Hebrew University Prof. Emmanuel Tov Wins Israel Prize for Research in BibleSorry to be so late on this one, but it got less press than it deserved and I was way too busy this semester. Belated congratulations to Professor Tov! A well-deserved honor.
February 26, 2009 - Hebrew University Prof. Emmanual Tov will be awarded the Israel Prize 2009 for his research in the Bible, the Education Minister Prof Yuli Tamir announced.
In explaining their decision, the awarding panel stated that, Prof. Emmanuel Tov of the Hebrew University's Department of Bible Studies and the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies is ''a leading researcher of international renown in the research of early versions of the Bible and its formation in ancient times. He made the most important contributions to research of the Septuagint and research of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Prof. Tov wrote the fundamental books on using the Septuagint in Bible research and on textual critique of the Bible. He has published most of the complex material of the Dead Sea Scrolls and created databases for the research of Greek translations of the Scrolls.''
Prof. Emmanuel Tov was born in Amsterdam in 1941. When the Germans occupied Holland, his parents sent him, at just one year old, to be cared for by a Christian family. At the end of the war, in which his parents perished, Emmanuel moved to his uncle's house in Amsterdam where he studied at the Classical Gymnasium and at Talmud Torah. From the age of 14, he became active in the youth movement 'Ichud HaBonim' in Holland and then went to Israel for a year where he coordinated the movement's activities, programs and training.
In 1961 he immigrated to Israel, settled in Jerusalem and studied Bible and Classics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his master's degree at the department of Bible Studies and traveled to the United States to attend a program at the department of Near Eastern Studies at Harvard University. While he was in the United States, he worked as a teaching assistant and began writing his doctoral thesis. On his return to Israel, he began working as an assistant at the University Institute in Haifa and at the Department of Bible Studies at the Hebrew University. He became a professor at the Hebrew University in 1986 and has taught there until today. In 1990, he was appointed the J. L. Magnes Professor of Bible, and since 1991 he has served as head editor-in-chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project, preparing all the fragments from the Judean Desert for publication in a forty-volume series.
Prof. Tov is married to Lika. They have three children - Ophira, Ariel and Amitai - and four grandchildren.
Congratulations also to Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar, who was also a winner of the Israel Prize this year.