And Karaites are hated because they follow only Torah .
What about the masoretes?
@@raviarjuna9839 The Masoretes wrote copies of the Torah...The real Torah. Plus they were about from the 5th to the 10th century thus they really can not be used as a testimony for a Talmud that supposedly was originally from Mt. Sinai as claimed by today's "Judaism".
I love when “experts” who won’t share their names unequivocally define what Judaism is and isn’t.
I believe that it’s interesting that Judaism the religion is able to add an extra couple hundred of years to its mythology by also naming the Israelites as Jewish ancestors and thus having both Judaism the religion and Jewish the race under the same name.
It is very interesting indeed, though not at all exclusive to Judaism. As a matter of fact, all Abrahamic religions' current followers connect and relate themselves to the very same Abraham (who was not Jewish nor Israelite).
The modern days Greeks relate themselves to Mycenaean Greece, the Italians to the Roman Empire and so on...
A whole lot of people seem to seek and find their roots in the deep past. This common tendency has of course a whole lot of implications for the actual present.
@@KEDEMChannel right, that’s a very good point. This is by no means exclusive to Judaism, I think they’re simply the most successful current group. Many of the modern traditions have become amalgamations of various ancient cultures that were starkly different from our own. I believe many far eastern belief systems do this as well they just aren’t as publicized or documented in our modern western Judeo-Christian society. I’d love a Time Machine to see what our ancient ancestors would think of what we’ve done to their traditions lol I’m sure most would see us as blasphemous no matter how strict we were in our adherence to the current system.
@@DreamHHS Japanese people are a good example of amalgamation of traditions, Shinto, Buddhist, and Christian.
Who cares, monotheism in all it’s forms is a blight on this planet
No, secularism is worse. They are the people who promote leftism en masse and destroy the world
Belief in God has given us all freedoms that many around the world can only wish they had. This is why refugees flee to Christian based nations, why they don't flee to non Christian countries.
Also why you can write crap like your comment without getting dragged away and disappearring.
@@technicianbis5250 true, polytheism is just as bad
@@technicianbis5250 - you claim refugees flee only to Christian nations, not non-Christian ones.
Is that really so? Or do refugees flee where they can? Millions of Syrians fled to Turkey from Syrian civil war. Hundreds of thousand Burmese Muslims fled to Hinduist India from Buddhist oppression at home. Millions of Afghans fled from the Soviet invasion to Pakistan (where many of the younger ones, unfortunately, were put into Islamist madrassas and trained as Taliban, "students").
The old testament is composed as follows: 40% taken/stolen from Egypt, 30% from Sumerians, 20% from Cannan and 10% just made up by writers to make things fit. The new testament: 30% is Plato's phylosophy (Greeks), 30% Roman trama and 30% Jew tradition (forced so later could claim prophesy). In general the bible "NEVER" has been written contemporarily but rather going back once things have happened hence the realization of the predictions (of course when written, they already knew the outcome and heavily manipulated since it had a social purpose sometimes going back for more than 500 years, so how accurate it could be?). OLD TESTAMENT IS LESS THAN 2K YEARS OLD, TORAH LESS THAN 3K YEARS OLD, NEW TESTAMENT LESS THAN 1.5K YEARS OLD (everything is man made to control other men that is all folks), question is: what was God's name any time BEFORE 4K y/o? your guess is as good as mine.
Abraham was born 1800 BEFORE Christ and he was a "GENERAL" of what LATER the Egyptians would call the Hycksos, they were refugees with the Egyptians later took advantage of their host and came to power (making slaves out of Egyptians) then there were the 2 exodus (YES TWO) first was in war they were expelled by force not mentioned in the bible, the second (in bible) was self expelled. It is believed that the Jews are an up-shoot of Akhanaten (Amenhotech the 4) he was a descendant of the Hycksos by his mother (minor wife aka concubine) father was Egyptian after Akhanaten's death like 100 years later the first mention of Jews come about (it could have been a group of priests of Akhanaten's religion, mixed with cannan influences). So the leader is not older than 4K years old (Abraham, polytheist) the Jews per say like 1200 before Christ so less than 3.5k years from today. As a result the creation of organized religion is imposed on to people basically with the purpose of social control, since from old times it was very easy to control the masses when a war conflict but very difficult in peace time, hence the introduction of religion.