Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades Shabbat Parashat Yitro | שבת פרשת יתרו February 3, 2018 | Shevat 18, 5778

Is Har Karkom The Mountain of God? TORAH STUDY

This Week: Shabbat Parashat Yitro Next Week: Shabbat Sh’kalim u-M’varchim Sh’mot 13.17-17.16, pages 432-450 Parashat Mishpatim Sh’mot 21.1-24.18, pages 456-480 FIRST ALIYAH: Yitro arrives at Sinai—but when did he Additional reading, Sh’mot 30.11-16. Pages 523-524 arrive? Is there a case to be made that this incident occurred many months later? Is there a case to be made that it happened FIRST ALIYAH: What is so innovative and unique about the before God’s appearance on Sinai? opening verse of thos week’s parashah? SIXTH ALIYAH: If the people have already been warned SEVENTH ALIYAH: What exactly is the significance of this against ascending the mountain, why does God insist to Moshe parashah? What does the text mean when it refers to these that he go down and warn them yet again? chapters as “the Book of the Covenant”? The haftarah, Yishayahu 6.1-13 begins on Page 452. The haftarah, M’lachim Bet 11.17-12.17 begins on Page 1277.

For haftarot, we follow S’fardi custom. IS HAR KARKOM MOUNT SINAI? THE TESTIMONY OF ARCHAEOLOGY Historical reconstruction through physical evidence is one of the main goals of archaeology; chapters of unwritten history are revealed by archaeological remains. In the case of biblical archaeology, traditions conveyed by texts add another—and dominant—element to the field of study. The edge between history and myth, however, is never easy to delineate, and both archaeological findings and biblical texts should not be just read, but also deciphered. The biblical story of Exodus may be considered as eternal truth dictated by God, as a fairy tale, or as history. To my team and me, it appears as a synthesis of oral tales that, passed for years from storyteller to storyteller, probably underwent adaptations and modifications prior to being put into writing. We consider the biblical descriptions of sites, geography, and topography, with numerous specific details, to have derived from real memories of the terrain and landscape, despite opposed exegetic tendencies of today. Travelers and storytellers of the past transmitted ancient tradition in a similar manner as happens today among many tribal populations around the world, where each storyteller may have distinct versions of tales, deriving from main contextual cores. Many of Har Karkom’s archaeological remains are not buried, and they have been visible for ages. No doubt, they were better preserved 3,000 years ago than today; they may have been read, interpreted, and deciphered by travelers well before present-day archaeologists. But every relic which does not have a clearly recorded history may generate myths, and archaeological remains may either be testimonies to the truth of epic tales, or inspirations for the creation of such tales. The study of biblical archaeology, when the site involved concerns a place such as Mount Sinai, presents the difficulty of confronting attitudes and philosophies that discourage every attempt to reconstruct history in the modern sense of the word. (Continues on Pages 4 and 5)

CBIOTP STANDARDS & PRACTICES

1. Men must keep their heads covered in the building and must 6. The use of recording equipment of any kind is forbidden on wear a talit when appropriate. Women may choose to do either sacred days. or both, but it is not mandatory. 7. Also forbidden are cell phones, beepers and PDAs, except 2. Anyone accepting a Torah-related honor must wear a talit, for physicians on call and emergency aid workers (please use regardless of gender. vibrating option). 3. Only one person at a time may take an aliyah. 8. No smoking at any time in the building, or on synagogue 4. No one should enter or leave the sanctuary during a K’dushah. grounds on Shabbatot and Yom Kippur. One should not leave the sanctuary when the Torah scroll is being 9. No non-kosher food allowed in the building at any time. carried from or to the ark. 10. No one may remove food or utensils from the shul on 5. No conversations may be held in the hallway outside the Shabbatot. An exception is made for food being brought to sanctuary, or while standing in an aisle alongside a pew. someone who is ailing and/or homebound. THE IMAHOT: Присоединяйтесь к нам дл Following is the text adopted by the Ritual Committee освящение и обед for use by the Prayer Leader in reciting the Amidah, and This week’s kiddush and luncheon those wishing to insert the Matriarchs in their Amidot: are sponsored by L~xGr OC(S t ])2 x Cz y H(SL~x])DvCL~xGr OCx t H(SL~xGr OCL{ t SrFCG v <| { C.([{$ THE KAMINSKY FAMILY OxJ{[DrZvU |L  LGr ~ x O CHG{ x ZzDy[¹HZJ { zY yL  LGr ~ x OCG t [{ {8¹HPGz{ { [zD|C to mark Alan’s 60th birthday OxQ)%R)LzOwUOCC x [)3 { Gz | H[)$y%|GO)F{%|GOC{ x GGCx { OzH (and his chanting of the haftarah!) CLDx y Q(])D{CLFz xT|J[xN)IHOr0 z G |  G xS ) ZHPL z D)KPL y F{ yTvJ G{DvG|Cz$)Q:R| z U|Q zO  PwG x L xSD z  L xSD z yO  OC)% x 5HFLWHWKLVRQO\EHWZHHQ5RVK+DVKDQDKDQG

Tomorrow morning, join us in celebrating the Mitzvah of Tefillin and then have a bagel brunch!

Once again, it's time for THE WORLD WIDE WRAP Join with thousands of men and women around the world in donning tefillin. Even if you perform this mitzvah every weekday morning, this event is special because it is global. WHEN: Tomorrow morning beginning at 9:30 a.m. WHERE: The sanctuary in our new building, 1585 Center Avenue IS HAR KARKOM MOUNT SINAI? THE TESTIMONY OF ARCHAEOLOGY (Continued from Page 2) of the myth? Whatever the case may be, there The biblical narration is a story, but every type of were too many parallels between biblical accounts reading and interpreting sees the story differently: and archaeological finds to dismiss them as mere from fantasy to history, from myth to revelation. coincidences. Also, rock art correlates with the biblical The first archaeological considerations that accounts. Such a wealth of connections is unusual, suggested a relation between Har Karkom and the and perhaps stretches the limits of pure coincidence. biblical Mount Sinai relied on analogies between field Nevertheless, not all the religious structures have findings and biblical descriptions. biblical parallels. At Har Karkom, a large quantity Near an inhabited site at the foot of the mountain of cult sites show different expressions of religious dated about the Fourth to Third Millennium B.C.E., relations between people and the site. They fall a group of 12 pillars were found in front of a stone within a vast span of time and should not all be platform. When this monument was discovered, in attributed to the same populations. No doubt, several 1983, it brought to our minds, for the first time, the tribes in the course of centuries saw Har Karkom as a hypothesis that there might be some connection sacred mountain and worshipped there. between Har Karkom, and the mythical Mount Sinai The archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom of the Bible. This site recalls the passage referring to and in the surrounding areas provide a complex Moses in Exodus 24.4: “He rose early in the morning image of desert tribal lifestyle, of their beliefs and and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and put cult practices, social organization, and economic up 12 pillars, for the 12 tribes of Israel.” Here, an altar resources. Some of the findings may offer analogies and 12 pillars are at the foot of the mountain, near with biblical accounts. This area, however, also retains the remains of a Bronze Age Complex (BAC) camping significant testimonies of other cult episodes, which site. It raised the question: Was there a possible may be far removed from the biblical narration. relation between this site and the biblical description? The compilers of the book of Exodus provided a The plateau of Har Karkom has two prominent hills wealth of topographical details when they described as two summits. On the top of one is a rather unique the Mountain of God, much of which corresponds feature for a mountain in the region: a small rock strikingly with the physical features of Har Karkom. shelter. The book of Exodus describes a similar detail The cult of this mountain persisted for many at the top of Mount Sinai: “The Lord said, ‘Here is generations, and in more than one case large groups a place beside me. Stand on the rock and when My of people camped at its foot. We cannot say if one of glory passes by, I will put you in the cleft of the rock these consisted of Asiatics fleeing Egypt, but we can and cover you with my hand until I pass by’“ (Exodus say that much of the archaeological evidence seems 33.21-22). Again, this is a topographical characteristic to find parallels with the events related in the Bible. that the Bible attributes to Mount Sinai. Year after year, documentation of Har Karkom’s Archaeology and historical geography cannot verify ancient sites grows, and the general image becomes visions, revelations, or miracles, but a reference to more complex. Har Karkom is a unique source of topographical elements can be verified. The text information concerning that type of tribal world indicates a tradition of a cleft of the rock present at which is described in the book of Exodus. However, the top of Mount Sinai. most of the altars, the platforms, the private On the plateau of Har Karkom are the remains of sanctuaries, and the standing pillars do not provide a small BAC period shrine feature, a stone platform direct information on the divinities to which they may oriented to the east. Around this site, small tumuli, have been dedicated, or on the kinds of rituals and geoglyphs, and rock engravings were found. The Bible worship performed there. tells us a temple was located on Mount Sinai, and this When my book “The Mountain of God” was again is a topographical reference. published in 1986, about 500 archaeological sites A legitimate problem with archaeological finds had been recognized in the area under examination. that apparently corroborate biblical accounts is Since then, the number has grown to over 1,200. determining which one of the two came first: the site, Many recent discoveries have contributed information or the story? Are archaeological finds a testimony that requires time to be adequately analyzed. In the to the described events, or are they the source course of 2,000 years, between 4000 and 2000 B.C.E., the mountain was a major high-place of cult, and the valleys around, mainly those to the west and the north of the mountain, were densely inhabited by human groups. Archaeology tends to identify remains of structures in stone such as hut foundations, fireplaces, and other remnants of material culture. Usually, because geological processes have buried or obscured this kind of evidence, excavations focus on limited square meters of surface. A different situation is provided by desert archaeology and by contexts such as those around Har Karkom, where the walking surface of the Bronze Age and even earlier has been exposed for millennia and remains so. Thus, we do not have available one Above, a rock engraving found on Har Karkom, which of the key providers of archaeological chronologies: Anati's team dubbed the 'Tablets of the Law.' The form has a stratigraphy. On this surface, Palaeolithic tools are dual rounded top and 10 partitions: two at the top, two at the found at the same level as Bronze Age tools. Despite base, and six at the center. adding an even more challenging dimension to Below, a rock engraving of a menorah, with six branches dating and chronology, this context offers extremely visible and a single branch at the center top discernible, valuable evidence on human behavior. For many meaning it is a seven-branched menorah. square kilometers, traces of palaeosoils, alignments Photos courtesy Emmanuel Anati of stones, geoglyphs, clusters of flint implements, workshops, hearths, and remains of hut floors lay out the steps of man meter by meter over a vast territory. This provides us with a perspective on human behavior. His steps, the actions of his feet and his hands, are revealed by a wealth of tracers and hints. An indirect “horizontal” stratigraphy is sometimes provided by variations in the patina and degrees of deterioration, or wear of the flint artefacts. Sites that have remained intact for ages allow an exceptional vision of the enduring changes that human hands wrought during their ephemeral presence in the area. At Har Karkom, these remains mainly concern two periods: the Palaeolithic Age and the Bronze Age Complex. The entire surface of 200 square kilometers seems like an ancient mosaic where humans inscribed messages. To read the indirect ABOUT EMMANUEL ANATI messages left behind and to try to understand the Emmanuel Anati was born in Florence in 1930 logic of such human actions is a constant challenge. to a family of Jewish origin. In 1948, he moved to If this is the mountain which the Bible called Sinai, Jerusalem, where he majored in archaeology at the biblical traditions tell us only a sliver of its story: the Hebrew University. In 1959, Anati specialized the part concerning the public to whom the text was in anthropology and social sciences at Harvard addressed. But the mountain saw at its foot a series of University. In 1960, he obtained a Ph.D. in different populations. Many of the findings recorded Literature at the Sorbonne in Paris. Anati has to date have yet to be analyzed. We do not know what else this mountain may still conceal that will performed excavations and archaeological research disclose other chapters of its story. in Israel (especially in the Negev desert), Spain, Emmanuel Anati France and other European countries. מי שברך | May He who blessed May He who blessed our ancestors bless and heal all those whose names are listed here, those whose names will be called out, and those whose names we do not know because either we are unaware of their illness or they are. אמן .We pray He mercifully quickly restore them to health and vigor. May He grant physical and spiritual well-being to all who are ill

Sydelle Klein Sarah Rifka bat Sarah Avraham Yitzhak ben Masha Bonnie Pritzker Appelbaum Shimona bat Flora Aharon Hakohen ben Oodel Deenah bat Sarah Leah Sura Osnat bat Alta Chayah Chaim ben Golda Rut bat Esther Tzipporah bat Yaffa Ezra ben Luli Miriam Zelda bat Gittel D’vorah Yospeh Perel bat Michlah Gil Nechemiah ben Yisraela Miriam Rachel bat Chanah Michelle Blatteis Mordechai ben Almah Harav Mordechai Volff ben Liba Miryam Diane Fowler Moshe ben Shimon Simchah bat Zelda Ruth Hammer Harav R’fael Eliyahu ben Esther Malkah Adina bat Freidel Goldy Hess Harab Shamshon David ben Liba Perel Baila bat D’vorah Fay Johnson Harav Shimon Shlomo ben Taube v’Avraham Chavah bat Sarah Micki Kuttler Yisrael Yitzhak ben Shayndel Chayah bat Flora Katie Kim Yitzchak ben Tzivia Devora Yocheved bat Yehudit Elaine Laikin Yonatan ben Malka Esther bat D’vorah Mira Levy Yosef ben Flora HaRav Ilana Chaya bat Rachel Esther Robin Levy Zalman Avraham ben Golda Masha bat Etl Lani Lipis Larry Carlin Masha bat Rochel Karen Lipsy Harry Ikenson Matel bat Frimah Kathleen McCarty Shannon Johnson Mindel bat D’vorah Gail Schenker Itzik Khmishman Ninette bat Aziza Linda State Pinyuh bat Surah Mary Thompson Burt Fischman Rachel Leah bat Malkah Michelle Lazar Adam Messing Rita bat Flora Norma Sugerman Gabriel Neri Rifkah bat Chanah Julia Yorke Jeff Nicol Sarah bat Malka Avraham Akivah bat Chanah Sarah Mark Alan Tunick

We pray for their safe return... May He who blessed our ancestors bless, preserve, and protect the captive and missing soldiers of Tzahal— Ron Arad, Zecharia Baumel, Guy Chever, Zvi Feldman, Yekutiel Katz, and Zeev Rotshik—as well as those U.S. and allied soldiers, and the civilians working with them and around them, still missing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and all other areas of conflict, past and present. And may He bless the men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces and Tzahal, and those who serve the United States and Israel in foreign lands in whatever capacity, official or unofficial, members of our community or related to members, and their colleagues and companions. Guide them in peace and return them speedily to their אמן .families alive and unharmed Are we in your will? Shouldn’t we be? When people prepare their wills, they usually look to leave a mark beyond the confines of their families. Thus it is that general gifts are left to hospitals, and other charitable organizations. All too often ignored, however, is the synagogue, even though its role in our lives often begins at birth, and continues even beyond death. We come here on Yom Kippur and other days, after all, to say Yizkor, the prayer in memory of our loved ones. Our Virtual Memorial Plaques remind everyone of who our loved ones were, and why we recall them. All of us join in saying the Kaddish on their yahrzeits. Considering this, it is so unfortunate that, in our final act, we ignore the one institution in Jewish life that is so much a part of us. The synagogue is here for us because those who came before us understood its importance and prepared for its preservation. By remembering it in our wills, we will do our part to assure that the synagogue will be there for future generations, as well. Think about it. We have always been here for anyone who needed us in the past. Do not those who need us in the future have the same right to our help? Of course they do. Do not delay! Act today! Help secure the future of your communal home. yahrzeits for today through next FRIDAY !May their memories be for a blessing — זכרונם לברכה

3 Beryl Hoppenheim*, Donna Amsterdam’s father 7 Dora Gimelstob* Carrie Kandel, Susan Weiner’s grandmother Gussie Levin* Samuel Minsky, Mel Minsky’s father Isaac Rubin & Family* Samuel Feifer* Judith Krasner & Family* Helen Rosenwasser* Samuel B. Shorser* 4 Charles Wolowitz* Ella Hirsch* Seymour Stadfeld* Harold Baim, Barbara Mittman’s father Edna Bernstein* Ernest Reasso, Janine & Steven Schwartz’s father Florence Beck* 8 Tillie Hahn, Herbert Hahn’s mother Raya Kamaiko* Sol Sussman Lena Fernhoff* Hyman Cooper* Benjamin Koch* Jacob Manuel Greenbaum* Samuel Zywotow, Lorraine Zywotow’s husband Zipporah Rubin* Pauline Schneider* Steven Fishbein 5 Moshe Glickman, Alex Glickman’s brother Marlowe Louis Fields* Joseph Wolpert* Lillian Felder, Edythe Speiser’s mother Joseph Luks* Louis Hoff, Harvey Hoff’s father Jacob Stern* Irene Tandet, Doris J. Cohen’s sister Helen Eisen* Clara Wertheim, Alfred Wertheim’s mother Abraham Lisson* 9 Max E. Simon, father of Judith Golub Irving Block, Marilyn Landes’s father Dr. Lawrence Moore* Saul Dessau, Robert Dessau’s brother Dr. Philip Cooper* Herman Gruber, Lonni Gruber’s father-in-law Samuel Konowitz* Selma Markowitz, Kate Sacks’ sister Joseph Ostroff* 6 Miriam Cohen, Nadia Massuda’s aunt Dora Leah Farbstein* David Hillel Megibow* Abraham Greene* Bradley Forrest, Robin Forrest & Stephen Lefkowitz’s son Joseph J. Koslov* Samantha Gabbay, Ariela Karolin’s granddaughter Helen Levenberg, Harry & Edythe Speiser’s sister 7 Joseph R. Gellmann*, husband of Hanny Gellman Murray Wadell, Larry Wadell’s father Philip Eiseman, father of Marvin Eiseman * A plaque in this person’s name is on our memorial board.

Kaddish list Haviva Khedouri We mourn the passing last week of ,ז״ל ,Judith Lorbeer SUSAN JANE GREENBERG Robert Cohen Qingshui Ma Francine Feder Norman Harry Riederman wife of VIKTOR DAVID, David Rosenthal Nancy Friedlander may her memory be for a blessing. Blanche Friedman Andrew Schimpf Jay Greenspan David Shandalow Susan Jane Greenberg Paul Singman Jeanette Shandolow Herman Leah Solomon Is there a yahrzeit Harvey Jaffe Randolph Tolk we should know about? Congregation Beth Israel of the Palisades ק״ק בית ישראל של הפליסד 207 Edgewater Road, Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-2201

Shammai Engelmayer, Rabbi [email protected] 207 Edgewater Road Nadia Massuda, Co-President [email protected] Cliffside Park, NJ 07010-2201 Craig H. Bassett, Co-President [email protected] Office: 201-945-7310; Judy Golub, Vice-President [email protected] Fax: 201-945-0863 Errol Kaget, Secretary [email protected] websiteL www.cbiotp.org Al Glick, Co-Treasurer [email protected] Garrison D. Miller, Co-Treasurer [email protected] general e-mail: [email protected]

VOLUNTEER FOR A COMMITTEE AND HELP PLAN OUR MOVE TO OUR NEW HOME IN FORT LEE! This is your shul, you should be part of how it goes and grows!

Attention All Vets! If you’re not yet a member of JWV Post 76, YOU SHOULD BE! For more information, call 201-869-6218

Shabbat ends Saturday night with havdalah at 6:02 p.m. EST