THE CURRENT EXCAVATORS OF QUMRAN are challenging some of the establishment views about the site and its relation to the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Archeologists claim Essenes never wrote Dead Sea Scrolls
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent

Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, Qumran is famous throughout the world as the place where the Essenes, who have been widely described in studies, conferences and exhibitions as a type of Jewish "monk," are said to have lived and written the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, based on findings soon to be published, Israeli archaeologists now argue that Qumran "lacks any uniqueness."

The latest research joins a growing school of thought attempting to explode the "Qumran myth" by stating that not only did the residents of Qumran live lives of comfort, they did not write the scrolls at all.

Two Israeli archaeologists, Yuval Peleg and Itzhak Magen, have recently completed 10 seasons of excavations at Qumran, sponsored by the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. These are the most extensive digs since those conducted by Roland de Vaux half a century earlier. Among the finds were numerous pieces of jewelry, imported glass and expensive stone cosmetics containers.

"It's impossible to say that the people who lived at Qumran were poor," said Peleg. "It is also impossible that de Vaux did not see the finds we saw. He simply ignored what didn't suit him."

[...]

Obviously the views of the excavators will have to be judged on the basis of which they publish, which one certainly hopes will be far more extensive than De Vaux's publications on Qumran. But here are a few preliminary thoughts on what is said in this article (with no particular presumption that it reflects completely or accurately what Peleg and Magen said). I too a skeptical of the idea that there was a sectarian Jewish monastery at Qumran which kept the Dead Sea Scrolls in its library. Various problems: the anachronism of the term "monastery"; the striking lack of references to celibacy in the sectarian scrolls; the variant versions of allegedly key sectarian works like the Community Rule, which makes me wonder if a good bit of the sectarian consciousness wasn't based on utopian speculations rather than the practices of an actual community.

That said, I'm not sure what it means to say that the site lacks "uniqueness": everything is "unique" in some way or else it would be something else. I don't find the term "unique" to be very useful in an absolute sense. The question is how is the site unique and how is it the same as other sites and what does that tell us? (Okay, I guess that's three questions.) Also, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that high value items were found at the site of a monastery. Monastic orders can be poor on the individual level but rich on the collective level. But the jewelry and cosmetics containers do imply a significant presence of women, which, if it hold up, could cause further difficulties for the idea that the site was a celibate monastery.

As for whether the inhabitants wrote the scrolls, I'll just have to see what the evidence is that makes the excavators doubt this. My own working hypothesis, to which I hold pretty lightly, is that at least a good many of the scrolls were brought in for hiding by Essenes/sectarians living in Jerusalem and Judea when the war with the Romans was underway.

UPDATE: Stephen Goranson e-mails:

You wrote of "the" current excavators. Actually, there are several excavators, including Hanan Eshel, Magen Broshi, recently Randall Price, and others.

The second volume in the NTOA series (ed. J.-B. Humbert and J. Gunneweg) increases the links between the Essenes the Khirbeh and the Scrolls and caves. It even reports an yet another Qumran inkwell in a locus with a long inscription. Humbert, who knows all de Vaux's results, affirms Essene presence, as does S. Pfann, de Vaux's new editor.

For Qumran we needn't use the term "monastery," but, for the record, "monasterion" first appears in Greek in Philo, De Vita Contemplativa 25 & 30.

Some of the "luxury" items evidently are from Period III, that is, after 68 CE, after Essene habitation, as Joan E. Taylor writes in PEQ (2004) 81-87.

Hirschfeld's quotation--that finds "contradict everything we know about every aspect of the Essenes"--may I suggest, is over the top in perfect tendentiousness.

I have more on recent Qumran excavations here. As you can see, this is an area on which people tend to have strong views.

LOOTING OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES isn't just a problem in Iraq:

In the company of grave robbers (Jerusalem Post)
By LAUREN GELFOND FELDINGER

Ransacked West Bank antiquities turn into black-market gold

[...]

Ron Kehati, the commerce inspector for the Israel Antiquities Authority, whose staff hunts antiquities thieves, estimates that illegal digging in the Palestinian areas is up more than 50 percent.

"Since the Palestinian Authority is over there, many people trade in illegal antiquities. After the PA or Palestinian police or whoever finds it, it all gets sold - it never gets to a Palestinian museum," he says. "Palestinians have histories as we do; [so] if they keep the land, they should also preserve the history of the land."

While the IAA worries about antiquities disappearing, archeologists cringe as amateurs ignore the rules of digging, recording and preserving historical sites.

"In the next generation we won't be able to see and enjoy what's there. It is an archeologically magnificent site that has a lot to offer tourists and archeologists," says archeologist and tour guide Ronen Bitan. "Who rules the land doesn't matter, as long as it is being preserved. It's a shame as an archeologist, regardless of political opinion, when my legacy is being ruined: that's a real tragedy."

The PA did set up an Antiquities Authority after Oslo, but Israeli officials say it disintegrated in recent years. The PAA head, Dr. Hamdan Taha, was in Morocco at press time and could not be reached for comment.

Palestinian archaeologists have protested that the closures preventing Palestinians from working in Israel has led the unemployed to take-up illegal digging. Bir Zeit University's Institute of Archaeology head, Hamed Salem, who was also abroad at press time, presented a paper recently to the World Archeological Congress saying that "Palestinian heritage work faces internal and external difficulties due to shortage of well-trained staff, limited funding and lack of authority to implement a comprehensive archaeology program under occupation and thus protect archaeological sites from plundering and destruction."

"Jewish antiquities will be lost," charges [Israeli buyer of antiquities] Tal, who likes to believe that he - with the help of his Palestinian accomplices - is redeeming Jewish history by carting it piece-by-piece back across the Green Line, where it will be preserved.

[...]

Then there's this:

The legacy of Tal's family - a long line of regional traders with a relationship to antiquities and to the earth - has left him obsessed with discovering the ancient Jewish history still buried. After recent purchases from Ahmed, and a description of where they were found, Tal has become convinced that the grave-digger has stumbled onto a mass grave of Jewish priests massacred in the First Temple period.

He knows that if he reports his suspicion to the IAA, the digger, the dealer, and he may be arrested, and their wares confiscated. And so he has come out on his own to investigate, venturing beyond the safety of Ahmed's home.

Read it all and weep.

AMERICAN VOLUNTEERS have been returning in larger numbers to Israeli archaeological digs this year:

Israeli archeological excavation sites help educate American students (Israel21C)
By Mark Schulman July 25, 2004

Indiana Jones would have never let travel bans and terror threats stand in the way of a good archeological dig. Especially if the field work was among some 35,000 known archaeological sites in Israel, ranging from small areas containing only loose pottery shards to large, fortified, walled cities like Masada and the City of David in Jerusalem.

That was the conclusion drawn by dozens of American volunteers, students and amateur archeology buffs who joined their Israeli counterparts and additional volunteers from Europe at eleven major excavations being conducted in Israel this summer.

By and large, security concerns and dwindling funding for large-scale digs have kept many American institutions and universities away, including hundreds of students and volunteers who are an essential part of any archeological project. A four-year old U.S. State Department travel advisory warning Americans against visiting Israel and the region has certainly not helped, resulting in some excavations being suspended in 2002 and 2003, amid the post-September 11 security concerns.

But this year, the wannabe discoverers are back with a vengeance - scattered throughout the country with trowel and pickaxe in hand in an attempt to make sense of the country's rich layers of history hidden beneath the ground.

"After 9/11 it became almost impossible to come, people were hesitant because of the security situation and insurance companies weren't willing to cover us," said Dr. Ron Tappy, professor of bible and archaeology at the Pittsburgh Theological and director of excavations at Tell Zeitah (Tel Zayit in Hebrew), an ancient village believed to be biblical Libnah in ancient Judah (Joshua 10; 2 Kings 19:8).

"It's good to be back again in the field," Tappy said. "We had about 45 professional staff and volunteers this summer, but I could have used twice as many people. Hopefully we'll see more come out and dig with us next year."

[...]

THE TEN LOST TRIBES IN . . . IRELAND?

Did you know that the Irish are the descendants of the Tribe of Dan? That many Irish names have a Hebrew root and that Irish landmarks like Mount Kappure and Mount Tara are really Hibernia's commemoration of Yom Kippur and the Torah? Even the word Hibernia, the Roman name for Ireland, could have its root in the word "Hebrew."

Yeah, yeah, everybody and his grandfather around the world believes that they are one of the lost tribes. No matter where you go, you're bound to find some legend or bizarre, unexplained custom that the locals say is proof that they are the descendants of the ancient Israelites.

Take Mt. Tara for example. This is the place where in the days of lore the high kings of Ireland would gather to make the laws of the land. Legend has it that the Ark of the Covenant can be found there too. Did Tara come from the word "Torah"?

Then there is the strangely named Mount Kappure in County Wicklow. Legend holds that one of King Hezekiah's daughters fleeing the Assyrians washed up on Ireland. The princess married an Irish king. Once a year she would disappear to the mountain to pray and fast, just like on Yom Kippur.

Need more proof? Take the churches in west Galway. Unlike the other churches in Ireland, men and woman sit separately. Why? Well that's just the way it's been for hundreds of years. The Irish of the west coast are generally darker with black curly hair, further "proof" they descended from wandering Dan tribesman.

The more likely explanation is that they may have a touch of Mediterranean blood from the sailors of the Spanish Armada who swam to its shores after their fleet was sunk 400 years ago. History tells us that many Marranos had joined the Spanish fleet. This may explain the plethora of Cohan's and Levi's in Ireland. That's obvious. But what about Murphy, the most common family name in Ireland? The story goes that many of the Armada's ship surgeons were Jews and likely went by the name Mar'peh (Hebrew for "healers") and that became Murphy.

If you think that's a stretch, how about McCabe? Was it once Maccabi? Was Brennan originally Ben-Nun? I started thinking maybe I should change my name back to its original: O'Solomon.

All this is told to me by Raphael Siev, the director of the Jewish Museum in Dublin.

Just to be clear, this is not meant seriously. But it is amusing.

I'M BACK. Five days with no blogging and even no e-mail was very refreshing. I'll try to report on the conferences in the next couple of days. It's late here and I'm tired, but here are a couple of interesting items noted briefly by Chuck Jones on the IraqCrisis list (in a message that does not seem to have been archived in its original form), both from Monday's Iraqi Press Monitor:

Rights of Jews 'under study'
(Al-Mutamar) - Minister of Migrants and Displacement Bascal Ishu Werde said Iraq was to study the possibility of granting passports to Jews of Iraqi origin and to compensate those who lost their properties. She said they would grant passports to those residing inside Iraq first. Israeli sources said the passport issue was of "great importance" because it would enable Jews to travel freely within the Arab States and would allow them to participate in the Iraqi elections.
(Al-Mutamar is issued daily by the Iraqi National Congress.)

Authorities end restriction on travel to Israel
(Asharq Al-Awsat) - The Manager of Passports Sabbar al-Atiya said the authorities have cancelled the prohibition to travel to Israel. He said new Iraqi passports would be issued without the famous note of "Bearer is allowed to travel to the entire world except Israel". He added that they started issuing the new passports, which would be valid for one year, on July 15 to replace the travel documents, which were no more valid, issued by the now-defunct Coalition Provisional Authority.
(London-based Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi independent paper, is issued daily.)

I hope this means that the question of whether Jewish scholars will now be allowed into Iraq to do reseach is on the agenda and will be clarified soon.

Blogger seems to be feeling fussy and I'm in no mood to deal with it, so I think I'll call it a night.

UPDATE: Conference report here.

I'M OFF TO GRONINGEN for the joint annual International Society of Biblical Literature meeting and annual meeting of the International Organization of Qumran Studies. I'm presenting a paper in each conference. I've already posted the IOQS paper (see here). The SBL paper is "Did Christians Write Old Testament Pseudepigrapha That Appear to Be Jewish?" the oral version of which you can read by following the link. As noted previously, it is a summary of chapter four of the book I'm writing.

We leave first thing tomorrow (Sunday) morning and should be back on the evening of the 29th. Blogging, if any, will depend on easy access to a computer or a Internet cafe, spare time, and my whim. Meanwhile, have a good week, and check out some of the ancient and biblical history blogs and news sites in the links bar to the right. If you are observing Tisha B'Av on the 26th-27th, I wish you an easy fast.

THE ANCIENT TEMPLE MOUNT (ET AL.) IN VIRTUAL REALITY:

The time machine drops you onto the dusty streets of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The year is 1211.

A few hundred yards ahead is a Romanesque cathedral, nearly complete after 100 years of construction. It seems to soar toward the heavens. The cathedral's grandeur befits one of Christianity's holiest sites, reportedly containing the remains of the apostle James the Great.

[...]

Goosebumps rise on your arm � and you haven't even left Los Angeles.

Which is the idea behind UCLA's Visualization Portal, a virtual reality theater that re-creates ancient worlds, natural phenomena such as tornados, and the inner workings of the human body � showing, for instance, a fibrillating heart and how experimental drugs might return its beat to normal.

The 3D re-creations are used for research, teaching, attracting grants and outreach to the public. Professors � with disciplines including architecture, chemistry, literature, atmospheric sciences, performing arts and astronomy � and technology experts have worked together to create various virtual realties.

More than 40 architectural computer models have been developed, many of them depicting ancient buildings and towns that allow viewers to virtually stroll down the streets, step inside a home or even fly over the walled cities.

Seated in a comfortable theater that holds about 40 people, you can peek into the 26 buildings and monuments of the Roman Forum in AD 400; study frescoes painted on a bedroom wall in a Pompeii villa in AD 79; and enter the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in AD 70, just before its destruction by Roman troops.

[...]

(L.A. Times: requires free registration)

EUGENE ULRICH will be speaking on the Dead Sea Scrolls at Newman University in Wichita, KS:

Professor to speak on Dead Sea Scrolls

A University of Notre Dame professor will speak on the impact of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Bible at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11 at Jabara Theater at Newman University.

Eugene Ulrich, professor of Hebrew Scripture and theology, will also give a slide presentation during his lecture.

The event, which is free, includes a reception afterward.

THE JOURNAL BIBLICA has a new issue out (85.3, 2004). The articles are available in HTML and PDF formats. Here is the table of contents with abstracts:

Commentationes

U. BERGES, �Der Zorn Gottes in der Prophetie und Poesie Israels auf dem Hintergrund altorientalischer Vorstellungen� , Vol. 85(2004) 305-330.
������� The theme of divine anger is not peripheral to Yhwh�s revelation of himself but central to it (cf. inter alia Exod 34,6-7). When the instances of Yhwh�s anger in the OT, particularly in the writing prophets and the Psalms are compared with instances of the anger of the gods in the ancient Near East, four categories can be distinguished: a) the anger that seeks to destroy mankind; b) the anger that intervenes in the destiny of peoples; c) the anger that destroys temple cities with their sanctuaries; d) the anger that plunges the individual into danger of death. The OT speaks of Yhwh�s anger on many different levels, which demands a portrayal that is much more nuanced than has been the case up to now and represents a continuing challenge, not least for the reflection of biblical theology.

Bernard P. ROBINSON, �The Story of Jephthah and his Daughter: Then and Now� , Vol. 85(2004) 331-348.
������� In Judges 11 Jephthah is an anti-hero, his rash vow and its implementation being for the Book of Judges symptoms of the defects of pre-monarchical Israel. The daughter is probably sacrificed; the alternative view, that she is consigned to perpetual virginity, has insufficient support in the text. The story speaks still to present-day readers, challenging them not to make ill-considered judgments that may have disastrous consequences; inviting them too to detect a divine purpose working through human beings in their failings as well as their strengths.

Thomas HIEKE, �Das Alte Testament und die Todesstrafe� , Vol. 85(2004) 349-374.
������� Rather than understanding the Old Testament sanction MWT YWMT ("he shall surely be put to death") as a death penalty edict, one should see it as a parenetic warning. Comparing the verses which contain mot yumat with the few references to death sentences and executions, it is to be doubted whether this condemnation was indeed applicable. The �death edicts� are therefore not �law,� but divine dicta functioning as deterrents. They formulate things that should not happen under any circumstances. Hence, they underscore the most important ethical and cultic maxims.

Gonzalo ROJAS-FLORES, �The Book of Revelation and the First Years of Nero�s Reign� , Vol. 85(2004) 375-392.
������� In this article I try to demonstrate that the Book of Revelation was written in the first years of Nero�s reign, because (a) there is an important patristic tradition in favor of Nero and (b) the internal evidence shows that the text was redacted after Nero�s ascension to the throne in 54 and before the earthquake of Laodicea in 60.

Animadversiones

Jan LAMBRECHT, �The Line of Thought in Romans 7,15-20� , Vol. 85(2004) 393-398.
������� The parallelism between Romans 7,14-17 and 18-20 as it has recently been put forward by O. Hofius is critically examined. It would seem that within this text Paul�s reasoning progresses from vv. 14b-16 to 17-20. The thesis of v. 14b ("I am fleshly, sold into the slavery under sin") gives way to the more sophisticated pronouncement of v. 17 ("as a matter of fact it is not I that do the evil, but the indwelling sin"). Each time motivations follow, vv. 15 and 18-19; finally a conclusion is drawn, vv. 16 and 20.

Peter M. HEAD, �The Habits of New Testament Copyists. Singular Readings in the Early Fragmentary Papyri of John� , Vol. 85(2004) 399-408.
������� After an introduction that discusses the role that singular readings have played in the analysis of scribal habits, including an earlier study of synoptic gospel manuscripts by the same author, this study examines singular readings in the early fragmentary papyri of John�s Gospel. The study confirms earlier research showing that the most common singular readings concern spelling and that word order variations, word substitutions and harmonisations to context are also not uncommon. Omission of words is more common than addition.

Urban C. von WAHLDE, �He Has Given to the Son To Have Life in Himself (John 5,26)� , Vol. 85(2004) 409-412.
������� John 5,26 explains that Jesus is able to give life because the Father has given him "to have life in himself". While previously one could surmise the meaning of this special mode of possessing life, Wis 15,16-17 provides positive proof of the verse�s meaning in its comparison of the ways God and humans possess life.

Gershon GALIL, �The Chronological Framework of the Deuteronomistic History� , Vol. 85(2004) 413-421.
������� This article points out that the series of the minor judges were not included in the deuteronomistic edition of the Book of Judges, and therefore did not form part of the Dtr�s chronology. In the author�s opinion the Dtr constructs a chronological framework spanning 480 years from the Exodus to the establishment ofthe Temple (1Kgs 6,1) and correlates it with the chronological data in Deuteronomy�Samuel.

JOURNAL CRISIS CORRECTION: Oh dear. It seems that the e-mail address that I gave on Tuesday for Jean-Marie Hombert, the director of the "Sciences humaines" department at the CNRS, was incorrect. I did not get an error message, but a few others did, prompting me to double check with Christophe Batsche. He writes:

Concerning the adress of Pr Hombert, I apologize for my mistake. The right one is:
Jean-Marie.Hombert@cnrs-dir.fr
(i.e. with a DOT between dir and fr)
An alternative, lessd personal is :
secr-shs@cnrs-dir.fr
which leads to his assistant secretary.

I am afraid that if you wrote to Professor Hombert to protest the proposed cuts to funding of Revue de Qumran and Revue des �tudes Juives, your message did not get throught (which no doubt explains why he has not replied). Please resend. I am doing so now.

Apologies for the error.

THE FIRST-CENTURY SYNAGOGUE is the subject of an essay on the Bible and Interpretation website:

The Nature and Origins of the 1st-Century Synagogue

�
It is very likely that the institutions referred to as proseuchai in inscriptions dating from 3rd and 2nd century bce Egypt were, in fact, Jewish temples, and not synagogues as is commonly assumed.
�

By Anders Runesson
McMaster University, Canada
July 2004

Excerpt:

We are wise to begin out search with the period when our sources first mention synagogue terms. This happens to be the 1st century bce and ce. Second, analyzing the literary, inscriptional, and archaeological material, we must determine what type(s) of institution is referred to by these terms in the sources and what activities were associated with these institutions. Each type of institution should be investigated separately.

Third, since many of the activities connected with the 1st-century synagogue were common to similar non-Jewish institutions, the search for the origins of the unique Jewish institution as we find it in the 1st-century need to focus on the most characteristic feature of the synagogue: the feature that made it stand out among other institutions.

Fourth, the origins of the synagogue are exposed when this characteristic feature is traced to its beginnings in a setting in which we also find the other activities associated with the later, 1st synagogue. Fifth and finally, an attempt must be made to explain why, where, and how this all came to be at the specific point in time when we found the beginnings of the distinctive feature of the 1st-century synagogue.

IOQS PAPER: Next Tuesday at the International Organization of Qumran Studies conference, I'm scheduled to present a paper entitled "The Odes of Isaiah: A Newly Discovered Syriac Pseudepigraphon � A Thought Experiment." In the interval since the paper was accepted, it has taken a somewhat different turn and it now has a slightly different title and uses a different "newly discovered" document to make the points I want to make. I have now put it online, so, as a special perk only for PaleoJudaica readers (i.e., anyone who reads PaleoJudaica), you can read the oral-presentation version now. Look for my other paper, the one for the International SBL meeting, sometime on Saturday. (I leave for Groningen early Sunday morning.) Here is the slightly revised abstract of the IOQS piece, with a link to the paper itself:

The Apocalypse of Daniel: A Newly Discovered Syriac Pseudepigraphon - A Thought Experiment

Sorry, there isn't really a new pseudepigraphon called the Apocalypse of Daniel. Nor is this paper about the work with the same name published recently by Matthias Henze. Rather, this is a thought experiment to explore in a new way the problem of the transmission of Jewish Old Testament pseudepigrapha in Christian hands and how or to what degree we can hope to know whether such works actually originated in Jewish rather than Christian circles.

The approach is to treat demonstrably (mostly by external criteria) ancient Jewish works as if they had been transmitted as pseudepigrapha in Christian manuscripts, and to explore the implications of the "alternate histories" of these works as analogies for works whose transmission histories cannot now be reconstructed by conventional means. The method is informed by poststructuralist and reader-response concerns; the philosophy of counterfactuals and possible worlds; the exploration of counterfactual histories by science fiction writers and by historians; and some conceptual insights and categories formulated by the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum physics.

This paper postulates an "alternate history" for the Qumran War Scroll (as found in the manuscript 1QM) in which, rather than being abandoned at Qumran, this work was transmitted outside sectarian circles, translated first into Greek and then, into Syriac, thence surviving only in a late antique or early medieval Syriac copy attributed to the prophet Daniel. (One can point to the transmission of the Psalms of Solomon as a partial analogy.) To what degree could we show that this text was originally Jewish, and even sectarian Jewish? What literary-critical, prosodic, and linguistic criteria, if any, would be likely to be helpful in tracing its history of transmission and ultimate origin?

It opens:

This paper is a painfully brief summary of part of the third chapter of a monograph I am currently writing on the problem of Christian transmission of Jewish apocrypha and pseudepigrapha. You see from the handout that I have taken the liberty of changing the title, for reasons I will explain presently. If you were especially hoping to hear about a new Syriac Odes of Isaiah, I apologize for disappointing you. However, assuming you read my abstract or the online version of this paper before coming here, you will already know that there isn't really an Odes of Isaiah and I hope that you will be content instead with an equally imaginary Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel. I assure you that the overall arguments and their connections with the Dead Sea Scrolls remain essentially the same.

As always, feedback or comments are welcome. Do keep in mind that this is a 25 minute summary of a 161 MS-page chapter.

I have published summaries of other parts of the same book-in-progress online as I have presented them at various conferences. There are oral presentations of chapter one, chapter two, and a bit from chapter six. The International SBL paper will summarize chapter four. Please read them as very preliminary and provisional drafts. For more of my conference papers and online book reviews, see the relevant section of the links bar to the right.

UPDATE (24 July): More, including link to promised SBL paper, here.

JOURNAL CRISIS! Christophe Batsche, at the �cole Pratique des Hautes �tudes in Paris, e-mails:

The french CNRS (centralized administration for intellectual researches in France) is thinking to cut all financial credits to two major publications (at least, I hope, from our point of view) : the Revue de Qumran and the Revue des Etudes Juives. Since that suppression (which would probably mean the death of these two publications) is argumented by a biased system of reviewing quotations in international publications, perhaps could you ring the bell and ask our colleagues to send a few words to the director of the "Sciences humaines" department at the CNRS ?

email : Jean-Marie.Hombert@cnrs-dir-fr [see update below]

He adds:

There is currently a process of evaluation of human sciences reviews financially helped by the CNRS. Not a bad idea per se. You'll find all explanation (perhaps in english also, but I'm not sure) on the CNRS site :

http://www.cnrs.fr/SHS/actions/lettre.php.

The idea is to class all the reviews into three categories : 1. help maintained ; 2. help limited to electronic publication ; 3. help suppressed. The REJ falls in category 2 ; the RQu in category 3.

The evaluation is based on a system of quotations calculations in a number of international "references" reviews, which seems pretty objective and scientific. The problem is :

1) you can't avoid bias in the choice of the "reference" reviews. You dont get the same result whether you privilege history or linguistics. And, obviously, as French we certainly don't privilege religious studies area.

2) a review like RQu can have a real international diffusion and importance, but very few quotations, given the rather specialized field of knowledge it deals with.

I have sent the following e-mail to Professor Hombert:

Dear Professor Hombert,

I have just learned that the CNRS is considering cutting financial support to two critically important journals in Jewish studies: the Revue de Qumran and the Revue des �tudes Juives. These journals are mainstays of the field and it would be a great tragedy were they to be discontinued due to lack of funding. Revue des �tudes Juives is a venerable journal more than a century old which covers the whole range of the history, religion, literature, society, bibliography, and methodology of the study of Judaism. It has an international readership and range of contributors and its loss would leave a major gap in the academic study of Judaism and indeed in the field of Western history in general. Revue de Qumran is another international journal, which focuses on the Dead Sea Scrolls and is one of the major disseminators of scholarly information on the subject. Given the critical importance of the Scrolls for our understanding of the ancient history of Judaism, Christianity, the Bible, and religion in late antiquity, and also the widespread public interest in the Qumran discoveries, the cutting of this journal's funding would not only do great harm to all these academic fields, it would also send a very negative message to the public about the commitment of the CNRS to funding important work in the humanities.

All this being the case, I encourage you very strongly to resist any movement in the direction of cutting the funding of these journals.

I am posting this message on my weblog, Paleojudaica (address below in my signature), and also copying it to other specialists. If you have no objection, I would like to post your reply on the weblog as well.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I will report back when I hear from him. In the meantime, if you are a specialist in ancient Judaism or biblical studies, you will already know how important these journals are. I encourage you to e-mail Professor Hombert to encourage the CNRS to continue funding. It is worthwhile to emphasize the international importance of these journals; their significance for the fields of history and linguistic study in general, not just religious history; and the public interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the negative publicity that would result from the loss of RevQ.

If you are a nonspecialist, but are interested enough in the field to be reading PaleoJudaica, I would be very grateful if you too would send Professor Hombert a note expressing concern over this news. You might describe your own interest in these fields and let him know that it would dismay you to see that the CNRS is considering cutting funding for these important resources that help scholars advance our knowledge in these areas.

Anyone is welcome to use my message or any part of it as a template if that would help. I trust it goes without saying that all messages should be polite, respectful, and to the point.

Thanks!

UPDATE: (22 July): The e-mail address given above for Professor Hombert is incorrect. For the correct one go here.

FRANK MOORE CROSS AND ELIE WIESEL are interviewed together and give their views on the Bible in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. The piece is not available online, but you can read a summary of it in this A.P. article:

Cultural titans share thoughts on Bible

Publication links Hebrew professor, Holocaust victim

ASSOCIATED PRESS

They are titans in their respective fields who have taught within miles of each other. But they never met until a journalist brought them together to talk about the Bible.

The talkers were Frank Moore Cross, 82, the distinguished professor of Hebrew literature at Harvard University since 1957 (now emeritus); and Boston University's Elie Wiesel, 75, Holocaust survivor, author and winner of the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize. Their chat was arranged by Hershel Shanks for the magazine he edits, Biblical Archaeology Review.

What attracts Wiesel to the Bible?

"I see history in it. I see revealed truth in it. I see in it human holiness as much as divine inspiration. Whenever you open it, any page, you know you are in the presence of something that exists nowhere else."

And Cross?

He said in the classroom and writings he takes a strictly "scientific" approach. "I attempt to deal with the Bible as I would with any work of literature," and to treat the history of Israel the same as that of England or China.

But along with that there's a private aspect Cross doesn't teach or write about publicly. "The Bible is a book that has shaped my life, my beliefs, my ethics, my moral concerns, my religious outlook."

[...]

As I think I've mentioned before, Frank Cross supervised my doctoral work.

UPDATE: Stephen Goranson has pointed me to the location of the BAR article online.

CALENDAR ALGORITHMS GALORE:

Israeli algorithms help you get your dates straight (Israel21c)
By Rava Eleasari July 19, 2004

The e-mail came from a Swede requesting that Tel Aviv University Professor Nachum Dershowitz look into the rules of the Samaritan calendar "since he was already there in Israel."

Thus began the latest odyssey of Dershowitz, a member of the School of Computer Science, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, in systemizing yet another of the world's dating systems - this time of a secretive, traditionalist religious sect of only 1,000 people that live in a radius of about 65 mile radius from the TAU campus.

To date, Dershowitz and his colleague Prof. Edward M. Reingold of the Illinois Institute of Technology, USA, have mathematically analyzed 25 of the world's calendars in the first and only project of its kind. They have provided equations and algorithms for quick and accurate calculation of dates within each system, as well as for conversion of dates between calendars.

The second edition of their book, Calendrical Calculations, encodes the rules for two dozen calendars in mathematical form, and describes how they relate to one another. Among the systems described are the Gregorian (in near universal use today), Islamic, Persian, Coptic, Baha'i, Hebrew, Mayan, Chinese, and modern Hindu. (www.calendarists.com

[...]

NEW BOOK REVIEWS FROM THE REVIEW OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE:

Clifford, Richard J.
Psalms 73-150
Reviewed by Beth La Neel Tanner

Clifford, Richard J.
Psalms 73-150
Reviewed by John Vassar

Creach, Jerome F. D.
Joshua
Reviewed by Ed Noort

Fritz, Volkmar
Translated by Anselm Hagedorn
1 & 2 Kings
Reviewed by A. Graeme Auld

Loretz, Oswald
Psalmstudien: Kolometrie, Strophik und Theologie ausgew�hlter Psalmen
Reviewed by Manfred Oeming

Nam, Duck-Woo
Talking about God: Job 42:7-9 and the Nature of God in the Book of Job
Reviewed by Edward L. Greenstein

Potts, Timothy, Michael Roaf, and Diana Stein, eds.
Culture through Objects: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Honour of P. R. S. Moorey
Reviewed by Beth Alpert Nakhai

Sweeney, Marvin A.
Zephaniah
Reviewed by Mark Wade Hamilton

Carter, Warren
Pontius Pilate: Portraits of a Roman Governor
Reviewed by Richard Bautch

Mayer-Haas, Andrea J.
Geschenk aus Gottes Schatzkammer (bSchab 10b): Jesus und der Sabbat im Spiegel der neutestamentlichen Schriften
Reviewed by Russell Morton

NEW BOOK REVIEWS FROM BRYN MAWR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

2004.07.36: �Warren C. Trenchard, A Concise Dictionary of New Testament Greek. Cambridge: 2003. Pp. xvii, 177. $15.00 (pb). ISBN 0-521-52111-4.
Reviewed by Rolando Ferri.

2004.06.42: �Tessa Rajak, The Jewish Dialogue with Greece and Rome. Studies in Cultural and Social Interaction. Leiden: 2002. Pp. 578. $53.00 (pb). ISBN 0-391-04133-9.
Reviewed by Chris Seeman.

Somehow I missed the second one, but Mark Goodacre caught it.

CRONACA has vanished too. When will this madness stop?

UPDATE (19 July): Cronaca is back. Still no sign of Phluzein.

SLOW NEWS DAY. But here's a column in the Florida Sun Sentinel about the biblical canon, by people who call themselves the "God Squad": "Torah is first five books of Bible". It's accurate as far as it goes, but if they're going to explain the arrangement of the biblical books in different canons, they really should also mention the Old Testament Apocrypha or deuterocanonical books, which are part of the Catholic canon. (But note that 2 Esdras and 3-4 Maccabees are not part of this canon even though 2 Edsdras always and the others often are listed in the Apocrypha.) The Orthodox canon is roughly the same as the Catholic canon, but at least sometimes it includes 3 Maccabees. And it gets still more complicated: for example the OT canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church includes 1 Enoch and Jubilees.

PHLUZEIN is "no longer operational." Even the archive is gone. What happened?

THE ST. CATHERINE'S MONASTERY LIBRARY in the Sinai, an ancient repository for precious biblical manuscripts and other historical treasures, is to be the subject of a major $4.9 million conservation effort:

Conservation of legendary library planned��
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Big News Network.com (via Bible and Interpretation News) Friday 16th July, 2004��
A major conservation project has begun at St. Catherine's Monastery near Mount Sinai to preserve its library of manuscripts for future generations of scholars.

[...]

TWO NEW BOOKS (via Mimas Zetoc alerts):

Sarah Dille, Mixing Metaphors: God As Mother And Father In Deutero-isaiah (Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement series)

Esther de Boer, Gospel Of Mary: Beyond A Gnostic And A Biblical Mary Magdalene (Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement series)

It's interesting that Mary Magdalene is getting a lot of media attention lately. I suppose that's partly because there have been a lot of books published about her recently. And, of course, having Monica Bellucci play her in The Passion of the Christ can't have hurt any. Here are some articles on her that came up today on a Google search.

Mary Magdalene veiled in mystery (News-Leader.com)

Questions, misconceptions follow Mary Magdalene (News-Leader.com)

Mary Magdalene interest intense (The Advocate)

Incidentally, her feast day is coming up on 22 July.

JOSEPHUS APOCRYPHON WANTED:

I am trying to track down information on a collection of citations pertaining to Jeremiah from a Greek biblical commentary attributed to "Iosippos." The collection of citations appears in a single Greek manuscript: Barberinus Gr. 549, and the Josephus Greek version or commentary appears to be cited occasionally elsewhere.

This work in Barb. Gr. 549 is mentioned by Robert Devreesse in Introduction � l'�tude des manuscrits grecs (Paris: Klincksieck, 1954) p. 130 and he quotes some lines from it in Greek. He thinks it could be as late as the fifth century.

Feldman's Josephus and Modern Scholarship (1937-1980) also gives the following reference on pp. 389 and 390-91, which I have not yet seen:

Balduino Kipper, "Josipo (ou Josefo), traducto Grego Quase Desconhecido," Revista de Cultura Biblica (S�o Paulo) 5 (1961), 298-307, 387-395, 446-456.

I'm not anxious to plow through three Portuguese articles (or to burn the three interlibrary loan points), but I suppose I shall have to.

But meanwhile, does anyone out there know anything about this text or know on any more recent literature on it?

Many thanks for any help any of you can give me.

(Cross-posted to Ioudaios-L.)

A CAVE USED DURING THE BAR KOKHBA REVOLT, as well as other interesting ancient sights of the Judean Plains, are the subject of a travelogue in the Jerusalem Post. Excerpts:

Playing hide and seek
By AVIVA BAR-AM

Take a trip through history in the Judean plains

Sixty-two years had passed since the destruction of the Second Temple and the end of the Great Revolt. The Romans had overcome the zealots at Masada, and quashed a few small Jewish uprisings in the intervening decades. Yet somehow, those stubborn Jews refused to admit defeat. When Emperor Hadrian banned circumcision and decided to erect a pagan temple on the Temple Mount, they knew it was time to take a stand yet again.

Fortuitously, or so it seemed at the time, a charismatic new figure appeared in Judea. We know him as Shimon Bar-Kochba, a soldier of outstanding courage. Wild tales and fantastic legends sprang up about the heroic warrior. It was said that Bar-Kochba breathed fire, could throw catapult stones back at his aggressors, and tested the mettle of his volunteers by having them cut off a finger.

Before going into battle in 132 CE, Bar-Kochba apparently gave orders for the construction of hundreds of underground hideouts in the Judean plains. Quite similar both in structure and in the security measures they contained, they were built throughout the plains that would soon become a bloody battleground.

Only one of these historic hiding caves is wholly safe for visitors - the cave at Hirbet Midras (Madras) in the Adullam Region Nature Reserve. A thrilling experience way off the beaten track, the cave is part of a terrific two-hour route full of enchanting sites. Your walk is through a wilderness of natural foliage, always a delight. And, best of all, it doesn't cost a penny.

[...]

Your first stop on the blue-marked trail is a tour of the hiding caves. A large tree sunk in a hole covers the opening; you walk down steps to view the entrance. I have to warn you: it isn't easy! And it is one-way only (you exit through the bell-shaped cave that is on your right). Note: you must bring one flashlight per person to enter the hiding caves, as the tunnels are pitch black. (The best kind to bring are the ones you wear on your forehead.)

Most of the tunnels connecting the living quarters are quite narrow - and some are very low (40 to 60 centimeters)! Not only did we crawl on all fours, but at one point we lay on our stomachs and pulled ourselves forward with our arms. Every once in a while, we came out into a large chamber, where we were able to stand upright. One room even had wedge-shaped alcoves in the wall where, apparently, the inhabitants raised doves. Those rooms would have been, if not comfortable, at least cool in the summer.

[...]

AT THE beginning of the Bar-Kochba Revolt, it looked as if the Jews actually had a chance of winning - especially after Jewish troops captured Jerusalem along with fortresses and settlements all over Judea in hand-to-hand combat. Hadrian finally became alarmed enough by Jewish success to call in seasoned commander General Julius Severus, who refrained from frontal battle and decided to steadily crumble Jewish resistance.

As the Romans began to get the upper hand, retaking villages, cities and forts, the Jews took shelter underground. Caves structured as these were, with a tiny opening and narrow tunnels, were excellent defensive positions: Soldiers wearing unwieldy coats of armor could only enter one by one.

But the Romans defeated the Jews nevertheless. They discovered the caves, stuffed wet brush into ventilation holes, and set them on fire. Once the men, women and children living in the caves had been smoked out, they were systematically massacred.

The revolt ended in 135 and the toll it had taken was devastating. Whole areas of Judea were devastated, dozens of villages were wiped off the map, and Jewish multitudes had been enslaved.

THE INDIANAPOLIS DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBIT is the subject of a brief article on the WISHTV website:

Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit Takes You Back 5,000 Years

By Pam Elliot

Would you like to step back 5,000 years in time? There are actually fragments of history that date back that far and are temporarily on display in Indianapolis. The Dead Sea scrolls are in town.

Lee Biondi says his life changed two years ago because of the Dead Sea scrolls: words from Psalms and Genesis discovered in the 1940's but thousands of years old. He calls it the earliest scripture in the world. �It absolutely changed my life. I reassessed what I was doing professionally," he said.

[...]

Unfortunately, both the headline and the opening paragraph give the false impression that the Scrolls are 5000 years old, and the rest of the article does nothing to correct this misapprehension. For the record, they are about 2000 years old. I don't see why this sort of thing should be so hard to get right. The piece does have some nice Scroll images though.

By the way, Blogger is suffering from some malfunctions this morning, such at the Preview button being missing. Apologies if this causes any problems with the postings.

UPDATE: WTHR, another Indiana TV station, gives a clearer account:

Indianapolis, July 15 - It is a collection that brings to life 5,000 years of history. Co-curator Lee Biondi calls it "an entire history of Scripture that goes way back to the very earliest writings."

The exhibit featuring the Dead Sea Scrolls captures the origins of the Bible with fragile pieces of the Old Testament, the earliest known to man, ancient manuscripts and time-worn treasures.

[...]

Along with the Dead Sea Scrolls, the collection offers pictographic clay tablets from 3,000 BC, early Biblical manuscripts in Hebrew, Coptic, Greek and Latin and every major Bible printed in English.

[...]

That is, the exhibit has some Dead Sea Scrolls in it (which are about 2000 years old, although neither article says this), plus there are some cuneiform tablets that, evidently are about 5000 years old (which is pretty old, even for cuneiform tablets).

THE NEW JPS COMMENTARY ON ECCLESIATES, by Michael V. Fox, is reviewed in this AP article:

Trying to make sense of Ecclesiastes

By Richard N. Ostling
The Associated Press
Posted July 16 2004

What is the Book of Ecclesiastes doing in the Bible? This astonishing little masterwork from ancient Israel struggles with concepts found elsewhere in the Scriptures.

The writer of Ecclesiastes is greatly perplexed that evil people often prosper while good ones suffer, and says that life sometimes seems to lack meaning or makes no sense. It asks, how do things fit together?

The issues are sifted, if not exactly answered, in Ecclesiastes, the latest of the Jewish Publication Society's commentaries on biblical books. The series is excellent in quality, but pricey (this 87-page book costs $34.95).

Ecclesiastes provides the Hebrew text, the JPS English translation, and an introduction and verse-by-verse comments from Michael V. Fox, professor of Hebrew at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison.

[...]

The book's speaker, known as Koheleth or "the Preacher," struggles with the shortness of life, the futility of effort, the triviality of material goods, the vulnerability of wisdom and the apparent violations of justice. But "the irrationality of the world is the fundamental grievance," Fox writes.


[...]

PHILOLOGOS has a column this week in the Forward on the din rodef. Excerpts:

Pursuing the 'Rodef'
July 16, 2004

The rabbinic concept of din rodef is � unfortunately � back in the news. It last made the front pages at the time of the Yitzhak Rabin assassination. Two weeks ago it resurfaced � this time, in connection with the declaration of Avigdor Nebenzahl, the learned and respected rabbi of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City: "Anyone ceding parts of the Land of Israel to gentiles is, from a halakhic point of view, subject to din rodef." Although Rabbi Nebenzahl then qualified this statement with the assurance that by his reading of Halakha or rabbinic law, din rodef is not applicable in the state of Israel today, his words set alarm bells ringing. It was din rodef, after all, that Yigal Amir and his sympathizers cited as a religious justification for the murder of Rabin.

[...]

This is no doubt about why Nebenzahl, albeit convolutedly, ruled that din rodef was not applicable to Israeli politics, just as it is not applicable to many other things. Although "the right of self-defense" is a valid principle, the minute this principle escapes the bounds of clear and immediately life-threatening situations, it becomes a license for general mayhem. When rabbinic law cannot possibly lead to workable conclusions, even those who seek to live by it should acknowledge that other standards are preferable, such as those of the democratic political process. Whether or not Israel withdraws from part or all of the "territories" should be decided by a majority vote of the Knesset, not by the imperatives of rabbinic law. Those who should be saying this most loudly are Israel's rabbis themselves.

THE HEAD PRIEST OF THE IRAQI SABEAN MANDEANS is interviewed about his religion:

Iraq: Old Sabaean-Mandean Community Is Proud of Its Ancient Faith

By Valentinas Mite, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Iraq's Sabaean-Mandean religious community is one of the smallest and most peaceful in Iraq. Sabaeans insist their religion is one of the oldest in the world and consider themselves to be the followers of the message given to Adam, whom the Bible says is the first man created on Earth.

Baghdad, 14 July 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Many in Iraq know Sabaean-Mandeans as a peaceful though strange religious community, more known for silver and gold craftsmanship than their religious beliefs.

Satar Jabar Helo is the head priest and spiritual leader of the Sabaeans in Iraq, a small community of some 75,000 believers.

Sabaeans also live in neighboring Iran. There are a total of 150,000 members worldwide.

Sabaeans are a lonely and reclusive community. Helo says they have not proselytized since 70 years after the death of Jesus Christ, when 365 Sabaean priest were killed in a single day in Babylon.

There is only one way to become a Sabaean, according to Helo: to be born to parents who both belong to the faith.

Helo, dressed in a white robe, with a long beard and flowing hair, speaks about darkness and light, good and evil, life and death, and the role of human beings in these unfolding cosmic events.

He says Sabaeans pray three times a day to God in Aramaic, a language close to the one spoken by Jesus Christ: "In the name of the living Great, in the name of the One and the Only One who is the world of pure light who gives a soul, gives health, peace and peace of heart and forgiveness of sins with the force of the explosions of light."

[...]

"We suffered from [the Saddam Hussein] regime but our main grievance is that we suffer as a nation which is [always] treated as third-rate,� says Helo. �Not only Sabaeans [suffer] but also our Christian brothers [in Iraq]. This is a complex [of this society]. They consider those of us who are not Muslims to be atheists. And it is permissible to kill or rob an atheist.

Helo says that some radical Shi'a Muslim clerics have delivered fatwas, or religious orders, condemning Sabaeans.

[...]

PHILO OF ALEXANDRIA IN THE MEDIA: Michael B. Poliakoff has an essay on Olympic combat sports in Humanities Magazine. He cites Philo as one of his authorities:

The death-scorning perseverance of athletes in combat sport became a byword. Philo the Jewish philosopher wrote, "I know wrestlers and pankratiasts often persevere out of love for honor and zeal for victory to the point of death, when their bodies are giving up and they keep drawing breath and struggling on spirit alone, a spirit which they have accustomed to reject fear scornfully. . . . Among those competitors, death for the sake of an olive or celery crown is glorious."

THE JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT has a new issue out (28.4, June 2004). Here's the table of contents:

Recent Evidence from Assyrian Sources for Judaean History from Uzziah to Manasseh
387
Stephanie Dalley

The Widow of Our Discontent: Levirate Marriage in the Bible and Ancient Israel 403
Dvora E. Weisberg

'Knock, Knock, Knockin' on Sodom's Door': The Function of dlt/pth in Genesis 18-19 431
Brian Doyle

'You Meant Evil Against Me': Dialogic Truth and the Character of Jacob in Joseph's Story 449
Carleen Mandolfo

'Then Israel Bowed Himself...' (Genesis 47.31) 467
Raymond de Hoop

Echoes from the Past: Israel's Ancient Traditions and the Destiny of the Nations in Isaiah 40-55 481
Rikk E. Watts

Also, the 2004 edition of the SOTS Booklist is out and online.

Both require a paid personal or institutional subscription to access.

ANOTHER PASSION REVIEW: Jacques and Carol Krie have a new one up on the Bible and Interpretation website:

History is Beside the Point:
Deconstructing Mel Gibson�s "The Passion of the Christ"

"The film has nothing to do with historical debates; it is a passion play, both successful and abysmal in representing that genre�Mr Gibson has fashioned a blunt instrument of propaganda, edged with artistry, whose visceral power gives it the potential to become his most lethal weapon of all.... And, as in the case of any passion play, the artistry consists of what is invented, not in fidelity to the Gospels, and history is beside the point."
�Bruce Chilton

One brief excerpt:

This master narrative, or theory, as constructed by the Church Fathers in the 4th century, has become the basis of Christian fundamentalism. Scientific research as embodied in modern biblical and literary scholarship is a much greater challenge to Fundamentalist Christian theology than the traditional conflict between "science" and "religion." We believe that, to be a Christian in the modern world, cognizance must be taken of that debate, and its full implications must be confronted.23 If we do not do so, we are living a religious lie.24 And that is our biggest problem with this film. It presents a picture of the foundational event of Christianity that is now being challenged by well founded biblical and historical research. The Church is hiding this challenge from its members and from non-Christians alike. It is as if Gibson made a historical film showing how God made man out of mud, as depicted in Genesis 2, ignoring all scientific evidence for evolution.

ABSTRACTS FOR THE PAPERS at the annual meeting of the International Organization for Qumran Studies later this month in Groningen are now avaible as a PDF file on the Orion website (via Ken Penner on the g-Megillot list).

THE SABEA(N) MANDEANS are in danger from the polluted water of the Tigris river:

Languid Tigris Waters Mask Iraq's Pollution Menace (Reuters)
Sun Jul 11, 2004 11:02 AM ET

By Matthew Green

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Plunging under the olive green surface of the Tigris, worshippers from an obscure sect emerge spurting water from their mouths.

A little way downstream, a torrent of sewage gushes into the river as it flows through the Iraqi capital Baghdad. A stench like rotten eggs wafts through the air.

Described in legend as flowing from a source near the Garden of Eden, the Tigris is now choking with modern-day pollution that researchers say puts millions of Iraqis at risk.

[...]

Shrugging off concerns of environmentalists, white-robed worshippers of the Sabea Mandean Nation, a relic of the ancient Gnostic religions, took their weekly dip in the Tigris to purify their souls.

Environmentalists say Iraq's interim government must clean up a river that provides drinking water for Baghdad and much of southern Iraq, saying risks should not be overlooked even though the leadership is focused on crushing insurgents.

[...]

"We need the help of the government, we need the help of the world," said Tahrir al-Jawahiri, an engineering consultant who used to design Iraqi sewage works.

To members of the Sabea Mandean Nation, the river's contents are of little concern.

"These little pieces of rubbish don't hurt a big river like the Tigris," said Salem Khazal, 37, waiting to be immersed.

"You should drink some -- you'll like it," he said.

There's more on the Mandeans here.

NEW BOOK REVIEWS FROM THE REVIEW OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE:

Bautch, Richard J.
Developments in Genre between Post-Exilic Penitential Prayers and the Psalms of Communal Lament
Reviewed by Jacob Wright

Brueggemann, Walter
An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination
Reviewed by Thomas Hieke

Mandolfo, Carleen
God in the Dock: Dialogic Tension in the Psalms of Lament
Reviewed by Kathleen Mary O'Connor

Sweeney, Marvin A. and Ehud Ben Zvi, eds.
The Changing Face of Form-Criticism for the Twenty-First Century
Reviewed by Yair Hoffman

Van Seters, John
A Law Book for the Diaspora: Revision in the Study of the Covenant Code
Reviewed by Eckart Otto

Carter, Warren
Pontius Pilate: Portraits of a Roman Governor
Reviewed by Lance Richey

Maccoby, Hyam
Jesus the Pharisee
Reviewed by Michele Murray

De Troyer, Kristin
Rewriting the Sacred Text: What the Old Greek Texts Tell Us about the Literary Growth of the Bible
Reviewed by A. Graeme Auld

Charlesworth, James H.
The Pesharim and Qumran History: Chaos or Consensus?
Reviewed by Shani Berrin

Horbury, William
Messianism among Jews and Christians: Biblical and Historical Studies
Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas

Jefferies, Daryl F.
Wisdom at Qumran: A Form-Critical Analysis of the Admonitions in 4QInstruction
Reviewed by Robert A Kugler

THE ANTIQUITIES AND ARCHAEOLOGY JOBS that were under threat in Israel due to IAA budget cuts have been funded for another year:

Olmert, Netanyahu budget NIS 10m to prevent firing of 260 (Ha'aretz via Deinde)
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent

Minister of Industry and Trade Ehud Olmert and Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu decided Tuesday to budget NIS 10 million to prevent the firing of 260 workers in the Antiquities Authority, Nature and Parks Authority and the Society for the Restoration and Preservation of Historic Sites in Israel. Each of the ministries will allocate NIS 5 million to employ the workers through the end of the year.

[...]

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY has some of the Ethiopic manuscripts that were taken away after the battle of Magdala in 1868. Now the government of Ethiopia is asking for them back:

University may return looted texts to Ethiopia (The Glasgow Herald, via Explorator)
RAYMOND DUNCAN
AN African government's plea for the return of looted religious manuscripts held by Edinburgh University is to be determined by a special panel of experts.
A committee is to be set up to decide if the request by Ethiopian ministers meets guidelines approved yesterday at a meeting of the university's court to deal with repatriation of items from its collections.
Helen Hayes, university vice-principal and librarian, said last night it might be necessary to ask for more information from those behind the call to return the texts plundered by British troops about 130 years ago.

[...]

The parchments include two copies of the Book of Psalms, one portion of the gospels, and two texts detailing the acts of St George.

Other manuscripts from the same episode have been kept in Winsor Castle, as noted here earlier. At least the Herald article tells what is in these manuscripts!

On Monday we'll be away in Dunfermline most of the day visiting friends. Additional blogging will come late in the day, if at all.

THERE'S RENEWED INTEREST IN ARAMAIC IN INDIA, thanks to Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ:

A 'PASSION' FOR LANGUAGE (Times Picayune)
Mel Gibson's film spurs interest in the ancient Aramaic language, from countryside to classrooms across India
Saturday, July 10, 2004
By Joshua Newton
Religion News Service

KOCHI, India -- Every Saturday night, six old men crowd together on a wooden bench in a damp church foyer with pens and notebooks. Some are small-time traders, some retired clerks. Two of them are over 60 years old. Some take notes while others toss questions to the Rev. Raphael Rappai, a 63-year-old priest tutoring them.

Topic of study: Aramaic, the language many believe Jesus Christ used.
Advertisement


The motley language class in Thrissur district in Kerala state in southern India has proved a new lease on life for Jesus' language there ever since the release of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" in May.

[...]

Kerala has the largest number of Christians in the country. Scholars believe the use of Aramaic-Syriac dialect there began with migration of Christians from the Middle East to Kerala during the third and fourth centuries.

In the following centuries, colonialists led by the Portuguese began to translate the liturgy into Latin, which gradually led to the demise of Aramaic. The situation is now being slowly reversed by Gibson's film, albeit on a modest scale.

[...]

In recent years, proponents of the language found it difficult to propagate Aramaic. But they got a boost when Mahatma Gandhi University, one of India's prominent academic centers, launched an Aramaic wing for its language department.

"Several people called up here asking for crash courses on Aramaic," said the Rev. Jacob Thekkeparambil, director of St. Ephrem Ecumenical Research Institute at Kottayam. "Once we get a quorum of 20 students, we launch such quick courses. Yes, I guess Gibson's film is bringing in fresh students for us."

The institute, the only one of its kind teaching Aramaic in the country, has about 15 students attending its two-year postgraduate course. Since its inception in 1985, as many as 500 graduates learned to read and converse in simple Aramaic.

[...]

HERE'S AN INTERVIEW with the authors of The Rule of Four, Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason (Voice of America News). Excerpts (Caldwell speaking in the first):

"A Renaissance history professor suggested I write my final paper on a book called the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, which I'd never heard of, and neither of us could spell," he said. "So I went to the library to look it up, and it turns out to be one of the most valuable books in the history of Western printing. Nobody knows who wrote it, and yet there's a code inside the book that seems to suggest the identity of the author. It's written in about half a dozen ancient languages, everything from Italian and Latin and Greek to Hebrew and Arabic and Egyptian hieroglyphics. The material in the book is also very peculiar. There's a lot of sexual imagery, a lot of violence that makes it surprisingly un-Christian considering the Christian time period, the Renaissance and the culture it came out of. So all the way around it's something that scholars have been puzzled by."

If there are Egyptian hieroglyphics in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, they must be either gibberish or copied from an ancient text without the author knowing what they said: no one could read them in the time the book was written.

Ian and Dustin turned that real life mystery into a fictional story set at Princeton University, where a group of students race to unravel the secrets of the Hypnerotomachia. When things turn violent, the students realize there's more at stake than intellectual curiosity. Dustin Thomason says they drew inspiration from their own college experiences and from the Hypnerotomachia .

"Neither one of us had any professors who were as evil as the ones that are represented in The Rule of Four," he said. "But we tried as best we could to recreate the feeling of being a senior in college and the feeling of working on something your senior thesisthat is incredibly important to you.

Let's hear it for evil professors.

Ian and Dustin were aided in their research by the first English translation of the Hypnerotomachia , which was published while they were working on their novel. They divided up the writing duties, working on separate chapters, then reviewing them together. Over time, Ian Caldwell says they developed a single voice for their main character, a Princeton senior named Tom Sullivan.

If this means that Caldwell read the book in the original when he was an undergraduate, well, I'm impressed. But I suppose it's more likely that he just used secondary sources.

From the little I've heard so far, The Rule of Four sounds a lot more worthwhile than the idiotic Da Vinci Code.

MORE ON THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS TO THE BIBLE IN AMERICA EXHIBITION (two posts down) from the Louisville Courier Journal, KY:

� An exhibition that traces the evolution of the Bible from ancient origins to American texts opens Friday at Adam's Mark Hotel, 120 W. Market St., Indianapolis. "The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America" begins with ancient Hebrew Scriptures, including fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and follows the development of the Bible in English from the 14th century to the 17th century.

Highlights of the 100 artifacts include 5,000-year-old picture-writing on clay tablets from ancient Mesopotamia, fragments of the earliest Bible in Greek and some of the earliest Christian writings. Also on view are St. Jerome's Vulgate Bible in Latin from the 13th century, various private, illuminated devotionals (books of hours) and first and early editions of Reformation Bibles, Catholic Bibles in English and the first printing of the 1611 King James Bible. The chronology ends with the Lunar Bible, a microfiche Bible that went to the moon.

[...]

GOOGLE referred someone to this site this afternoon who was searching for "young nude weblog." Don't ask me why. Whoever you are, sorry to disappoint.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION run by Lee Biondi and Co. (formerly From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible as Forbidden Book) is now in Indianapolis under the title The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America:

Biblical history
Fragments of ancient scrolls are in exhibit touring nation.

By John J. Shaughnessy
john.shaughnessy@indystar.com
July 10, 2004

Craig Lampe understands the emotions people have when they see the nationally touring religious exhibit that traces the story of the Bible from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the first Bible that went to the moon.

"It's been gratifying, because people of all faiths have come out to hear the story," says Lampe, a former Indianapolis resident who is one of the co-curators of the exhibit. "You get every kind of reaction, from delight to people crying."

Lampe expects that same reaction when the exhibit -- "The Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America" -- opens Friday for a monthlong run at the Adam's Mark Hotel, 120 W. Market St.

Featuring more than 75 artifacts, the exhibit includes Dead Sea Scrolls fragments from the Old Testament, the earliest biblical fragments in existence. It also features an excerpt from Paul's Letter to the Colossians, one of the earliest connections to the New Testament.

[...]

MORE ON THE CHEESEMAKERS: Jan-Wim Wesselius e-mails that he proposed an Aramaic translation of "Blessed are the cheesemakers" on the ANE list some time ago. The message read, in part:

As there is a lot of Aramaic, you can always supply missing lexical and grammatical items from other dialects. What is difficult is to build a basic reservoir of words and expressions, but once you have done that you can produce translations of most texts with ease. What Aramaic should one use as the basis for Jesus' language? I would go for the Palestinian Targum in its reliable (Genizah) texts: avunan de-vashmayya, yetqaddash shemakh etc., and, on a lighter note, berikhin avde govna. Sokoloff's dictionary would then be a great help, of course. Most of Qumran Aramaic is way too conservative to use for this purpose, later JPA, Samaritan and CPA lack the vowels and represent a later type of language in any case.

My emphasis. Sadly, Mel Gibson did not use the line in The Passion of the Christ.

But that reminds me of something I thought of when I saw the movie but forgot to put in my review. Remember the scene early on when Jesus has been arrested and the Marys are talking to a Roman guard who sends his underlings off on an errand, telling them "Go! Go!" in Latin? I can't help thinking that this little exchange was an intentional echo of the "Romans go home!" episode in the Life of Brian.

MORE ON DIN RODEF � Reader Simon Montagu e-mails:

I am happy to help you out with some rabbinic sources for "din rodef".

There are really two concepts here which are often confused: "rodef" and "moser".

"Din rodef" appears in Maimonides Mishne Tora Hilchot Rotzeah 1, 6-15. Unfortunately I don't have a printed edition of Mishne Torah with Talmudic sources and cross-references, but the principal source is Mishna Sanhedrin 8, 7.

"Din moser" appears in Mishne Tora Hilchot Hovel Umezik 8, 9-11.

There is an excellent article by Haim Cohen on the subject at http://www.come-and-hear.com/supplement/free-judaism-cohen.html

To read the Hebrew in the first two links you need to have the proper fonts installed. You can find an English translation of Mishnah Sanhedrin 8.7, along with Talmudic commentary thereon, here. Scroll down to the end of the page, "Mishna IX."

UPDATE: Peter S. Zaas e-mails:

A thorough examination of the question of Din Rodef in relation to the Rabin assassination was conducted by Chaim Povarsky in Jewish Law Association Studies IX, ed. E. Goldman:� "The Law of the Pursuer and the Assassination of Prime Minister Rabin."� Needless to say, Povarsky concluded that Prime Minister Rabin was in no sense a rodef.

UPDATE (16 July): More here.

"CHALDOASSYRIANS" (Aramaic-speaking Iraqis) will be recognized in the next Iraqi census according to the Assyrian International News Agency, Iraq:

With the handover of sovereignty by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) now complete, the new interim government in Iraq has begun to prepare the groundwork for nationwide elections now set for 2005. Reports have surfaced that in preparation for a nationwide census, a new draft census form including the various Iraqi constituent groups has been prepared. The draft survey form reportedly includes Arabs, Turkoman, Armenians, Kurds, and Assyrians. The inclusion of Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) marks a historic milestone in that under the former regime Assyrians were deliberately classified as Arabs, despite their protestations. As a direct result, past Iraqi censuses have resulted in Assyrian under representation.

[...]

IN MALAYSIA Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ will be shown only to Christians, according to The Star, Malaysia:

KUALA LUMPUR: Mel Gibson�s controversial film The Passion of the Christ, which sparked unprecedented debate following its release early this year, has finally arrived on Malaysian shores.

It was learnt that the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) would be meeting with the local distributor of the film to work out the details of the screenings.

Its executive secretary Patrick Cheng said tickets would be sold in various member churches of NECF.

[...]

In reply to a question raised by Seputeh MP Teresa Kok in Parliament, the Home Affairs Ministry had said the National Censorship Board had approved the screening of the film in designated cinemas to Christian viewers.

Cheng added that standard publicity such as posters and cinematic trailers were not permitted.

[...]

OXFORD UNIVERSITY is getting a large donation to set up a research center on the Middle East. The headline from the London Times is misleading: "Islamic studies gain �21/4m". The remit of the institution seems to be considerably broader. The article says:

OXFORD University has been given �21/4 million to ensure that no government cuts can ever harm its teaching of Islamic art and culture.

Professor Nasser Khalili, Britain�s most influential collector of Islamic art, has given the money to enable the university to set up a research centre for the art and material culture of the Middle East.

[...]

The donation will be used to increase the number of teaching staff, broaden research into pre-Islamic Iran, pre-Islamic Arabia and Jewish art, and safeguard the teaching at Oxford of minority languages such as Aramaic.

The centre will employ scholars with expertise on ceramics and metalwork, painting and iconography, textiles and carpets, archaeology, numismatics and the interaction between Christian and Muslim cultures in the medieval Mediterranean.

[...]

So the new centre (to open next year) will deal not only with Islam but more broadly with the "art and material culture of the Middle East." And also, it appears, Middle Eastern languages such as Aramaic. This is excellent news.

MUSEUMS IN ISRAEL: Ha'aretz has a long, rambling guide that is pretty open-minded about what constitutes a museum. It opens:

Flagrant exhibitionism
By Vered Levy-Barzilai
Yet another distinction for Israel: The country has the world's highest number of museums per capita, where you can learn about everything from the history of tractors to to ancient cheesemaking to erotica.

Alas, the advertisement for the Museum of the Cheesemakers proves to be premature:

Not long afterward, we find ourselves at the entrance to Gilon where a sign points to Hanoked Dairy. This is the next destination, the Museum of Ancient Cheesemaking Equipment and this is the scene that greets a visitor: a rugged wooden building perched on the edge of a cliff, with a balcony overlooking a breathtaking Galilee vista. Next to the building is a cowshed and sheep pen, or something similar, all empty. Not a living soul is around. The wind is hot and dry. On the wooden deck of the balcony are two heavy wooden tables with five chairs around each one. Nature. Silence. The scent of local herbs wafts through the air. The only sounds are that of the rustling of leaves in the treetops and the tinkle of the chimes suspended around the balcony.

One chair is occupied by a young woman who is writing. This is Rinat Barzilai, the daughter of Danny, the proprietor. She has a wide, warm smile. "Hello, can I help you with something?" Yes - we're here for the museum. She wrinkles her brow. "The museum? Uh, okay. The museum. The ancient tools, right? Come, I'll show you." Right inside the cabin she points to three ancient-looking jugs hanging on the wall. "Would you prefer a cheese platter with bread on the side, or two cheese sandwiches and a platter of vegetables?" Pardon, but is this the museum? "Well, it's not really a museum," she apologizes, embarrassed. "Dad is in Switzerland now. When they get back he plans to open a mini-museum in our cheese cellar. We'll have `museum cheeses.'" So right now is there museum of ancient cheesemaking equipment? "No, there isn't. Perhaps you'd like to see the cellar?"

The cellar is kept cooled to an exact temperature, just like in Provence, and contains hundreds of hard and ripe European-style organic goat cheeses. Still, the dominant aroma is of wine. "Dad cleans and processes the cheeses with wine." But where are all the sheep and goats? "The Arabs kept stealing them until Dad finally gave up and starting buying organic goat milk from other growers."

Why did the Galilee tourism web site say there was a museum of cheesemaking here? Barzilai has no idea. "We never advertised anything like that and our Web page also doesn't say anything like that. Here, look at our business card: Hanoked Dairy, European-style organic cheese from goats' milk and sheep's milk. So what'll it be - the platter or sandwiches?"

But, perhaps more relevant to PaleoJudaica, there is the House of the Anchors, a museum for ancient fishing in Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee):

There's a certain character who lives on Kibbutz Ein Gev - an 86-year-old fisherman, researcher and writer known as Mendel Nun. People say he's a walking archive of the Kinneret. For years, Nun has been extracting historical and archaeological findings from the Kinneret. On the kibbutz, he worked as a fisherman. "I'd go out on the water at six in the evening and come back at night or at dawn, just like any professional fisherman," he recalls.

In 1969, during one of his independent forays around the area, he discovered the church at Kursi inside the Byzantine monastery near Ein Gev, a major attraction and pilgrimage site for Christian tourists. Later he was involved in the discovery of the ancient harbor and wharf there (which was uncovered by marine archaeologists Avner Raban and Elisha Linder). The discovery of the harbor ignited his imagination and gave him no respite. "I kept looking for more harbors, I was sure there were many of them and that I'd find them, and I really did," he recounts with a twinkle in his eye. He has since located 14 more ancient harbors and thousands of ancient items and artifacts: anchors, weights, tools and fishing equipment.

He's a thin, not very tall man with delicate and noble features, and not overly loquacious. But Yoel Ben-Yosef, the local museum director, wants it to be clear that Nun was always a tough guy with a strong physique who withstood without fail all the hardest tests that the Kinneret poses to its fishermen. Nun is married to Gasya, but it's obvious to all, including her, who his first love is. Their house is situated four meters from the Kinneret. Over the years, he has published books about the Kinneret, about archaeology, about fishing in ancient times, about the ancient ports in the area. He wasn't always called Nun. In Latvia, his name was Neustadt. He later chose the Aramaic surname Nun - "fish."

The entryway to his house is filled with hundreds of ancient fishing weights that the museum had no room for. Ten years ago in Ein Gev, he opened Beit Ha'oganim ("House of the Anchors") - a museum devoted to the history of fishing in the Kinneret, which is now run by kibbutz member Ben-Yosef. When Nun first started the museum, the kibbutz let him use the old guesthouse - a small, quaint building built in the 1920s by PICA (the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association). In the distant past, the building housed important guests like the emissaries of Baron Rothschild who came to check on his lands and businesses in the area. After 1948, it was used as the kibbutz's sewing workshop, but its glory days would eventually return. It was renovated, painted in pastel shades, filled with rare artifacts and reborn as Mendel Nun's fishing museum.

It consists of one not very large room, which is reach by a narrow hallway. The items, some of which are very valuable in archaeological terms, are displayed in a jumbled array on the floor, on the walls and on tables. Who is coming to see the things that Nun has gleaned from the Kinneret? These days, hardly anyone, he says sadly. Ben-Yosef says that the little museum used to get 1,000 a year. "Until the intifada. Since then, it's been the same for us as for everyone else. We've had very few visitors. We get a few students and some Christian tourists once in a while."

If you're interested in Israeli museums, there are lots more in this article

MARK GOODACRE is back from his holiday with lots of good blogging and, as a commenter notes, he is blessing the cheesemakers. Vintagers too.

A NEW BOOK ON SABBATEANISM is reviewed in the Forward:

False Messiahs and Whirling Dervishes:
A Scholar's Fresh Take on an Old Topic
By Allan Nadler
July 9, 2004

The Sabbatean Prophets
By Matt Goldish
Harvard University Press, 240 pages, $39.95.

The following dire, revolutionary proclamation issues forth from a charismatic provocateur in Gaza:

"None will be saved from these tribulations except those dwelling in this place. The [very] name of the place [connoting strength] expresses her nature. And with the advent of her redemption, strength will spread and the people of Gaza will act in this strength."

The response of the leader of the Gazans' enemy, both to this message and to those Jews residing in Gaza, is to remind them that Gaza is a place unworthy of triggering apocalyptic violence, since it is "technically outside the borders of the [biblical] Land of Israel."

At the same time, in a nearby Arab country, classified information, laden with potentially devastating secrets, is conveyed via a shady Middle Eastern businessman named Chelebi.

The latest news from Israel and Iraq? Hardly!

The proclamation from Gaza was issued not by a leader of Hamas, but rather by the 17th-century Jewish kabbalist Nathan of Gaza, who in 1665 became the major prophet of the infamous false messiah from Izmir, Shabbetai Zevi. The proclamation's rebuke was not part of Ariel Sharon's argument for evacuating Jewish settlers from Gaza, but of a ruling by Rabbi Jacob Sasportas, the most outspoken and tireless opponent of the Sabbatean messianic outbreak. And the Chelebi in question was not the now-disgraced White House confidant, Ahmed Chalabi, but rather Raphael Chelebi, an Egyptian Jewish businessman who was the first outsider to whom Nathan of Gaza revealed the "secret" that the messiah had arrived.

Matt Goldish traces these tidbits and many other riveting developments in his new book, "The Sabbatean Prophets," a fresh scholarly re-evaluation of the events that led to the wildfire-rapid spread across the Jewish world of belief in Shabbetai Zevi as the Jews' long-awaited king and savior.

[...]

ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEOLOGIST REUBEN G. BULLARD SR. has passed away at the age of 76.

Reuben Bullard Sr., 76, scoured Earth in study of ancients
Passions: Archaeology, geology, Jesus

By Rebecca Goodman
[Cincinnati] Enquirer staff writer

INDEPENDENCE - Reuben G. Bullard Sr., an internationally known archaeological geologist and Christian scholar who taught at Cincinnati Bible College and Seminary and at the University of Cincinnati, died Saturday afternoon at his home here. He was 76.

"This field of archaeological geology is one that is relatively new," said UC professor of geology David Meyer. "Archaeologists are using more information about the rocks that are found at archaeological sites - determining how ancient people used stones in their cultures. He was one of the pioneers of the field."

Dr. Bullard worked on numerous excavations in Israel, Cyprus, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Greece and Italy.

"As an archaeological geologist, his role would be to identify and interpret the environment in which a society, a culture, a city was located," said his son, Reuben "Rick" Bullard Jr. of Fort Thomas. That might involve the identification of quarries that were used to build walls or streets, or identifying the clay resources of the important ceramic industries.

[...]

Requiescat in pace.