In the winter of 1945, Yitzhak Perlmutter spent his days pushing wheelbarrows full of coal from the train to the factory in the concentration camp subcamp Möllersdorf, saving his extra piece of bread each day for his little sister. That 10-year-old boy could not possibly have imagined that he would have children of his own someday, let alone grandchildren. He certainly could not have imagined that his grandson would be a soldier for a Jewish state he could never have dreamed would exist.

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But last week, the Hungarian native had the opportunity to tour a brand-new center designed to show Israel's soldiers the horror that he and other Jews experienced in World War II and the Holocaust. His grandson, Matan, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, joined him for the tour.

As such, he is part of a family legacy. In the early years of the state, Perlmutter served in the IDF. "And now, my grandchild is continuing in our way," he adds. "Seeing my grandchildren in uniform is a source of tremendous pride and the greatest form of victory over what we endured during the Shoah [the Hebrew term for the Holocaust]."

Timed to coincide with Holocaust Remembrance Day, the "Before My Very Eyes" Yad Vashem Educational Center for Holocaust Remembrance is now open at the Ariel Sharon IDF training campus in the Negev Desert.

Here, thousands of IDF trainees each year are expected to learn about the Holocaust in greater depth through a series of interactive exhibits and workshops connecting them in new ways with the Jewish experience during those terrible years.

Yitzhak Perlmutter and his grandson, Matan, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, tour the new exhibition "Before My Very Eyes." Credit: Yad Vashem.

At a time of increasing global antisemitism and Holocaust denial, and with the disappearance of the remaining survivors who bear witness and can set the record straight, the center approaches the Holocaust as a pivotal event in the history of the Jewish people, according to Shani Lourie Farhi, the center's director of content and the head of Yad Vashem's International School for Holocaust Studies.

According to Farhi, the center – the culmination of a multi-year partnership between the school and the IDF's Educational Corps – also invites soldiers to explore such enduring values as Jewish identity, mutual responsibility, leadership, heroism, and attachment to the land and people of Israel.

"Though for years, Yad Vashem has worked with the IDF to raise Holocaust awareness among its soldiers, this is the first permanent structure on an army base," explained Farhi. "These young adults have put their own lives on hold for years to protect Israel and the Jewish people, so from the beginning, we needed to ask ourselves what's important for them to know at this point in their lives, and what will inspire them?"

In addition to providing the historical context for what was going on in the world and within Jewish communities at that time, the center is replete with personal stories.

"We wanted to introduce them not just to how they died but how they lived in the years before - who they were as people, to open a window in the minds and hearts of these future leaders of Israel and the Jewish people to a deeper understanding," said Farhi.

One natural connection is the love many Holocaust-era Jews held for Israel, a land where they dreamed of being free to live as proud Jews. One photo at the center features a woman in the Lodz Ghetto teaching children with a map of Israel on the wall. "Imagine that of the few things they were allowed to take to the ghetto someone chose to take that map. The dream of Israel meant that much to them," noted Farhi. "A woman who had lost everything teaching children who may not have a future to love a land that must have seemed so far-fetched, but still, they clung to it."

As they explore the core values that bridge the Holocaust generation with today's IDF soldiers, one that struck Corporal Tom Abutbul was "the value of friendship, of helping one another."

Such shared eternal values also brought Rachel Shnay and her family into the project as donors.

"As soon as we heard about it, we realized this was the perfect way to memorialize our grandfather," said Shnay, whose grandparents were all survivors and who serves as co-chair of the American Society of Yad Vashem Young Leaders.

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Her grandfather, Symcha Horowitz, who died last year and for whom this gift was given, witnessed his father being hung and lost his mother to starvation in the ghetto, and four of his six brothers in the camps. Yet he went on to help found the Israeli Air Force and fight in the 1948 War of Independence. Though, as an entrepreneur, he subsequently lived in Bolivia, Argentina, London, Miami, and New York, Horowitz's passion for Israel and the Zionist dream never faded, his granddaughter said. Indeed, one of his most treasured possessions was his pre-state Palestine identification card from 1945.

"The center puts the past, present, and future together in one building," said Shnay. "And the soldiers who spend time here will see it's because of the courage of survivors like my grandparents, who loved Israel and were so proud of it that they are here in this country today. They'll know why they're here."

Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan agreed.

"Against the backdrop of rising global antisemitism, Holocaust distortion and trivialization, and fewer survivors remaining among us, our responsibility is to inspire young men and women at different stages of their military service through an in-depth study of the Holocaust and highlight several individuals who can serve as role models to the leaders of tomorrow," he said.

As such, the future is as much in the spotlight as the past, said Maj. Gen. Michel Yanko, who heads the IDF's Technological and Logistics Directorate.

"This center is not only a commemoration to those who were murdered; it is also a promise to the survivors: to carry the torch and to pass it on," he said. "For me, the son of Panel Yanko, a survivor of the deportations and the Holocaust, it is not only my family's legacy but also the closing of a circle, a symbol of the transition from Shoah to rebirth and an important contribution to educating generations of soldiers and military personnel."

All of this greatly pleases survivor and now great-grandfather Perlmutter, who came to Israel in 1946 after being liberated with his mother and sister and having returned to Hungary long enough to learn of the murders of his brother and the rest of their family in Auschwitz.

"I feel that every Jew, and of course, every soldier, has to know exactly what happened and know the story of the Holocaust. A nation that does not know its past has no future," he said.

That is something that makes 24-year-old Matan Perlmutter particularly proud "not only as a grandson of a Holocaust survivor but as an officer."

"I think the soldiers' connection to the Jewish people's past is very important in that we are the continuation and future of the State of Israel and the Jewish people."

This piece of Jewish history – and destiny – is brought home for Shnay each time she hears a particular line in "Hatikvah," Israel's national anthem: "L'hiyot am chofshi b'artzenu" – "To be a free nation in our land."

"That always reminds me of my grandfather and all the others who went through that hell, and yet were willing to put their lives on the line again, but this time for something that meant everything to them," she said with evident pride.

"From destruction to rebirth, the fact that Jews are in Israel today is a miracle; they're there on the fruits of the survivors' labor and their sacrifice. And you can't move forward unless you know where you come from."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Why is this Passover different from all other Passovers?

If you were one of the 32 souls who traveled with Rabbi Dr. Joshua Berman to Egypt in January, you'll never read the Haggadah again in the same way.

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"I'll never read the Exodus story the same way again," said Harold Berman of Efrat (no relation to the rabbi), who had become intrigued by his theories and insights after interviewing him for his syndicated radio show, "The Teacher and the Preacher."

"But being there is what makes the theories come alive – touching the kind of mud brick storehouse built by slaves with the straw still sticking out, perfectly preserved since there's no rain, really makes you think of Exodus when Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron, 'We're not providing straw anymore. Your people will have to find it themselves, but they'll still have to produce the same quota of bricks."

Joshua Berman's full-time job is professor of Bible studies at Bar-Ilan University, but when not teaching the intricacies of Jewish Law [Halacha], the New York native regularly travels 3,300 years back in time to retrace the Jewish people's steps in – and flight from – Egypt.

And he's attempting something many historians just can't fathom: connecting the dots between the Divine nature of the Torah and the historical record with ongoing archaeological discoveries.

Because for Rabbi Berman, there is no conflict; the two dovetail perfectly.

This worldview filled the 10-day journey, under the aegis of Kesher Tours, as the first-ever Bible-themed kosher tour of Egypt since our ancestors schlepped sacks of unrisen dough during their midnight escape to freedom.

One iconic image captures it: a minyan of kipah-wearing Jews reciting afternoon prayers before the pyramids, the universal symbol of the civilization that enslaved the ancient Israelites.

It was a scene that could never have played out during the hundreds of years the Israelites were under the whips of the Pharaoh's taskmasters.

This week, Jews the world over prepare to celebrate Passover, beginning on the evening of April 15 and lasting until after sundown on April 23 (for the Israelis, it's a seven-day holiday that ends on the evening of April 22), reflecting on the miraculous release of a people beaten down by more than 200 years of slavery and the heart-breaking murder of their infant sons.

That is, until their Creator took this rag-tag army out of slavery "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm."

In fact, that same phrase – used nowhere else in the entire Torah to describe God's actions –is exhibit A in showing the link between ancient Egypt and the Torah. Because it turns out that, in their historical records, Egyptians described their Pharaohs as having "a mighty hand and an outstretched arm."

"That's one way to steal their thunder," says the rabbi. "The Torah shows the entire world down through the ages. You want to know who has the real mighty hand and outstretched arm? It's God almighty, not the Pharaohs."

And this is just one example "of how the Torah is both infused with Egyptian culture and is a response to it," he adds.

'Puzzle pieces suddenly start fitting together'

Sandor and Susie Joffe had heard the rabbi speak several times and had read his book "Ani Maamin: Biblical Criticism, Historical Truth and the Thirteen Principles of Faith."

"So when we saw he was leading a trip to Egypt we jumped at the opportunity," said Sandor, who added that "the experience has already changed the way I read Torah, seeing how that terminology and imagery so closely reflect ancient Egyptian culture."

That, said Gayle Berman, who traveled with her husband, Harold, and their daughter, Ilana, "clearly demonstrated how God communicates with us in the language and cultural context we can understand. And, being in Egypt, where it happened, I could better understand how it happened and appreciate that this is truly our people's history … the rabbi made the Exodus so much more real for me."

And the country itself had a message for the travelers. "Walking around Cairo in kipot, eating kosher food," said her husband, "I was also aware that this wasn't just ancient history. It was just a few years ago that Egypt was trying to wipe the Jews of Israel off the map."

Rabbi Berman reports that this tour, however, which managed to occur between pandemic-related airport closures, "Would not have been possible before the Abraham Accords, no way." Thanks to warmer diplomatic relations, these kipah-wearing Israelis walking through the streets of Cairo received a warm welcome. "It was perhaps not so much for the love of Zion as the love of mammon ('money')," he said with a laugh. "But warm nonetheless."

Still, with everything they were seeing, it was impossible to ignore history. Celebrating Shabbat at the hotel, "it struck me during the service that we were overlooking the Nile where the Egyptians drowned Jewish babies," noted the rabbi.

By far the youngest of the travelers was Ilana Berman, who at 19 describes herself as "something of a history buff" and who leads tours at Jerusalem's Herzl Center for her national service.

"I knew the trip would be life-changing in some shape or form, but I had no idea exactly how," she said. "It was fascinating to see how our neighbors live, though their environmentalism is way behind Israel's the amount of pollution is pretty shocking.

"But mostly, the trip opened my eyes to how beautiful the Torah is, down to the smallest detail; it gave us so much visual evidence, like when puzzle pieces suddenly start fitting together and the real picture emerges."

'An early example of cultural appropriation'

Such feedback is gratifying to the rabbi, though he also understood the challenge.

"Yes, this tour was to show some of the evidence that there is historical truth to the Exodus, but challenged to show archaeology proving the truth of the Bible. I have to say, it can't prove it scientifically – Abraham lived thousands of years ago – what are you going to find, sheep droppings?"

"But there is good evidence for the Exodus," the rabbi insisted. "You just have to know where to look."

Aside from the undiscovered droppings (and the "mighty hand and outstretched arm" mentioned earlier), there are dots aplenty begging to be connected. Among them: In the Torah, when Potiphar appoints Joseph to be his right-hand man, he has a gold chain placed around his neck. In Egypt, murals depict the exact same gold-chain ceremony when someone achieves a high station. Another mural depicts women waving tambourines, just as Miriam did leading the women in Egyptian-style tambourine song after crossing the Red Sea. And the dimensions of the portable tabernacle the Israelites built in the wilderness during their 40-year sojourn are identical to the portable throne tent of Ramses II.

"The Torah's amazing awareness of Egyptian culture may be an early example of cultural appropriation," said the rabbi. "The Torah takes the rhetorical thunder of our oppressors and throws it back in their faces to tell God's own truth."

And when the son of Ramses II wrote back in 1206 BCE, just after the Exodus, that "the nomadic people Yisrael, their seed is no more," it's old-fashioned spin, he added. "Discovering that the Torah is chock-full of these connections transforms passages we've read blindly for years and we realize this really happened, you can't make this stuff up."

And even after thousands of years, new evidence is surfacing. Including the recent discovery of what is thought to be the earliest proto-alphabetic Hebrew text, circa 1200 BCE – using two Torah-based names of God. Found on Mount Ebal in Judea and Samaria, the lead tablet bears the list of curses from Deuteronomy 11:29. A full report is expected soon.

'Deepen our understanding of the Bible'

Combing the historical and archaeological record for clues, Rabbi Berman often finds his conclusions confounding biblical critics who typically take a more jaundiced view of the Torah as a historical document. But he sees no conflict between scholarship and faith.

"Josh is unique chiefly because he's a first-rate biblical scholar who's gaining a reputation as a respected Egyptologist but who also thinks outside the box, something that's refreshing in academia," said Jeffrey Woolf, who teaches Talmud and Jewish history at Bar-Ilan. "The academic world is predicated on skepticism, but Josh is willing to break through the paradigm and give traditional historical records credence. And that," adds Woolf, "is why he's subject to criticism. He refuses to go with the herd – something that takes tremendous intellectual courage."

The rabbi's thinking was heavily impacted by an Egyptian tour he took last year with noted Egyptologist James K. Hoffmeier. "He's a devout Christian and one of the top guys in the world for showing the historical connection between Egypt and the Bible," said the rabbi.

Raised in Egypt by missionary parents, Hoffmeier fell in love with its history and what it teaches. "My question is and always has been: What can we learn through the study of ancient Egypt that can deepen our understanding of the Bible?" said Hoffmeier, a long-time professor of bible and archaeology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, who over the years has led archaeological digs in Egypt and the Sinai.

"Looking through the archaeological lens, there's plenty showing that the Exodus is completely plausible," he added. "The problem is that, if someone makes the assumption that only that which can be historically proven is believable, their scientific worldview dismisses everything else, throwing the baby out with the bathwater."

As persons of faith, the two men "share a grounding in the Bible's authenticity that God acts in history, including the Exodus from Egypt," said Hoffmeier. And that makes the Jewish and Christian faiths unique, he continued. "Why celebrate Passover? Because you believe the Exodus took place. Why not mistreat the stranger? Because you were once strangers in Egypt. The more we know about history, the stronger our faith."

"Scholarship and faith, they're the same path for me," agreed Berman, "because at the end of the day, to be religious is to pursue truth, to bridge spiritual and intellectual integrity. Only when we're willing to take a deep dive on both scores can we see the larger picture."

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Still, it's not always easy to reconcile faith and the historical record. For Nechama Moskowitz of Chicago, "The trip opened my brain to something outside the scope of what I grew up with." So upon her return home, she dug into the topic including Berman's book. "The rabbi kept challenging our assumptions."

And every objection Moskowitz raised was answered with respect, she said. "As erudite as he is, the rabbi was extremely patient and humble. At the end of the day, I loved the experience. It certainly whets my appetite to learn more."

Harold Berman's takeaway: "The long view, to see the Torah as rooted in our ancestors' world and not our own 21st-century sensibilities, but also to see it as eternal, for every generation to live by – that's the gift the rabbi and this trip gave us."

"We all view the world through our own little fishbowl, so it's exciting when you take something they think they know … and show them a new dimension that they never saw before," said Berman, who is planning two more tours next winter. "There's nothing as inspiring as a total immersion in the unexpected – hearing our story as we literally walk in our ancestors' footsteps.

"Thus, at the seder, when the child asks the fifth question: 'Why did I see on the Internet that there was no such thing as the Exodus?' What's the answer?

"Now, with everything we're learning, as Jews around the world gather on the night of Passover to celebrate the liberation from Egyptian oppression, they can speak the words of the Haggadah – 'We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt' – with confidence and integrity. After 3,300 years, you can't ask for more than that," the rabbi concluded.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Back to where it all started: Revisiting the Egyptian Exodus appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.