according to the bible jewish torah is the earth round or flat?

In the current issue of the Jewish Journal, the entire letters to the editor section is taken up by 17 pro-and-con arguments.Īctor Kirk Douglas, who at 83 celebrated his second Bar Mitzvah under Wolpe’s auspices last year, wrote that “Rabbi Wolpe had tremendous courage to stand up and speak about what is essentially a search for truth. The controversy continues unabated, however. I don’t believe it should, and that is why I spoke out.”

“Ignoring the books, on the other hand, conveys a message of fear: We are afraid that science will shake our faith. By discussing these books, we maintain the Jewish tradition of sustaining faith by seeking truth,” he continued. “If scholarly books are written that question the literal veracity of Bible stories, it does not help our credibility to pretend that they don’t exist. I wanted the millions of doubting Jews to know that they can still be faithful Jews,” Wolpe said in a statement. My sermons emphasized that faith is independent of doubt.

“It’s a well-known fact that millions of Jews have doubts about the literal veracity of Bible stories. “Everybody was in shock,” said Orthodox Rabbi Elazar Muskin of Young Israel of Century City.Įven at liberal congregations, many worshipers asked, “did he have to say it during Passover?” However, during the latter part of Passover The Los Angeles Times ran a prominent front- page article on biblical archaeology, leading with the Wolpe sermons under the headline, “Doubting the story of the Exodus.” Some of Wolpe’s congregants were shocked, but normally the sermon would have caused only a few ripples within the temple. In three sermons at the beginning and end of Passover, Wolpe examined current research in biblical archaeology and concluded that “virtually every modern archaeologist who has investigated the story of the Exodus, with very few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.” The controversy, labeled a “hurricane” by the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, was triggered by Rabbi David Wolpe, the spiritual leader of Conservative congregation Sinai Temple and the author of numerous popular books on Judaism. LOS ANGELES, April 26 (JTA) - Passover has passed, but Los Angeles Jews are still heatedly discussing whether the Exodus actually happened.

According to the bible jewish torah is the earth round or flat?