Frevel & Nihan, Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions ... (Brill, open-access)

THE AWOL BLOG: Purity and the Forming of Religious Traditions in the Ancient Mediterranean World and Ancient Judaism.

I noted the publication of this Brill volume when it came out a decade ago. But now you can get the e-book version for free. For you, special deal!

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Tov on the evolution of the biblical DSS

THE ETC BLOG: The Evolution of the Biblical Dead Sea Scrolls (Anthony Ferguson).

Emanuel Tov is the most well-known textual critic of the Hebrew Bible and for good reason. Under his leadership, thirty-three volumes of the authoritative series Discoveries in the Judaean Desert (DJD) were published in less than twenty years. Before his tenure, only seven volumes were published in nearly forty years. Despite this impressive feat, Tov is probably most well-known for his work Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

The book is now in its fourth edition, and it is the go-to work for those interested in textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. One aspect of the fourth edition, among many, worth discussing is his categorization of the biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. A comparison of these categories across his four editions shows a certain evolution in how he views the text of the Hebrew Bible in the Second Temple period.

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A detailed breakdown for all you textual criticism nerds.

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The "Tomb of Absalom"

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY: The “Tomb of Absalom”: The Earliest Judeo-Christian Place of Pilgrimage in Jerusalem (Joe Zias).

Jews and Christians alike would have been aware of the fact that the monument, apparently lacking inscriptions, was known by the local population as the Tomb of Absalom, as suggested by Josephus and the Copper Scroll. By converting it into a Christian martyrium and a dwelling, monks would simply have to rename it the Tomb of Zacharias, add three inscriptions, holy water and baptismal fonts, modify its architecture, and break down parts of the northern, western, eastern and southern walls for light and air.

I still would like to know what the structure was originally for. I see that it has been proposed that it is the tomb of the Herodian ruler Agrippa I.

I followed the discovery of the inscriptions in 2003. Most of the links have rotted, but some substantive posts are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The structure was damaged by fire in 2016.

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Ezekiel's Babylonian-inspired temple?

DR. TOVA GANZEL: Ezekiel’s Temple Plan Draws on Babylonian Temples (TheTorah.com).

During the Babylonian exile (6th c. B.C.E.), Ezekiel prophesies the building of a future temple in Israel that is unlike the Tabernacle or First Temple, but that incorporates elements familiar from Babylonian temples, including the Ezida temple of Borsippa.

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Antiquities-smuggling arrests in West Bank

APPREHENDED: Security forces thwart illegal antiquity trade in West Bank. "The suspect knew the provisions of the law but chose to ignore them and act against the law in order to make money," said Amir Ganor (Jerusalem Post).

Military officials intercepted an antiquities-smuggling ring in the West Bank, IDF officials said in a statement released early Wednesday.

Following a large-scale investigation conducted in secrecy, the Israeli Civil Administration arrested three antiquities smugglers who had hundreds of thousands of shekels worth of rare archaeological finds in their possession.

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More on those Turkish Esther scrolls

ANALYSIS: How the removal of Jewish scripture from Turkey marred Israel’s rescue operation. ZAKA volunteers brought back and showcased 2 Scrolls of Esther said to be decades old, sparking frenzied allegations of ‘archaeological theft’ in the Turkish media (CANAAN LIDOR, Times of Israel).

The scrolls are now "decades old" instead of centuries.

Background here and here.

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Temple menorah coin on display in Jerusalem

NUMISMATICS: Coin with oldest depiction of Temple menorah displayed for first time. New renovation of the Davidson Center in Jerusalem utilizes interactive tech and augmented reality to highlight history and archaeology of Temple-era Jerusalem (Melanie Lidman, Times of Israel).

The coin dates to around 40 BCE, during the Roman times and the reign of the last Hasmonean king. “This is the oldest known artistic depiction of the menorah, created 107 years before the destruction of the Second Temple,” says Dr. Yuval Baruch, head of archaeology and administration at the Israel Antiquities Authority, who was one of the excavators of the site and led the archaeological curation of the Davidson Center. The coin was donated to Israel sometime during the 1940s, during the British Mandate period, and it’s unclear where or when it was found.

That is, it's unprovenanced. Just saying.

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Codex Sassoon going on display in Tel Aviv

FOR SALE: Oldest near-complete Hebrew Bible to be displayed at Tel Aviv museum. Thousand-year-old Codex Sassoon manuscript is expected to fetch up to $50 million at Sotheby’s (ETGAR LEFKOVITS).

(March 12, 2023 / JNS) The oldest near-complete edition of the Hebrew Bible, a manuscript from a millennium ago, will be on display on March 23-29 at the ANU—Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, the museum announced on Sunday.

The Codex Sassoon—which was shown to the public only once before, four decades ago—will then be displayed in Dallas, Los Angeles and New York before being auctioned at Sotheby’s in New York on May 16. It is expected to fetch an estimated $30 million-$50 million, making it potentially the most expensive book or historical document ever to be sold at auction.

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Background here and here.

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Halivni, Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin (Magnes)

NEW BOOK FROM MAGNES PRESS (IN HEBREW):

Sources and Traditions
A Source Critical Commentary on the Talmud Tractates Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin

By: David Weiss Halivni

Synopsis
This volume - Zevahim, Menahot, Hullin - is the ninth in the series Sources and Traditions: Commentaries on the Talmud. Like its predecessors, it distinguishes between sources (the original sayings in the Talmud) and traditions (sayings that have been changed in the course of transmission).

More details

Publisher: Magnes Press
Year: 2023
Catalog number : 45-131161
ISBN: 978-965-7790-52-6
Pages: 316
Language: Hebrew
Weight: 750 gr.
Cover: Hardcover

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TC 27 (2022)

THE ETC BLOG: TC Journal vol. 27 (2022) Is Out (Tommy Wasserman). With articles on the textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Old Latin and Septuagint.

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