Hello dear Rav Eliyahu Essas! Peace to your heart!


Such a question for you. How do you feel, and do it matter to you, some strange customs and descriptions (scriptures) of many peoples, nationalities, tribes that surprisingly resemble some events described by the prophets in the Torah, Tanakh or somehow complement them, arousing special interest in that or any other event recorded on the pages (or Scrolls) of the Torah.


If possible, give some of them, which, in your opinion, are worthy of special attention.


Thank you in advance.



Dmitry Tanasov

Spokane WA USA




I would divide your question into two parts. The first is the existence among various peoples and tribes of ancient traditions, which have elements reminiscent of certain provisions of the Torah (some kashrut laws, customs that contain "features" of the laws of so-called "ritual purity", etc.). And also - legends in which there is a certain similarity with the description of any events in the Torah. For example, a message about the Flood, etc.


The second part, as you write, is directly about the predictions of the Jewish prophets in the books of the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), which talks about various events - historical, political, natural disasters, which, according to the prophets, could occur in the future (in relation to the period of life prophet). Along the way, I note that the prophecies ended about 2,300 years ago (and before that they existed, roughly - about 700 years).


So - part one.


The similarity in the legends of different peoples with the description of any events in the Torah cannot cause any particular interest in us. After all, let's say, natural disasters did not occur on a small, unknown "site", but - on a global or local and at the same time - on a huge scale, on very large territories. And some vague and, naturally, inaccurate memories of them could remain in the collective memory of this or that nation.


As for the similarity of the customs of peoples and tribes with some of our traditions, there are two simple explanations for this.


One is connected with the period of the reign of Shlomo (in translations often - Solomon), whose wisdom, as it is told in the Tanakh, was so great, and his comprehension of the world - so deep that the rulers of countries from all over the world constantly sent "delegations" to him. And the messengers, returning with certain impressions, often tried to introduce something from what they saw and heard into the practice of the life of their people. Of course - with distortions, within the framework of their own understanding.


Over time, the history of the emergence in this or that country of the "exported" from the Jewish state and transformed custom was covered with fog, and then - and completely forgotten.


The second reason is the resettlement of ten (out of twelve) tribes of the people of Israel after the expulsion from Eretz Yisrael. First - throughout the Near and Middle East, and then, possibly, further. This also served as a certain catalyst in the emergence and dissemination of certain customs and traditions among other peoples. Some of them have survived, others have disappeared.


And now let's move on to the second part of your question - about the Jewish prophets who compiled their books about 2.300 - 3.000 years before our time.


Everything they prophesied was intended only for the Jewish people - in their time, the time of the prophets, and later. Although, for clarification and illustration, they also revealed certain events that can occur in other countries that existed in their era.


It should also be noted that our prophets operated not only with the names of other countries known to us (for example, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon), but also with those that we cannot identify today. And everything that they talked about, correlating with other countries, was and remains for us educational examples - examples of the fate of peoples, rulers, etc., from the point of view of their existence in the system of World Management, created by the Almighty. That carries the idea - to teach our people to improve the quality of service to Him.


Returning to the first part of our answer, I would like to emphasize that we have the opportunity to talk about the greater or lesser similarity of any customs of other peoples with our traditions. Because the laws described in the Torah, at least at some primary level, are clear and understandable.


But there is absolutely no way to shift the statements of the prophets in the Tanakh to political and historical realities, say, five hundred years, a thousand years ago, etc., or to the reality of our days (the second part of our answer). For example, it cannot be argued that the prophet Yeshayahu, speaking of a country or some ruler, meant the events taking place in France 500 years ago. Or, say, in Russia, Iran or China of our time.



Summing up, I would like to note that the first part of the answer gives fans of ethnographic fantasies a reason to think about whether or not any people have learned our traditions and customs from us. This is a fairly harmless, albeit completely useless exercise. But attempts to use the words of the prophets to make serious statements about what is happening today are no longer harmless, and sometimes even dangerous. Especially when certain political and political conclusions are based on this.


In the process of studying the books of the Tanakh (in this case, the books of the prophets), we can, in principle, build associative reasoning, related mainly to the sphere of emotions. But, of course - without any statements that this or that prophecy indicates such and such a specific event that happened recently or is happening now.




Lyricist Eliyahu Essas