S. Feldman said:  >>The Jewish holiday of Passover commemorates their
leaving Egypt and everything Egyptian<<

This is not exactly true.  Passover celebrates the Exodus from Egypt
(Let
my People go!), that part is true.  But, it does NOT celebrate a
leave-taking of "everything Egyptian".  There were even Egyptians who
escaped with the Hebrews, seeing the mass movement of people as their
only chance to get out, too.

S. Feldman said:  >>the prohibition against bread and grains of all
sorts
for one week each year is related to this desire for clearcut
delineation
from that culture.<<

This is NOT true.  Passover prohibits the eating of LEAVENED bread for
one week each year.  No bread with leavening agents (except eggs) is
allowed.  Matzoh is insisted-upon, both in the cultural practices and
in
the biblical instructions.  (Matzoh is flour and water cooked briefly
in
thin sheets.)

The prohibition against leavened bread has NOTHING whatsoever to do
with
any "desire for clearcut delineation from that culture".  It is a
yearly
'passion play', a modern re-enactment of the flight from Egypt, when,
at
a 'moment's notice', the Hebrews had no time to wait for the yeast to
act, and consequently baked the bread before it had risen.  The
Hebrews
did not desire a delineation from Egyptian culture; they desired
freedom
from Egyptian slavery.  And, since they were a slave population within
Egyptian society, they had already been quite well delineated from
that
culture for the previous 400 years or so that they were in Egypt.

S. Feldman said:  >>There are many people that do not choose to
surround
themselves with these myths. The relationship to history is
interesting
and can be discussed without the associated hocus-pocus.<<

This is true.  Many of us do not choose to surround ourselves with
myths
about what happened to our ancestors 4000 years ago when they left
Egypt.
 But, the part that may or may not be myth is the part as to whether
or
not a God helped them or encouraged them.  One need not partake of the
myths to recognize the apparent fact of history, that the Hebrews
*were*
there, and that they *did* leave under the social constraints of the
time, and under the circumstances, as allowed by Pharaoh.  There is no
reason to redefine the motivation involved just because we wish to
minimize the mythical aspects.  Even if we think the mythical aspects
contain a lot of "associated hocus-pocus", that doesn't mean we should
misreport the facts, as they are known.

Star*
list lurker