The belief that the Jews, in their migration from Egypt, did not cross the Red Sea, but a more northerly body of water mentioned as the Lake of Reeds in contemporary Egyptian documents, was voiced yesterday in Cairo by the University of California African Expedition exploring the Sinai Peninsula.
Wendell Phillips, leader of the expedition, said that archaeological research on the peninsula indicates that the crossing of the Jews mast have taken place in the marshy land below Great Bitter Lake. He declared that the remains of a town which existed 3,500 years ago were discovered at the northern end of the Red Sea, proving that the Sea did not extend further than that. The Biblical account describes the itenerary of the Jews as having passed further north than the present top end of the Red Sea, and scholars had previously assumed that the Sea was longer at the time that Moses led the Jews out of Egypt.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
