ANNOUNCEMENT OF A RABBINICS CONFERENCE:

Beit Morasha of Jerusalem - Robert M. Beren College
The Institute for the Study of Rabbinic Thought
Invites the public to attend its Sixth Annual Conference:

How Formative are Polemics to
Rabbinic Thought?

Sunday-Wednesday, December 21-24, 2003
Beit Morasha of Jerusalem, Kiryat Moriah Campus
Talpiot, Jerusalem
For further details please contact: hazal@bmj.org.il

Sunday, December 21
9:30-11:30 Joshua Schwartz (Bar-Ilan University), Chair
Alon Goshen-Gottstein (Beit Morasha), Polemicomania - Methodological Reflections on the Place of Christian-Jewish Polemic in Rabbinic Thought
Reuven Kimelman (Brandeis University), When Are Things Polemical and When Are They Self-Affirmation?

12:00-14:00 Jonah Fraenkel (Hebrew University), Chair
Yaakov Elboim (Hebrew University), Polemics, Disputes and Constant Truths In Urbach's The Sages
Vered Noam (Tel-Aviv University), The Excommunication of R. Eliezer - Between Dispute and Polemics
Yehuda Brandes (Beit Morasha), Fictive Polemics as Representation of Others' Halakhic Opinions

Monday, December 22
9:30-11:30 Daniel Schwartz (Hebrew University), Chair
Ruth Clemens (Orion Center), Lifting Moses' Elbows; or, How Do You Know a Counter-Interpretation When You See One?"
Ron Reissberg (University of Judaism), A Tale of Two Cities: From Caesarea to Nisibis, The Christian Impact on Rabbinic Theology
Ido Hevroni (Bar-Ilan University), Tempting Satan: Multi-Layered Polemic in a Talmudic Story

12:00-14:00 Galit Hasan-Rokem, (Hebrew University), Chair
Israel J. Yuval (Hebrew University), 'All Israel Have a Share in the World to Come' - The Limits of Polemical Interpretation
Gavriel Barzilei (Bar-Ilan University), Anti-Samaritan Polemic in the Early Exegesis of Genesis
Amram Tropper (Hebrew University), Polemic Readings of Tractate Avot: Methodological Considerations

Tuesday, December 23
9:30-11:30 Daniel Sperber (Beit Morasha & Bar-Ilan University), Chair
Avraham Wallfish (Herzog College), Explicit and Implicit Polemics in the Mishna and their Philosophical Implications
Harry Fox (University of Toronto), Explicit and Implicit Polemics in the Amida: A Reconsideration
Avigdor Shinan (Hebrew University), Internal or External Polemics? The Prophet Jonah in the House of R. Yohanan

12:00-14:00 Chana Safrai (Hebrew University), Chair
Tal Ilan (Freie Universit�t, Berlin), Jesus and Joshua b. Perahia: A Jewish- Christian Dialogue on Magic
Eyal Regev (Bar-Ilan University), Anti-Sadducee Polemics as a Shaping Factor in Rabbinic Halakhic Thought
Meir Bar-Ilan (Bar-Ilan University), Polemics between Priests and Sages in the First Century C.E.

Wednesday, December 24
9:30-11:30 Joshua Levinson (Hebrew University), Chair
Chaim Milikowksy (Bar-Ilan University), Concealed Polemics in Seder Olam
Rina Lapidus (Bar-Ilan University), Parallel and Allegory in Rabbinic Polemics
Tamar Meir (Bar-Ilan University), The Live Dog and Dead Lion: An Inter-Cultural Confrontation Concerning the Concept of Leadership

12:00-14:00 Shlomo Naeh (Hebrew University), Chair
Menahem Kister (Hebrew University), A Polemic on the Conquest of Canaan
Gilad Sasson (Bar-Ilan University), Rabbinic Criticism of the Patriarchs in Light of the Jewish-Christian Polemic
Isaiah Gafni (Hebrew University), Rabbinic Representations of the Past - a Counter-Reaction?

A DEAD SEA SCROLL TEXT will be on display at a holiday festival in November and December in Elkhart County, Indiana. The eTruth.com article says:

The month-long festival at the 4-H fairgrounds, expected to open during Thanksgiving week 2004, will feature food, shopping and performances. The centerpiece of the event will be the depiction of the travels by Joseph and Mary, as well as a display of Holy Land artifacts -- including a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was announced Saturday.

No word yet on which Scroll fragment or text will be on display.

THE FIRST-CENTURY JERUSALEM SHROUD is to be the subject of a lecture by Dr. Shimon Gibson at UNC-Charlotte tonight and then at the American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting in Atlanta, which begins on Wednesday. You can find more on the shroud project here.

UPDATE: I originally incorrectly said the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting. I have corrected the post above. Thanks Mark!

I'VE NEGLECTED TO POST any course syllabi for some time, so here's one by Prof. Scott B. Noegel of the University of Washington: "Inscriptions from Biblical Times: HEBR 428." It deals with material earlier that what I usually cover, but there aren't many courses taught on ancient Hebrew epigraphy, so I'll include it.

THE NEW BENGALI TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE has been getting some attention in the Indian newspapers. I've been scratching my head over the following paragraphs from the Hindu News:

Extensively sourced from Books of Greek and Hebrew renditions of Bible translated by Christian Missionary Carey and his successors, "Mangalvarta" contains translations of all Books accepted as an integral part of Bible by the Catholic Church from ancient times, namely Book Of Wisdom and Ben-Sira.

"Besides, Books like Tobit, Judith and Maccabees that offer stirring examples of devotion to God and duty have also been included in the translation," Fr Mignon said here yesterday.

I think what this is trying to say is that the Old Testament Apocrypha/Deuterocanonica (see below, two posts down) are included, but the writer doesn't seem to be too clear on the concept.

Anyhow, congratulations to speakers of Bengali on their first new Bible translation in 200 years.

Now what about the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha?

ELIE WIESEL'S NEW BOOK, Wise Men and Their Tales : Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters is reviewed by Avigail Schwartz in the Jerusalem Post. Excerpt:

Wise Men and Their Tales; Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic and Hasidic Masters is devoted mainly to turning the spare prose of the Bible into accessible, sympathetic stories. Later, briefer sections are comprised of character studies of talmudic sages and retellings of hassidic legends.

The commentary, in a rather modern fashion, exposes heroes, and creates a sympathetic case for the underdog. Our forefathers, priests, and prophets were not saints, suggests Wiesel, and the motives of characters such as Hagar, Ishmael, and Esau have been misunderstood. We can learn lessons from the former group's failures, he seems to claim, and perhaps, in the quest to understand the latter set, gain some compassion.

While he is not the first modern commentator to offer this perspective, the book is peppered with interesting new hiddushim (insights). Wiesel adds texture to these by drawing upon both his religious and secular educations.

"APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS ON JESUS, IN ARABIC" is the subject of a Zenit article. Excerpts, with my comments interspersed:

CORDOBA, Spain, NOV. 12, 2003 (Zenit.org).- Among the texts the early Church had to decide on were apocryphal writings in Arabic.

In this interview, Juan Pedro Monferrer, professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Cordoba, explains what apocryphal Arabic writings are and why they are not part of the canonical writings accepted by the Church.

[...]

Q: What are the Christian apocrypha?

Monferrer: The word "apocryphal" comes from the Greek "apocryphos," which means "hidden," "secret." The term identifies a vast gamut of writings of Jewish and Christian origin that, with but a few exceptions -- as is the case of the Book of Enoch in the Coptic Church -- did not become part of the canon of the sacred books of the Bible.

The book of 1 Enoch is accepted in the Ethiopic canon but not, to my knowledge, in the Coptic canon (although Coptic fragments of it do exist).

These works, composed in the manner of biblical books, are usually classified by critics as "Apocrypha of the Old Testament" and "Apocrypha of the New Testament."

The Old Testament Apocrypha are canonical in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions but not to Jews or Protestants. Old Testament Pseudepigrapha are Bible-like books that aren't accepted in any of these major canons.

Q: Do they exist also in Arabic?

Monferrer: Not just in Arabic. The languages in which these books have come to us are very varied: Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Latin, Syriac, Georgian, Armenian, Coptic, etc. And also in Arabic, which has been the language of Christians of the Middle East since the sixth century, when Islam occupied the territories formerly belonging to Christian communities that lived under the Byzantine and Sassanid Persian empires.

I think he means the seventh century.

Q: What aspects of Jesus Christ underlie these writings?

Monferrer: The fundamental element contributed by the "apocrypha of the New Testament" is the information they give which does not appear in the New Testament.

All that area of which we know nothing, or perhaps very little from the Gospels -- for example, the birth of Jesus, the journey and sojourn of the Holy Family in Egypt; the 18 "hidden" years of Jesus, that is, from 12 to 30, prior to his public life -- is the material developed by the apocrypha, with the intention of making available to the Christian communities all that information they wanted on Jesus.

I think he should make it clearer that the Christian apocrypha, with the possible exception of the Nag Hammadi Gospel of Thomas, give us no new information on the historical Jesus. They have lots of legends about the childhood of Jesus and the "hidden" eighteen years, but no reliable historical data.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS TO THE FORBIDDEN BOOK EXHIBIT will move to Huntsville, Alabama at the end of the year, opening there on 5 January.

HERE'S AN UPDATE on the PSCO session a week from Friday at the SBL meetings in Atlanta. Probably most of you have seen it on one e-mail list or another, but in case anyone missed it, here it is:

[[please cross-post as appropriate: originally sent to: PSCO list, ioudaios-l@lehigh.edu (ioudaios), ELENCHUS@mercury.cc.uottawa.ca (Elenchus List), LT-ANTIQ@LISTSERV.SC.EDU (Discussion List), H-JUDAIC@H-NET.MSU.EDU (H-Judaic List), medieval-religion@jiscmail.ac.uk (Discussion List), orion@mscc.huji.ac.il]]

PHILADELPHIA SEMINAR ON CHRISTIAN ORIGINS

in its 41st year
an Interdisciplinary Humanities Seminar
under the auspices of the
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Department of Religious Studies
201 Logan Hall
with support from
the Penn Humanities Forum


TOPIC FOR 2003-2004: Parabiblical Prosopography (in the footsteps of Lost Apocrypha by M. R. James,)

Chair and Coordinator: 12 November 2003
Robert Kraft (University of Pennsylvania) kraft@ccat.sas.upenn.edu

Secretaries and Special Assistants:
T.J.Wellman (University of Pennsylvania) twellman@sas.upenn.edu
Harry Tolley (University of Pennsylvania) htollaol@yahoo.com
Justin Dombrowski (Westminster Theological Seminary) jedombrowski@msn.com

As previously announced, the Philadelphia Seminar on Christian Origins is scheduled to meet just prior to the SBL/AAR annual meetings in Atlanta, on Friday evening 21 November 2003, 7:00-8:30 pm, at the Atlanta Mariott Marquis Hotel, Amsterdam Room (Convention Level). So far, we have had no luck in scheduling a group dinner beforehand that would fit our time-schedule, but are open to suggestions from those who know the Atlanta scene.

The topic for the current year, and for this meeting, is "Parabiblical Prosopography," which is a fancy and brief way of indicating interest in the names associated with early Jewish and early Christian parabiblical literature (both as authors and as primary subjects), and with the traditions that developed around those names (persons or groups) over time. The inspiration for such a topic is the little volume on "Lost Apocrypha" by M. R. James (1920), which has spawned the following web sites as part of the larger PSCO project:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/jamesnew.htm
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/courses/735/Parabiblical/NTParabib.htm

Building on the model from last years PSCO meeting at the SBL/AAR conference, we will have a panel of participants, each of whom has a special interest in this material and will introduce themselves very briefly as a springboard to broader discussion. A basic question to be considered is "To what extent do popular narratives/reports about parabiblical identities (supposed authors and focal figures or groups) assist us in understanding how the 'parabiblical' literature was read/understood and transmitted/preserved in the course of its history up to the modern period?" The panelists will include:

*George Nickelsburg (U Iowa, Emeritus), Enoch, Abraham, et al.
*Jim Davila (St. Andrews, SCOTLAND), "Rechabites" Traditions
*Brannon Wheeler (U Washington) Moses & others in Islamic Tradition
*Kim Haines-Eitzen (Cornell), Thekla as Subject and Scribe

I'd still like to include one or two additional panelists, especially someone with a focus on another major early Christian figure, if there are any volunteers. In the remaining PSCO schedule, the exact dates of which have not yet been decided, we hope to arrange for the following presentations -- additional suggestions and/or volunteers are also welcome:

On Solomon (especially "magic" associations), Sarah Schwarz
On Philip (also with "magic" connections), Debra Bucher
On the Watchers, Annette Yoshiko Reed
On Elijah, David Frankfurter
On Mary, Ann Matter
On the Maccabee Martyr Mother, Sigrid Peterson

For further information about PSCO, please consult the web site

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/psco/


--
Robert A. Kraft, Religious Studies, University of Pennsylvania
227 Logan Hall (Philadelphia PA 19104-6304); tel. 215 898-5827
kraft@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rs/rak/kraft.html

THE STUDIA PHILONICA ANNUAL WEBSITE is moving soon from here to here. Be sure to update your bookmark. (Heads-up, Torrey Seland.)

The Studia Philonica Annual is a scholarly Journal devoted to the furtherance of the study of Hellenistic Judaism, and in particular of the writings and thought of the great Hellenistic-Jewish writer Philo of Alexandria (circa 15 B.C.E. to circa 50 C.E.). The Journal appears annually in November.

HERE'S A READING OF THE AQEDAH (the story of the binding of Isaac in Genesis 22) and it's later interpretations in light of both its ancient Near Easter context and current events (Jerusalem Post). Excerpt:

Even in our generation, we in Israel are witnesses to hundreds of parents who are forced to change the natural order of the world and to bury their children - sacrifices of a cruel terrorist enemy.

The Talmud records just such a harrowing tale concerning a woman whose seven children were murdered by the Roman emperor because they refused to bow down to an idol. The distraught mother cried out: "My children, go and say to Abraham your father, you sacrificed before one altar, whereas I sacrificed before seven." Then the mother threw herself off a roof and died. A voice came down from heaven, crying out: "The mother of the children rejoices" (Babylonian Talmud, Gittin 57b).

For many parents who are faced with the agony of seeing their children's lives snuffed out in sanctification of God's name, the biblical model of the parent who has passed such a challenge is Abraham, in accordance with the plain meaning of God's first command.

Indeed, so powerful was this Abrahamic model that an ancient tradition had it that Abraham actually slaughtered Isaac and God brought him back to life. Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra makes reference to it in his commentary on the verse, "And Abraham returned to the lads... and Abraham dwelt in Beersheba" (Genesis 22:19), where he writes: "Isaac isn't mentioned because he was still under Abraham's jurisdiction; the one who says Abraham slaughtered him and left him and afterwards he returned to life is saying the opposite of what the text teaches."

Nevertheless, the Midrash Hagadol states that God brought Isaac to Eden for three years - until he came back to earth to marry Rebekah - and the Ashkenazi prayers for the morning before Rosh Hashana make reference to the "ashes" of Isaac on the altar which constantly evoke divine mercy.

The midrashic tradition that Isaac was actually sacrificed is explored by Shalom Spiegel in The Last Trial.

THE MEDICAL WORKS OF MAIMONIDES (RAMBAM) are being translated into English by Gerrit Bos, chair of the Martin Buber Institute for Jewish Studies at the University of Cologne. The article also notes that next year will be the 800th anniversary of the death of Maimonides (his dates are 1135-1204). Excerpt from the Jewish Week article:

Bos, chair of the Martin Buber Institute for Jewish Studies at the University of Cologne, has spent the last decade translating the bulk of Maimonides� medical writings into English. �All the rest should take another five years,� he says.

[�]

�I discovered that all his medical works had not been translated into any modern language,� he says. He decided to do it. He found a publisher, BYU Press, affiliated with the Mormon school in Utah, which specializes in ancient medicine.

Much of Maimonides� medical advice, while dated, is �important today,� Bos says. �People should eat a healthy diet. You should not neglect physical exercise.�

�People today,� Bos says, �see these things as useful.�

BLOGGER HAS BEEN DOWN for maintenance again this morning.

"BAD WRITING": Ophelia Benson takes on pretentious, self-flattering, bad academic writing and calls it to account (Butterfliesandwheels.com via Arts and Letters Daily). Excerpt:

There are several of the defense mechanisms at work in that one brief passage. The 'project' of theory is 'unsettling,' it brings assumptions into question. Ah - so that's it. It's not that the writing is bad, it's that the readers who think it's bad are 98-pound weaklings who turn pale and sick at unsettling projects. They are 'frightened off,' the poor cowardly things, by the 'difficulty' of theory - not the ineptitude, mind you, or the slavish imitativeness, or the endless formulaic repetition of repetition - no, the difficulty. So as a result they 'can dismiss' theory - not laugh at, not hold up to scorn and derision, or set fire to or thrust firmly into the bin or take back to the shop and loudly demand a refund - no, dismiss. And dismiss 'as an effort to cover up in an artifically difficult style the fact that it has nothing to say.' Well - yes, that's right, as a matter of fact. We couldn't have said it better ourselves. That is exactly what it looks like to an impartial outsider. And then even though theory is 'difficult' which being interpreted means 'badly written,' we mustn't assume it's all like that (fair enough, and if you show us the good stuff, we'll greet it with a hug and tickets to the Icecapades) because that keeps us 'from confronting the real questions that theory raises.' Oh does it really. Surely that would only be the case if 'theory' were the only discipline raising such questions. But you know what? It isn't. One can confront such questions just as well by reading people who do know how to write as by reading ones who don't.

Be sure to look at the links at the bottom of the page, especially the "Bad Writing Contest." There is also a place to add comments on the piece, if you are so inclined.

In my experience, most of those who apply Theory to ancient Judaism (I'm using it a fair bit myself in the book I'm writing now) tend to do a good job of stripping off the pretension and deliberate obfuscation and getting at the useful elements, of which (and Benson doesn�t clearly acknowledge this) there really are quite a few. (Of course, maybe I'm just not reading the right - or wrong - people.) Maxine Grossman's book Reading for History in the Damascus Document is an excellent recent example of cutting-edge Theory applied in clear prose.

THE JOURNAL OF THEOLOGICAL STUDIES has a new issue out (54.2). Most of the articles don't seem to pertain directly to ancient Judaism (although it's a bit hard to tell sometimes: for some reason only the titles are given; no full texts yet). But one article (one of the two with even an abstract) looks interesting:

The 'Embarrassing Syntax' of Ps. 47:10: A (Pro)Vocative Option
Keith Bodner
pp. 570-575

Ps. 47:10 (v. 9 in many English translations) has perplexed commentators and proved elusive for translators. M. D. Goulder wryly describes the syntax of v. 10a as something of an 'embarrassment', no doubt because of the theological implications which arise. This short note surveys several opinions and argues that the impasse can be resolved if 10a-beta is translated as a vocative. This proposal has the advantage of preserving the MT and poetically coheres with the larger structure and drama of the psalm.

In addition there are many relevant book reviews:

Joachim Schaper : Priester und Leviten im ach�menidischen Juda. Studien zur Kult- und Sozialgeschichte Israels in persischer Zeit.
Reviewed by H. G. M. Williamson
pp. 615-620

Reviews
John Kessler : The Book of Haggai. Prophecy and Society in Early Persian Yehud.
Reviewed by Janet E. Tollington
pp. 621-624

Gabriele Boccaccini : Roots of Rabbinic Judaism. An Intellectual History, from Ezekiel to Daniel.
Reviewed by Lester L. Grabbe
pp. 629-630

Reviews
Martin Hengel and Translated by Mark E. Biddle : The Septuagint as Christian Scripture. Its Prehistory and the Problem of its Canon.
Reviewed by Alison Salvesen
pp. 631-634

Reviews
George W. E. Nickelsburg : 1 Enoch 1. A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 1-36; 81-108.
Reviewed by Christopher Rowland
pp. 634-641

Reviews
Paulson Pulikottil : Transmission of Biblical Texts in Qumran. The Case of the Large Isaiah Scroll 1QIsaa.
Reviewed by H. G. M. Williamson
pp. 641-646

Reviews
Stephen J. Pfann Miscellanea. Part 1. By Philip Alexander et al : Qumran Cave 4. XXVI: Cryptic Texts.
Reviewed by Jonathan Campbell
pp. 646-647

Reviews
Timothy H. Lim et al , ed. The Dead Sea Scrolls in their Historical Context.
Reviewed by Jonathan Campbell
pp. 647-649

Reviews
Gershon Brin : The Concept of Time in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Reviewed by Daniel K. Falk
pp. 649-652

Reviews
Stefan Enste : Kein Markustext in Qumran: Eine Untersuchung der These: Qumran Fragment 7Q5 = Mk 6, 52-53.
Reviewed by Peter M. Head
pp. 652-654

Reviews
Ingrid Hjelm : The Samaritans and Early Judaism: A Literary Analysis.
Reviewed by S. J. K. Pearce
pp. 654-656

Reviews
Anders Runesson : The Origins of the Synagogue. A Socio-Historical Study.
Reviewed by Stefan C. Reif
pp. 656-659

Reviews
Lutz Doering : Schabbat. Sabbathalacha und -praxis im antiken Judentum and Urchristentum.
Reviewed by William Horbury
pp. 659-661

Reviews
David T. Runia : Philo of Alexandria. On the Creation of the Cosmos according to Moses. Introduction, Translation and Commentary.
Reviewed by Jutta Leonhardt-Balzer
pp. 661-663

Reviews
Eric Eve : The Jewish Context of Jesus' Miracles.
Reviewed by A. E. Harvey
pp. 664-665

Reviews
Steven M. Bryan : Jesus and Israel's Traditions of Judgement and Restoration.
Reviewed by Hanna Stettler
pp. 665-669

Reviews
Martin Hengel and Anna Maria Schwemer : Der messianische Anspruch Jesu und die Anf�nge der Christologie. Vier Studien.
Reviewed by Larry W. Hurtado
pp. 669-673

Reviews
Paul Copan and Craig A. Evans , ed. Who Was Jesus? A Jewish-Christian Dialogue.
Reviewed by M. Bockmuehl
pp. 673-675

Reviews
Maurice Casey : An Aramaic Approach to Q. Sources for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
Reviewed by C. M. Tuckett
pp. 681-686

Reviews
Michael Lattke : Oden Salomos. Text, �bersetzung, Kommentar. Teil 2. Oden 15-28.
Reviewed by Alison Salvesen
p. 760

Reviews
Isaac Kalimi : Early Jewish Exegesis and Theological Controversy. Studies in Scriptures in the Shadow of Internal and External Controversies.
Reviewed by Edward Kessler
pp. 760-762

Reviews
Ed Noort and Eibert J. C. Tigchelaar : The Sacrifice of Isaac. The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and Its Interpretations.
Reviewed by Edward Kessler
pp. 763-764

Reviews
Huub van de Sandt and David Flusser : The Didache. Its Jewish Sources and its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity.
Reviewed by Stuart G. Hall
pp. 773-776

Reviews
Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley : The Mandaeans. Ancient Texts and Modern People.
Reviewed by R. McL. Wilson
pp. 776-777

Short Notice
James Charlesworth : Miscellaneous Texts from the Judaean Desert
Reviewed by Timothy H. Lim
pp. 874-875

Short Notice
Christopher Rowland : Christian Origins. The Setting and Character of the Most Important Messianic Sect of Judaism
Reviewed by Judith Lieu
pp. 875-876

Access to the full texts of the articles and reviews, assuming they do post them, is by paid individual or institutional subscription only.

BELATEDLY, here's a Beliefnet essay by David Klinghoffer on the eschatological elements traditionally associated with Sukkot. Excerpt:

In contemporary Judaism, Sukkot tends to be disentangled from this disturbing apocalyptic element. But recognizing Sukkot's end-of-the-world theme is essential to understanding its place among the High Holidays--this theme actually ties it to Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the holidays that immediately precede it on the Jewish calendar. The three festivals form a unit, a dramatically coherent structure, as Jewish law makes clear when it emphasizes the importance of getting to work on building your sukkah just as soon as Yom Kippur is over. The yearly sequence--Rosh Hashanah, then Yom Kippur, then Sukkot--sets out, in miniature, a narrative of the history of mankind.

It is a drama in three acts. First comes the Jewish New Year, commemorating the beginning of God's creation, the conception of the world. Sandwiched in the middle there is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which stresses the struggle of every person to overcome the thoughtlessness, selfishness, indeed the evil in himself. This represents the phase of history in which we live now. While man travels down the corridor of time--proceeding from the beginning to the end, whether of his life or of the life of humankind as a whole--the main object of his struggles must be to strengthen the good, which means overcoming evil.

At the conclusion comes Sukkot, with its references to the end point of the human experience. Without Sukkot, we would have only the one-two sequence of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, suggesting that a struggle must go on forever, with no hope of an ultimate victory--a depressing prospect. But there is indeed hope. Each Sukkot is a preview of what it will be like to experience the culmination and conclusion of the historical process, lending the festival the atmosphere of joy for which it is known.

THE CALL FOR PAPERS for the 2004 International Meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature in Groningen is now available. The deadline for proposals is 31 December.

THE SAN ANTONIO VOCAL ARTS ENSEMBLE is back in San Antonio after a tour, and one of their recent live performances is reviewed here. I've mentioned them a number times in the past: they attempt to recreate ancient music in Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic. You can hear some of it by going here and following the link.

"ASSOCIATIONS, SYNAGOGUES, AND CONGREGATIONS" is a website by Philip A. Harland, Assistant Professor of Religion at Concordia University.

This site brings to life the social world of ancient associations, Jewish synagogues, and Christian congregations using inscriptions, monuments, archeological finds, and literary texts from the Roman empire, especially Asia Minor (Turkey). It includes an interactive discussion of ancient associations and guilds, photos of ancient sites including the Sardis synagogue, links, and publications by the author.

He also has a book of the same title out with Fortress Press.

COLUMBIA ELECTRONIC ENCYCLOPEDIA has short biographies of figures in ancient Roman history (via N. S. Gill's Ancient History/Classics blog). Some figures important for ancient Judaism include:

Claudius

Hadrian

Nero

Pompey

Titus

Vespasian

Incidentally, I just ran across De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors, which is a much more detailed and comprehensive source for Roman emperors. See, for example, the entries for:

Claudius

Hadrian

Julian the Apostate

Nero

Titus

Vespasian

Curiously, neither encyclopedia mentions the Nero Redivivus myth (scroll down to section V) in its "Nero" entry.

A NEW TORAH SCROLL has been completed for a synagogue in Greensboro. The article has lots of interesting details on how it's done.

REBECCA LESSES has posted the abstract of her upcoming SBL paper, "Divine Weeping and God�s Right Arm: A vision of eschatological sorrow in Sefer Hekhalot (3 Enoch)" (scroll down) on her Mystical Politics blog. I plan to post my entire paper here on PaleoJudaica.com just before I leave for the conference. If we're lucky, maybe others (Rebecca? Mark?) will do likewise on their blogs.

HERE'S A PROFILE OF RABBI ADIN STEINSALTZ, Chabad Hasid and prominent Talmudist (Jewsweek). And here's a Beliefnet review of his translation of the Babylonian Talmud. But note that the review gets a couple of points wrong: the Talmuds were edited some centuries after the date the reviewer indicates (maybe he's thinking of the Mishnah?) and they were written mostly in Hebrew, with some Aramaic. I'm no Talmudist but I do know that much. If anyone knows of a review online by an academic specialist in Talmud, please let me know.

"RASHI AND RAMBAM" - is an article in the Jerusalem Post by Rabbi Berel Wein (via Bible and Interpretation News). Excerpts:

Many consider Rashi (1040-1105) the father of Ashkenazic Jewry. Living at a time when there were probably only 5,000-10,000 Ashkenazic Jews in the world, his teachings reached almost every Ashkenazic family in France and Germany. Rashi was a master teacher. In spite of the demands on his time - he was a vintner, father, husband, teacher, rabbinic judge, and the rabbi of Troyes, France - he wrote the commentary to the Bible and to the Talmud. It is no exaggeration to say that the Talmud would have remained a sealed book, understandable only to a few scholars, had it not been for Rashi's commentary. My teachers in yeshiva often compared Rashi to a mother holding the hand of her child as they crossed a busy street.

[...]

Maimonides (1135-1204) was cut from a different cloth. He lived a turbulent life, escaping from the wrath of the fanatical Almohads, waging a theological and practical battle against the Karaites, and suffering much personal tragedy in his lifetime. He was publicly critical of others' opinions and behavior and took strong stands on controversial issues. He was a physician, philosopher, and person of prodigious talents. He knew sciences and pharmacology, languages and psychology. But above all else, he was the foremost Torah scholar of his time - or any time. For this reason, it is often said of him: "From Moshe until Moshe there arose none like Moshe."

The nine hundredth anniversary of Rashi's death is in 2005 and will be commemorated in the French city of Troyes, his birthplace.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO CRONACA!

THE DA VINCI CODE,, in Hebrew translation, is reviewed by a Tel Aviv University Professor of History, Aviad Kleinberg, in Ha'aretz. Contains spoilers and a detailed refutation of historical errors in the book.

UPDATE: More refutations from Christianity Today.

ARABIC, BIBLICAL HEBREW, AND ANCIENT GREEK are being studied more in the United States in recent years. Whatever the reasons (and I don't think 9/11 can explain the Hebrew and Greek), this is good news.

NOW HOW OFTEN do you see a homily that tackles the story of Lot's daughters?

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS TO THE FORBIDDEN BOOK EXHIBIT IN DALLAS is extending its stay for six additional weeks.

HERE'S AN ARTICLE ON JEWISH BLESSINGS AND CURSES from the Jerusalem Post. Excerpts:

Curses can be a powerful thing and weigh heavily upon those who believe they are so afflicted. The idea of curses and blessings pervades the narratives of the Torah. Adam and Eve were cursed when they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Cain was cursed for the murder of his brother Abel. Lemech was shunned for killing Cain, and Noah cursed Ham and Canaan for their despicable behavior toward him. Joshua cursed anyone who would dare to rebuild ancient Jericho. Elisha cursed the evil youngsters who tormented him.

However, we are taught by the rabbis of the Talmud that the power of good is 500 times greater than the power of evil, and the Torah is replete with narratives of blessings. Abraham is blessed by God and told: "Those who bless you will be blessed and those who curse you will be themselves cursed." Abraham passes on his blessings to Isaac. Jacob receives Isaac's blessing but gains Esau's enmity. The brothers of Joseph begrudge him his father's favoritism and blessing.

Blessings are often bittersweet. All of the great characters of the Bible, from Joshua through Ezra and Mordechai and Esther receive and/or bestow blessings. Blessings are a volatile matter and must be dispensed wisely. In the Torah, we are instructed to bless each other as well as the God that created us.

[...]

The use of amulets to convey blessings is a topic of great controversy in Jewish history. There were amulets prepared for every possible blessing in life and to ward off all imaginable misfortunes. The Talmud discusses the use of these amulets in a halachic sense, such as whether they may be worn in a public area on Shabbat. From many halachic sources, it seems that the use of these amulets had a placebo effect on the people who wore them.

There were great rabbinic disputes regarding amulets, but the Jewish public, especially after the rise of Lurianic Kabbala and Hassidism, adopted their use - and they remain popular among certain sections of Jewry today. The custom of inserting a prayer into the cracks of the stones of the Western Wall is an offshoot of this tradition

OH NO! Another Jesus movie: Cloning Christ - based on this book. Aaarrrggh!

CAN THE CAIRO GENIZA be a bridge between Jews and Muslims?

Princeton University professor has high hopes for a mutual academic interest. (The Princeton Packet)

For hundreds of years, the Jews of Cairo deposited documents and fragments of paper that bear the name of God in a chamber behind a wall on the second floor mezzanine of the Ben Ezra Synagogue.
The documents, both important and mundane, offer an intimate look at everyday medieval Jewish and Muslim life. Written in Hebrew script, but in the Arabic language, some of the Geniza commercial letters offer insights into the earliest trade between the Mediterranean and India.
Princeton University Professor Mark R. Cohen believes that depository, known as the Cairo Geniza, may one day bring Jewish and Muslim scholars together.
"One of my dreams is that the Geniza will be a bridge between Jewish Israeli scholars on one hand and Arab Muslim scholars on the other," said Professor Cohen, who divides his time between the Department of Near East Studies and the Program in Judaic Studies.
Professor Cohen, a specialist in medieval Jewish history, is director of the Princeton Geniza Project, which, since the late 1980s, has been making the documents of everyday life accessible to scholars online.
"It's not going to bring peace," Professor Cohen said. He hopes that one day Jewish and Muslim scholars will meet in a neutral space where the issue of a Palestinian state doesn't play a role.
"It holds interest not only for Jewish scholars, but for Muslim scholars" because it sheds light on the Arab Muslim majority of Cairo, he said.

[...]

For more on the Cairo Geniza go here.

INFO ON THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR JEWISH STUDIES is available on the AJS website (and thanks to Ellen Birnbaum for the heads-up).

A CONFERENCE ON RABBINIC LEXICOGRAPHY will be taking place at the University of Pennsylvania (again, via the H-Judaic list):

Sunday, Nov 16, 12:15pm-9pm: Rabbinic Lexicography and Marcus Jastrow
Penn's Jewish Studies Program and Van Pelt Library, along with a number of others, are co-sponsoring an international conference to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the publication of Marcus Jastrow's Talmudic dictionary. (Marcus Jastrow was a Philadelphia rabbi, and his son Morris was both a professor at Penn and the first Director of the University Library.)

Rosenwald Gallery (6th Floor)
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

12:15pm-1:30pm -- Session I: Opening Remarks/Keynote Address Michael Sokoloff, Bar Ilan University, Marcus Jastrow's Dictionary in the Context of Rabbinic Lexicography

1:30pm-2pm -- Coffee and refreshments

2pm-3pm -- Session II
Neil Danzig, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, Lexicography in the Gaonic Period
Joanna Weinberg, Oxford University,
The Arukh of Nathan of Rome

3pm-3:30pm -- Coffee and refreshments

3:30pm-4:30pm -- Session III
Stephen Burnett, University of Nebraska, Christian Hebraism and Sixteenth Century Lexicography

Lewis Glinert, Dartmouth College,
Lexicography in Nineteenth Century Europe

4:30pm-5pm -- Coffee and refreshments

5pm-6pm -- Session IV
Arthur Kiron, University of Pennsylvania, A Biographical Sketch of Morris Jastrow
Lance Sussman, Congregation Knesset Israel, Marcus Jastrow and
Nineteenth Century Philadelphia Jewry

6:30pm -- Dinner at Temple Rodeph Sholom (for invited participants only)

8pm -- Evening Address
Temple Rodeph Shalom, 615 N. Broad St.
Michal Galas, University of Cracow, Marcus Jastrow's European Background and the Critical Reception of Jastrow's Dictionary

I wish I could go!

ANCIENT JUDAISM IN THE THEATER (from the H-Judaic list):

Date: Wed, 5 Nov 2003 22:31:01 -0500
From: Ariella Brown
Subject: FYI: New Play on Salome Alexandra (Donahue)

FYI: New Play on Salome Alexandra by Lauri Donahue
I think the play could be of interest as history (it's based on the works of Josephus, among other sources), literature (it's in iambic pentameter), and for courses in Jewish women's studies.

"Alexandra" is the winner of the 2003 Dorothy Silver Playwriting Award (forplays on Jewish themes) and is being published this fall by Baker's Plays. The catalog listing is at: http://bakersplays.net/alofju.html.

I'd be happy to email a short sample of the text.
email: editor@yeladim.org

MORE ON THE JAMES OSSUARY:

Indications that the "Brother of Jesus" Inscription is a Forgery (Bible and Interpretation website)
By Jeffrey R. Chadwick, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Church History
Brigham Young University
jrchadwick@byu.edu

I haven't had a chance to read this paper yet myself, but here it is.

THE HISTORY NET has a section on Ancient Judaism which I don't think I've noted here yet. It has pages on subject ranging from "Aramaic" to "Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes" and many of these pages contain multiple links to other sites.

THE GEMATRICULATOR (via Protocols), using the ancient and infallible science of gematria, declares:

http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com is
32% evil, 68% good

Now you know.

UPDATE: I just noticed that the graphic for good uses a cross and the graphic for evil uses what appears to be a Star of David. I don't care about the first, but the second makes me distinctly uncomfortable. Am I reading this correctly or is there some deep Kabbalistic symbolism I'm missing?

UPDATE: It's a pentagram. Duh. Very sorry: because it's gematria I guess I was thinking in terms of Jewish symbols and then I missed the number of points. I have no idea why I didn't think of a pentagram. May I plead (hopefully temporary) stupefaction? Today I've been proofreading and fact-checking my upcoming SBL paper and then transcribing a long list of articles for a book review. Both are mind-numbing tasks but I didn't realize my mind was so numbed as that. Apologies to the Gematriculator.

This is embarrassing and I'm tempted just to delete these updates, but I won't. I hope PaleoJudaica provides enough good content and commentary that my readers will allow me an occasional stupid lapse, although I'll try very hard to avoid more lapses as stupid as this one. I'll do my best, but no promises.

SHAMANISM IN JUDAISM: Gershon Winkler has published a book called Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism, which is profiled briefly in the Jerusalem Post. My recent book Descenders to the Chariot: The People Behind the Hekhalot Literature compares early Jewish mysticism to shamanism. I hadn't heard of Winkler's book before, but I'll have to have a look at it.

"JESUS, MARY AND DA VINCI" is reviewed by Slate Magazine (via Protocols). This documentary, if it even deserves to be called one, sounds pretty lame. This excerpt of the review sums it up nicely:

To Vargas' and the producers' credit, they trot out some impressive scholars to comment, including Elaine Pagels, Jack Wasserman, and Umberto Eco. While many of the interviewees express polite interest in the theoretical ramifications of this notion, they can't shed any real light on the question. Yes, the Catholic Church has had problems dealing with sex and women. And it behaved extremely badly at times, the Crusades and the Inquisition being two shameful examples. But those sad facts do not a conspiracy make. As titillating or shocking as the idea of Jesus having sex might be, we just don't know if he did. The few historical texts we can refer to, including recently recovered ones like the Gospel of Thomas, don't mention Mary's relationship to Jesus, and so they don't bring us closer to the truth.

The film no doubt aims to encourage religious discussion by bringing an incendiary theory to light. But any debate on this topic is bound to be fruitless and frustrating since hard facts simply don't exist to support it. In the end, the film only provides extra (unnecessary) publicity for Brown's best-selling novel.

NEW BOOK REVIEWS FROM THE REVIEW OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE:

Chiesa, Bruno
Filologia storica della Bibbia ebraica
Reviewed by Paul Sanders

Devens, Monica S.
A Concordance to Psalms in the Ethiopic Version
Reviewed by Stephen Ryan

Laurent, Francoise
Les biens pour rien en Qohéleth 5,9-6,6 ou La traversée d'un contraste
Reviewed by James L Crenshaw

DER ZEITSCHRIFT FUR DIE ALTTESTAMENTLICHE WISSENSCHAFT has a new issue out (115.3). Unfortunately, it is not online, but here are some articles of interest in it:

pp. 388-400
Remarks on Ben Sira's >>Instruction on Shame<<, Sirach 41,14-42,8
Reymond, E. D.

pp. 401-422
Questions about the Great Flood, as Viewed by Philo, Pseudo-Philo, Josephus, and the Rabbis
Feldman, L. H.

pp. 433-434
Prov 5,19c: (non-Roman script word)
Zalcman, L.

pp. 435-439
The Righteous Sage: Pleonasm or Oxymoron? (Kohelet 7,16-18)
Shnider, S.; Zalcman, L.

AN OLD TESTAMENT SCHOLAR named Lisa Davison will tell Protestants to pay more attention to the "First Testament" in a lecture at Eureka College tonight. Good for her. She also weighs in on the relevance (or lack thereof) of the Hebrew Bible for the current debate on homosexuality in mainline churches.

NAOMI CHANA OF BARAITA weighs in on Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, especially the alleged Agreda/Emmerich connections. Turns out she knows something about the works of both authors and she'll be able to tell us if Gibson is using them once the movie comes out. If he is, she's going to protest strenously and so will I. But if I remember correctly, he's denied it, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.

Also, scroll up for "Signs That You Are A Hopeless Humanities Geek." I'm afraid it sounds all too familiar.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES: David Meadows in Explorator 6.27 notes articles on two new technologies that could become important for ancient history and archaeology. One is a virtual book system that could allow you to have the sensation of holding an ancient manuscript or scroll in your hands. The other is "X-Ray software" that could help map out an archaeological site before a spade of soil is turned. At this point the latter is just being used to see what is under modern houses around Liverpool, but who knows what the future holds?

"JESUS, MARY AND DA VINCI" is a television special inspired by The Da Vinci Code and evidently it suggests that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that perhaps they had childred. I have already discussed this idea here and here. The only thing I can think of to add is that even if Jesus was married, I think it's very unlikely he had any childred, at least who lived to adulthood. The early Jesus movement was interested in the family of Jesus and preserved quite a few traditions about them. I can't imagine that they wouldn't have kept track of the careers of Jesus' children if he had any. For more on the family of Jesus, see my colleague Richard Bauckham's book Jude and the Relatives of Jesus in the Early Church.

UPDATE: Here's more on the show from the New York Times and the Washington Times. Granted, I haven't seen it, but it doesn't sound very credible.

THE INDIANA JONES TRILOGY DVD is a record-breaking bestseller in the U.S.A. (via Archaeology Magazine News).

MAIA MORGENSTERN, a Romanian Jewish actress, plays the Virgin Mary in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ (the article is from New California Media). Here are excerpts (but it's worth reading in full):

Critics have denounced the hyper-realistic drama as a modern version of the medieval passion play, blaming Jews for the death of Jesus. But Morgenstern, 41, doesn�t view the film as anti-Semitic.

Yes, the villain is the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, she said from her Bucharest home. But he clearly represents the regime, not the Jewish people. "Authorities throughout history have persecuted individuals with revolutionary ideas," she said.

Morgenstern feels "The Passion" opposes such oppression. "It is about letting people speak openly about what they think and believe," she said. "It denounces the madness of violence and cruelty, which if unchecked can spread like a disease."

Morgenstern�s family experienced such violence during World War II. Her grandfather disappeared after being arrested in his native Transnistria, a conflicted region near the Ukraine; her father survived Nazi and Stalinist labor camps.

[...]

Morgenstern eventually became a star of Bucharest�s National Theatre and more than 30 Eastern European films. In Maria Meszaros� "The Seventh Room," she played Edith Stein, the Jew who died as a nun in Auschwitz and was canonized in 1998. Between scenes shot just outside the camp gates, Morgenstern � who shaved her head for the role � perused Nazi records and discovered her grandfather had died in the camp.

[...]

Over the course of the production, Morgenstern emphasized, not a single scene struck her as anti-Semitic. Characters such as Mary and John are sympathetic Jews, and Gibson "allowed me to make suggestions based on my Jewish culture," she said. In the scene in which Mary learns Jesus has been arrested, it was Morgenstern�s idea to whisper the Passover question, "Why is this night different from all other nights?"

When visiting reporters asked why a Jewish actress was portraying Jesus� mother, she replied, "I played Clytemnestra in �Oresteia,� and it didn�t mean I killed my husband. And as far as I know, Mary was a Jewish lady, so I think it is very normal."

Incidentally, I know women married very young in antiquity, but is it realistic to have a 41-year-old woman play the mother of a man in his thirties? Or is this just because everyone in a Hollywood movie has to look young and beautiful?

ALL SOUL'S DAY is today. This article from the Manila Bulletin discusses the ancient background (esp. 2 Maccabees 12:39-45) and history of this Catholic holiday. (Scroll down to the Opinion/Editorial link to the All Soul's Day article and click on it. Linking to the article itself doesn't seem to work.) All Soul's Day follows All Saint's Day, yesterday, and All Hallow's Eve, on Friday; the last was also Samhain, the ancient Celtic new year.

UPDATE: The link to the article is http://www.mb.com.ph/news.php?search=yes&art=41715§=3&fname=OPED/2003-11/OE03110141715f.txt. Try it. It may work for you; it's working for me sometimes, but not as a link to a blog entry here. I don't know why.

JIM WEST has just started a Biblical Studies blog that deals with both Hebrew Bible and New Testament and also with related fields such as archaeology.

PROFESSOR WILLIAM G. DEVER will be lecturing in the Berkshires in November on �The Age of Solomon: Biblical Revisionism, Archaeology, and Anti-Semitism� according to iBerkshires.com (scroll down to the second half of the article).

NOAH'S CURSE OF HAM and how it has been used to justify enslavement of Africans is the subject of an article in the New York Times. It surveys the findings of a number of scholars.

From Noah's Curse to Slavery's Rationale
By FELICIA R. LEE

Published: November 1, 2003

As stories go, this one has all the elements of good soap opera: nudity, sex and dysfunctional families.

For many scholars, though, the enigmatic tale in Genesis 9 describing how Noah cursed the descendants of his son Ham with servitude remains a way to explore the complex origins of the concept of race: how and why did people begin to see themselves as racially divided?


In the biblical account, Noah and his family are not described in racial terms. But as the story echoed through the centuries and around the world, variously interpreted by Islamic, Christian and Jewish scholars, Ham came to be widely portrayed as black; blackness, servitude and the idea of racial hierarchy became inextricably linked.

By the 19th century, many historians agree, the belief that African-Americans were descendants of Ham was a primary justification for slavery among Southern Christians.

The debate about just what the story of Ham and Noah means has marched on into the 21st century. Today scholars are increasingly reading documents in the authors' original languages and going further back in time and to more places, as well as calling on disciplines like sociology and classics. Their ambitions are also bigger than just parsing Ham.

[...]

ACCESS TO THE TEMPLE MOUNT was limited by the Israelis for Muslim visitors during the first Friday of Ramadan.

I BELONG IN THE SECOND LEVEL OF HELL according to the Dante's Inferno Test (heads-up, Torrey Seland). Apparently I scored well for level five too. I'm surprised I didn't score better for level six, though. I'm a historical-critical biblical scholar, after all. Go figure.

For a long time I've hoped I could just squeak by into Limbo. At least I'm close.

Enjoy the test, but don't blame me if they keep your answers and blackmail you.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Low
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Inferno Test

HERE'S AN ARAB PERSPECTIVE on the Petra exhibit in New York, published in the Daily Star, Lebanon:

Petra exhibit in New York strives to alter perceptions
Most visitors viewing artifacts displayed in museum associate works with ancient history, not current Arab culture

UPDATE: And here's an account of a yoga and New Age spirituality retreat at Petra attended by Jordanians and an Iraqi, with a German teacher. Now is that multicultural or what?

HERE'S A WEBSITE on archaeological dating techniques (via Anita Cohen William's Archaeology Online blog). Includes some cool animation.

HERE'S A STATEMENT ON NORTH AMERICAN STUDENTS STUDYING IN ISRAEL (via the H-Judaic list):

Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 14:38:08 -0500
From: Ariella Brown
Subject: Statement on North American Undergraduate Study in Israeli Universities

The American Academy for Jewish Research, the Association For Jewish Studies, and the National Association Of Professors Of Hebrew have issued a statement expressing their concern over the restrictions imposed by numerous American and Canadian universities on undergraduates who wish to participate in "semester abroad" programs of study in Israel and asking university administrators to review their policies and remove impediments
to such study.

Please publicize and disseminate this statement widely.

The statement follows:

American Academy for Jewish Research
Association for Jewish Studies
National Association of Professors of Hebrew

Statement on North American Undergraduate Study in Israeli Universities


Over the past three years, the sharp decline in the number of North
American undergraduate students in "study abroad" programs at Israeli universities has had a severe and deleterious impact on academic Jewish Studies Programs in the United States and Canada. Students in such programs have been shown to benefit greatly from the language study and other subject specialization opportunities that can be found only at Israeli universities.

As presidents of the three major academic organizations of Jewish Studies faculty in North America, we wish to express our alarm at the policies of North American universities that serve to dissuade, discourage, prevent or even prohibit students who decide to study in Israel from doing so.

We recognize legitimate concerns for safety and the cautionary advice given by the State Department about travel in Israel. But we believe that, rather than cancel programs or prohibit study, universities should base the decision to award university credit for academic work done elsewhere solely on academic criteria and that no penalty should be imposed on students who have chosen freely and of their own volition to participate in such programs.

We call upon the administrations of American universities to review their policies on study in Israel in order to remove obstacles created by administrative decisions that are not germane to academic standards, so as to allow students to pursue their legitimate academic goals.

Shmuel Bolozky
(University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
President
National Association of Professors of Hebrew
(413) 545-2550

Lawrence H. Schiffman
(New York University)
President
Association for Jewish Studies
(212) 998-8980

David B. Ruderman
(University of Pennsylvania)
President
American Academy for Jewish Research
(215) 238-1290
The statement may also be viewed on the
AJS Website at
http://www.brandeis.edu/ajs/Study%20Abroad%20statement%20NAPH-AJS-AAJR.html

Yours sincerely,

Aaron L. Katchen
Executive Director
Association for Jewish Studies

HERE'S A BOSTON GLOBE REVIEW by Scott Bernard Nelson of two new books by Bart D. Ehrman on early Christian noncanonical literature and traditions (via Bible and Interpretation News). Excerpts:

In "Lost Scriptures," Ehrman provides English translations -- many of them his own -- of 47 nonbiblical texts written by early Christians and later unearthed by theologians, historians, and archeologists. In each case, he provides a short explanation of when and where the writing was found and how he believes it compares and contrasts with the New Testament. Virtually all were, at various times by various Christians, considered sacred.

It can be a fascinating exercise to, say, read the "Apocalypse of Peter," considered canonical by a number of early churches and thought to be the inspiration for Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy," alongside the biblical revelation of John. Or to puzzle your way through the "Gospel of Thomas," discovered in an Egyptian grave in 1945 and attributed to Didymus Judas Thomas, who some believe was Christ's brother. The text claims to record 114 direct quotes from Jesus, and some scholars have sparked controversy by saying those might be closer to what Christ actually taught than anything in the New Testament.

Perhaps most interesting, Ehrman includes five lists from early Christian writers discussing which books should and should not be counted as scripture. The variety of suggestions shows that the specifics of what we know today as the New Testament were in flux well into the fourth century. The first author to claim that the 27 books of the New Testament were, in fact, the one and true scripture was the bishop of Alexandria in AD 367 -- almost 3 1/2 centuries after Christ's crucifixion.

[�]

But who made the decisions about which books to include in the canon and which to exclude? And why? The Apostles themselves -- and anyone who knew anyone who knew the Apostles -- were long gone by the fourth century.

An analysis of these questions fills Ehrman's companion volume, "Lost Christianities." In it, he presents the major strains of early Christianity and explains how each feuded bitterly with the others. He also discusses how and why the group representing the closest thing to modern-day Christianity ultimately won out, leading to a statement of beliefs at the First Ecumenical Council in AD 325, which dictated that followers were to believe that there is one God, that he created the world, that Jesus his son is both human and divine, and that Jesus' death brought the world salvation, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.

Read it all.

HYPOTYPOSEIS is a new blog on biblical studies (so far New Testament and patristics) by Stephen C. Carlson (via Mark Goodacre). Recently he has discussed, inter alia the Secret Gospel of Mark, scholarship and copyright law, and ancient forgeries.

BE PAID TO GET A PH.D. AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN!

Three PhD-positions at the University of Groningen
Jewish and Christian Traditions

The Faculty of Theology & Religious Studies of the University of Groningen announces a search to fill three Ph.D. positions.
The Faculty runs three research programmes, among which a programme in Jewish and Christian Traditions. Excellent and suitable candidates, who have finished a relevant MA, are encouraged to apply. The research group consists of Professor Ed Noort (OT, Archaeology & Biblical Theology), dr Jacques van Ruiten (OT & Early Judaism), Professor Florentino Garc�a Mart�nez (Early Judaism & Qumran), dr Eibert Tigchelaar (Early Judaism & Qumran), Professor Gerard Luttikhuizen (NT & Gnosticism), and dr George van Kooten (NT & Hellenism).

At this stage, candidates should only send their curriculum vitae, a title of proposed research, a brief research proposal including a presentation and definition of the principal questions and problems, a brief general outline of the prospective table of contents, and a specification of referents, altogether certainly not exceeding two pages. Please send your application to Professor Ed Noort, Email e.noort@theol.rug.nl, before November 10th, 2003. After initial screening, the most suitable candidates will be invited to submit a full-scale proposal. For further enquiries, contact Professor Noort, Telephone 0031-50-363 55 67 (office); 0031-598-35 07 54 (home), or Email e.noort@theol.rug.nl.

The PhD appointments entail a 4-year fixed term contract, pay award rising over the years from EURO 1,683 to 2,258 per month. After one year an assessment takes places.

The University of Groningen is a strong, interdisciplinary university in the Netherlands. There is a direct connection between London Stansted and Groningen Airport (Ryanair).

(Via Mark Goodacre on the British New Testament Society information list.)

HERE'S MORE on the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Forbidden Book Exhibit in Dallas.

PHILOLOGOS discusses the Hebrew word Metsiya, which means both a good find and a rip-off, and is part of the title of a Talmudic tractate.

UPDATE: Edward Cook e-mails:

Good link on metsiya. The Hebrew word and Aramaic words are different though -- the Heb. is from mem-tsade-alef "to find" and the Aramaic (as in Baba Metsiya) is from mem-tsade-ayin "middle". The linked article doesn't really bring this out clearly.

A NEW PATRIARCH OF BABYLON OF THE CHALDEANS is being elected. The liturgical language of the Chaldean Church is Aramaic.

ANCIENT JEWISH NOVELS: AN ANTHOLOGY, by Lawrence M. Wills, is reviewed by Mark Jay Mirsky in the Forward. The book deals with Joseph and Aseneth, Judith, the Testament of Job, the additions to Esther, etc.

BLOGGER HAS BEEN DOWN this morning for scheduled maintenance. The Blogosphere reels.

ERICH VON DÄNIKEN has opened a "Chariots of the Gods" theme park in Switzerland (via Archaeology Magazine News). You just can't make this stuff up.

Despite the fact that he's a nut, I have a soft spot in my heart for von Däniken: at an impressionable age I read his books and they got me interested in ancient history and archaeology. So in a roundabout way you have him to thank (or blame) for this blog.

THE JEWISH LANGUAGE RESEARCH WEBSITE IS NOW COMPLETE:

From Sarah Bunin Benor: We are pleased to announce the completion of the Jewish Language Research Website: http://www.jewish-languages.org/

This website is designed to be a resource for Linguists, Jewish Studies Scholars, and the general public to learn about the speech and writing of Jews throughout history and around the world. It provides information about 14 Jewish languages: Hebrew, Jewish Aramaic, Jewish English, Jewish Malayalam,Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-French, Judeo-Greek, Judeo-Iranian, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Persian, Judeo-Portuguese, Judeo-Proven�al, Judeo-Spanish/Judezmo/Ladino, and Yiddish

The site presents short descriptions and bibliographies of these
languages, written by top researchers, and it provides contact information for over 50 scholars from 10 countries. It also provides information on computing in Hebrew and Jewish languages, as well as links to several other resources.

Please contact the editor, Sarah Bunin Benor , if you have suggestions or questions.

(From the H-JUDAIC list.)

THE JOURNAL OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES has a new issue out (62.4). Not only that, it appears that I failed to note the previous issue in July (62.3). There are no articles of direct paleojudaic interest in either issue (well, maybe JOHN C. POIRIER. "Generational Reckoning in Hesiod and in the Pentateuch" in 62.3) but there are many relevant book reviews (you have to download the complete PDF file of reviews for each issue in order to access any one review).

In issue 62.3 see the following reviews:

FLORENTINO GARC�A MART�NEZ and EIBERT TIGCHELAAR, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition. Vol. 1. 1Q1�4Q273. Vol. 2. 4Q274�11Q31 (Michael O. Wise)

ROBERT A. KUGLER and EILEEN M. SCHULLER, The Dead Sea Scrolls at Fifty: Proceedings of the 1997 Society of Biblical Literature Qumran Section Meetings and LAWRENCE H. SCHIFFMAN, EMANUEL TOV, and JAMES C. VANDERKAM, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years after Their Discovery: Proceedings of the Jerusalem Congress, July 20�25, 1997 (Michael O. Wise)

EUGENE ULRICH, The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Origins of the Bible (Michael O. Wise)

ZIPORA TALSHIR, I Esdras: From Origin to Translation (Ralph W. Klein)

M. P. WEITZMAN, The Syriac Version of the Old Testament: An Introduction (Tawny L. Holm)

ZE'EV BEN-HAYYIM and ABRAHAM TAL, A Grammar of Samaritan Hebrew: Based on the Recitation of the Law in Comparison with the Tiberian and Other Jewish Traditions. Rev. ed (Joseph Malone)

And in issue 62.4 see:

SAMUEL KOTTEK and MANFRED HORSTMANSHOFF, From Athens to Jerusalem: Medicine in Hellenized Jewish Lore and in Early Christian Literature: Papers of the Symposium in Jerusalem, 9�11 September 1996 (Robert D. Biggs)

GEOFFREY H. PARKE-TAYLOR, The Formation of the Book of Jeremiah: Doublets and Recurring Phrases (Christopher A. Rollston)

JOHN F. KUTSKO, Between Heaven and Earth: Divine Presence and Absence in the Book of Ezekiel (Christopher A. Rollston)

ANDREW G. VAUGHN, Theology, History, and Archaeology in the Chronicler's Account of Hezekiah (Christopher A. Rollston)

HERE ARE MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE FAKE LOST-TEN-TRIBES ARTIFACTS, which are to go on display in the Michigan museum to which they were donated. The forger seems to have made quite a cottage industry of the fakes in the late nineteenth century.

BRYN MAWR COLLEGE is hosting a forum on November 6-7 entitled "Jews and Christians Reading the Bible," which will be webcast live with participation from readers online. For more information follow the link. (Heads-up, Bob Kraft on the PSCO list.)

PROFESSOR JOHN RUSSELL has e-mailed Francis Deblauwe with some updates on the situation with antiquities sites in Iraq.

OUT FOR THE COUNT: My Bravenet counter has vanished! Their website won't open my account either. I'm not aware of having done anything to my blog's template, so I assume the problem is with Bravenet and not with me.

UPDATE: It's back now.

ANDRE LEMAIRE critiques the IAA's report on the" James ossuary" for Biblical Archaeology Review. The current issue of BAR also has snippets on biblical archaeological items currently in the news (Hezekiah's Tunnel, "James ossuary," Absaloms Tomb & Zacharias inscription," etc.) here and some thoughts and information on the upcoming Society of Biblical Literature conference in Atlanta here.

HERE'S A PRELIMINARY REPORT on the fourth season of excavations at Hippos Sussita, near the Sea of Galilee (Bible and Interpretation News).

A WARNING SHOT? Jim Caviezel, who plays Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ, has been struck by lightning during the filming. Fortunately, he and assistant director Jan Michelini (who was struck for the second time in this incident) were not seriously injured.

The film is scheduled to be released in the U.S.A. by Newmarket Films on 25 February (Ash Wednesday). (Thanks to Jim West for this reference.) Gibson's own Icon Productions will distribute it in Australia and the U.K.

Not taking into account, of course, any further acts of God.

TOBIT DELETED: Here's a New York Times article on an etching of "Tobias and the Angel" by Hercules Segers which Rembrant reworked into an image of "The Flight Into Egypt."

SOME FAKE ARTIFACTS, produced in the late nineteenth century as proof of presence of the lost ten tribes in Michigan, have been donated by the Mormon Church to the Michigan Historical Museum.

A BATHHOUSE FROM THE TIME OF JESUS IN NAZARETH? By now you've probably heard of this one, but here's the article about it in The Guardian.

UPDATE: Christine at Mirabilis.ca notes this Ananova article from last December which cites an archaeologist and a biblical scholar who argue that the bathhouse should be dated to a millennium later than the time of Jesus. David Meadows of Rogue Classicism has been following the story since the beginning and also has comments (via Mark Goodacre).

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS and, thanks to the time change, with only seven hours of jet lag instead of the normal eight. I'm not feeling particularly alert, but I'm here in my office, and I'll see presently what I can blog up.

NEH SUMMER SEMINAR IN ARAMAIC:

Aramaic in Post-Biblical Judaism and Early Christianity

NEH Summer Seminar
June 14-July 23, 2004
Duke University

In this six-week seminar, participants will study the Aramaic language and literature of post-biblical Judaism and early Christianity. In the mornings, participants will receive intensive instruction in three dialects of Aramaic: Jewish Literary Aramaic of first-century Judea and Qumran, Jewish Palestinian Aramaic of Galilee in the third century and later, and Syriac, used extensively in Eastern Christianity. The Seminar is structured so that participants, upon successful completion, will have mastered at least one dialect for use in their personal research.

In the evenings, there will be seminars discussing the literature written in these dialects and analyzing how that literature can be used in historical and religious studies of ancient Judaism and Christianity. Topics will include: Dead Sea Scrolls, Bar Kokhba, synagogue and ossuary inscriptions, the language of Jesus, Targums and Peshitta, rabbinic literature, and Dura Europos, as well as Ephrem and Aphrahat. One week will be devoted to seminars on the history and development of the Aramaic language.

The six-week program will be organized to give participants support to do original research in Aramaic on a topic of their choice and to compose a publishable paper on it.

The organizers and principal teachers are: Eric M. Meyers, Paul V.M. Flesher, and Lucas Van Rompay.

Guest teachers and seminar leaders: Michael Sokoloff, Bar Ilan University (Israel); Douglas Gropp, Catholic University of America; Hayim Lapin, University of Maryland; Tina Shepardson, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Participants will be selected from applicants who have completed their doctoral dissertation. Knowledge of Hebrew as well as elementary knowledge of (any type of) Aramaic are a prerequisite. Successful applicants will receive a stipend of $3700.

For application information, please contact:

Nancy Hurtgen
Department of Religion
NEH Seminar
Box 90964
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0964
919/660-3500
nhurtgen@duke.edu
http://www.duke.edu/web/nehdas

SORRY FOR THE LIGHT BLOGGING. I spent more than nine hours at the UCSD Library yesterday and lugged home about nine hundred photocopied pages (to go with the 175 from San Diego State from last week). I have no idea how I'm going to fit it all in our luggage. The last two weeks have been very busy and the last several days especially stressful. I have lots of things lined up to post but very little time for posting. Bear with me.

THE ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTRY has been accused by the Antiquties Authority of damaging a Christian archaeological site - a 1500-year-old Byzantine monastery - during the contruction of the controversial security barrier. It denies the charge.

FURTHER TO MY POST BELOW on favorite Jesus movies, Mark Goodacre likes Jesus Christ Superstar the best - unless we allow The Life of Brian, which is really a satire of first-century Jewish messianism rather than a Jesus movie per se. If we're including The Life of Brian, I would put it second. Very funny and very quotable: "That halibut was fit for Jehovah!" "Romans go home!" "Crucifixion? Yes. Good!" "Bloody favoritism!" And so on.

HERE'S NEWS ON SOME SYRIAC INCANTATIONS from Kurdistan, located at Harvard University and being edited by John Brolley, a scholar at the University of Cincinnati.

TODAY IS SIMCHAT TORAH (also spelled "Simkhat," "Simhat," or "Simchas").

"WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE 'JESUS' MOVIE?"

LATER: I think my favorite is The Last Temptation of Christ, because I like its development of "Gnostic" themes (follow the link for some details). Which ones do other history bloggers like best? And why?

THE WORLD MONUMENT FUND has released a list of the one hundred most endangered archaeological sites. Ten of them are in the Middle East. (Scroll down and - mostly - up to see the other ninety. Via Archaeology Magazine News.)

MEDITATIONS ON THE TEMPLE LIBRARY for Simchat Torah (which is coming up on Sunday).

FOLLOW THE LINK for some images from the "Dead Sea Scrolls to the Hidden Book" exhibit in Dallas (heads-up, Stephen Goranson).

HEBREW POSITION AT PENN STATE (via G-Megillot):

Rank-open
Penn State is seeking candidates for a rank-open, tenure-line appointment in Hebrew. Tenure-track or tenured according to rank and qualifications. Starting date: August 2004 preferred. Ph.D. in Hebrew, Comparative Literature, Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, or related field, and relevant teaching experience required. Candidates must have broad knowledge of the Hebrew language: areas of further specialization and research program may include (but are not limited to) Classical, Rabbinic or Modern Hebrew, comparative approaches to Hebrew texts (including ancient, medieval, and/or modern), comparative Semitics, classical Hebrew elements in later literatures, literatures of the diaspora and Israel, Israelite or Jewish texts, parshanut or Jewish thought. Ability to teach Hebrew at all levels of the curriculum required. Knowledge of additional languages a plus. The successful candidate will help direct and develop our Hebrew language curriculum. S/he will hold an appointment in the Jewish Studies Program, with a tenure home, as appropriate, in the Department of Comparative Literature or the Department of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies or another unit. Salary competitive. Our tenure-track teaching load is 4 courses per year (2 per semester). Applications received by November 17, 2003, will receive full consideration; however, all applications will be considered until the position is filled. Send letter, c.v., and names and addresses of 3 references to Chair, Hebrew Search Committee, c/o Cindy Bierly, Box CB, Department of Comparative Literature, 311 Burrowes Building, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 USA. Applications may also be sent by email to or by Fax to (814) 863-8882. Penn State is committed to Affirmative Action, equal opportunity, and the diversity of its workforce.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cindy Bierly (cqb2@psu.edu)
Administrative Assistant I
School of Languages and Literatures
College of the Liberal Arts
311 Burrowes Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802-6203
(814) 865-1168
FAX: (814) 863-8882
http://www.la.psu.edu

MEL GIBSON'S MOVIE RENAMED: it's now The Passion of Christ.

HERE'S AN ACCOUNT of a visit to the reputed tombs of the prophet Nahum and his sister in an Aramaic-speaking Christian town in Iraq.

HERE'S A COMPLETE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE PSALMS TARGUM by the well known Aramaist and Qumranologist Edward Cook.

THE "PETRA: LOST CITY OF STONE" EXHIBIT at the American Museum of Natural History opens Saturday (via Rogue Classicism).

AN EARLY PAPYRUS FRAGMENT OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN has become the subject of a big lawsuit.

JESUS IN THE TALMUD: Mel Gibson's The Passion and Sanhedrin 43a have been generating some debate among Jews, started by an article by Steven Bayme. The article has been taken down, but you can read the Google cache copy here. More rabbinic passages that deal with Jesus, or may deal with him, can be found at Alan Humm's Ancient Jewish Accounts of Jesus website. The Talmud, of course, gives no new useful historical information about Jesus but, for what it's worth, it does tell us what kind of spin Babylonian rabbis c. 400 C.E. wanted to put on the Jesus story. How much should that inform the current discussion? I blog, you decide.

PRETTY QUIET on the PaleoJudaic front in the media, and I'm pretty busy here, but ancient Aramaic is represented in the current news by roundup articles on Mel Gibson's The Passion and the San Antonio Vocal Arts Ensemble.

AN ISRAELITE HOUSE IN 12TH CENTURY B.C.E. EGYPT? Maybe. Does it prove the Exodus happened? No. (Via Archaeologica News.)

THE UNOFFICIAL "GENEVA ACCORDS" would grant sovereignty of the Temple Mount to the Palestinians. According to the New York Times:

On another delicate issue, the plan calls for the Palestinians to have ultimate control over Jerusalem's most important and contested holy site, the mosque compound in East Jerusalem, called the Noble Sanctuary by Muslims. Israel would relinquish its claim of sovereignty over the site, which Jews call the Temple Mount. Israel would keep full control of the Western Wall, the Jewish place of prayer that borders the compound.

More here in the Guardian.

Sorry for the light posting lately. Family things are not leaving much time for blogging.

MARK GOODACRE has redesigned the main page of his vast New Testament Gateway website. This is a trial-run page, not the real main page, as he explains here (and scroll up to the next post too). He's asking for feedback, so have a look and let him know what you think. Looks great Mark.