Nephi'S Torah Rescue Tale

[USU78]

And I've checked out all the above named sources and they are all credit card sized or smaller, usually one sheet thick. The only listed finds containing more than one sheet are with fairly large text and are so far unreadable.

Move goalposts much?

And now, bcuzbcuz, I am demanding that you leave the thread, since you've proven yourself to be an uneducable and unrelenting dragger of other people's threads down rabbitholes marginally relevant to the OP. Begone, vile miscreant! Or, if you wanna play this here game according to the rules of this here game, have at it.

[USU78]

Thanks, I googled around some myself yesterday, and agree that a 600BC timeframe would not have these items.

Still, I would like to see evidence for the Torah in the Americas prior to the 17th century.

Wouldn't we all. Yet, this remains a topic of only marginal interest with little to do with the OP. The question is about Torah rescue/hiding/recovery tales in Hebrew history and folklore and literature. A good question was asked whether there is any pre-exilic evidence of such. So far, I've seen nothing but the scriptural references noted above. Don't be a Don'tBee and follow bcuzbcuz into rabbitholing efforts.

[MormonMason]

Can't it be argued that the existence of the Torah in the brass plates is anachronistic? I have heard it said that the five Books of Moses were written post exile period.

In its current form, perhaps. In its original form, no. We know for a certainty that a form of Numbers existed prior to the exile because we have a fragment of it written on a silver scroll that was written c. 600 BCE (the full-on exile occurred in 587 BCE). We, however, do not know the format of the Torah from the days of Moses or what it contained. We can infer that a lot of Deuteronomy was not there before but cannot say with certainty that none of it was there. And, we know that it has been redacted as evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls shows us. Later redactors made it contain a stricter monotheism than it once had, as well as changing the location of Joshua's altar from Gerizim to Ebal for political reasons.

You read a little bit about this silver scroll, here: http://www.cojs.org/cojswiki/Silver_Scroll_Amulets_from_Ketef_Hinnom%2C_c._600_BCE

Edited March 8, 2013 by MormonMason

[volgadon]

Wouldn't we all. Yet, this remains a topic of only marginal interest with little to do with the OP. history and folklore and literature. A good question was asked whether there is any pre-exilic evidence of such. So far, I've seen nothing but the scriptural references noted above.

I'm still looking. Not as exhaustively as I would like, since I am working on the paper I'm presenting next week. Still, I'm almost certain that something along these lines is mentioned in the traditions regarding the anti-Roman revolts.

[saemo]

Wouldn't we all. Yet, this remains a topic of only marginal interest with little to do with the OP. The question is about Torah rescue/hiding/recovery tales in Hebrew history and folklore and literature. A good question was asked whether there is any pre-exilic evidence of such. So far, I've seen nothing but the scriptural references noted above. Don't be a Don'tBee and follow bcuzbcuz into rabbitholing efforts.

Yes, I agree. But they are tied together, evidence of one supports the other. ie, evidence of a Torah in the Americas in the same timeframe would support evidence for something having been "rescued".

Edited March 8, 2013 by saemo

[Sleeper Cell]

Is there any evidence of the Torah ever being written on metal plates? I have never heard of any. The Torah was written on scrolls, either parchment or papyrus.

Isn’t there some indication that part of the Torah may have been written on stone tablets?

[MormonMason]

I have thought that if there were Jews living in the Americas, one evidence of this would be the Torah. There is no such thing as a Jewish community without a Torah, and its associated items of worship and protection. But, I haven't seen anything that would indicate a Jewish presence in the Americas prior to the 19th century.

You are looking at this using post-exilic Judaism as a frame of reference.

[MormonMason]

Isn’t there some indication that part of the Torah may have been written on stone tablets?

The Torah itself indicates so.

[USU78]

I'm still looking. Not as exhaustively as I would like, since I am working on the paper I'm presenting next week. Still, I'm almost certain that something along these lines is mentioned in the traditions regarding the anti-Roman revolts.

Second Temple would be terrific. I've put a shoutout into a Jewish issues thinkgroup's in-bucket about the possibility of First Temple traditions that may have been preserved in the rabbinical literature in Babylon or elsewhere. We shall see whether that bears any fruit. Thanks for your attention to this.

[Avatar4321]

Interestingly, something that comes immediately to mind is some of the early saints saving the sheets containing the Book of Commandments from the mobs when the printing press was destroyed. Sounds very similiar to this narrative. I had never associated that with Nephi though.

[volgadon]

Second Temple would be terrific. I've put a shoutout into a Jewish issues thinkgroup's in-bucket about the possibility of First Temple traditions that may have been preserved in the rabbinical literature in Babylon or elsewhere. We shall see whether that bears any fruit. Thanks for your attention to this.

You're welcome. I've actually immersed myself in Hasidica for the moment.