Review of Collins, Scriptures and Sectarianism

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Scriptures and Sectarianism: Essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls (Amanda M. Davis Bledsoe).

John J. Collins, Scriptures and Sectarianism: Essays on the Dead Sea Scrolls. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 332. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014.

Excerpt:

Although most of the essays contained in this book have been previously published elsewhere, their collection into a single, readable volume nevertheless provides a valuable resource to scholars and students alike. Its inclusion of extensive indices of modern authors and ancient sources, further increases its accessibility and greatly contribute to the volume’s overall usefulness.

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Tamar, rule-breaker

PROF. JACQUELINE VAYNTRUB: “Her Name was Tamar”: Invasive, Destructive, Redemptive (TheTorah.com).

The character of Tamar draws on a botanical motif—the tamar, the date palm—to evoke a recurring trope of female family members whose beauty and presence have the power to destroy or save the family.

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LXX studies

THE LOGOS ACADEMIC BLOG: So you want to study the LXX? Here’s why and where to do it. Cambridge doctoral student William Ross has a guest post on the important and expanding field of Septuagint studies. I have noted some of his related posts on his own blog here and links. And for his series of interviews with Septuagint scholars, see here and links.

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Siegal, Grünstäudl, and Thiessen (eds.), Perceiving the Other in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity

NEW BOOK FROM MOHR SIEBECK: Perceiving the Other in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Ed. by Michal Bar-Asher Siegal, Wolfgang Grünstäudl, and Matthew Thiessen. [Die Wahrnehmung des Anderen im antiken Judentum und im frühen Christentum.] 2017. VIII, 196 pages. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 394. 99,00 €. cloth. ISBN 978-3-16-154962-5.

Published in English.
In what ways, both positive and negative, do ancient writers interact with and relate to those outside of their ethnicity or religious tradition? This volume examines religious tolerance and intolerance amongst ancient Jews and Christians, focusing particularly on the New Testament and early rabbinic literature.

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On the Pope and temptation in the Lord's Prayer

MEREDITH WARREN: ‘Lead us not into temptation’: why Pope Francis is wrong about the Lord’s Prayer (The Conversation).

Pope Francis recently announced that he thinks the common English translation of the Lord’s Prayer is mistranslated. He is calling for a new version that doesn’t imply that God might lead people into temptation –that, he says, is the Devil’s job. But aside from changing hundreds of years of tradition in the English version of the prayer, is the Pope’s claim that the English misrepresents God an accurate one?

[...]

I'm not going to comment on God or the theology of evil. But the traditional English translation of the Greek phrase is not a mistranslation. It is correct. Grammar is grammar and the text says what it says, even if it is theologically problematical.

I kept meaning to write a blog post on this story, but Dr. Warren has saved me the trouble. Go and read her essay.

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Hanukkah and early liturgical poetry

'TIS THE SEASON (HANUKKAH EDITION): In Praise of the Hasmoneans: Chanukah Beyond Rabbinic Literature (Prof. Ophir Münz-Manor, TheGemara.com).

The relative absence of Chanukah from rabbinic literature has been seen by many scholars as evidence that late antique Jews were ambivalent about the holiday and its Hasmonean founders. However, the highly suggestive evidence of piyyut (liturgical poetry), which extensively and creatively thematizes Chanukah and the Hasmoneans, suggests that this apparent ambivalence was not shared across late antique Jewish society.

So Hanukkah and the Hasmoneans were popular in paytanic circles from the fifth century on. This is important to realize, althought it doesn't tell us about the earlier period of the Tannaitic literature. But it does remind us that there is a lot we don't know. The compliers of the Mishnah had their own agenda, and we have few other sources for that period. We need not assume that all Jews shared exactly the same views.

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New Jewish Museum in Italy

INAUGURAL EXHIBITION: National Jewish museum opens in Italy. New exhibit details history of Jewish presence in Italy from ancient Roman times until the Middle Ages (JTA via Times of Israel).

FERRARA, Italy – Italy got a Hanukkah present – the opening of a national Jewish museum.

The National Museum of Italian Judaism and the Shoah, or MEIS, opened Wednesday with an inaugural temporary exhibit called “Jews, an Italian Story: The First Thousand Years,” that illustrates the history of Jewish presence in Italy from ancient Roman times until the Middle Ages.

The exhibit, which will run until September 2018, is the first step in a multi-year program of exhibits and events that will culminate in the final form of the museum and its permanent core exhibit, expected in late 2020.

[...]

I'm surprised that I don't seem to have heard about this before. Very good news.

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Geniza Fragments 73 and 74

GENIZA FRAGMENTS, the Newsletter of the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Research Unit, Cambridge University Library has published two new issues since I last posted on it. I was sure that I had posted on the April issue earlier this year. I certainly was watching for it and noticed it. But apparently I didn't put up a post. Anyhow, here they are now:

Geniza Fragments 73 (April 2017)
Geniza Fragments 74 (October 2017)

Both have articles on the Discarded History Geniza exhibition, as well as other articles of interest.

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Porcupines everywhere!

APPREHENDED: ‘We were just hunting porcupines,’ claims antiquities robber. Twice in one night, Israel Antiquities Authority theft-prevention unit catch suspects excavating at 2,000-year-old sites (Amanda Borschel-Dan).

Tuesday night was busy for the Israel Antiquity Authority’s theft-prevention unit in the Lower Galilee region. In two separate instances, inspectors encountered antiquities robbers in the process of illegal excavations.

“We were just hunting porcupines,” said one of the robbers in explanation of his presence in the middle of the night at a 2,000-year-old grave on Mount Hazon near the Druze/Arab village of Maghar.

[...]

Of course they were.

Sort-of-related porcupine stories are noted here.

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Questions about the Greek First Apocalypse of James fragments

DAVID MEADOWS IS ASKING QUESTIONS: Oxyrhynchus and the First Apocalypse of James: Collection History Just Got Murkier (Rogue Classicism Blog). I leave the reader to decide how much weight to give David's concerns. In any case, it should be a straightforward matter to produce a paper trail showing that the papyrus was excavated in 1904/5 and has been held by the Sackler Library at Oxford since then.

Background here and here.

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The Joseph story as literature

PROF. GARY A. RENDSBURG: The Joseph Story: Ancient Literary Art at Its Best (TheTorah.com).

The Joseph story invites the reader to be transported to Egypt itself through the inclusion of Egyptian words, proper names, and customs; to analyze the unsurpassed use of repetition with variation; and to enter the mind of the character (in this case, especially Pharaoh) through the use of interior monologue.

It's a good story.

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Review of Curtis, Interpreting the Wisdom Books

READING ACTS: Book Review: Edward M. Curtis, Interpreting the Wisdom Books (Phil Long).

Curtis, Edward M. Interpreting the Wisdom Books: An Exegetical Handbook. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Academic, 2017. 204 pp. Pb; $21.99.

Excerpt:

Nevertheless, as with the other contributions to this series, this handbook for the Wisdom books succeeds in its goal of providing students of Old Testament wisdom with the tools for teaching and preaching this difficult material in the Hebrew Bible. This would make a good textbook for a college or seminary class on the Prophets, especially in more conservative circles.

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The Talmud on the the Talmud's organization

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: The Order of Things. The reasoning behind the Talmud’s categories and sub-categories isn’t always apparent. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ the Talmud wonders about its own organization.

The beginning of Tractate Shevuot, which Daf Yomi readers started last week, is one of the rare places where the Talmud wonders explicitly about its own organization. In the order of tractates, Shevuot follows Sanhedrin, which deals with capital crimes, and Makkot, which discusses crimes punishable by lashes or exile. The main subject matter of Shevuot is the taking of oaths—that’s the meaning of the word shevuot—and in its later chapters, we will learn about the oaths administered to witnesses in court. This explains why Shevuot is in Seder Nezikin, following Sanhedrin, which laid out court procedures and the laws of witnesses. It also answers the question of why Shevuot does not follow Nedarim, the tractate devoted to personal vows, even though the subjects of oaths and vows might seem to belong together. The vows in Nedarim were voluntary and had to do with making gratuitous promises to God (which the rabbis generally discourage), while the oaths in Shevuot are part of court procedure.

Yet while the first word of Shevuot is “shevuot,” the first chapter turns out to discuss oaths barely at all. ...

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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Hasmonean-era findings at Susya

ARCHAEOLOGY: Ancient Jewish town from Hasmonean period discovered ,100-year-old Jewish community found in Judea, dating back to Hasmonean period, 600 years earlier than previous finds at the site (Mordechai Sones, Arutz Sheva). Previous remains only went back to the Talmudic period.

Past posts involving Susya, which was caught up in a political controversy a couple of years ago, are here and links.

There are lots of news stories about the Hasmonean era this week. Cross-file under 'Tis the Season (Hanukkah Edition).

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That gold-lettered Turkish Torah is a "crude fake"

HERE WE GO AGAIN: Ancient 'Torah' uncovered in Turkey actually a crude fake: experts (i24 News).

An ancient Torah scroll reportedly seized from smugglers by security forces in Turkey in November is in fact a crude forgery, the museum analyzing it said on Tuesday.

The story of the seizure gained worldwide attention in several media outlets last month after Turkish news agencies said police in the country’s south west had unearthed what they believed was a 700-year old holy text being offered by "smugglers" for $1.93 million.

Pictures of the rare discovery showed a colorful but haphazardly leather-bound book, with Hebrew markings that appeared at first glance to be upside-down and don’t seem to resemble actual Hebrew phrases.

[...]

The writing appeared upside-down because the book was being held upside-down. But, yes, it wasn't a Torah, as I had already said. I should have clarified that it is a book, not a scroll. I don't know if it is a fake per se, or just a crude tourist trinket.

Background here, with links to notices of many other doubtful antiquities that have surfaced recently in Turkey.

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News on St. Catherine's Monastery

REOPENING: Antiquities minister to inaugurate St. Catherine's' library on Saturday (MENA, Egypt Today).

CAIRO - 11 December 2017: Antiquities Minister Khaled el Anani will open on Saturday the library of St. Catherine Monastery and the renovation work of the famous mosaic of the Transfiguration in Church of the Transfiguration, St. Catharine’s largest church.

Director General of Research and Archaeological Studies and Scientific Publications in Lower Egypt and Sinai Abdul Rahim Rayhan told MENA that the library contains six thousand manuscripts, including 2,319 in Greek, 284 in Latin, 600 in Arabic in addition to Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Armenian, English and French manuscripts as well as other religious, historical, geographical and philosophical ones.

[...]

There was a notice of the closing of the monastery "for security reasons" back in 2015. The current article seems to indicate that it is now reopening, which is good news.

For many other past posts on St. Catherine's Monastery and its precious collection of manuscripts, see the last post above, plus here and here, and follow the links.

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Hanukkah 2017

HAPPY HANUKKAH (CHANUKKAH, CHANUKAH) to all those celebrating! The eight-day festival begins tonight at sundown.

Last year's Hanukkah post is here. It links to past Hanukkah posts with additional historical background. For PaleoJudaica posts in the last year that relate to Hanukkah, see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

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Pereginations of an ancient stone menorah-incised door

ARCHAEOLOGY: Archaeologists uncover bittersweet end of 1,800-year-old Tiberias menorah. Once carved on a Jewish grave, the menorah had two more lives -- as the base of a mosque and then in a Crusader-period sugar factory (Amanda Borschel-Dan, Times of Israel).

The 68×78-centimeter (27×31 inch) seven-stemmed menorah was uncovered in a dig led by The Hebrew University’s Dr. Katia Cytryn-Silverman, which has been ongoing since 2009. The door the menorah decorated was typical of a Jewish tomb from circa 150-350 CE, said Silverman in conversation with The Times of Israel on Monday.

For many past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient menorahs and representations of menorahs, start here and follow the links. Cross-file under 'Tis the Season (Hanukkah Edition).

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Maccabean-era candle holder excavated by porcupine

DISCOVERY: MOTHER AND DAUGHTER DISCOVER ANCIENT CLAY LAMP FROM HELLENISTIC PERIOD Second century CE relic dates to Judah Maccabee’s battles against ruler of Antiochus (Daniel K. Eisenbud, Jerusalem Post).

A leisurely afternoon hike in the North’s Beit She’an Valley turned into much more when a mother and daughter discovered an ancient clay candle holder dating to the Hellenistic period – when Judah Maccabee fought against the ruler of Antiochus 2,200 years ago.

While making their way through the mounds near the historic area by the Jordan River Valley one week ago, Hadas Goldberg-Kedar, 7, and her mother, Ayelet, first noticed the well-preserved pottery vessel near the entrance to a porcupine cave.

[...]

Yes, the porcupine was the excavator. For another, similar example of porcupine archaeology, see here. Cross-file under 'Tis the Season (Hanukkah Edition).

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Reprising an ancient menorah sketch

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Understanding the Jewish Menorah. Does this ancient menorah graffito show the Temple menorah?

The Jewish menorah—especially the Temple menorah, a seven-branched candelabra that stood in the Temple—is the most enduring and iconic Jewish symbol. But what did the Temple menorah actually look like?

In early August 2011, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) issued a press release announcing the discovery of “an engraving of the Temple menorah on a stone object” in a 2,000-year-old drainage channel near the City of David, which was being excavated by Professor Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron. (An unusually well preserved iron sword in its leather scabbard, which presumably belonged to a Roman soldier, was also found there.) The IAA release went on to say that “a passerby who saw the [Temple] menorah with his own eyes … incised his impressions on a stone.” The excavators were quoted as saying that this graffito “clarifies [that] the base of the original [ancient] menorah … was apparently tripod shaped.”

But does it?

[...]

I noted the discovery of this menorah sketch at the time here. This BHD essay was first published in 2011, but I missed it then, so here it is.

Another ancient (nine-branched) menorah graffito was discovered in Aphrodisias in Turkey in 2015.

Cross-file under 'Tis the Season (Hanukkah Edition).

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