J.D.B. News Letter

(By our London Correspondent)

The origin of Neila, the closing ceremony of Yom Kippur Service and of Psalms 24 and 18 was explained before the delegates of the Seventeenth International Congress of Orientalists held at Oxford, by Dr. Julian Morgenstern, president of the Hebrew Union College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and former president of the American Oriental Society, representing both institutions.

Dr. Morgenstern read a paper on the “Gates of Righteousness” and dealt with the traditions centering about the Eastern gates of the temple known as the Golden Gate, tracing them back through the Christian Pilgrim, Medieval Jewish, Rabbinical and early Christian literatures to the very heart of the Bible. He pointed out that into the ancient ritual of the temple elements of solar worship crept and diluted the purer worship of the God of Israel. The outstanding ceremony of this character was the opening of the Eastern gate of the temple twice a year, on the morning of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes and the solemn closing of it at the end of the day. In early Jewish calendars before the Babylonian exile these two days coincided with Passover, Sukoth and Rosh Hashana. Later Yom Kippur was substituted for Sukoth. Here, he said, is the origin of the Neila and of Psalms 24 and 118.

The religious history of Jerusalem and the use of the Hebrew root of “righteousness” (Zedek) go back to the Amarna Age, fourteenth century before the Christian era, when naturegods of Sun and Rain were prominent, and interrelated ideas of right, truth and order can be traced over the world of which Jerusalem and Palestine were an integral part, Dr. S. A. Cook stated in the paper which he read before the Congress of Orientalists.

Dr. Cook further stated that the regions of Judah and the Dead Sea, with its extremes of fertility and desolation, and the deposits of salt with its preservative and destructive properties, and its ancient religious and economic importance, would leave its stamp upon the old religion. Primitive religion, Dr. Cook said, tends to be “economic,” and in the Sinaitic Peninsula even the turquoise mines were the seat of a half-Egyptian, half-Semitic cult, many centuries before the Amarna Age. Moreover, the antiquity of religion in the region of the Dead Sea has been recently indicated by the discovery at ed-Dra on its east, of the remains of a very ancient, holy place, perhaps a place of pilgrimage and a necropolis.

Salt is a familiar symbol, Dr. Cook added. The “covenant of salt” was an enduring one, and the “salt of the earth” were to save the world and preserve it from corruption. The idealism which made Jerusalem and Mount Zion the ethical “city of righteousness,” the centre of universal religion, and Israel the priest-people to the world, goes back to very ancient and primitive forms of thought. before the days of the great prophets, before the rise of Israel.

The mysterious district of Judaea and the mysterious powers of that valuable substance, salt, which enriched Judah and Jerusalem, and which lay in their hands, afforded abundant material for reflection upon life and death and the mysteries of existence, Dr. Cook said. It was at their doors and in their hands. The life-giving and destructive properties of salt, and also the great naturegods (Sun, Rain or Storm), would encourage early speculation upon the paradoxical, though perfectly natural, character of the Gods, Dr. Cook concluded.

The origin of the Hebrew language and the Egyptian influence upon the development of Hewbrew during the stay of the Jews in Egypt were outlined by Professor A. S. A. Yahuda of Heidelberg University in a paper which he read.

“The Pentateuch can be understood and explained only in connection with the exodus from Egypt,” Professor Yahuda declared. Modern Biblical criticism takes the view that the Pentateuch is a combination of various distinct parts, of which the oldest goes back to the era of the Kings and Prophets of Israel, while the later parts have a far more recent origin. Genesis and a large part of Leviticus are said to have been written even as late as the time of the Babylonian exile. That there are some elements in the Bible owing their origin to Moses himself is conceded by very.

Professor Yahuda was unwilling to enter upon any discussion regarding these questions, but confined himself to the investigation of the languages of the Pentateuch from the purely linguistic point of view. He said that the Hebrew language has developed gradually into a polished literary language out of the Canaanitish dialect which was spoken by the Hebrews previous to their emigration to Egypt, under the influence of the Egyptian language. In favor of this theory there is the fact that numerous Egyptian words have been borrowed by the Hebrew which have been considered to be of Semitic origin, but are actually Egyptian. Moreover, there are many turns of speech, metaphoric expressions and even entire phrases which betray the spirit of the Egyptian language. Even in style, grammar and syntax, one is able to discern numerous Egyptian races and influences.

“All these things may be explained only on the ground of an Egyptian environment in which Hebrew and Egyptian maintained closest contact. And since no other period in the history of Israel may be considered in this connection outside of that which the Jews spent in Egypt, we must conclude that the Pentateuch could not possibly have arisen later than at the time of the Exodus, and the tradition that Moses must have been the author should therefore be credited.”

In a brief exposition, citing examples from various parts of the Pentateuch in Hebrew and Hieroglyphic characters, Professor Yahuda undertook to prove his thesis. He dwelt in particular upon the stories of Joseph and the Exodus, as well as upon the narratives in Gensis and the stories of the Partriarchs. He pointed to parallels between the Egyptian mythology and folk stories, and again from the linguistic point of view, how closely the Hebrew phrascology is related to the Egyptian.