The Old Testament and the Truth

By S. Seth Haas

I became fascinated with the history of the Old Testament when I read about Ezra and his reading of the Torah scroll from daybreak to noon. I realized that it would be an impossibility to do that with today’s Torah, the Old Testament. My curiosity was aroused further when I learned about the lack of discussion regarding the change. Who authored the inclusion of additional material and who authorized it? What was the purpose and what exactly was added and when? Many questions without rational answers. My brother and I discussed the matter and he suggested that I start with Egyptian hieroglyphics, picture writing, and trace the history of written Hebrew. I have done that and the transition from cuneiform clay tablets to the meaning of the Hebrew signs has been revealing. The revelation of the effect of the Babylonian Exile on Judaism and the Old Testament, in particular, has not been revealed until now. The truth about the Old Testament, the Torah, will finally be revealed

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664153738

S. Seth Haas

S. Seth Haas has educated not only himself but a diversity of other people. He attended the Yeshiva Rabbi Israel Salanter, the Bronx High School of Science, New York University, and Adelphi University. As a youth, he was a choir member accompanying then Cantor Richard Tucker at High Holiday Services. That experience led to his performance as a Cantor, for a short time, in Massachusetts and New York City. As a Teacher and School and District administrator, Mr. Haas served New York City and suburbia for over 35 years. He has given lectures involving school teachers in Brooklyn, adults at Bergen Community College, and Seniors at two different Jewish Community Centers. Mr. Haas was on the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. At present, he moderates a Senior coed discussion group at the Jewish Community Center of Rockland County.

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Copyright © 2021 by S. Seth Haas.

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Rev. date: 01/22/2021

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CONTENTS

The Old Testament and the Truth

The Essence of the Old Testament

The Messages of the Old Testament (The Torah)

The Evolution of the Hebrew Alphabet

S. Seth Haas has educated not only himself but a diversity of other people. He attended the Yeshiva Rabbi Israel Salanter, the Bronx High School of Science, New York University, and Adelphi University. As a youth, he was a choir member accompanying then Cantor Richard Tucker at High Holiday Services. That experience led to his performance as a Cantor, for a short time, in Massachusetts and New York City. As a Teacher and School and District administrator, Mr. Haas served New York City and suburbia for over 35 years. He has given lectures involving school teachers in Brooklyn, adults at Bergen Community College, and Seniors at two different Jewish Community Centers. Mr. Haas was on the ballot as a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives. At present, he moderates a Senior coed discussion group at the Jewish Community Center of Rockland County.

I became fascinated with the history of the Old Testament when I read about Ezra and his reading of the Torah scroll from daybreak to noon. I realized that it would be an impossibility to do that with today’s Torah, the Old Testament. My curiosity was aroused further when I learned about the lack of discussion regarding the change. Who authored the inclusion of additional material and who authorized it? What was the purpose and what exactly was added and when? Many questions without rational answers. My brother and I discussed the matter and he suggested that I start with Egyptian hieroglyphics, picture writing, and trace the history of written Hebrew. I have done that and the transition from cuneiform clay tablets to the meaning of the Hebrew signs has been revealing. The revelation of the effect of the Babylonian Exile on Judaism and the Old Testament, in particular, has not been revealed until now. The truth about the Old Testament, the Torah, will finally be revealed

This Book Is Dedicated To The Memory of

Dr. Robert L. Haas

Who Exposed Me to the World of the Ancients

The Old Testament and the Truth

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It all began over eighty years ago when I lived in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. My parents enrolled me as a student at the Yeshiva Rabbi Israel Salanter. The school was in an old house on Washington Avenue. In the morning, we studied all things Hebrew, from the alphabet to the Talmud. The afternoon was devoted to the English curriculum. As I advanced in years, Torah study was the main part of my Hebrew studies. We read the Hebrew text along with Rashi’s commentary, but never Oonkalos. My constant companion in my home preparation for class was the Hebrew to English dictionary. During class, we discussed what the Torah and the commentary was all about. We were taught every word of the Torah was given to Moses at Mount Sinai by God. We never questioned the inclusion of the book of Genesis in the Torah of Moses. During my final year, I auditioned for Joel Feig’s choir. We sang at many wartime weddings and joined Cantor Richard Tucker for the High Holidays.

After graduation, I attended the Bronx High School of Science. I was fed up with long walks and long rides to and from the Yeshiva so, instead of going to Yeshiva University High School, I chose to take the test for entrance to the school which was a half-block distance from my home. The four years there were adventurous and I met my lifelong friend there.

My family attended services at the Concourse Center of Israel. I was privileged to join with Reverend Schuldiner in a mock choir on those days when the regular choir did not assist the cantor in conducting services. I was very fortunate to know Rabbi Drob and Rabbi Berman and privileged to hear the great Cantor Kapov-Kagan. I admit that I did miss several Sabbath Services due to laziness.

After graduating from New York University, I took special courses at Adelphi College and City College began my teaching career in lower Manhattan.

Being involved in the New York City educational system ended, at age sixty five, with my serving as an Assistant to a Community School District Superintendent in the Bronx.

I was very lucky to have married a woman who not only was and is beautiful, but has so much ability in so many facets of life. While I was working at three jobs a day, at times, she raised two beautiful talented daughters.

With free time available since retirement, I began to go back to my roots, when confronting the question of who is a Jew. Were you Jewish cause of father or mother and the history of my people in that regard? The study of Judaism in depth began and has occupied my thoughts and my research for about the past ten years.

The Torah is a scroll. It was determined in time uncertain that it contained five books. It was determined, in the 14th century, to have chapters by a non-Jewish clergyman. It was printed for public usage shortly after the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1455 A.D.

Before we delve into the Torah itself, we must first determine how the written Hebrew language began and how its usage developed.

At this point in time, through archeological findings, it has been accepted that Hebrew writing began on or about 850 B.C. That date is important for it is about four hundred years later than the time determined to be acceptable for the life of Moses. That leads to the question of how did the belief that Moses wrote the Torah develop. After Babylon was defeated by Persia, the Hebrews were treated differently. The Persian ruler enabled the scribe Ezra to lead them back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah joined him as the administrator of the project in about 400 B.C. The book of Ezra states that he, Ezra, came up from Babylon and was a scribe, expert in the Torah of Moses. That concept is also further detailed in the book of Nehemiah: And they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the scroll of the Teachings of Moses with which YHWH (the Creator) had charged Israel. From then on, the author of the Torah was deemed to be Moses. There are some, today, that believe that to be true.

Ezra was described as a Scribe. The use of scribes began in the early days in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Scribes, who were mostly men, had to be trained and had to successfully complete a prescribed group of courses. They then became privileged members of society and would look down on their fellows who were mostly illiterate. The Sumerian literature that we are aware of today was written by the forerunners of the Hebrew scribes. Those scribes put their people’s oral expressions into concrete form. They also kept the records of business and government of the time. As part of their tasks, they encountered scribes of other cultures who plied them with what they learned from merchants who swapped stories as well as trade materials. In that way, Hebrew scribes learned of ancient myths, traditions, and folklore from foreign sources. Some of this knowledge was melded into the Hebrew traditions through time.

The earliest scribes used wet clay and a reed stylus to draw simple pictures of what they wanted to record. A plain mark could be made to designate any transaction. When the clay was exposed to the sun, what was inscribed became a permanent document. The clay tablets evolved and symbols which stood for concepts appeared. Cuneiform was born. Etchings of that script were found that recorded the ledger of a merchant at the time of the first Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews.

As time passed, there arose a need for carrying messages from one place to another…and the scroll was the solution to that problem.. The earliest Hebrew texts were written on scrolls made of a plant-based paper called papyrus or an animal skin that had been scraped, burnished, and stitched together. Scribes had the task of composing and preserving important documents but they were also editors. A scribe might take several different scrolls with a similar theme or thesis and compile a single document. Scribes, living in different places and in different times could also edit similar scrolls and place them together in a multitude of ways. The Torah scrolls had to be copied many times so that people could read them. The process was not an easy one and no matter the good intent, errors were made. Words were added or omitted or duplicated. Scribes began to spend more time on their work in the centuries before the Babylonian exile regarding their own religious traditions versus those of neighboring cultures. During the exile period (586-538 B.C.) all came into focus when the majority of the Hebrew scribes and the elites of the community maintained their ethnic and religious distinctiveness while being affected by the numerous similarities in culture and religious beliefs of others. Eventually, they were affected by the Persian and Greek cultures as well. The Dead Sea scrolls, dated from 250 B.C. to 68 A.D. are the best evidence of the divergence of Torah writing in that they differ in several ways from the current Masoretic text.

Our Hebrew prophets stated the following in this regard: Amos (8:11-12) Teach that people will be thirsty for the true word of the Creator but they will not find it anywhere. Jeremiah (8:8) Teach the lying pen of the scribes has distorted the words of the Creator. He also states that the scribes changed the law: How can you say we are wise for we have the law of the Lord, when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely Psalm 56:5, according to King David, states: teaches all day long they twist my words. Those words were composed long before the split of Israel after King Solomon’s death. To this day, some have changed the commandment thou shalt not kill to thou shalt not murder even though the word murder originated in France and Germany in the 13th century! Imagine a world without humans killing each other!

The evolution of the written Hebrew is of vital importance in understanding how the Torah was composed. The original pictograph for the letter aleph is an ox head which represented the strength and power of the animal. The pictograph also represented the concept of leadership for the ox was in front, doing the pulling. Within the tribe of the children of Jacob, Israel, the chief or father yoked to others and was the leader. The The Aleph, when combined the Lamed, mean strong authority. Many of the earliest cultures worshipped the god El which was depicted as a bull in many carvings and statues. This combination was used in the Torah for the Creator of all. (The word God is a medieval term derived from the German. Each religion has its own particular name for god or gods)

The early pictograph of an ox head was later simplified in Middle Hebrew script and eventually evolved into the present or Late Hebrew script representation. The Middle Hebrew script was adopted by the Greeks as alpha, hence the letter A. The Ancient Hebrew alphabet and its changes can be found on a page succeeding the scroll’s termination.

The original Old Testament was written in pictographic script whose language was very different than the script used today. The language of the ancient Hebrews was written as pictures. Combinations of those symbols sometimes led to different conclusions. Does the picture depict what was actually meant or someone’s interpretation of what it meant? Any language is part of the culture of those using it. The Hebrews were a nomadic people who were influenced by the cultures of the lands through which they travelled. The Old Testament is replete with references to various forms of agriculture. The combination of letters reflected concern about home, family structure, and working the soil. As the written language evolved so did the written Torah. The Torah of today is based on the Masoretic text, which goes back no further than the 9th or 10th century A.D. It is said to have originated in the second century A.D. after a council which was convened in Jamnia, a small town near Jaffa in Israel. This was where Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai came after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The Judaean authorities were concerned that their subjects were using several versions of biblical writings. At Jamnia, the form and the content of the Old Testament was finally agreed upon, but the Council made no changes in the text, only choosing which books to include in the biblical canon.

Hebrew, like many other Semitic languages that began with hieroglyphics, did not have any written vowels. The question of true pronunciation of the text had still not been determined. This was accomplished between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D. when a group of Judaean scholars took on the task of formulating a standard of pronunciation. They did not change any of the consonants, only the placement of the vowels. Shortly after the beginning of the 10th century, they adopted the Babylonian and Palestinian systems of placing the vowels above and between the consonants. The use of vowels did, however, change the meaning of some words. Let’s use the consonants p and t. Pat, Pet, Pit, Pot, Put. The placement of the vowels changes the meaning of the letters p and t. In several places in the Old Testament, the vowel used changed religious practices.

The Masoretic text is not the only version of the Old Testament. Older still are the Samaritan Torah, The Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Septuagint. The Septuagint is the Greek text compiled by 70 scholars in Alexandria and was widely used and distributed throughout the Mideastern world. It was used by Jews and Christians for centuries. It is said that the rationale for the Masoretic text was the need for Jews to have their own Biblical text, one not shared with others.

Ancient tradition attributed the authorship of the Old Testament to Moses. There is little doubt that Moses could write but on what and with what. He could not have written in Hebrew or Aramaic because they did not exist until the ninth or tenth centuries B.C. He did not use the Akkadian language for that form was usually inscribed in clay. The book of Deuteronomy states that at the time of the Exodus, Moses gave the command When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law… That statement signifies three facts that are largely ignored. The first being that a scroll was not involved and the second, that the writing was not in Hebrew! The final conclusion is that all the words were written…..no mention of an Oral version! Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra stated that the two major academies of Sura and Pumbedita in Babylonia were the scholastic institutions that developed the Oral Torah.

Did you ever go back to the beginning? At this point, I find it very important. Translations from the Hebrew to English have been providing us with falsifications. For instance, the Ten Commandments are really the ten words. There is a great difference between the two translations. Similarly, the words of ancient Hebrew differ from those of modern Hebrew. Each letter of ancient Hebrew represented a sound and an Idea. In all words, there was a root word that was the basis for definition. If we take the letters DBR, We can form the word DEVORSAH which means bee, MIDVAR which means wilderness and the word DAVAR which means word or matter.. To the ancient Hebrews Each of these words were related for they had to do with the concept of order and how it is found in nature. A bee is part of a colony which is a perfectly ordered unit. The wilderness is a place of natural order and words are arranged in a particular order to form complete thoughts. In our present way of thinking, we would never find such a linkage. Modern Hebrew is vastly different than Ancient Hebrew in thought and actuality.

The first word of the Torah (O.T.) text is not in the beginning. The root word is Rosh which deals with the head and the concept of thought. If one uses ancient Hebrew as the source, that becomes obvious. The book called Perfections of Splendor confirms the idea that an individual thought and wrote the story of creation. That concept is re-enforced by the use of a third person in all the biblical scroll.

Each letter has a tie with the head and its function in so many aspects. The word Elohim is not the plural of any word. In Ancient Hebrew, it meant Giver of the blessing of life. The ancients were right! Shamayim informs us that the sky contains mayim, water. The translation used in all O.T. bibles is far from what the text actually states. Would the ancient Hebrews use the words, null and void in picture drawings? Elohim created the earth. It turns out that the area of concern in the biblical text was not the only river valley created. Beside the Tigris-Euphrates, there were also the Indus and the Yellow River valleys of which records were later developed. There were several others, but there are no records of these settlements.

That the earth was null and void is a modern expression of the simple statement that there were no tents and nothing else.

There is confusion about day and night. The biblical text states: And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. The next statement tells us And there was evening and there was morning, one day. The word Evening was first used by the Babylonians and expanded in its usage by the Greeks. Evening, in reality, is the period of time that sunlight fades into night. Night is not Day or any part of it, unless you believe that insertions by Scribes at a particular time is God-given. In the Babylonian calendar, day was from evening to evening. Didn’t the Scribes also decide to name the Hebrew months after Babylonian models! The original statement is correct for evening is part of the night and night does begin with the absence of sunlight. The fact is that the Hebrews incorporated beliefs of the lands in which they were temporarily located, beginning with Sumer, continuing with Ugarit, and Egypt, and finalizing with Babylon. Are the Hebrews of today the Babylonians of old? They certainly value the works of the rabbis of Babylon above all others, making their Talmud the center of their world.

After many other creations, the Creator finally decided to make man and woman. The creation of 2 sexes had already existed, so that was not new. The creation of the human body was new. Humans today, come in a variety of colors. They have all shades of hair, several eye colors, all types of skin textures, and vary in height and general body shape. Almost all of these differences can be traced to the distribution in the body of melanin and ultra-violet light that was absorbed by the body from exposure to the sun over a long period of time. The amount of melanin also affects our general health. Dark-skinned people have been shown to have lower incidence of serious diseases such as Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, and Spinal Bifida. They age better and their skin is better protected from damage by the sun. We were all created equal and depending upon our ancestors exposure to sunlight over extended time, we are what we are today. On the outside we differ, but inside we’re the same.

Did God rest after the sixth day? That depends on whether you read chapter 2 of Genesis which informs the reader that the days of creation were generations. No matter, Creation ceased on the sixth day. That does not infer rest. Here again, the scribes decided to incorporate the concept that the Creator rested. That seventh day became a day of rest and worship for the Hebrews. Does that day have value? It was, as described in Exodus, a day to be at home with family. For one day, the relationship with family members had no outside tensions. The family unit was strengthened and, if that was the purpose, then it could be said that the ends justified the interpretation of the seventh day as the day of rest.

The generations of the creation of the heavens and the earth enables thoughts concerning evolution as a process involving creation. We know that new concepts gradually evolve into prototypes before the finished product is produced. Evolution is part of the process involved in progress and should be valued as such. In fact, we are following the example set by our Creator. We are in the Creator’s image!

And God said: Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. In reality, the firmament could only be the horizon. The next line confirms that determination. However, the next verse contradicts that interpretation stating that the horizon is now the sky! Seems like another alteration by a scribe!

And God said: Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place…. Was the author unaware of the waters in that statement and aware of the multitude of waters in the next? Another contradiction for what purpose?

In the next few statements, wild animals and tame animals are discussed despite poor translations of the Hebrew.

And the Lord said: Let…… The words following are misinterpretations of what was written in ancient Hebrew. They Are not Let us make man in our image after our likeness….." Us? Our likeness? In the Hebrew, another duo of rhyming words. The meaning of which has to do with the the continuation