Tom Beck wrote <skip> <<This argument over archaeology is interesting but somewhat beside the point. One can look at the Torah as telling a story and having been written long after the time it describes. (Obviously, an observant Jew would not look at it that way.) It could very well incorporate stories borrowed from other cultures. There is certainly an obsession with avoiding pagan practices that makes one think such practices must have been widespread at various times amongst the wandering Hebrews; plus, the constant condemning of the Israelites as stiffnecked and sinful indicates that they must have given their priests an awful lot of tsuris.>>
I almost forgot - but then I so program on Russian TV. The name is Eliyahu Rips and he is Professor of Mathematics in Jerusalem University http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~rips/ - the interesting thing is at the end of the page - Torah Codes - claim that you can find *everything* in Torah - you only need to look for it. I saw him on TV, showing Bin Laden and TWC fall, like several years ago he showed Rabin's assassination. You can believe, you can not believe. Although I heard more then once, that you can use Tolstoy's "War and Piece" the same way - nobody showed it yet. <SHRUG> Ilana _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
