Expert: Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner - 7/30/2004

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I recently read about a theory that Moses was an Egyptian and gave the Israelites the monotheism of Akhenaten, instead of receiving the torah and a new religion.  The etymological argument is easy to claim as neutral because all semitic languages were very similar.  Also, in Amram naming his child a common Egyptian name, could he have been hoping to avoid that baby's death (Mose, which meant "child" in Egyptian, instead of a common Hebrew name)?  Thanks again.
Answer -
Dear Benjamin,

Thanks for writing.

This is not a new theory, and one of those who wrote about it - if not created it - was Sigmund Freud in "Moses and Monotheism."

Let's not panic if one or many of our ideas come from. If not is not a fundamentalist and takes the Torah literally, that all of Judaism is divine and direct revelation, then it is quite possible that some of Jewish ideas have come from Egypt - in addition to being derived from many other cultures.

Consider the Noah episode which has parallels in various Middle Eastern cultures and literatures. While it is uniquely framed and has a unique focus in our Torah - nonetheless this narrative is not ours alone.

Thus, I don't believe that our ethical monotheism comes from Akhenaten - just another affirmation of an important first step in theology: there is only one God in the world, and deny polytheism (and paganism).

Thereafter Judaism did develop some uniquenesses, including that God ultiamtely is an ethical God, that there are cosmic moral principles.

Virtually all of the names in the Moses saga are Egyptian, by the way.

I hope that this helps. Keep studying

Rabbi Dov





Freud's book was the one I came across.  I knew it wasn't a recent theory, but has been on the backburners for a while.  I guess my real question is whether or not the monotheism of the Israelites and the monotheism of Moses  and the montheism of Akhenaten were all mutually exclusive.  And also, what would the Israelite people mean to Moses if he wasn't a member, they were slaves and he was possibly a noble Egyptian.
Regards,
Benjamin


Answer
Dear Benjamin,

From a traditional point of view, the perspective of Moses was clearly different from that of the monotheistic Pharaoh. Our God is an ethically monotheistic God. That would make them mutually exclusive.

The text of the Torah makes it clear that Moses was an Israelite and in multiple ways - perhaps from the Princess herself or his mother, his nurse - he learned who were his real people whom he would lead.

Best wishes

Rabbi Dov