In a message dated 9/12/00 8:46:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: << 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. >> The history is clear and unrelated to supernatural 'details'...whether they were leaving so quickly as to not be able to let the bread rise, which is the basic level of explanation, the idea of separation from bread as a symbol of things Egyptian makes sense too. As to the claim that some Egyptians also fled, it does not seem to me to make much difference.