The Moses Legacy - Adam Palmer [92]
The mood relaxed again as people settled in for the long wait. Daniel took advantage of the moment to move things on in his discussions.
‘The other thing that caught my attention was a sentence on the papyrus that referred to the “Sibolet stores built by my father”.’
‘Sibolet?’ the rabbi echoed.
‘Yes,’ said Daniel. ‘You see in early Proto-Sinaitic, they didn’t have a symbol for “sh”. And when they did want to make that sound, they used the same symbol as for the “s” sound.’
‘Your point being?’
‘That it may have something to do with the war between the Ephraimites and the Gileadites.’
‘It was essentially a civil war,’ said Tsedaka almost defensively. ‘Gilead was basically the tribes of Gad and Menasha. It was an internal war between brothers. That too was a very sad episode in Israelite history.’
‘I know. But there was a well-known incident in that war that has left a legacy on the English language. When the Ephraimites were losing, they tried to escape by pretending to be members of other tribes, in the hope of getting across the River Jordan. But if they were intercepted by the Gileadites, they were challenged to say the word Shibolet.’
‘I know,’ said Tsedaka, meeting Daniel’s eyes, but giving little away as to his own thoughts.
‘And of course the reason they did that was because the Ephraimites couldn’t pronounce the “sh” sound. So instead they said “Sibolet”. And as soon as they said that, they were identified as members of the tribe of Ephraim and killed on the spot.’
‘Pretty harsh,’ said Gabrielle with a wry smile.
Again Daniel was irritated at Gabrielle’s interruption, but Tsedaka seemed to take it all in his stride.
‘That’s the way it was in those days.’ He turned to Daniel. ‘But tell me about this lasting legacy on your language.’
‘Well, the word Shibboleth has been incorporated into the English language to mean any custom, phrase, collective memory or linguistic peculiarity that acts as a test of membership of a particular religion, social class, nationality, profession or group. And in fact that meaning has now been extended, so it can also refer to any belief, principle, or practice which some people hold in high esteem but others think of as false or at least out of date.’
‘I suppose you know that in our prayers we do pronounce the “sh” sound. Indeed, we do not pronounce the letter shin as anything other than sh.’
‘Then how can you be descended from the tribe of Ephraim?’ asked Gabrielle.
Tsedaka smiled. ‘I see we have a sceptic in our midst.’
Daniel seized upon the opportunity. ‘Well, maybe between us we can banish her scepticism, Rabbi Tsedaka.’
‘How?’
‘I was wondering if you have any documents in Proto-Sinaitic script – documents that might be used to prove your origins.’
‘We have old documents in Samaritan Hebrew and Aramaic that have been translated. But none of these goes back far enough to conclusively prove our history. But there are other texts that even our priests do not understand. However, to show them to a stranger would be a leap of faith as great as that taken by Nahshon.’
Daniel smiled at the analogy. When the fleeing Israelites reached the Sea of Reeds at the time of the Exodus, with the army of the pharaoh in hot pursuit, they moaned and wailed to Moses that he had brought them out into the desert to die. Then one of the Israelites, a man called Nahshon leapt into the water, thereby showing his faith in God. At that point, the waters parted.
‘My motive is both scholarship and friendship,’ said Daniel. ‘If you have any documents in the ancient script that pre-date the old Hebrew and Aramaic scripts, and if I can translate them, then perhaps I will be able to help you prove your origins.’
Tsedaka seemed to be wrestling with some inner conflict. Daniel remembered that even the name ‘Israel’ meant ‘wrestling with God’. He spoke again, desperate to persuade Tsedaka to let him see the manuscripts. ‘I know I am asking you to take me on trust. I wish I could prove to you that I have translated those other documents. Unfortunately