Over the past few weeks in Jewish History class, we have been discussing if and how the Tanakh should be used as an accurate history source. Before coming to Israel, I would have stated that the bible stories are not true. I would have said that the stories are simply a way for all jews to identify with one past, one story. The story of the jews shows how even through violent ostrosisation we still stood tall and accepted our true beliefs, despite what our enemies thought. However, is that all it is? A story with morals that apply to modern day problems? Or is it a more--a telling of the story of the people of Israel, and how they preserved both their culture and language after over 2000 years of running from danger.
Today we went on a "tiyuel", or a field trip to Tel Gezer. These few hours may have changed my mind about the Tanakh. In the holy book, it speaks of a town called Gezer, which is the only city identifiable in Israel that is spoken of in the Tanakh. Because the story corresponded so perfectly with the setting, I started to think how could these "stories" seem to become more and more nonfictional. For example, in Gezer, the Tanakh speaks of a prostitute that "lived in the wall" which was the city's greatest line of defense. At first this seems absurd, but once we arrived, we saw how it was a casemate wall, which has "rooms" constructed into it in order to save materials.
Now, I'm not sure what I think. My scientific background begs me to believe in the fact that it would be close to impossible to have so many accurate stories in one book. Yet, after seeing the wonders that I have today, my gut tells me differently. All I know for sure is that the Tanakh is no longer "just a book" to me.
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