Ten Tribes Studies (287 January, 2014, 27 Shevet 5774)
Contents:
1. Correspondence with J. over the Bible Codes and Reliability of the Torah Text.
2. New Article. Reuben in the End Times. Will France and the EU Invade Israel?
3. Jerusalem News: Send in your items.
4. More Input needed. Send your comments and observations.
5. Send an Offering
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1. Correspondence with J. over the Bible Codes and Reliability of the Torah Text.
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(a) Query on the Codes
 J.  wrote:
Yair,
You are a proponent of Bible codes, and I have read two books on them, but the problem I have is the text itself. The Bible code depends on an equidistant sequence of characters, but if there is even a slight problem in the text, it messes up that sequence. It appears to me the text would have to be perfectly preserved in order for it to work. What is your view on that?
Thanks,
J.
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Brit-Am Reply:
The text has been perfectly preserved by the Masoretic Tradition.
All over the world Torah Scrolls are the same except for one or two letters where the difference has no significance (e.g. between a and h) and even in these cases we can follow majority opinion.
Torah Scrolls contain the Penteuch i.e. the Five Books of Moses.
Concerning the other books there do exist some differences between different versions but these too are not really significant.
In principle even if there were mistakes concerning a few letters here and there it would not matter much. It would only interfere with those sections of the text where the mistakes existed.
Where there were no mistakes and where the sequences did not overlaps sections with mistakes there would not be a problem.
The text has been perfectly preserved by the Masoretic Tradition.
All over the world Torah Scrolls are the same except for one or two letters where the difference has no significance (e.g. between a and h) and even in these cases we can follow majority opinion.
Torah Scrolls contain the Pentateuch i.e. the Five Books of Moses.
Concerning the other books there do exist some differences between different versions but these too are not really significant.
In principle even if there were mistakes concerning a few letters here and there it would not matter much. It would only interfere with those sections of the text where the mistakes existed.
Where there were no mistakes and where the sequences did not overlaps sections with mistakes there would not be a problem.
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(b) Query on the Torah Text
 J. wrote:
Yair, I have a lot of confidence in the ability of the Mazorites, but there is the problem of the text from 1466 BC when Moses wrote down the law until the beginning of the Mazorites that was around AD 900. In that 2400 years you had guys like Amon and Manasseh who were hostile to the Law and Jehoiakim who cut up the book of the Law and threw it on the fire. There was also the carrying away into captivity in Babylon when all copies of the Law were lost and Ezra had to restore it. So, if you figure Ezra got a verbatim copy from the Lord, then you still have 1300 years of textual transmission from Ezra to the Mazorites.  Also, there are differences of more than a few letters between the Mazoretic text and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the DSS are older than the Mazoretic text by about 1200 years. It appears to me that in order for the Bible Code to provide valid information, you need a better text, as even one letter messes up every equidistant sequence after that. A single messed up letter early in a text would basically invalidate every sequence in the text after that, as the sequences do not autocorrect for missing or extra letters. I would like to believe in the Bible Code, but I don't have enough confidence in the text. The Mazorites come too late in the history of the text to be a big help. There was too much time and tribulation that went before them to have that much confidence in the text they started out with. I believe the text is reliable, but since it was copied by hand, there is too much room for copying errors before the Mazorites got hold of it, and even one missing or extra letter messes up the sequencing.
Shalom,
J.
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Brit-Am Reply:
Shalom,
We do not have to look for problems were none exist. If it works, keep it.
The fact that there are today hundreds of thousands of Torah Scrolls all over the world and everyone the same as the other proves it can be done.
This too shows the Hand of Divine Providence.
We are not being asked to believe in something we cannot see but simply to accept the evidence of our own eyes.
If it can be done over space then it could have been done over time.
100s of thousands of Torah Scrolls with all the same script cannot be dismissed.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were produced by a separate cult of uncertain Provenance. They cannot be relied upon.
Concerning the Codes,
Technically as I said previously a single wrong letter would not make much difference apart from words in which it was a part. Figure it out. Words composed of Equidistant Sequences can begin from anywhere in the text. The insertion of additional would be a greater problem but only for sequences that included themselves.
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(c) Additional Note
You said:
 # In that 2400 years you had guys like Amon and Manasseh who were hostile to the Law and Jehoiakim who cut up the book of the Law and threw it on the fire. There was also the carrying away into captivity in Babylon when all copies of the Law were lost and Ezra had to restore it. So, if you figure Ezra got a verbatim copy from the Lord, then you still have 1300 years of textual transmission from Ezra to the Mazorites. #
Brit-Am Reply:
This is simply not correct. I do not know what your source was but you have been misled.
There was no occasion on which all copies of the Law were lost. Someone has been extrapolating too much and it is not us.
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(d) The Source Esdras 2
J. wrote:
Yair, here is my source: 2 Esdras 14:19-26:
Brit-Am Reply:
This book 2 Esdras
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Esdras
is not known to us.
The only extant version was in Latin.
There is no known Hebrew original.
It is not part of the Hebrew Bible.
We do not know who wrote it.
The Sages seem to have never heard of it.
Ezra was one of the Sages and there were later Sages who had personally known Ezra or who had been students of his or of his students.
Since none of them mention this work and the work says things that seem questionable we would be justified in disregarding it.
Many works like this once existed.
It was the custom to ascribe authorship of great men to works they had not authored.
Even if the work was historically reliable (and it is not) it might not make much difference.
Ezra was a Prophet and was Divinely inspired.
A lot of Jews know the Torah off by heart.
In every Orthodox Jewish community one could probably find several.
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2. New Article.
Reuben in the End Times
Will France and the EU Invade Israel?
http://hebrewnations.com/articles/tribes/reuben2/endreuben.html
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The Realm of Possibility
3. The Identification of Reuben with the French
4. France in the Holy Land
5. The Psychological Background of Reuben
6. Reuben in Prophecy
7. The Zohar and the Psychological Destiny of Reuben
8. The Zohar and the Predicted Attempt of Reuben to Conquer the Holy Land
9. Conclusion
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