Friday, January 10, 1958—THE DETROIT JEWISH NEW S-32
Archaeology Substantiates Early Jewish Historical Facts
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON — The Na-
tional Geographic Society is de-
veloping a clearer picture of
Jewish life in Biblical times.
Each year, as archaeologists
spade up additional relics from
tombs, temples, and buried
cities of the Near East, more is
learned about Jewish history.
For spectacular progress in to-
day's world, according to the
Geographic Society, "Palestin-
ian archaeology is one of the
few sciences that can challenge
the record of nuclear physics."
The Bible story of manna
being provided for the Israel-
ites is now buttressed by sci-
entific fact. During summer
in Sinai, scaly insects secrete
white droplets of a sweet and
nourishing substance that
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seems to appear mysteriously
on bushes. This and similar
discoveries are being re-
ported in the findings of
scientists.
Dr. G. Ernest Wright, a noted
scholar of Chicago's McCormick
Theological Seminary, has re-
vealed how deduction from arti-
facts and fragments of history
helps corroborate some of the
Bible's most stirring narratives.
His reports describe how such
Biblical sites near Jericho,
Razor, Tirzah. Shechem and
Gideon now are giving up their
Old Testament secrets.
Last summer Dr. Wright di-
rected the Drew University-Mc-
Cormick excavations at the re-
mains of the old Canaanite city,
Shechem, north of Jerusalem.
At Bethel, under the direc-
tion of Dr. William F. Albright
of Johns Hopkins University,
Dr. Wright got his first
insight into the birth throes of
our religious heritage. Informa-
tion uncovered at Bethel dur-
ing the 1930s offered a vital
clue to a puzzling phase of Jew-
ish history—the conquests of
Joshua.
According to the Bible,
Joshua's next victory after
Jericho was at Ai, a city near
Bethel in, the hills beyond
Jerusalem.
Ai's remains, however, placed
it in the Early - Bronze Age
(about 3250-2400 B.C.). It
would have already been aban-
doned when the Israelites at-
tacked, as most scholars agree,
during the 13th Century B. C.
Bethel, on the other hand, re-
vealed some provocative facts.
"Stripping away layer
Jerusalem Calling
Jerusalem Zoo
(Translation of Hebrew
Column on the Left)
Some days ago my son asked
me to take him on the same
day to the zoo. I told him that
I was busy and that I would
take him next week, but he
cried and wanted (to go) on
that day. "Why precisely to-
day?" I asked him, and he ex-
plained to me that he had
heard that both a bear and lion
had been born there and he
wanted to see the new cubs
immediately. I found a free
hour and I took him.
The zoo is situated in a fine
wood in the northern section
of Jerusalem. It is not among
the largest in the world, but it
has something special which is
not (to be found) in any other
zoo. The purpose of the zoo is
to collect all the animals and
"plants which are mentioned in
the Bible.
Next to every animal and
plant There is a signplate with
the name and the verse in the
Bible in which it is mentioned.
Here you see the lion which
appears so often in the Bible.
The verse about Samson the
hero who "rent him as one
would rend a kid," is particu-
larly interesting. We see the
hinds and the roes who are
mentioned many times in the
Song of Songs, and we see
bears, foxes and various •birds
and many plants.
Dr. Shulov, the devoted Di-
rector of the zoo who is also
Lecturer in Zoology at the He-
brew University, has invested
much labor here. Some of the
animals which in the Biblical
period were in Galilee have re-
mained (survived) today only.
in Syria and Lebanon and
there ; too, only in small num-
bers.
Whoever visits the Jerusalem
Zoo would do well to take a
Bible with him. Many verses
acquire a new vital significance
as a result of a visit in this in-
teresting zoo.
(Published by Britt Writ Namit-
after layer of ruins," said Dr.
Wright, "we encountered evi-
dence of a raging, all-consum-
ing fire . . . Someone in the
13th Century B.C. had pur-
posefully burned and demol-
ished the city."
The excavations showed that
Bethel was founded about the
time Ai was destroyed. It
seemed obvious, concluded Dr.
Wright, that Bethel was the city
that Joshua actually did
conquer.
Under the sands of centuries,
workers found the ancient city
of Mari, seat of an empire that
had flourished from around
3000 B.C. until its conquest by
a Babylonian king about 1700
B. C. In the ruins of a 300-
room palace were more than
20,000 cuneiform-inscribed tab-
lets.
Preserved on these were the
names of long-vanished north
Mesopotamian towns—Nakhur,
Til Turakhi, Sarugi, Phaliga.
They were strikingly similar to
the names of Abraham's kins-
men in the Book of Genesis-
Nahor, Terah, Serug, and
Peleg. Also prominently men-
tioned was the city of Haran
which Genesis- treats as the tra-
ditional home of the patriarchs.
From such direct evidence,
plus historical accounts, scat-
tered artifacts, and scenes and
records on Egyptian tombs
and monuments, an authentic
picture emerges of the life of
the founding fathers as they
moved south from Haran into
Released Israeli Sailor in Holland;
•
•
Tells of Beatings in Egyptian. Jail
AMSTERDAM (JTA) — Mi-
chael. Zerner, Israeli seaman
released several days ago after
two months imprisonment in
an Egyptian jail, told newsmen
here a tale of beatings and
torture at the hands of his
Egyptian captors.
Zerner, removed from a
Dutch ship going through the
Suez Canal last Nov. 2 and
flown to Holland Jan. 2 after
his release, said he was inter-
rogated by. army and civilian
Jordan Rejects Suit
Against Barclay's Bank
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The
Jordanian Court of Appeals
has refused to entertain a suit
against branches of Barclay's
Bank located in Jordan for
assets frozen by the Israel gov-
ernment in Barclay's branches
in that country, it was re-
ported from Amman. At stake
are claims pending in lower
courts totalling over 1,000,000
pounds sterling.
The Jordanian high court
ruled that the Israel govern-
ment's Custodian of Abandoned
Enemy Property had super-
seded the bank and relieved it
of responsibility. The unsuc-
cessful plaintiff was the Jaffa
Citrus Fruit Association which
claimed 16,000 pounds sterling
which it had on deposit in the
Jaffa branch of Barclay's Bank
in 1948.
B-G's Physician
Coming for -Bonds
DR. CHAIM SHEBA, Direc-
tor of Israel's Tel Hashomer
Hospital and personal physi-
cian to Prime Minister David
Ben-Gurion and Army Chief
of Staff General Moshe
Dayan, will arrive in the Unit-
ed States this week to under-
take a nation-wide speaking
tour in behalf of the State
of Israel Development Bond
Issue. Formerly Director Gen-
eral of Israel's Ministry of
Health, Dr. Sheba appeared
recently on the Drew Pear-
son television show filmed in
Israel. While in this country,
Dr: Sheba will visit major
communities to spur the sale
of Israel Bonds.
police officials.
His prison guards beat him,
he said, and deprived him of
all reading material, cigarettes
and personal belongings.
While in prison, he reported,
he met members of the crew
of the Israeli fishing trawler
who were transferred to the
civilian prison after pressure
by the Red Cross.
On Dec. 30, he related, he
signed some papers in Arabic,
which were not translated for
him, then he was dressed in
his own clothing and had all
his personal possessions except
his passport and identity papers
returned. 'He was transported,
eyes bound, to an airport from
which he was flown to Hol-
land. It is understood that the
Israel authorities have already
received a full report on Zer-
ner's arrest and mistreatment.
•
Palestine, a n d eventually
(about 1'700 B.C.) into Egypt.
Some four centuries later, the
descendants of Jacob shook off
the yOke of the Egyptian
pharaohs. They fled into Sinai
under Moses.
From then on, modern ar-
chaeologists have been able to
reconstruct much of the story
of the Exodus, the entry into
the Promised Land, Joshua's
conquests, and the rule of the
Hebrew kings, Saul, David and
Solomon.
One noted archaeologist,
Dr. Nelson Glueck, brought
to light an enterprise of
Solomon that is not even
mentioned in the Bible. In
the barren valley running
from the Dead Sea to the
Gulf of Aqaba, Dr. Glueck
found a string of copper
mining camps that he dated
between the 10th and 6th
Centuries B.C. He fixed its
most flourishing period during
and immediately after the
time of Solomon.
Dr. Glueck learned about the
use of mines' output a little
later, when he discovered the
site of the Biblical port of
Etziongeber. It is in the area
of the new Israeli port of Elath,
near the head of the Gulf of
Aqaba.
Excavators found huge metal
refineries of the same period of
the copper mines. So elaborate
were the structures and appar-
ent operation that Dr. Glueck
called the site the "Pittsburgh
of Palestine."
Archaeologists of all faiths
and such learned groups as the
National Geographic Society are
fascinated by the emerging dis-
coveries of the archaeological
"break-through" into early Jew-
ish history.
HEBREW SELF-TAUGHT
AH ARON ROSEN
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Reading material in vocalized Easy Hebrew, and also material for.
advanced students may be obtained through your local Hebrew,
Organization or by writing to_;. Brit Iz'uit Olamit, P.O.B. 7111,
J erusalem, Israel,
Published by Brit ivrit ()Logi
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