The Evolving Jew

I like to think I'm pretty savvy about the origins of various minhagim, and I usually look at the legends behind the various customs with a skeptical eye. But I only learned today that the Rosh Hashana prayer "Unetaneh Tokef" was found in the Cairo Geniza, in a manuscript dating to the 8th century. That is far earlier than the traditional belief in the story of R Amnon of Mainz in the 10th or 11th century, who wrote it as he lay dying because of his refusal to convert to Christianity. I had already viewed the details of this story as suspect, because it smacked of being too perfect in its emotional impact. But until today, I still assumed that the authorship, and its time period, were relatively accurate. It turns out that the issues with the authorship are well-known, and have been for half a century. The Geniza manuscript was known to scholars as early as the 1950's. And that is not not the only issue with the traditional story. See this Schechter Institute

July 5, 1776 PHILADELPHIA — Voters in America decisively rejected independence from the British Empire in a referendum that had threatened to break up the 150-year union, but also appeared to open the way for a looser, more federal Britain. With results tallied by early Friday from all 13 colonies, the “no” campaign won 55.3 percent of the vote while the pro-independence side won 44.7 percent. The margin was greater than forecast by virtually all pre-election polls. The outcome was a deep disappointment for the vocal, enthusiastic pro-independence movement led by Benjamin Franklin, who had seen an opportunity to make a decades-old nationalist dream a reality and had forced the British crown into panicked promises that they would grant substantial new power to the colonial governments. The decision spared King George III of Britain a shattering defeat that would have raised questions about his ability to continue in office and would have diminished his nation’s standing in th