In Other News, Anti-Semitism Continues to Rear Its Ugly Head

Recent events in France have brought the seemingly somnolent monster of anti-Semitism to the forefront of national consciousness. On Friday two Muslim terrorists killed 4 Jewish hostages at a kosher supermarket in Paris, in addition to massacring 12 people at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. In a Wall Street Journal article covering news of the attack, a Parisian resident Hervé Laurent stated somberly: "Clearly something is broken in France."("Deadly Raid Ends Terror Spree in France," Meichtry, Gauthier-Villars, & Bisserbe, 2015). In response to the murders of Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen and Francois-Michel Saada, France ramped up its security on Jewish schools and synagogues in the vicinity, deploying up to 10,000 soldiers around the country to protect Jewish children.

So. The Holocaust is over, the Jewish blood libel has been ridiculed and summarily dismissed, the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition lie 500 years in the past. And yet the hate and prejudice that perpetrated these tragic events is still alive and well today. A few months ago the former chief rabbi of England, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, wrote an essay in the Wall Street Journal discussing this phenomenon, stating that, however much the media and other nations may attempt to mask the ugliness of its features, anti-Semitism continues to be prevalent and that, "Never again has become ever again." He cites recent examples from all across Europe: "In France, worshipers in a synagogue were surrounded by a howling mob claiming to protest Israeli policy. In Brussels, four people were murdered in the Jewish museum, and a synagogue was firebombed. In London, a major supermarket said that it felt forced to remove kosher food from its shelves for fear that it would incite a riot. A London theater refused to stage a Jewish film festival because the event had received a small grant from the Israeli embassy."("Europe's Alarming New Anti-Semitism," Sacks, 2014).

What is this monster, and how can Jews and non-Jews stop its evil and hate from infecting the world?

             
           

The Encyclopedia Judaica describes anti-Semitism as“a term coined in 1879, from the Greek “anti” [against], and “Semite” by the German agitator Wilhelm Marr… “Anti-Semitism”soon came into general use as a term denoting all forms of hostility manifested toward the Jews” (Heinemann, Gutmann, Poliakov, Weissman, Toury, & Hertzberg, 2007, p. 206-246).

However, to define the term “anti-Semitism”, examples serve better than any dictionary definition, and they exist in abundance. A few years after my family moved to the small Dutch farming town where we currently live, several of my little brothers were playing outside, and some boys their age rode by, yelled “Heil Hitler”, gave them the Nazi salute, and told them to go back to the ovens of Aushwitz. When my parents visited Israel they were walking in an Arab neighborhood and several small Arab children came out of their house and began pelting my parents with small stones: simply because they were Jews. These are examples of anti-Semitism on a very small scale, perpetrated by children bearing weapons no larger than tiny rocks and hurtful words... yet this attitude had to have come from somewhere. This is where anti-Semitism starts – in the minds and souls of young children, who grow up thinking that hatred for another race is not only normal, but is right and just.

The history of this monster is a long and tragic one. But nowhere in the pages of history can we find such a horrendous and tragic example of anti-Semitism on a mass scale aside from the Holocaust. A brief look at the statistics of the Holocaust should somewhat suffice to convey its utter horror: in 1933, about nine million Jews lived in Europe. By 1945, an estimated 5,830,000 Jews were completely wiped out. In a little over ten years after Hitler’s rise to power, two out of every three European Jews had been killed. An estimated 1.2 million Jewish children were murdered, mostly in the six extermination camps established in Poland where mass murder by gas was conducted systematically. Millions also died in these ghettos and camps from forced labor, starvation, disease, brutality, and execution (Leckie, 1987, p. 903-920).

During the Holocaust, one of the darkest times in Jewish history, the true colors of non-Jews all over the world were revealed when neighbors turned on neighbors, and friends upon friends. Historian Martin Gilbert recounts such an incident in the Ukraine his book The Righteous: A Jew managed to escape from the ghetto of Dabrowica in Poland, and sought refuge from a Ukrainian peasant whom he had thought his friend. But his “friend” responded, “You come to me asking me to help and save you?…Hitler has conquered almost the whole world and he is going to slaughter all the Jews because they crucified our Jesus…Get out of my sight, for the devil remains the devil, and the Yid remains a Yid” (Gilbert, 2002, p. 9).
        

Yaffa Eliach in his "Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust" tells the horrifically ironic story of Holocaust victim Zvi Michalowsky who survived a mass shooting near a church and climbed naked and covered in blood out of the pit after the Nazis had gone. He made his way to a Christian home and knocked on the door. When the widow saw him shivering on her doorstep she chased him away telling him, "Jew, go back to the grave!" But then Zvi had an idea. "I am your Lord, Jesus Christ," he told her, "Look at me - the blood, the pain, the suffering of the innocent - let me in." The woman's demeanor changed dramatically and she fell at his feet crossing herself - "My God, my God!" she cried, and welcomed him into her home (Eliach, 2011, p. 54-55). Yes, the Jews crucified Jesus, and for that, they were persecuted, tortured, and killed by the millions during the Holocaust. Yet in the name of avenging Jesus' death many Christians somehow forgot that their Savior Himself was also, in fact, a Jew.

          Anti-Semitism has existed as a social evil for centuries, it still exists today in the modern world, and Jews and Gentiles alike need to stand behind Israel and the Jewish community to prevent anti-Semitism using their words, their deeds, and their overall attitude of support.  It is prevalent everywhere, even in the free, democratic, culturally diverse country of America, as my brothers’ personal experience above demonstrates. The authors of Encyclopedia Judaica point out that anti-Semitic rhetoric and behavior has been more pronounced in some periods of American history than others, such as during the Civil War, when General Grant expelled all Jews from military territories in December of 1862. (Heinemann, Gutmann, Poliakov, Weissman, Toury, & Hertzberg, 2007, p. 206-246).  A significant increase in reported acts of anti-Semitism in America has been recorded during the last few years, as Jeffrey Ross explains in his Jerusalem Post article, Campus Anti-Semitism Grows In the U.S.; “In 1984, the "Annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents" of B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation League showed incidents on six campuses. This figure doubled to 12 in 1985 and increased to 19 in 1986. In 1988, the number jumped to 38, the highest ever recorded by the ADL” (Ross, October, 1989, Jerusalem Post). Ross reports that a Holocaust memorial adjacent to the Yale campus was desecrated on the 50^th anniversary of Kristallnacht, and swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were spray painted on the walls of New York State University. The next morning a philosophy professor told his class that the Jews had brought these incidents upon themselves (Ross, October, 1989, Jerusalem Post).

“Here? In America?” you might ask in disbelief. The answer is yes, anti-Semitism still exists in America – and not only do these incidences point to its existence, they demonstrate the fearful truth that an anti-Semitic attitude is growing in the United States.

Today anti-Semitism’s most powerful and frightening voice is not Germany, but Islam. Islam’s very ideology is based in hatred of the Jews and the belief that the entire Jewish race should be wiped off the map. “The Jews are said to have always abused the generosity and hospitality of the Moslems by stirring up unrest against them - from the Jews of Medina who betrayed the Prophet Mohammed to the Jews in today's Arab and Moslem world” (Israeli, 1990, The Jerusalem Post). Leaders of the Arab world such as Khomeini and Iran’s president Ahmadinejad are very vocal in their hatred of the Jews. If we wish to avoid yet another Holocaust, we must take measures to stop Muslim aggression on the Israel.

How can one individual hope to combat such a prevalent social evil, such widespread hatred of a people, such racism and violence? More can be done than one would think. One man's stand for the Jews, one solitary voice of support for Israel, one person speaking up against any expression of anti-Semitism, is a powerful, unquenchable light in a dark world. Think how differently the Holocaust might have turned out if all the non-Jews had banded together and stood against anti-Semitism in the 30s and 40s. An entire generation of European Jewry might not have been lost. A great many Jews were saved because of the bravery of righteous men and women. Over 19,000 non-Jews have been recognized as Righteous “Among the Nations” By Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem (Gilbert, The Righteous, dust cover).

In the preface to his work The Righteous, where he recounts the stories of the noble Europeans who helped save the Jews during the Holocaust, Martin Gilbert describes this scene: “On 28 October 1974, while walking on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, I saw… a procession on its way to one of the city’s Christian cemeteries.” Surprised that most of the procession seemed to be Jewish, Gilbert asked one of them whose funeral it was, and was told that it was that of a German Christian, Oskar Schindler, who had helped save the lives of more than 1,500 Jews during the Holocaust (Gilbert, The Righteous, p. ix).

The solution to the problem of anti-Semitism is not to passively stand on the sidelines and allow Jews to be attacked. To prevent anti-Semitism, you must support Israel, support your Jewish friends and neighbors, support the entire Jewish community. Stand up against anti-Semitic slurs and jokes even when the situation may be awkward or uncomfortable.  Support Jews with your words, your attitude, and most of all through a united stance against all forms of anti-Semitism. Support them to turn the tide of hatred that they have endured for so many thousands of years as a nation. Support them because God has called us to show love towards every race and people and to stand against racial hatred and prejudice. The massacre of the 4 Jewish men in Paris on Friday is the brutal culmination of more subtle forms of anti-Semitism: indifference, apathy, and silent betrayal.

This is not an ancient or outdated social problem – this monster is not asleep or dead or forgotten in the past - its ugliness is alive and well in today’s modern world, as evidenced by America’s apathetic and even hostile attitude towards Israel and Islam’s violent and unwarranted acts of hatred towards the Jews. We must never let another Holocaust happen again in a civilized country, as it did in Germany of 1939. We must stand with the Jewish people and declare, as did the citizens of Billings, Montana in 1939 when the Klu Klux Clan was waging their anti-Semitic hate campaign: “Not in our town” (Ross, Dec. 4^th, 1995, Columbian).

References:

Eliach, Yaffa. Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust. 2011. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Gilbert, Martin. The Righteous. 2002. Doubleday Publishers: Great Britain

Heinemann, J.; Cutmann, J.; Poliakov, L.; Weissman P.; Toury, J.; and Hertzberg, A. et al. Antisemitism, Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. By Berenbaum, M. and Skolnik, F. Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. P. 206-246.

Israeli, R. 1990, Aug 09. Antisemitism and Israeli Islam. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/320997884?accountid=12085

Leckie, R. Delivered From Evil: The Saga of World War II. 1987. Harper and Row Publishers, New York, N.Y.

Ross, J. 1991, Jun 25. U.S. Campus Antisemitism Grows. Jerusalem Post. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/321023782?accountid=12085

Ross, L. (1995, Dec 24). Not in our town. Columbian. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/252751995?accountid=12085

An Editorial From the New York Times. Oct. 20^th, 2003. Islamic Anti-Semitism, Loud and Clear. Pittsburgh Post - Gazette. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/391022693?accountid=12085

"Gratitude," by Abba.

A post from my father on the meaning behind Thanksgiving... 

"Gratitude:

"An acknowledgement of what the L-rd has meant to us in the past and what He still means to us today, as well as an avowal of what our relationship to Him has been and should be.

"Our Sages comment that when one day in the new future that is to come, all things on earth will be in such an ideal state that there will be no more cause for prayers and offerings; even then, prayers of gratitude and offerings of thanksgiving will never cease. For it would be only under such conditions that these acts would attain their true significance. How great is gratitude, the noblest of all human traits and destined to endure throughout eternity.

"May we be made aware of the vanity of all the years of our life, of the inadequacy of all that which lies beyond us and which we think we can attain as the years go by.

"All he joy and happiness of which any of us is capable of attaining dwells in the certainty that we have lived all our days, hours, and minutes on earth in gratitude and loyalty to G-d, and that we have faithfully discharged our duty throughout time.

"And whenever G-d sees fit to call us away, we will boldly heed the summons, content in the thought that we have realized the goal for which we were created.

"May He, therefore, teach us how to number our days aright and greet each day with a heart full of gratitude for, each day is one more day in His service. What an awesome privilege to remain in His employ, unworthy servants such as we are.


"Happy Thanksgiving."

A Brief Explanation of Capitalism

            I wrote this informative speech for my communications class last semester. Thanks to this blog, it was relatively easy to put together: I had already done most of the background research and expressed most of my views on this topic in my Classical Student posts. (That brilliant butcher analogy of mine might sound familiar.) Simplifying Capitalism But I thought a more comprehensive post that summarizes my personal definition might be interesting to read as well.

Nobel-prize winning economist Milton Friedman said, “What kind of society isn’t structured on greed? The problem of social organization is how to set up an arrangement under which greed will do the least harm; capitalism is that kind of a system.” So much for capitalism’s purpose. But what is capitalism exactly?

       Today you are going to come away from my speech with a full grasp of the definition “capitalism”. I will demonstrate, first of all, the literal definition of the term capitalism, along with a real-life example of what this system would look like on a practical level. I will also relate a brief history of capitalism, and finally contrast and compare capitalism to its opposing economic system, communism.    
      Capitalism has always been an interest of mine since my dad read George Orwell’s Animal Farm to us when we were young, and I’ve been studying the contrasting economic systems of Animal Farm’s socialism and its opposing system capitalism every since. I’ve also explored the topic through my writings on my blog and in my personal reading. I’m fascinated by its basic principles of free choice, non-intervention, and individual initiative.
      One way to understand a concept is through its definition. We will look at a definition of capitalism by Milton Friedman, a real-life example, and an alternative explanation.
      Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman defined capitalism and its role in society when he said: “The role of competitive capitalism is the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market – it is a system of economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom” (Friedman, 1962, p. 4). Wow... these words are all very grand and imposing, but what does this definition look like on a day-to-day basis? What is the practical picture behind this fine-sounding economic jargon?
      Well, picture me as the owner of a butcher shop. You need meat, so you come into my butcher shop. I provide you with the resources, (meat,) and skills, (preparing and packaging the meat,) that you cannot provide for yourself, because you don't have the resources, skill, or time. In return, you give me money, which I can then use to provide for myself the things I need. I go to the bakery and buy bread with that money, because I don't have the resources (flour, ovens, bakers, etc.,) or the time, or the skills, to bake bread myself. Thus you have provided me with something I don't have, and I have provided you with something you don't have. That is a mutual exchange. This is capitalism in its purest and most basic form. 
      Maybe another butcher opens a similar shop down the street. Maybe he has a larger variety, or cheaper prices, or better quality of meats - so you go to him to buy meat instead. That's free choice. You can decide which butcher you like better. I want more money so I can buy bread for my family, so I lower my prices to bring in more business. That's competition. Does this competition hurt you, the customer? On the contrary, it lowers prices and improves quality/quantity for you, which is very beneficial for you. These laws - the laws of mutual exchange, free choice, and competition - are the basic tenets of capitalism. Adam Smith called these natural laws "the invisible hand" of the market.    
      Now that you have a clearer picture of what capitalism looks like on a daily basis, let’s look at an alternative definition from Robert P. Murphy, Ph. D. and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism. He summarized capitalism this way: it is a system where people can use their property however they want – it’s also known as the free enterprise system because people have the freedom to choose their own jobs, the products they want to buy, and the products they want to sell (Murphy, 2007, p. 1).   
      But we can’t fully understand the definition without understanding where it came from – entire economic systems do not come out of a vacuum. Capitalism had a definite history, beginning with the end of the feudal system and the rise of the middle class, and continuing into the pages of today’s modern economic story. To better understand capitalism we will take a look at its brief history.
      The basic tenets of capitalism go all the way back to the Torah, where hard work, individual initiative, and private property were valued components of God’s economic system. God commands us in both Exodus 20:9 and Deuteronomy 5:13, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” and as Rabbi Spero pointed out in his Wall Street Journal article, with work a person becomes comes to understand that he has to be productive, and that success is not just an entitlement (Spero, What the Bible Teaches About Capitalism, 30 Jan 2012: A.15). (I recommend you read the full article, as it's excellent - here.) This is a fundamental principle of capitalism as well. Of course, as Spero says, the Bible “has nothing to say about financial instruments and models such as private equity, hedge funds or other forms of monetary capitalization.” But it does demand “honesty, fair weights and measures, respect for a borrower's collateral, timely payments of wages, resisting usury, and empathy” for those less fortunate than ourselves (Spero, What the Bible Teaches About Capitalism, 30 Jan 2012: A.15) 
      So capitalism’s principles were laid down in ancient times through the Torah – but modern capitalism was introduced into the world by Adam Smith. The popular economic system of the day was mercantilism, which he challenged in his revolutionary book The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. “It was Adam Smith who noticed that mercantilism was not a force of development and change, but a regressive system that was keeping the world from advancing. His ideas for a free market opened the world to capitalism” (Beattie, The History of Capitalism: From Feudalism to Wall Street, October 14^th, 2011). After Adam Smith popularized “laissez-faire” (“do what you want”) economics now known as capitalism, the era of the industrial revolution dawned. As Beattie stated, this new industrial capitalism was the first system that carried benefits for all societal levels instead of just for the nobles. The standards of living were raised which led to the formation of a middle class that grew larger and larger as more people from the lower classes rose to prosperity (Beattie, The History of Capitalism: From Feudalism to Wall Street, October 14^th, 2011). 
      Today’s version of capitalism is quite different from the Biblical models of Moshe and also quite different from Adam Smith’s “laissez faire” economic system. But the basic principles are the same. Modern capitalism still emphasizes the ideas of individual initiative, working hard to receive rewards, and getting to keep those rewards – Americans believe that these are inherent rights and American capitalism is a reflection of those basic beliefs.
      Yet another way to understand a concept is to contrast and compare it with something else (Foreman, 2013, p. 10). Let’s take a look at capitalism’s nemesis, communism.  
      A basic definition is that communism is a form of society in which the means of production and sustenance belong to the community (O’Leary, Communism, 2007) Communism, which puts the power into the hands of the state, stands in stark contrast to capitalism, which generally gives the state the role of referee, rather than player. Communism votes for working for the common good of the whole community sharing both labor and profit – capitalism relies on individual initiative and personal rewards for an economy to run smoothly. (On a side note, it is obvious form the examples of Russia and China that communism often leads to totalitarianism while capitalism generally promotes free trade, free enterprise, and political freedom in general – but that’s a topic for another speech.) As economist Milton Friedman said, “There are only two ways or coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion… the other is voluntary co-operation of individuals – the technique of the market place” (Friedman, 1962, p. 13). Communism vs. capitalism.

       Through the literal definition of the term “capitalism”, a look at a simple form of capitalism in practice, the history of capitalism, and a contrast/comparison of another economic system besides capitalism, you now have a basic understanding of this very important and influential economic system.

      Capitalism’s literal definition is an economic system that promotes individual initiative, free trade, free choice, minimal governmental interference, (except to enforce rules), mutual exchanges, competition, personal profits, and personal property. To borrow, yet again, Friedman’s way of expressing capitalism; its central feature is that it prevents one person from interfering too much with another – the consumer’s protected from coercion by the seller because there are other sellers with whom he can deal – the seller is protected from the consumer because of other consumers with whom he can deal. Moreover, the employee is protected from the employer because of other employers for whom he can work (Friedman, 1962, pp.14-15). This is how capitalism is supposed to work on a practical level in our daily, economic lives.

References

Beattie, Andrew: “The History of Capitalism: From Feudalism to Wall Street”, October 14^th, 2011, Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/capitalism-history.asp#axzz2CDmqGLvC.

Brearton, Steve: “A Brief History of Capitalism”, June, 2008, “Report On Busines Magazine”, The Globe & Mail division of Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc., Canada.

Foreman, Mark: Prelude to Philosophy: Thinking Critically About Foundational Beliefs, 2012, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL.

Friedman, Milton; Friedman, Rose D.: Free to Choose, 1980, 1979, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York and London.

Friedman, Milton: Capitalism and Freedom, 1962, The University of Chicago

Press, Chicago Ltd, London.

Murphy, Robert P., The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism, 2007, Regnery Publishing, Inc.: Washington D.C.

O’Leary, Zina. Communism. (2007). In The Social Science Jargon-Buster. Retrieved fromhttp://www.liberty.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sageukssjb/communism

Orwell, George. Animal Farm. 1945. Secker and Warburg, London.

Smith, Adam: Wealth of Nations. 1776 W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London.

Spero, Aryeh. What the Bible Teaches About Capitalism. Wall Street Journal. 30 Jan 2012: A.15; New York, N.Y.
 

Happy Hanukkah

"Miracles are the retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see." (C.S. Lewis)

           Hanukkah is the season of miracles. Every year, for as long as I can remember, the melodies of “Maoz Tzur” and “Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah”, the smells of latkes and sufganyot, the sights of the lit hanukkiah in the window and falling snow, yes even gentile Christmas lights, have served to recall to mind miracles of the past. As we sit around the table and sing and light the hanukkiah with friends and family, we recount the great works of Hashem and the things He has wrought, not only in our lives, but in those of our ancient ancestors – the Maccabees, David, Moses, Abraham – in the life of every Jew throughout the ages. Moreover, we do not only reminisce about the past, but we pray for miracles to be wrought for us once again during this season.

            Meditating on miracles, have we ever asked ourselves what a miracle actually is? Have we contemplated the nature of what we deem “a miraculous act”, an “act of God”,  etc.? Do miracles consist of small things that are initiated by God, such as a sunrise or a rainbow, or are they only apparent in the big things, the out-of-the-ordinary events, the unexplainable occurrences, like the splitting of the Red Sea? Is the ebb and flow of the ocean’s tide miraculous, or can we only call an amazing feat such as David’s felling of Goliath, a miracle? Are some miracles more miraculous than others, i.e., are there “levels” of miracles? Do miracles consist of interruptions in God’s laws of nature?

            To answer these questions, we must define what a miracle is. To do this, I will rely mainly upon C.S. Lewis’ book “Miracles”, his classic work in defense of miraculous happenings. Without going into the heavily sophisticated philosophical thought into which Lewis delves (which includes the ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine,) I will attempt to outline his definition of the events which we call “miracles”. (Lewis goes on to argue that miracles prove the existence of God, but there’s no need to discuss that aspect of his argument.)

            Lewis begins his discussion of miracles by first stating what a miracle is, what it isn’t, and why. The most comprehensive passage answering these questions is the one in which he states, “I use the word Miracle to mean an interference with Nature by supernatural power…It is therefore inaccurate to define a miracle as something that breaks the laws of Nature. It doesn't. ... If God creates a miraculous spermatozoon in the body of a virgin, it does not proceed to break any laws. The laws at once take it over. Nature is ready. Pregnancy follows, according to all the normal laws, and nine months later a child is born. ... The divine art of miracle is not an art of suspending the pattern. ... The great complex event called Nature, and the new particular event introduced into it by the miracle, are related by their common origin in God, and doubtless, if we knew enough, most intricately related in his purpose and design, so that a Nature which had had a different history, and therefore been a different Nature, would have been invaded by different miracles or by none at all. In that way the miracles and the previous course of Nature are as well interlocked as any other two realities, but you must go back as far as their common Creator to find the interlocking…The rightful demand that all reality should be consistent and systematic does not therefore exclude miracles: but it has a very valuable contribution to make to our conception of them. It reminds us that miracles, if they occur, must, like all events, be revelations of that total harmony of all that exists. Nothing arbitrary, nothing simply “stuck on” and left un-reconciled with the texture of total reality, can be admitted. By definition, miracles must of course interrupt the usual course of Nature; but if they are real they must, in the very act of so doing, assert all the more the unity and self-consistency of total reality at some deeper level. ... In calling them miracles we do not mean that they are contradictions or outrages; we mean that, left to her [Nature] own resources, she could never produce them.”

            In other words, Lewis is rejecting the idea that supernatural intervention disrupts God’s creation.  He states there are “rules behind the rules” – instead of portraying a God who must mess with His Creation in order to correct its mistakes, miracles reveal a God who can basically do what He wants with His Nature because, while miracles to us seem to be an interruption of the “Laws of Nature”, they are not interruptions but rather intricate and vital pieces of God’s bigger plan. In fact, it is rather arrogant of us to assume that we know so much about the flow of God’s system that we view anything out-of-the-ordinary as a snag in a fabric that is not our own.

            In the latter part of this passage – which can be a little difficult to follow – Lewis is arguing that if a miracle were an invasion from a hostile outside source, Nature would not be as accommodating as it is. Using his example of the virgin birth, in which the “Laws” of Nature immediately take over once the miracle has occurred, we see that Nature is, as he puts it, “an accomplished hostess.” Does this accommodation thus point towards a hostile invasion? No, I believe it implies the opposite; “If God annihilates or creates or deflects a unit of matter He has created a new situation at that point. Immediately all Nature domiciles this new situation, makes it at home in her realm, adapts all other events to it.”

In a chapter on “Natural Laws” Lewis again addresses this issue – whether or not miracles are incompatible with the “Laws of Nature”. If they are incompatible, then God would not allow them to happen, because that would be a disturbance of the systems He has set in place. But if they are compatible, then miracles are definite "interventions" that go beyond natural laws. Thus miracles are consistent with nature, but beyond natural law. Ergo, they point to a new law, a different law, one that transcends the laws of Newton and science's fundamental absolutes. This Higher Law is revealed through miracles. In a miracle such as the splitting of the Red Sea, (an occurrence that is definitely impossible when we take into account the “laws” of water molecules, hydrogen bonding, and gravity,) we see a greater Power at work than that with which we are commonly familiar. As Lewis stated in the passage above, “left to her [Nature] own resources, she could never produce them.”

So back to my initial question – is a sunrise a miracle? According to this definition, that miracles are interventions in the commonly accepted Laws of Nature, I would say not. Is the splitting of the Red Sea a miracle? As it goes against the known Laws of Nature, yes, it is one of the most obvious exemplifications of a miracle. But with this definition, we must not see miracles as God’s abeyances or interferences with the day-to-day occurrences of His Creation. Exceptions, yes – disruptions, no. Even these exceptions are not God saying, “Well I suppose I can change My Law of gravity for you this one time…” Rather He is communicating to us; “These are My Laws – this is My Creation and I can do with it as I wish, and so doing, reveal My immeasurable power.” As the book of Job queries: “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea…” (Job 11: 7, 9)

Much of society has ceased to believe in miracles, because they have ceased believing in God. They do not understand how the laws of science can be “broken” by the Being who set them in place. As C.S. Lewis said, “Belief in miracles, far from depending on an ignorance of the laws of nature, is only possible in so far as those laws are known. We have already seen that if you begin ruling out the supernatural you will perceive no miracles. We must now add that you will equally perceive no miracles until you believe that nature works according to regular laws. If you have not yet noticed that the sun always rises in the East you will see nothing miraculous about his rising one morning in the West.” The atheists have observed these natural laws but have failed to recognize the Prime Mover.

But as us Jews meditate on the mighty deeds of Hashem in our people’s past and present, we can’t help but see the God who has done so much for us throughout the ages – we can’t help but see the bigger Picture behind these events – and we can’t help but recount His acts with wonder and gratitude. This definition of miracles, which reveals the large and powerful God running our world, gives an even deeper meaning to the awesome deeds He has performed.

Happy Hanukkah.

Senior Thesis - Proof Three, Parts One & Two

The Right of the Jews to the Land of Israel, Proof III

Meritorious Right

The Jewish nation not only possesses the right of military conquest and historical ownership, but the right of merit as well. Under the hands of the Jews the land of Israel has blossomed from a bare desert to a prosperous nation in a short 64 years. Since 1948 Israel has developed into a country with more companies in NASDAQ than all of Europe combined, ranking third after the U.S. and China; in 2008, it had more than twice the global venture capital of the U.S., 30 times that of Europe and 80 times that of China. (Student Life, Dan Senor Speaks About Israel’s Economic Success by Becky Prager.) This is merely one of many statistics proving, in simple black-and-white fact, that the Jews have earned their right to possess Israel.

Merit, according to definition, is “the quality or actions that constitute the basis of one’s rewards or punishments.” Our fundamental sense of justice, an innate part of every human being’s consciousness, creates an awareness of what we and others deserve for our actions. The idea of justice is also an important concept in the history of human rights, something for which wars have been fought, laws have been passed, violence has been perpetrated, and philosophies have been formed. I don’t attempt to argue that, because the Jews suffered the horrors of the Holocaust in the mid-twentieth century, they deserve a land of their own, though it certainly should be compensation. Rather, the fact that Israel’s economy has flourished since 1948 proves that they are amply capable of its care, representing the only democracy in the tempestuous Mideast.

1.) Economic History of prosperity

Economically Israel’s recent history has been characterized by growth and prosperity. During the British Mandate as Britain was preparing to hand Israel over to the Jews, their economical and political systems developed separately from those of the Palestinians’; Israel experienced rapid growth during this era due to the influx of both immigrants and capital. After this, in spite of the financial challenges it faced with immediate wars, new settlements, and adjustment to new government, its transition from British territory to Jewish state went relatively smoothly. Israel introduced a New Economic Policy in 1952 and achieved an especially high growth rate from 1950 to 1965 – real GNP increased by 11% while GDP per capita grew by 6%. “Following independence, the new state’s economy was structured around three basic elements: high defense costs, mass immigration absorption, and the building of new institutions such as banks, a national insurance institute, and government agencies, all of which necessitated massive infusions of public money into the economy.” (MERIA, Middle Eastern Journal of International Affairs, Journal, Volume 6, No. 3 - September 2002, Israel’s Economic Growth; Success Without Security, by Linda Sharby.)

2.) Success Against All Odds

As demonstrated by this brief summary of Israel’s economic history, the Jews faced and overcame numerous challenges at the inception of their new state. A mere few of the numerous odds against them were; a wasteland left by centuries of foreign misrule, six wars, enemies on all sides, an economic boycott by the disgruntled Arabs, an isolated diplomacy, and monumental task of creating a new nation from scratch. “Nonetheless, Israel has a strong, modern, and diversified economy that in 2000 posted an annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $104.1 billion, 40% of which consisted of exports of goods and services. Growth for 2000 reached six percent. Israel’s per capita Gross National Income (GNI) for 2000, at almost $17,000, placed the state ahead of Spain, Portugal, Greece, and New Zealand… 64-year-old Israel now ranks as a high-income economy and was identified as one of the most global emerging markets by Foreign Policy magazine’s Globalization Index. Over the past decade, Israel’s high-technology industry, second only to California’s Silicon Valley in concentration of firms, powered economic growth and attracted massive Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the country, a figure that reached $4.4 billion in 2000.” (MERIA, Middle Eastern Journal of International Affairs, Journal, Volume 6, No. 3 - September 2002, Israel’s Economic Growth; Success Without Security, by Linda Sharby.)

As Mr. Wohstetter of the American Spectator points out in his article Israeli Exceptionalism, the United States at its inception was faced with none of Israel’s challenges – America was a land rich in natural resources, protected by two oceans, and populated by a few primitive Indian tribes, yet it took a full century to progress from George Washington’s inauguration to the “final frontier.” “Along the way, America had time to develop and prosper, shielded from the destructive wars of monarchical Europe, until in 1917 it came to the rescue of a Europe attempting to commit suicide.

“Israel had no such luxury. Shooting started the very night that news of the November 29, 1947 UN partition resolution reached the Mideast, and continued through Israel's May 14, 1948 proclamation of statehood. Sixty-three years of unremitting Arab hostility have followed. Israel is a tiny island surrounded by more than one-quarter of a billion Arabs, virtually none of whom think there should be a single Jew in the Mideast.” (The American Spectator, Israeli Exceptionalism, by John D. Wohlstetter.)  

 In 1867, 81 years before the Jews took possession, American author Mark Twain described the Holy Land, outside of Jewish settlements: “There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent--not for thirty miles in either direction. There are two or three small clusters of Bedouin tents, but not a single permanent habitation. One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings...” Yet in less than a century, under the care of the Jews, Israel became one of the most prosperous nations in the world, surpassing even highly developed countries such as the U.S. in high-tech developments, exports, sales profits, etc., especially since it shifted its economic policy from socialistic to capitalistic during the past twenty years. She ranks third in the world in the number of university graduates per capita, possesses the highest per capita number of scientists in the world, publishes the largest amount of scientific papers per capita in the world, possesses one of the lowest inflation rates during the global economic crisis (2.3 %,) and the 24^th largest economy in the world, (in spite of being the 81^st smallest country.) Israel’s economy is based on significant resources such as copper, sulfur, citrus, dairy, vegetables, poultry and beef while the industry is primarily composed of high-tech projects, along with chemical and plastic productions. This makes for a highly diversified economy, a prerequisite to political and national financial stability.

 In 64 years Israel has been forced to fight 6 full-scale defensive wars to maintain her place in the nucleus of the Middle East. Yet she has developed into one of the most industrious and fertile nations in the world. How did this happen?

“Against the backdrop of the events that typically cause Israel to be in the news …people often forget that there are normal things happening in Israel. And in many cases, extraordinary things, like the amazing performance of the Israeli economy over the past decade. Haaretz reports that the TA-25, the flagship index of the Israeli stock market, has increased forty percent in the last year. A period that has included a month of warfare, massive public discontent with the Israeli political echelon, and the takeover of Gaza by Hamas. …What accounts for this growth? A vital factor is of course the Israeli culture, which embraces entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and ingenuity… (Michael J. Totten, Middle East Journal, July 13, 2007, The Israeli Economic Miracle, by Noah Pollak)

Aside from supernatural factors, which are clearly the key to the Jews’ success, several Jewish characteristics help explain how they overcame the monumental challenges facing their new country to meet with such results. For one thing, their enemies have been predominantly external, excepting the violent pockets of Palestinians throughout the country. Israel has never experienced a civil war, nor does it appear that she will anytime in the near future. Moreover, her military is one of the best in the world – out of necessity Israel has invested significant amounts of time, money and resources into defending her borders. “National military service is mandatory for all Israeli citizens over the age of 18, although Arab citizens are exempted if they so please and other exceptions may be made on religious, physical or psychological grounds.  Men serve three years in the IDF, while women serve two.” (Wikipedia, Israel Defense Force, Service) In 2010 Israel’s money supply decreased which could lead to stability in the long term – flooding a country with excess cash can lead to inflation, but Israel should be able to keep their inflation low. (MoneyNews.com, Israel: A Safe Haven of Economic Prosperity by Jacob Wolinsky) 

All of these practical factors contributed to Israel’s unexpected economical success. From a pragmatic point of view, the Jews overcame impossible odds by mustering their available resources and indefatigable Jewish ingenuity to make their nation one of the most prosperous leaders in the world today. Contrast their country to Cyprus, which was likewise ruined by Turkish rule, yet stands far beneath Israel in terms of financial success. Cyprus’ climate and agriculture are very similar to Israel’s. Perhaps the different nationalities occupying these territories have something to do with this contrast.  

Reflections on a New Year...

Rosh Hashanah is just around the corner and this always prompts an overflow of reflection and thought upon the past months than any other time of year... at least for Jews! We are preparing to head into a new cycle of holidays, prayer, Shabbats, worship, avodas Hashem, mitzvot, etc... These thoughts seem, in their turn, to prompt three things - regret, satisfaction, and gratitude.
      Contemplation upon the past twelve months mainly brings forth regrets for me... .There are so many areas in which I could have done better, so many things I wish I could go back and change. If I had only spent that one hour doing something productive instead of something social - or if I had spent that other hour taking the time to pour into someone who needed help rather than retreating into my own priorities - then perhaps neither of those hours would be bemoaned as "time I can never get back." Time is a funny thing that way - as my Abba put it, there is never going to be another "now" like this "now." Every "now" is its own separate entity, unlike every other "now" that will ever exist. So how do we make each of those "nows" count? Make time to study Torah, and to pour into other people when they ask for it... and don't say "when I have time I will study; for perhaps you will never have time." That is to say, perhaps you will have time, but the time you will have in the future is not going to be the same time you have now. This is time you may be wasting, and later regretting next Rosh Hashanah.
      But contemplation also prompts satisfaction - and not only personal pride, but satisfaction in Hashem, that we have tried our hardest this year to please Him, and that perhaps we have even succeeded in a few areas. As we throw our stones into the river at Tashlich, maybe there are a few less in our hand - or maybe the sins we cast into its depths are not the same ones we cast last year. Have we won any small battles against Goliath this year? I have a paltry few to my credit, though when aligned against my regrets they seem too insignificant to matter. At least I tried. Even if I get discouraged with how futile my efforts at pleasing Him seem to be, even when keeping Torah seems like a waste of time... "should we sin all the more so that grace may abound? Certainly not!" We may think that if we have salvation, it shouldn't matter if we keep the Torah or not... yet... if you were walking along the seashore and suddenly saw that jewels were coming in with the waves and lapping up against your feet... would the knowledge that you couldn't gather them all stop you from attempting to pick up as many as you could???? Mitzvot are jewels.... and though they alone can not save us from the destruction we deserve, why shouldn't we try to be perfect as He is perfect and holy as He is holy?
      Lastly I feel an overflow of gratitude to Hashem this time of year when I reflect upon how gracious He has been to us, in keeping us alive, sustaining us, and privileging us to reach this season. As stated above, we don't deserve that we should be living comfortably in this community, nor that we should be living peacefully as Jews in this world, nor even that we should exist. We do not deserve to be here. But we are..and when I realize this, I also realize how grateful I am. Gratitude is a combination of the above two emotions - regret of our mistakes and shortcomings, and satisfaction in our salvation through the Torah. As I come into Rosh Hashanah and the beginning of our new year, I'm not going to forget what I've done this past year - nor what He has done for me.
     To life! To fewer regrets the coming year! Shana Tova!
   

 

Proof 2 - Right of Conquest, Part One

     This is the first part of my senior thesis' second proof concerning the right of military conquest. Enjoy and leave your comments below, critical or otherwise!


          “In international law, the Right of Conquest is defined as ‘the purported right of a conqueror to territory which he has taken by force of arms.’ This theory is based on the proposition that a state which emerges victorious in war is entitled to claim ownership of the land of which it has taken possession during a war.” (Right of Conquest, Real Property, Real Properties Information) This Right of Conquest, however, was gradually modified after World War Two when aggression was made an official crime codified in the Nuremburg Principles and passed in 1974 as United Nations resolution 3314:  “The completion of colonial conquest of much of the world… the devastation of World Wars I and II, and the alignment of both the United States and the Soviet Union with the principle of self-determination led to the abandonment of the right of conquest in formal international law. The 1928 Kellog-Bridan Pact, the post-1945 Nuremburg  Trials, the UN charter, and the UN role in decolonization saw the progressive dismantling of this principle.” (Right of Conquest, Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia)

            However, in Joshua’s day, conquest was certainly a legal right in formal international law. (Some may argue that the right of conquest is also still legitimate today in spite of the United Nations, based on the assumption that the conquering force is more capable of securing peace and stability to the territory than the lawfully entitled governance of which it has taken over.) But whether or not a modern country currently has the right to invade and conquer territory is irrelevant, for when Joshua dispossessed the Canaan approximately three thousand years ago, he was entitled to do so by the authority of God and the authority of the sword; that is, the right of conquest. No American has ever suggested, during the short two hundred years or so that this country has existed, that we should return the United States to the Native American tribes, its original owners. So why should Israel return land (which they owned for seven hundred years until the Babylonian captivity) to ancient peoples such as the Canaanites and the Jebusites? Land in which they maintained a continuous presence until they were granted its legal rights in 1948? Every nation that has possessed Israel throughout history has won it by the sword, yet strangely, it is only when the Jews defeat aggressive Arab invaders and claim land historically their own that dissenting voices arise.

            The first step in Joshua’s conquest of Canaan was the destruction of Jericho. In the Torah, Joshua sent two spies from their encampment at Shittim across the Jordan into the city to explore, where they stayed with Rahab the harlot. After they returned to Joshua’s camp the Israelites set out to march around Jericho every day for six days.  On the seventh day, Hashem commanded them to march around the city seven times and conclude by blowing their shofars and giving a loud shout. As they did this, the walls of the great city miraculously disintegrated and the Israelites took Jericho. They went on to conquer Ai, accept the surrender of the Gibeonites, kill the king of Bethel, gain control of Shechem, (completing the conquest of northern Canaan,) and decisively defeat southern Canaan as well. The land was then partitioned according to Hashem’s commands, each tribe receiving their allotted portion of land.

            Thus Israel belonged to the Jews hundreds of years before ancient empires such as Rome and Greece even existed – through military strength they conquered Canaan’s inhabitants and maintained their presence in Israel until the Babylonian exile. After they returned from Babylon they also continued to live in the land until a portion of it became legally their own once more in 1948. In spite of being surrounded on all sides by hostile Arab nations who opposed their state status when the United Nations’ resolution was passed, they have remained a strong State of Israel for sixty-four years. 

Right of Merit?

This is an open-ended post, as I would like your input on this one, followers :)
I am wondering, is there such thing as meritorious right?
To elaborate.... We know that the Jews deserve to live in Israel, but do you think that one of the reasons is because they earned it? Because, under their care, the desert blossomed and sprouted economically? Do you think that is a good reason to deserve something?
The pro-Palestinians and "anti-Zionists" (a not-so-subtle euphemism for anti-Semites,) would argue that the Jews took their land, and it doesn't matter whether it prospered or not; it's still theirs. What would you have to say to this?
If you "took" someone's house (and this is not a very good analogy, because we know the Jews did not snatch Israel out of the Palesinians' hands,) and then planted a nice garden in front, fixed up the trimming and made it look nice, does that mean that you are now the rightful owner? I am not so sure about this one. I was intending to use it as the basis for my third proof of my thesis, but I am not sure if it is even a valid argument. I would really like to know what you think.
Please comment below, or even email me! I could use the help!!

The Right of the Jews to the Land Of Israel - 2

About a month ago I posted the first part of my thesis' first proof. This first proof is that of historical right - essentially proving through history that the Jews are Israel's legitimate owners. In my latest post I outlined history's general summary of Jews in Israel - in this post I will attempt to back that up with archaeological evidence, upon which huge importance is placed in today's scientific, rationalistic world. This research was very rewarding, because it's important to know that tangible proof of our ownership exists. Enjoy :)

The Jews’ historical presence in Israel is not only found in the records of the past, but embodied in physical objects of today, such as jewelry, writings, art, furniture, buildings and so forth. As historian Andrea Berlin said, archaeologists view physical remains as cultural data. For many, items such as money or pottery serve as factual evidence that something or someone once existed where it was found. Monuments and artifacts that have stood the test of time transport us back into history in order to see characteristics of previous cultures, to ponder their ideas and thoughts - even to discover new civilizations. Physical remains exist as proof to our pragmatic eyes that lands were settled, nations were born, wars were fought and ancient communities lived and worked in modern territories. It is simple to discard the Torah and claim that the Jews never existed in the Holy Land – that their presence was conjured up by pro-Israel fanatics seeking to discredit the Arabs. But it is not so easy to dismiss shards of Hebrew pottery found in the south of Jerusalem dating back 3,000 years ago, nor artifacts found inside the Temple Mount and Old City of David from 1000 BCE.

The evidence of the Jews’ existence reaches even further back into the past than David, however. According to the Torah, Joseph lived in Egypt for 93 years serving the Pharaoh. Historical evidence supports this account also - “Imhotep (2655-2600 BCE, Egyptian ii-m-hatāp meaning "the one who comes in peace") was an Egyptian polymath, who served under the Third Dynasty king, Djoser, as chancellor to the pharaoh … He is considered to be the first architect and engineer and physician in early history… The Upper Egyptian Famine Stela, dating from the Ptolemaic period, bears an inscription containing a legend about a famine of seven years during the reign of Djoser. Imhotep is credited with having been instrumental in ending it.” (Wikipedia, Imhotep) The similarities between the historical Imhotep and the Biblical Joseph are too vast to be ignored – according to history, both were physicians, architects, and overseers; moreover, both lived to be 110 years of age, married into the priesthood of On, interpreted dreams, instituted a tax of one-fifth, and came from families of twelve. (Were Joseph and Imhotep the Same Man? The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, by Emmet Sweeney, 2001,2nd Edition)

From Joseph’s family, who later joined him in Egypt, emerged the numerous Jewish people, a nation fathered by Joseph and his eleven brothers, the Twelve Tribes of Israel. According to the Torah, the Jews remained in Egypt in the small region of Goshen for 430 years after Joseph. Extraneous evidence supports this fact as well – for instance the details of Egyptian life given in the Torah are surprisingly consistent with the historical culture of the time: “If the Israelites did not spend time in Egypt, it is unclear how the author of Genesis and Exodus would have known enough to so accurately describe Egyptian… customs… In the Joseph narrative, when the author mentions the titles of the Egyptian officials, he employs the correct title in use and exactly as it was used in the period referred to….In Genesis 41:40 Pharoah elevates Joseph to a high position, which corresponds precisely to the office of prime minister or vizier of Egypt, who was the chief administrator in the country, second in power to Pharaoh himself.” (Quartz Hill School of Theology, Israel’s Sojourn in Eyypt.)

A papyrus scroll in the Brooklyn Museum dating from the reign of Sobekhotep III (the pharaoh who reigned one generation before Moses) was acquired in the late 1800s by Charles Wilbour. It is a decree by the pharaoh for a transfer of slaves, half of which are Semitic in origin. (Did the Exodus Happen? Answering the Skeptics, by Dr. David Lewis) A city called Avaris, unearthed by the Austrian archaeologist Manfred Bietak in the land of Goshen underneath the city of Rameses, provides additional proof of the Israelites’ presence in Egypt; “The people who lived in Avaris were not Egyptian but Asiatic Palestinian or Syrian. The finds there included numerous pottery fragments of Palestinian origin. Several factors about the graves were particularly fascinating: - 65% of the burials were of children under 18 months of age, the norm for this period being 20-30%. Could this be due to the killing of the male Israelite children by the Egyptians, recorded in Exodus 1:22?” (Did the Exodus Happen? Answering the Skeptics, by Dr. David Lewis, John Fulton)

If the Jews’ presence in Egypt can thus be so conclusively proved through archaeology, it must follow that the subsequent Exodus and conquest of Canaan recorded in the Torah is also true. The Egyptian historian Manetho recounts how Egypt collapsed in the reign of Dudimose: ‘In [Dudimose’s] reign, for what cause I know not, a blast of God smote us; and unexpectedly, from the regions of the East, invaders of obscure race marched in confidence of victory against our land (Egypt). [These were the Amalakites, or “Hyksos,” as they came to be called.] By main force they easily seized it without striking a blow and having overpowered the rulers of the land, they then burned our cities ruthlessly… and treated all our natives with cruel hostility, massacring some and leading into slavery the wives and children of others.” The Amalekite invaders thus found the Egyptian nation, devastated by Divine judgment, easy prey.

A papyrus dating from the end of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom was found in the early 19th century and interpreted by A.H. Gardiner in 1909. “The papyrus describes violent upheavals in Egypt, starvation, drought, escape of slaves (with the wealth of the Egyptians), and death throughout the land. The papyrus was written by an Egyptian named Ipuwer and appears to be an eyewitness account of the effects of the Exodus plagues from the perspective of an average Egyptian.” (The Ten Plagues – Live from Egypt by Rabbi Mordechai Becher, Ohr Samayach) Some suggestive phrases found in this papyrus are, “Plague is throughout the land. Blood is everywhere….The river is blood… Men shrink from tasting and thirst after …All is ruin. All animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan... The land is without light… the children of princes are cast out in the street… he who places his brother in the ground is everywhere. It is groaning throughout the land, mingled with lamentations… Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze… are fastened on the necks of female slaves….” These events correspond exactly to the ones recorded in the Torah – the plagues of blood, cattle disease, darkness, death of the firstborn, and the plunder of the Egyptians.

After their departure from Egypt, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They conquered Canaan around 1250 BCE under their leader Joshua. They established their presence and remained in this land until the Babylonian exile in 598 BCE.

If the Jews’ own proof were not enough, and one still found oneself in need of external sources to be convinced, other ancient cultures testify to the presence of Jews in Israel. The Tel Dan Stele is an inscribed stone discovered in 1993 during excavations at Tel Dan in northern Israel dates back to the 9th century BCE - its author was a king of Damascus, Hazaelor, and it contains an Aramaic inscription commemorating victories over local ancient peoples including "Israel" and the "House of David." The Mesha Stele from around the same period is similar, written by King Mesha of the Moabites. “Revisionists insist there was no such entity as "Israel" until at least the 9th century BCE. Yet a well known Egyptian inscription dated to about 1210 BCE clearly identifies an Israel in the land of Canaan as a people that had to be reckoned with. The inscription, which depicts the victories of Pharaoh Merneptah in Canaan, reads in part: ‘Israel is laid waste, his seed is no more.’” (Archaeology and the Bible, pt.2, by Rabbi Dovid Lichtman, aish.com) Thus the presence of Jews in the land of Canaan, conquered by them under Joshua, is not only confirmed by their own history recorded in the Torah, but by extraneous evidence from other contemporary cultures.