The Torah tells us (Exod. 1:11) that the enslaved Israelites built arei miskanot l’Pharaoh, specifically naming Ramses and Pithom. Whether we understand arei miskanot to have been “storehouses” (most rabbinic commentators), “store cities” (Graetz), “strong cities” (Septuagint), or other facilities located in ancient Egyptian temples (miskanot = mishkanot), it seems likely the Israelites were forced to work on whatever building projects came along. The Pharaohs loved to have edifices built, and the labor was backbreaking (Shemot 1:13).

Graetz (“Popular History of the Jews”) adds that the Israelite slaves may have also been involved in erecting gigantic obelisks and imposing pyramids to serve as mausoleums. Obelisks?

As it happens, an authentic ancient Egyptian obelisk resides not far from Bergen County. It’s called “Cleopatra’s Needle,” even though it was built many centuries before she lived. The Pharaoh Thutmose III (1452-1425 BCE) had it built around 1450 BCE and installed at the majestic Temple of Heliopolis (near modern-day Cairo). Today, it rests next door to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Over 69 feet tall, this obelisk stands on an 8-x 8-foot, 6-foot high pedestal. It weighs 180 tons; its pedestal weighs another 50 tons. Imagine what it must have taken the ancient Egyptians to quarry the solid red granite column in Aswan, turn it into an obelisk, transport it 800 miles by river to Heliopolis, and set it upright at the Temple. Undoubtedly, many thousands of slaves were involved.

What are the chances that Israelite slaves were involved in some way in quarrying, building, transporting or emplacing Cleopatra’s Needle in Heliopolis?

Not as remote as you think. First, we need a little Torah chronology about the enslavement period. The chronological compilation Seder Olam says that the Israelites were enslaved between 116 and 86 years prior to the Exodus. 116 years: Levy was the last son of Jacob to die, and he died with 116 years to go in the 400-year exile of Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 15:13). 86 years: Miriam is said to have been 86 years old at the Exodus; the root of Miriam may be marror, reflecting the bitterness of an enslavement that was already underway when she was born (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 2:11).

Sidebar: Here’s the Torah-based calculation for the possibility that the Israelite enslavement lasted as much as 116 years: The enslavement took place after all the sons of Jacob had died (Exod. 1:6). Seder Olam says Levy was the last to die, and we know he lived to be 137 (Exod. 6:6). So here’s the math: Duration from Isaac’s birth to the Exodus = 400 years (Rashi on Exod. 12:40). Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born (Gen. 25:26). Seder Olam estimates that Jacob was 84 when he married Leah and that Levy was born three years later. 400-60-84-3-137 = 116.With this 86-116 year duration in mind, we can derive a timeline of enslavement under each of three relevant theories as to when the Exodus occurred.

The prevalent Exodus dating theory posits that Ramesses II (1279-1213 BCE) was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Based on his regnal period and a 116-year enslavement, the enslavement would have started no earlier than 1395 BCE, 30 years after Thutmose III died (under the most widely accepted Egyptian chronology). Not useful for our purposes here.

The second most popular theory is that the Exodus occurred 480 years before the First Temple was built, literally as declared in 1 Kings 6:1. This would date the Exodus to 1446 BCE, well within Thutmose III’s reign and giving us roughly four years in which the Israelites might have worked on Cleopatra’s Needle.

Yet another possibility—I wrote about this in the Jewish Link in 2017—is that the Exodus occurred around 1374 BCE (408 years before the First Temple), when Amenhotep III (1390-1352 BCE) ruled Egypt. If this theory proves correct, the enslavement would have started just as Thutmose III—actually his stepmother and aunt Hatshepsut—was taking the throne. Thutmose III himself is said to have actually taken over as Pharaoh in 1458 BCE. Under this scenario, the Israelite were slaves at the time Cleopatra’s Needle was born.

All things considered, chances that the blood and sweat of our forefathers who were slaves in Egypt came into contact with Cleopatra’s Needle may be small. But the next time you pass by Cleopatra’s Needle, perhaps it will remind you to thank Hashem for taking us out of Egypt and for sustaining the Jewish people and the rest of mankind to this day.

Ira Friedman is an independent researcher with an interest in the intersection between the Torah and ancient Egyptian history.