I would not speak of Judaism as a Talmudic or Rabbinic religion. It's a Biblical religion.

I think we may very well, in many areas, get likelihood, but not certitude. We don't want certitude anyway, do we?

I guess what this is reflecting is my own search for answers that I can't find. Frank [Moore Cross] and I have examined a lot of archaeological materials in the hope of finding out.

We are thrown back on the text, for the most part. Archaeology can give us background. It doesn't either confirm or disprove the Bible, but it may illuminate it.

There are surely many legitimate approaches to Biblical literature, and I think that it depends very much on one's experience and temperament which way one deals primarily with Biblical material.

That is to say, the inspiration, the interpretive richness of the text is what Elie [Wiesel] does publicly, and his interest in history is his private reserve; he knows that he is not an expert in dissecting the text the way Frank [Moore Cross] does.

I would not speak of Judaism as a Talmudic or Rabbinic religion. It's a Biblical religion.