Jerusalem to Egypt, 418 BCE: No Beer on Passover! The Passover Papyrus

[@Peter-the-Egyptian]

Great work and unique effort .Greetings from an Egyptian who has been,for three decades, living in a western country. PS. Our grandparents told us the Egyptian economy collapsed when Jews left Egypt in the 1950s ( I am not Jews).

[@heqaib]

Interestingly, when touring old Cairo people told us the same thing.

[@Albadry7]

ممكن تترجم هو ايه بيقول ؟

[@richardpage7323]

chag pesach semeach, your courses are fabulous. What a joy to watch as a pre-seder event.

[@richardglady3009]

An amazing document. Thank you for discussing it and explaining its significance.

[@illerac84]

Fascinating as always. The sun is setting! Happy Passover

[@earljeffreyrichards2744]

This is a stunning, intellectually elegant presentation. Many, many thanks for this!

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I'm so glad that you enjoyed it!

[@earljeffreyrichards2744]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD my pleasure indeed... keep up the interesting and lively work!

[@pereiratoldo9700]

Thanks for showing this inspiring brief letter

[@johnandrewmunroe]

Fascinating!

[@matthewsainsbury2367]

Happy passover to you heney abramson

[@fnmag6809]

Absolutely great video. Thank You

[@michaelferto6588]

...I remember an overview of this issue in one of my university courses, back in the early 1990s...This gives a better insight...The information back then was geared toward a conflict, with having another temple outside of Jerusalem...It seemed like they wanted financial support, for their temple...Passover and the chumitz issue, is a lot of fun addressing for Passover...

[@zafirjoe18]

Fascinating as it also confirms and detest the heresy of not eating anything sour . Was the Beit Chonyo in this region.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

To the north, in Alexandria.

[@zafirjoe18]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD thanks

[@feaokautai7354]

Great Historical observations!

[@DeborahCaldwell77]

Wonderful

[@knotwordy]

great info Thank you.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I'm glad that you enjoyed the video! Thank you for being a Public Subscriber!

[@shariklein5883]

Henry! (There is a great talk on this from Toronto Torah community). You said "4th century" at the start- you forgot to add "before the common era"!

[@Markver1]

Prof. Porten says the headman at Elepantine was named ‘Yedanyah’. It gets even more interesting as he says that they sent a request to the Governor of Samaria also. It is suggested that the authorities in Jerusalem made their assistance (loosely) conditional based on no more animal sacrifices being performed. It’s hard to fit all of the details in such a short video which is focused on an even more specific point.

[@fionachalom1776]

As an Egyptian Jew this a is very interesting, thank you.

[@intelin123]

These fake jews were never slaves.they were not slaves in egypt.their history only goes back to eastern europe 8th century.blacks living in usa are the real hebrew israelites the bible speaks about.they are the only ones that can prove they were sold to the enemy.

[@charlesedwards5333]

Fascinating

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Thank you!

[@ifneeded1]

Here by accident. Will stay for the beer.

[@contemposuits1983]

The letters do not refer to the Holiday as "Pesach". They call it the No Leven Holiday. There is also no mention to Moses which is very strange also.

[@heqaib]

NB: Prof. Porton said the destruction of the temple by the priests of Khnum was a land dispute. Nothing to do with sheep! This is an old legend. It happened when the Persian Satrap (Governor left for a short time for Persia). The Jews wrote for permission to rebuild the temple. By that time the Jewish authorities were trying to centralize Jewish activity in the temple in Jerusalem. Hence, they only received permission to make meal offerings. In summary, the old MYTH of sheep being a ‘casus belli’ is simply wrong.

[@danielalbo3781]

Hello Rabbi Chag Tov lecha Do you have videos about the Roman expulsions of judea? I want to learn about the transition of Jewry from judea to Rome and Alexandria. And how the Jews became Accountants and Tax collectors during the first centuries of the new millennium, in the diaspora

[@larsulrich2761]

I always wondered in the past if drinking beer during Passover would be more inline with the historical context than drinking wine since slaves generally wouldn't have access to wine (with the exception of the porter's paradox.) I understand that drinking wine represents freedom and the fifth cup represents future redemption but still... I have always thought Passover should start out with some bargain bitter beer which in our era might work better than modern mild romaine lettuce in reminding us of the past enslavement..

[@robsellars9338]

Good whirlwind overview sir! Do you go into any deeper detail on ALL the Jewish sects who were present at the 66-70CE rebellion against Rome in any of your lectures? Thanks

[@heqaib]

The letter’s primary purpose was that the Persian Authorities in Jerusalem gave explicit permission not to work on Passover’s first and last day. Secondary the message of not eating or drinking leavened food. NB: Scholarly research shows that the Jews likely arrived after the first temple’s destruction. Mostly likely under Pharoah Apries (589-570 BCE), who welcomed a foreign military garrison to protect Egypt from the south. The only evidence for this is a record of the conversation between the Jewish High Priest with Cambyses II (The heir and maybe son of Cyrus). In the letter, the High Priest tells Cambyses II that ‘we’ (the Jews) were here from the “days of the Pharaohs.” FYI: The Jewish soldiers were accompanied by their wives and families, as was the custom at the time. Also, there were other foreign groups as well, notable the Arameans. Interestingly the Jews were on the Island while the Arameans were located where modern Aswan is today. For more extensive information, search for books by Prof. Bezalel Porton at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

[@christianjohnson384]

I have been listening to these videos while driving and have now consumed much content. I have a question, if you read this. How many languages can you read/speak/have sufficient passing familiarity with?

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I'm glad that you have enjoyed the videos! I can read and speak several languages with varying levels of fluency.

[@ectaylor6]

Was it really a custom in Rome for the Governor of Israel to release a prisoner at Passover?

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

It must have been tedious counting years backwards at the time. I've been wondering if they counted months and days backwards too. Imagine the relief when mankind approached the end of BCE and at long last people got to counting years past the normal way we do in the CE today.

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

I know you're joking, but it was actually way more tedious until the Seleucid calendar was invented a little over a century later.

[@zdzislawmeglicki2262]

@@HenryAbramsonPhD Indeed. As soon as you have outlined the matter of the discourse, the question that popped up was how easy or hard it would be for lay people at the time at an isolated post to keep a calendar to begin with. They had no wall calendars, no watches, no TV, no newspapers. It is amazing how very regulated our lives are today by the precisely measured passage of time. My watch synchronizes every morning at 4AM with the atomic clock in Colorado via a satellite... and I live by it.

[@ectaylor6]

Was it really a custom for Roman governors to release a prisoner to the Jews at Passover?

[@lottat6003]

Why did they sacrifice animals and why was the temple destroyed over it? 🤔

[@murrayaronson3753]

I believe the Jews of Syria observed only one day of Yom Tov, perhaps that is true for the Jews of Egypt also. But Syria and at least lower Egypt are too near Eretz Yisrael for the need of a second day.

[@mariagaribopeyro6612]

Nicolás Viana Carrión.casas Ibáñez España

[@ScottSherman1]

Chag Pesach Sameach 5782! Todah Rabah!

[@kwamemaatranyame-mentuhote9952]

So no Torah no Moses or Abraham & no Hebrew & writing in Greek before Hellenistic period mind blowing 🤯

[@maxsmart99]

💯💯💯💯💯💯

[@denisebremridge8329]

Chag kasher v'Sameach PESACH

[@shutupavi]

Hardly an “unusual community” when taken in a secular context and not in the circular driven dogmas of the talmud. 7 years in yeshiva down the drain by just reading some fact based books. more than just a garrison, if they had a temple they would’ve been a thriving community. nobody in jerusalem seemed to mind either because when it was destroyed they got blessings form the priests in jerusalem and gerizim. chag sameach

[@mqgarcia907]

ניסן 14 פסח שסח 5783

[@childoflight1363]

Read 2 kings 17 & 18 and check verse 26 Jews never spoke Aramaic and that is where the original Temple was

[@HenryAbramsonPhD]

Actually, Jews spoke Aramaic for over a thousand years. The Talmud is written in Aramaic.

[@robertmuncaster3510]

If you can’t say BC think of some other scheme to date years, BCE is just a gratuitous insult.

[@junaid1]

You are not very bright are you? BCE is simply an acknowledgment Before the common era. Why should a non xtian be forced to say before Christ? Robert Muncaster, You are the gratuitous insult.