New Light on the Mysterious Origins of the Philistines

The Philistines—biblical enemies of the ancient Israelites—were one of many tribes known to historians as the “Sea Peoples,” who appeared in Near Eastern history in the 12th century BCE. It has long been thought that they originated somewhere in the Aegean, from where they invaded Anatolia and the Levant. But recent archaeological discoveries at Tel Tayinat (known in the Bible as Calno) in southern Turkey suggest a different theory. Julia Fridman writes

More than one inscription found at Tel Tayinat, written in the Luwian language used by the Hittites, referred to a mysterious “King Taita,” ruler of “Walistin” or “Patin.” . . . No one had ever heard of him. It seemed a new kingdom with a new and powerful king was being uncovered. . . .
A breakthrough came [when archaeologists digging] in Aleppo, Syria . . . found a relief and dedicatory inscription to “Taita, king and hero of Patastini” and another to “Taita, conqueror of Carchemish.” Taita had restored this ancient temple and had a dedicatory inscription made of his great achievements.

Based on this discovery, the reinterpretation of one Luwian hieroglyphic sign, and the amassing of archaeological evidence, John David Hawkins, a Luwian expert, [concluded] that everybody had been reading these inscriptions wrong, and that the w sound should in fact be read as a p, making Walistin into Palistin [and] Patasatini [into] Palasatini [i.e., “Philistine].

Rather than the “Sea Peoples-invasion” theory, [the archaeologist Timothy Harrison, who has been conducting excavations at Tel Tayinat] suspects that, over time, Philistines migrated in small numbers to the area, and assimilated with the locals. Their arrival was a complex scenario, he says, not some Hollywood movie-type blitz.

Read more at Haaretz

More about: Ancient Near East, Archaeology, History & Ideas, Philistines

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society