THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION coming to the Royal Ontario Museum in June of 2009 has gotten a lot of press today. From the ArtDaily:

Premier McGuinty Announces the Dead Sea Scrolls at the ROM

TORONTO.- Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty today announced that the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will present the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, one of the most important exhibitions in the Museum’s history, from Saturday, June 27, 2009 until Sunday, January 3, 2010. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for ROM visitors to view these historical treasures, the subject of great scholarly and public interest, as well as heated debate and controversy, since their discovery over 60 years ago. A collaboration of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the ROM, Dead Sea Scrolls, the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of these materials ever assembled in Canada, will be on display in the ROM’s Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall on level B2 in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal.

Premier McGuinty said, “I want to congratulate the ROM for bringing this compelling exhibition to Toronto. It is a great opportunity for visitors and it will attract people to the city from all over North America. That's good for the ROM, it's good for Toronto and good for the economy."

[...]

The ROM will display 16 authentic Dead Sea Scrolls during the six month engagement—eight different scrolls for each three-month period—including fragments from the books of Genesis, Deuteronomy and Psalms as well as the sectarian Community Rule, War Scroll and Messianic Apocalypse. Five fragments, never before publicly displayed, are being conserved especially for the ROM. All scrolls will be presented with full interpretations, translations and background information.

Also showcased will be artifacts from Khirbet Qumran, the ancient site closest to where the scrolls were discovered, in addition to unique pieces from Jerusalem during the period of the Second Temple. Visitors will learn about the fascinating discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, their academic and biblical significance, as well as the period in history in which they were written. Objects from the ROM’s own collections will complement the display, providing additional context to life in ancient Judea almost 2,000 years ago.

There's also a nice picture of the Psalms scroll from Cave 11 (11Q5).

According to the National Post, the ROM CEO has high hopes for attendance:

The exhibition — which ROM CEO William Thorsell prefers to call a “project” to emphasize its cross-provincial community outreach and educational aspects — is being billed as the biggest Dead Sea Scrolls event ever to come to this country.

In an interview following yesterday’s announcement, Thorsell acknowledged his hope that the Scrolls will roll attendance numbers upwards at the country’s largest museum. Toronto Life magazine reported in its September issue that the ROM’s $135-million Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, which opened in June, 2007, has not drawn as many new visitors as hoped, falling well short of goals as high as 1.65-million people per year.

Thorsell said the ROM is on track for one million visitors in the year ending next March 31.

“We’re looking for 200,000 to 300,000 extra visitors on top of that” to be lured in by the Scrolls, he said, adding that the museum has a longer-term target to stabilize at 1.3- to 1.4-million annually “with or without so-called blockbusters,” such as the Scrolls exhibition.

I hope they do well. In the past, DSS exhibits have consistently exceeded attendance targets.

There is also coverage in the Toronto Star and CBCNews.ca.

A NEW BOOK ON THE JEWS OF LEONTOPOLIS is reviewed by David Noy at BMCR:

Livia Capponi, Il tempio di Leontopoli in Egitto: Identità politica e religiosa dei Giudei di Onia (c. 150 a.C-73 d.C.). Pubblicazioni della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell'Università di Pavia 118. Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2007. Pp. 255. ISBN 9788846719430. €18.00 (pb).

Reviewed by David Noy, University of Wales Lampeter (d.noy@lamp.ac.uk)
Word count: 1623 words

There have been numerous chapter-length and book-length studies of the Jews of Graeco-Roman Egypt published recently. Livia Capponi goes into a more localised aspect of the topic with a monograph on the history of the Jews of Leontopolis near Heliopolis in the Nile Delta. The evidence with which she has to work is scanty: some passing references by Josephus (who is quite able to contradict himself and is unlikely to have had any personal knowledge or particular interest), a few late sources, and just over 90 inscriptions that can be attributed to the site or to nearby Jewish settlements. There are no papyri, and Philo notoriously says nothing whatsoever about Leontopolis, provoking the question of whether this indicates hostility between Alexandria and Leontopolis or just lack of interest.

[...]

This in particular caught my eye, since I'm always on the lookout for evidence for Jewish mysticism:

The most original part of the book is a study of the theology of the epitaphs: "una teologia mistica?". Capponi thinks that there are traces of mysticism, without messianic or eschatological messages but with a spirituality based on love for family and community and a belief in reward in the afterlife. Her views are based mainly on the verse epitaphs: 12 out of a total of 91 epitaphs attributed to the Jews of the southern Nile Delta. She argues that they show ideals which are not found in other metrical epitaphs from Egypt, and that they should therefore not be dismissed as too Hellenised to provide evidence for Jewish beliefs. The deceased are praised for moral qualities and values that in some cases seem to be specifically Jewish and can be compared to those found in the Letter of Aristeas, such as wisdom and justice. The author suggests that some show beliefs about the afterlife that seem more Pharisaic than Sadducean, contrary to what has previously been suggested. She thinks that references to "burning" can be taken literally as showing the use of cremation, rather than being metaphors or conventional language used out of context. It is true that there is evidence for cremation from Alexandria, as the author notes, but it is from a necropolis in which Jews were buried rather than a "Jewish necropolis". Since it would be difficult to use the exact wording of the epitaphs to claim that Jews literally believed in deities called Hades and Tyche, it is also difficult to be sure that they literally practised "burning", and the question will probably remain open until a cremation urn is found with a clearly Jewish name written on it.

Gideon Bohak has argued that the long version of Joseph and Aseneth is connected with the Jewish Leontopolitan priesthood (see the review) and it might be worthwhile to look at this pseudepigraphon in comparison to these inscriptions.

Via PhDiva Dorothy King.

CAN'T MAKE IT UP:

Christian group building replica of ‘Wailing Wall’

Evangelicals say they hope to show support for Israel
September 22, 2008 - 10:30PM
MARK BARNA
THE [COLORADO SPRINGS] GAZETTE

Locals who have longed to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem but can't afford the trip soon will be able to mimic the experience without leaving town.

Every Home for Christ, which evangelizes in about 100 nations, will spend $2.3 million on a replica of the Western Wall - also known as the Wailing Wall - and an auditorium to house it. Construction inside its Springs headquarters, the Jericho Center for Global Evangelism, is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, with a grand opening set for April 1.

[...]

The replica will fill 2,500 square feet of an 8,000-square-foot, 300-seat auditorium, which will be used to train missionaries and teach about prayer.

About 50 tons of stone will be used to construct the mini two-story wall that, along with the auditorium, is being financed by donations. Stones will be cut from an ancient mine outside Jerusalem used for thousands of years to build the city's most impressive structures.

[...]

This group seems to have an awful lot of disposable income.

Cross file under "Temple Mount Watch (sort of)."

IF ONLY.

MY BOOK, The Provenance of the Pseudepigrapha, is reviewed by Kevin P. Edgecomb over at Biblicalia. Thanks Kevin!

MORE MANUSCRIPT DIGITIZING at the College of Saint Benedict/St. John’s University:

Fr. Columba Stewart travels the world
September 19th, 2008 by Tan Tuohy (The Record)

By Britta Kolb

Tucked away near the Alcuin Library is a hidden resource of historical wealth. The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library houses 30 million photographically preserved pages from 100,000 manuscripts, found in 270 libraries all over the world. Buried among the chaos of books and research is the office of Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, the man behind the scenes.

Fr. Stewart (or “Just Andy,” as his family members call him), earned a degree from Harvard, attended graduate school at Yale and received his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has been the executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library since 2003. During that time, Fr. Stewart has expanded HMML’s core mission of digitizing and archiving manuscript images from two preservation sites to 22, and there is no slowing down the progress being made. HMML now works in Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, India, Malta, Italy and other regions in the Middle East kept quiet for security reasons.

Having traveled frequently to HMML’s many different sites abroad, Fr. Stewart has a lot of work ahead of him. Three of the places that need urgent attention are Iraq, Ethiopia and Georgia, where HMML will make a preliminary visit this October. The Ethiopian connection is a long-standing one, dating to the early 1970s.

“We have a collection of nearly 9,000 Ethiopic manuscripts at HMML, but many more are at risk in Ethiopia and need to be digitally preserved and catalogued so they are accessible to all who seek to understand what those ancient stories can teach us,” Fr. Stewart said.

[...]

Bring it on!

ARIEL SABAR, author of My Father's Paradise, about his Aramaic-speaking UCLA-professor father Yona, is interviewed in a Nextbook podcast.

For journalist Ariel Sabar, Aramaic has always been more than a linguistic relic used in reciting the Kaddish or Kol Nidre. Sabar's father, Yona, grew up speaking Aramaic in an isolated Kurdish-Jewish enclave in northern Iraq. Yona moved to Israel in 1951, just after his bar mitzvah, an underprivileged refugee in a new country full of them. A disciplined and determined young man, Yona went to university and then graduate school, before becoming a professor of Near Eastern languages at UCLA. In Los Angeles, with his accent and old Chevette, Yona was completely different from the fathers of Ariel’s friends, and as a teenager Ariel rebelled against what he saw as Yona's bumpkin ways. But when Ariel became a father himself, he decided to learn more about Yona’s unlikely journey from the mountains of Kurdistan to the leafy streets of Los Angeles.

Ariel Sabar spoke with Nextbook about his new book, My Father’s Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq (Algonquin, 2008), in which he weaves together Yona’s story with the larger history of Kurdish Jews.

Background here.

A REVIEW of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Raleigh, NC:

History, Mystery

Found in caves in an ancient land, Dead Sea Scrolls speak to us today

By Linda Brinson | Editorial Page Editor (journalnow.com)

Published: September 21, 2008

RALEIGH - First, you must step into the cave. Well, it's not really a cave, it's a room in the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences on West Jones Street in downtown Raleigh. But it has been made to look and feel like a cave, and the dim light, chilly atmosphere and relative quiet quickly make you forget about the throngs of noisy schoolchildren outside in the midday heat, waiting for their turn to see the whale skeleton and the dinosaur and the museum's other wonders.

[...]

The photo is of one of the Genesis manuscripts that I edited in DJD 12.

Background here.

Also, Jodi Magness is lecturing on Thursday the 25th at Craven Community College in New Bern NC.

BETWEEN INTERNET OUTAGES, a new window being installed at home, and Pre-Sessional Week, I haven't managed to blog today. Maybe later.

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBITION at the New York Jewish Museum opens today. The ArtDaily has an article:

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World Opens at the Jewish Museum

NEW YORK.- The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls was one of the archaeological sensations of the 20th century. Treasured objects of ancient religious observance and intense modern scholarly debate, these parchment texts were found, starting in 1947, in caves in the Judean Desert, east of Jerusalem and near the Dead Sea. Created over 2,000 years ago, the scrolls turned out to contain previously unknown Jewish compositions as well as the oldest surviving copies of the Hebrew Bible. When biblical scholars first learned of these texts, they were electrified by their potential for new revelations about Judaism and Christianity. Over time, some 900 separate scrolls were found in neighboring caves. They are collectively called the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Mysteries of the Ancient World opens at The Jewish Museum on September 21, 2008 and remains on view through January 4, 2009. This new exhibition features fragments of six scrolls, which have never been seen in New York City before. Three of the scrolls are being exhibited for the first time anywhere. Revered and revelatory, the Dead Sea Scrolls on display, together with over 30 artifacts discovered near the caves where the documents were found, provide new insights into the varied beliefs of ancient peoples and religious diversity today. A seven-minute film further enriches the visitor experience.

[...]

The piece also has a nice photo of the Aramaic Apocryphon of Daniel (4Q246-209)

Background here.

APOCRYPHA WATCH:

Review: Judith, Lace Market Theatre

Thursday, September 18, 2008, 07:43 (thisisnottingham.ac.uk)

IF YOU dislike obscenity, necrophilia and heads being cut off, even non-gratuitously and in context, best give this production a miss. If cutting edge, less-than-straightforward studio theatre is for you, flock to it.

The story of Judith is from the Apocrypha. An Assyrian general is bent on the destruction of Israel but an Israelite woman succeeds in getting him drunk, seducing and then beheading him, thus saving her nation.

[...]

I don't remember any necrophilia in the book of Judith, and Holophernes passes out drunk before the seduction can happen. Evidently this is a free interpretation of the story.

My broadband is still down at home, but I've pre-posted this on Friday afternoon. If I get a chance, I'll stop by the office to post more, either Saturday or (more likely) Sunday.

A GOLEM-RELATED INSTITUTE is opening in Prague, as reported, appropriately enough, by Monsters and Critics:

Institute dedicated to legendary Golem creator opens in Prague
Europe News

Sep 18, 2008, 14:14 GMT

Prague - An academic institute dedicated to a legendary 16th- Century Jewish scholar Rabbi Judah Loew, also known as the Maharal of Prague, was opening in Prague Thursday.

The Maharal Institute plans to educate future rabbis, introducing them to Talmud, Jewish law, ethics and mysticism as well as to Loew's writings, said institute collaborator Tomas Jelinek.

[...]

For past posts on golems see here, here, here, here, here, and here.

UPDATE (22 September): More here.

RACHEL ELIOR is interviewed in Nextbook about her new book on the dybbuk:

Spirits in the Material World
Uncovering the legend of the dybbuk
By Sarah Breger

Dybbuks—disembodied spirits that inhabit the bodies of the living—have long been a part of Jewish history and myth. Like golems, these fantastical, folkloric creatures may seem foreign to contemporary Judaism, but their stories still capture our imaginations.

In the new book Dybbuks and Jewish Women in Social History, Mysticism, and Folklore, Rachel Elior examines how the legend of the dybbuk first took hold, and how it reflects the values and fears of its time. Elior argues that for women, dybbuks could be a means to escape the demands of a confining society. Once possessed by a dybbuk (or at least claiming to be), women were no longer considered responsible for their own actions, and were exempt from arranged marriages and relieved of wifely duties. Thought to be the souls of sinners, these spirits gave a certain degree of power to the powerless, freeing them from the norms of routine life and its conventional ordering.

Elior, a native Jerusalemite, has been a professor of Jewish mysticism for over thirty years, and currently teaches at Hebrew University. The recipient of the 2006 Gershom Scholem prize for the study of kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, she has written extensively about Jewish mysticism and Hasidism, and edited the 2004 book Men and Women: Gender, Judaism and Democracy.

What exactly is a dybbuk?

“Dybbuk” is the Jewish name for the spirit of a dead person that enters and possesses a living body. Significantly, the spirit is always male and the body is nearly always female. Being possessed by a foreign spirit makes a person’s body and soul behave in uncontrollable ways. In Jewish folklore—deriving from kabbalistic theories of the soul and mystical literature—the spirit of a dead sinner often finds refuge in the bodies of weak, fragile women, women who are not able to handle the expectations of society. Those who are possessed are always from the margins of society—maids, orphan girls who have been set up to wed elderly widowers, or young females whose marriages have been arranged against their will. In today’s etiology we would define this possession as acute depression or socially deviant behavior. Previously it was defined as hysteria.

[...]

It chances that I'm currently rereading Peter F. Hamilton's SF masterpiece The Night's Dawn Trilogy, in which an accidental rupture in space-time (a "reality dysfunction") allows the spirts of the damned to come back into the universe and possess the living. There are some interesting parallels to the dybbuk and I wonder if Hamilton was influenced by the myth.

More on Rachel Elior's work here and here.

UPDATE (21 September): Dead link now fixed. Apologies.

DREAMS IN THE TALMUD:

World of the Sages: Perchance to dream
By LEVI COOPER (Jerusalem Post)

A significant few pages of Talmud are devoted to the subject of dreams, their integrity and interpretation (B. Brachot 55a-57b). A perusal of these pages reveals a variety of approaches as to how dreams should be viewed.

The first approach views dreams as true harbingers of future events. In this spirit, the Talmud details the meaning of various objects and images seen in dreams: a well, river, bird, pot, reed, gourd, various animals or famous people and the list continues.

A second approach suggests that the portentous value of dreams lies solely in their interpretation. A dream that has yet to be interpreted - suggested one sage - "is like a letter that has not been read": it foreshadows neither good nor bad. How a dream is understood and even the initial response to a dream is of prime value. Great care should be taken in responding to dreams for the response definitively and at times harshly dictates the effect of the dream, as one sage opined: "All dreams follow the mouth."

[...]

A third line suggests that dreams are of mixed matter. No dream reflects the entire reality: Each dream contains an element of truth, yet that truth is intermingled with fanciful images. "Just as it is impossible to have wheat without chaff, thus it is impossible to have a dream without some senseless things." A dream, therefore, is not an accurate herald of the future: "A positive dream will not be fulfilled in its entirety nor will a negative dream be fulfilled in its entirety."

[...]

A final approach views dreams as unindicative of imminent events. Dreams merely provide a window into the subconscious and have nothing to do with the future. "A person is shown nothing but the product of his own thoughts." Thus one sage points out that imagination-defying images, scenes that are beyond the pale of reality, are not seen in dreams: "Know that a person is never shown a palm tree of gold nor an elephant entering the eye of a needle." Such impressions cannot be contemplated while awake and hence will not appear in dreams.

[...]

On the subject of dreams in Jewish antiquity, note the recent book by Frances Flannery-Dailey, Dreamers, Scribes, And Priests: Jewish Dreams In The Hellenistic And Roman Eras (JSJSup 90; Leiden: Brill, 2004). I believe Steven Fraade also had an article on dream interpretation in the Talmud, published in the 1990s, but I can't find it now. Does someone have the reference?

UPDATE (21 September): Manuscript Boy of Hagahot wrote with the article I was thinking of: Maren Niehoff, "A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read," Journal of Jewish Studies 43,1 (1992) 58-84. Apologies to Steven, I have no idea how I got his name in my head.

In any case, readers have sent in some other references:

From Manuscript Boy, a Hebrew doctoral dissertation by Haim Weiss: "The Role of Dreams in Rabbinic Literature: Cultural Aspects." (Click on the link to download a 20-page summary in a Word file.)

From Carla Sulzbach and Justin Glessner:

Philip S. Alexander - Bavli Berakhot 55a-57b: the talmudic dreambook in context
Journal of Jewish Studies 46 (1995) 230-248

From Carla Sulzbach:

Simcha Fishbane - "Every dream becomes valid only by its interpretation": dreams, dream interpretations and dream interpreters in the Babylonian Talmud.
in: Deviancy in Early Rabbinic Literature; a Collection of Socio-Anthropological Essays, [by] Simcha Fishbane. Leiden: Brill, 2007: 177-212

UPDATE: Another one, from Michael Pitkowsky:

Richard Kalmin, "Dreams and Dream Interpreters," in Sages, Stories, Authors, and Editors in Rabbinic Babylonia (1994) 61-80

THE GOLD-GLASS TABLE FROM CAESAREA is going on display in New York on Sunday:

Two Antiques Exhibitions,, New York City, Beginning 21 September 2008

By The Israel Antiquities Authority

[ISRAEL] The Metropolitan Museum of Art will exhibit the dazzling Gold – Glass Table from Caesarea. The Gold Glass Table will be on display in the Byzantine Galleries of the Metropolitan Museum. Dating to the late 6th, early 7th century CE, this extraordinary, one of a kind panel was excavated in a Byzantine period mansion in the coastal city of Caesarea, when a large mosaic floor known as the Birds Mosaic, was exposed for conservation in 2005. The nearly intact panel is shaped like the letter sigma and made of small glass pieces using the opus sectile technique. The panel was discovered with its face down directly on the mosaic floor and was covered by ashes and debris from the ceiling and the second floor. It comprises a wide frame surrounding the central part, both made of a combination of delicate, translucent gold – glass pieces and opaque, colored mosaic glass pieces. The square gold – glass pieces were decorated with a stamped design of flower or cross. ...

Three years ago I noted the discovery of the table here. (Unfortunately, the link has rotted.)

The second antiquities exhibition mentioned in the headline is the one on the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Jewish Museum, noted here.

NT IN OLD SEMINAR:

The Annual Seminar for the Study of the Old Testament in the New Testament will take place at St Deiniol's Library, North Wales, from Fri-Sun April 3-5th 2009. Offers of full papers (45 mins) and short papers (30mins) are welcome. Please send title and brief abstract to Steve Moyise (s.moyise@chi.ac.uk). The cost of the conference will be approximately £115 full board.

Prof Steve Moyise
University of Chichester

Via Louise Lawerence on the BNTS list.

MORE ON EABS 09:

The European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) is running a quite extensive service for graduate students in Biblical Studies, including an internet forum together with special graduate paper sessions, business meeting and social events at its annual conference. It offers two annual scholarships to students to attend the annual meeting. It is not necessary to become an EABS member to join the forum, only to participate in the conference events.

The EABS is very keen to recruit new members to these various activities, and those interested need only to go to the EABS website (www.eabs.net) and click on the 'Students' button to find their way to the forum.

The 2009 meeting of the EABS will be held jointly with the British and Dutch/Belgian Societies for Old Testament Study in Lincoln, July 26th-29th and partly because of the strong OT element wishes to bring as many NT scholars and students as possible. It is also looking for new research topics for conference sessions.

From James Crossley via Louise Lawrence on the BNTS list.

TECHNOLOGY WATCH:

Grant Enables Jewish History To Be Digitized
Baker Foundation helps Jewish Theological Seminary Library prevent the decay of thousands of documents, some centuries old.

by Eric Herschthal
Staff Writer (The Jewish Week)
On a recent Thursday, Melissa Buschey, a conservationist at the Jewish Theological Seminary, opened up a hand-written Judeo-Arabic manuscript dating from the 1600s C.E. “Probably from somewhere in Italy,” Buschey said casually, turning the page.
Thick, clear polyester sheets encased each piece of paper, which would later be digitally photographed to be accessible online.

Buschey and her colleague Amy Armstrong had come to call the heavily-pocked text the “Swiss cheese document.” Without the careful encasement of each page and its digital photograph, the Swiss cheese document would have eventually become illegible—a scholar’s gold mine lost to impending parchment decay.

But that didn’t happen. The document was preserved because of their work and so will roughly 900 more rare manuscripts—some dating from at least the 12th century C.E. and held by the Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary. The preservation is made possible by a recent $100,000 donation given jointly by the Morris and Beverly Baker Foundation and an anonymous donor. “With the grant money these very fragile things can be re-housed,” said Armstrong, the Library’s senior conservationist, in the Library’s sanitized white conservation laboratory. (The workspace seems more like a medical office than a library.) The donation will directly pay for a two-year fellowship for Buschey, as well as two additional part-time conservationists.

[...]

The JTS Library is the largest owner of rare Hebrew manuscripts in the world, with some 11,000 in total, some dating as far back as the 10th century C.E. The library began accruing manuscripts when the institution, Conservative Judaism’s main hub, was founded in 1886, but it wasn’t until Solomon Schechter hired Alexander Marx, a German Jewish scholar and librarian, that the collection grew exponentially. Marx came to the JTS in 1903 and was its librarian until his death in 1953. “Under his leadership,” Kraemer said of Marx, “that’s when we got a real good chunk of our holdings.”
A major problem—for the JTS and any library holding rare texts—has always been how to preserve them.

[...]

Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.

EABS CONFERENCE 2009:

Via Michael & Chagit (avioz4@bezeqint.net):
====================================

Date: Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 6:33 AM

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Use of the Bible for Group Demarcation in the Second Temple Period and Late Antiquity

In the next annual meeting of the European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS), held from July 26th to 29th, 2009 at the University of Lincoln, UK, the Early Christianity, and the Early Judaism and Rabbinics programs will jointly explore ways in which ancient Jews and Christians interpreted the Bible for constructing a group identity or when delineating the boundaries between themselves and others.

Various biblical figures, themes, narratives and interpretative motifs were used to denote self perception, to mark the other as other and to create the group identity against other contemporary tendencies. Several cultural practices took part in this process, such as methods of interpretation of the biblical text, application of the Bible to the liturgy and ritual, as well as applying the content of biblical events to the current time.

All these phenomena will be the object of our study in the next meeting of the EABS.

We would like to approach the study of such interpretative strategies as was applied to the different subgroups and subcultures in late antiquity that defined their identity by reference to the Bible, groups as Judaism and Christianity, as well as other groups and streams of thought.

Papers may discuss themes such as the importance of genealogical origin (i.e. Davidic or priestly decent) for group demarcation; the identity function of eschatological model narrated by the subgroup; the use of biblical archetypes for defining the exemplar of a group member; the relation between hermeneutical strategies (i.e. allegory, fables, or peshers) and group identity; the assigning of biblical categories to other populations (as Hellenistic or pagan), interpretative motifs prevailing among particular subgroups and so on.

Please send suggested proposals by December 31st, 2008.

--
Outi Lehtipuu
Ph.D.
Postdoctoral researcher
University of Helsinki
Department of Biblical Studies
P.O. Box 33
FIN-00014 University of Helsinki

Home:
Ditmar-Koel-Strasse 6
D-20459 Hamburg
tel. +49-40-3178 8417 (private)
+49-170-4927 751 (in Germany)
+358-50-545 6455 (in Finland)

From the Agade list.

LEVI AND MATTHEW: A small correction to Angele Sionna's Early Childhood Parenting column in the Examiner.

The baby name of the day is... Levi.

We all know about the jeans, but did you know Levi is the Hebrew version of the Greek name Matthew!

That's reportedly why Matthew McConaughey named his son Levi.

[...]

Levi means "joined in harmony" according to babynames.com.

Not quite. Matthew is a Greek version of a Hebrew name that means "gift of God." Levi is the name of one of the twelve founding patriarch's of the tribes of Israel. It too is a Hebrew name. Its meaning is unclear, but it may indeed have something to do with "joining." The apostle Matthew in the New Testament is also known as Levi (compare Mark 2:14 with Matthew 9:9), and that is the connection between the names. If you follow the link in Ms. Sionna's column, you'll see that Matthew McConaughey got this right.

That's my niggle for the day.

TORONTO is opening a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in June:

Dead Sea Scrolls coming to Toronto
By SHERI SHEFA, Staff Reporter (Canadian Jewish News)
Thursday, 18 September 2008

The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming to Toronto for the first time next June for a six-month exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Ya’en Vered, who arrived in Toronto earlier this month to begin a three-year shlichut for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), is setting up an office here in the hope of establishing a presence in Canada by making the IAA more accessible and building bridges with the Diaspora using Israel’s ancient history.

[...]

Vered realizes that he has a lot of work to do to make the IAA relevant to Canadians, but he is ready for the task.

“I am going to be available for every meeting in the city that people can think of. I’m going to speak at synagogues, at associations, I’m going to speak at schools. I want to create programs for schools and associations before they visit the scrolls exhibit. We would like to prepare the schools for the exhibition by letting the children know and understand what the scrolls are, and let them come in on a school visit at a reduced price supported by us.”

He added that he also hopes to organize a fundraiser next spring and is considering a novel way to generate substantial funds.

“I’m looking for somebody that will donate a big sum, and then we’ll let them have an exhibition of the scrolls in their home for a meeting with people. That is something that has never been done in the world. That is something that is mind-boggling,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure it will happen, because we need special people to look into it.”

Vered is also looking into creating a twinning project between Canadian Jewish communities and antique sites in Israel.

“We’d like to twin a synagogue here in Toronto with an ancient synagogue in Israel.”

[...]

APRIL DECONICK has made it safely through Ike, but is not pleased with FEMA's response. We're glad you and your family are safe, April.

MY FATHER'S PARADISE by Yona Sabar's son Ariel, is reviewed in the Christian Science Monitor (for which he writes):

My Father’s Paradise

A journalist learns to embrace the ancient roots of his past in Iraqi Kurdistan's Jewish community.
By Chuck Leddy | September 15, 2008 edition

My Father's Paradise: A Son's Search for His Jewish Past in Kurdish Iraq Algonquin 352 pp. $25.95

“Ours was a clash of civilizations, writ small,” writes Ariel Sabar of his relationship with his father. “He was ancient Kurdistan. I was 1980s L.A.”Sabar, who until recently covered the 2008 US presidential campaign for The Christian Science Monitor, is the son of an Iraqi Jew from Kurdistan, a gentle scholar forced from his homeland by politics, a man who grew up in a corner of the world so isolated that he was raised speaking the ancient Aramaic of Jesus.

If this sounds exotic or thrilling to the rest of us, it was nothing but mortifying to the youthful Sabar who was raised in Los Angeles.

“Mostly … I kept my distance,” he writes of his father. “He lived in his world, I in mine…. [A]t some point, as a teenager, I even stopped calling him Abba or Dad. He was just ‘Yona’ … the odd-looking, funny-talking man with strange grooming habits who lived with us and who may or may not have been my father, depending on who was asking.”

My Father’s Paradise is Sabar’s quest to reconcile an ancient past with his own life today – and to knit his father’s story to his own. It was when Sabar began his own career as a journalist and then became a father himself that the formidable challenges his father had faced began to earn his respect.

[...]

Earlier reviews are noted here and here.

GET READY TO PARTY! The annual Punic festival at Cartagena begins on Friday the 19th:

Cartagena Gets Ready

Written by Our Murcia Correspondent (Roundtownnews.co.uk, Spain)

Cartagena Gets Ready for Carthaginians and Romans Festival

An event that is a favourite with many Round Town News readers will soon be under way in Cartagena. This is the colourful Carthaginians and Romans festival which is billed as the biggest fiesta in the Mediterranean.

The festival celebrates, in a loose sort of way, the events of some 2,200 years ago when the Romans took the ancient city from the Carthaginians. Battles are re-enacted, ceremonies held, troops including Amazonians march through the streets, there are spectacles, speeches and even a ceremonial wedding. Hannibal headed for the Alps after gathering his troops in Cartagena, so, naturally, he figures prominently in the action. This year, say the organisers, the whole festival has been renovated and updated with imaginative initiatives taken to make things even more colourful and realistic than ever. A major highlight is the spectacles that feature the troops of the Carthaginians and the legions of the Romans. There will be new elements that make these more impressive than ever. The centre of Cartagena will be the focus of most of the activity, which will make things even easier for spectators. Almost all events are free. A key feature of the festival is the big camp which is open for the duration with each unit competing to outdo the others in splendour and hospitality. This camp is located next to the Cartagena football stadium, or Estadio Cartagonova and it is open each evening. An artisan market will operate next to the camp. The festival starts on Friday, September 19th, with opening speeches and ceremonies. ...

More on past festivals here and here.

A 10TH CENTURY NORTHWEST SEMITIC INSCRIPTION has reportedly been found on an ostracon (clay potsherd) at Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Shephelah. Todd Bolen collects information on it (which does not yet include anything on its text or contents) here and here. (Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)

Seems to be a good year for new Iron Age West Semitic inscriptions.

DIGITIZING SYRIAC IN KERALA:

A language saved

K.P.M. BASHEER (The Hindu Magazine)

Prof. Istvan Perczel’s study of ancient Syriac documents in Kerala throws interesting light on the state’s past.

A Hungarian scholar of medieval Christianity is on a mission to preserve a slice of India’s Syrian Christian past. A slice that is written from right to left in a near-dead West Asian language and lies scattered in Kerala’s church attics, seminary vaults and ancient homes.

“There is a remarkably rich heritage of Syriac in Kerala, particularly from the 15th to 19th centuries,” says Istvan Perczel, who teaches at the Central European University, Budapest. Enchanted by this heritage, he has been digitising Syriac documents, correspondence and religious writings. “Syriac thrived in Kerala even while this sacred language was fading away from its place of birth,” Prof. Perczel notes.

[...]

But, Syriac, which contributed several words to the Malayalam language, has all but vanished, mainly because most churches replaced it with Malayalam as the language of worship. Tonnes of centuries-old Syriac manuscripts are being gnawed at by termites and Time. Prof. Perczel has, over the past eight years, visited several seminaries and homes looking for manuscripts. Old seminaries that kept invaluable manuscripts in their vaults allowed him to photograph, copy and digitise. “The number of hitherto-unknown Syriac texts we uncovered is virtually uncountable,” he said. One is a 17th century poem written by Kadavil Chandy Kathanaar, a prominent clergyman who was known as “Alexander the Indian”. There have been families who specialised in Syriac learning and teaching.

Based on the study of the manuscripts, Prof. Perczel now questions the received wisdom that the Portuguese missionaries burnt most of the Syriac religious writings at the Synod of Diampur. The synod — held in 1599 at Udayamperoor, some 20 km from Kochi, at the behest of the then Portuguese archbishop of Goa, Alexis de Menesis —was a landmark in Kerala’s Christian history. The Portuguese, who thought the practices and liturgy of the native Christians heretical, burnt the texts and sought to replace them with Latin liturgy. Following the 1653 Coonan Cross Oath at Kochi, the Syrian Christians revolted against the Portuguese missionaries and temporarily seceded from the Roman Church. The fact that the researchers could find “heretical” Syriac texts, according to Prof. Perczel, shows that several such texts could have survived the synod and that the burning could even be a “myth”.

[...]

SORRY for the blogging gap yesterday; my broadband is still down at home. I hope to have it back by next weekend.

FIRST BARACK OBAMA – and now, Sarah Palin as prophet?

Prominent evangelical "anoints" Sarah Palin as Biblical prophet

A prominent evangelical figure in the U.S. this week said Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a modern-day incarnation of the Biblical prophet, Deborah - primed to miraculously slay her nation's enemies on the battlefield.

Writing in his influential magazine, Charisma, editor J. Lee Grady likened the 44-year-old Alaskan governor to Deborah, the Old Testament prophet "who rallied God’s people to victory at a time when ancient Israel was being terrorized by foreign invaders."

[...]

This election seems to have an unusually prophetic lineup.

DESPERATELY SEEKING THE ALEPPO CODEX. Or at least the substantial portions that are still missing.

Help Sought to Find the Aleppo Codex

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Washington, DC, United States, 09/13/2008 - An important historic document in pieces for decades is slowly coming together. We are looking for pieces of the Aleppo Codex: the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible.

Do you (or someone you know) have a fragment (or a page) of the Aleppo Codex, the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible? The precious document was considered the most authoritative text in Judaism before it was ripped apart and partially burned by Arab mobs in 1947 in protest when the United Nations passed the resolution creating the state of Israel.

Known in Hebrew as the "Crown," the Aleppo Codex was completely missing for a decade. Then, in 1957, nearly 300 pages (out of almost 500) showed up in Jerusalem. Rumors of other surviving parts continue to circulate. Occasionally a part of a page or a page fragment surfaces. In a comprehensive article in the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Professor Yosef Ofer of Bar-Ilan University in Israel recounts the travails of the codex. He calls for help to locate still-missing pages, as does the Biblical Archaeology Society.

[...]

The BAR article is posted in full online here.

Background here.

"THE DUMBEST HEBREW TATTOO YET!" It's certainly an impressive specimen of tattoo dumbness. More on Danielle Lloyd's tattoo (and Victoria Beckham's, which seems to be in real Hebrew) here. Other ancient-language-tattoo posts are here, here, and here.

THE PHOENICIA is putting into port at Yemen:

Phoenicia vessel to visit Yemen soon
[09 September 2008]

ADEN, Sep. 09 (Saba)- The Phoenicia vessel and on its board 20 sailors from different nationalities is going to arrive in the Aden port within next two days in the formwork of its journey which started last August from Arwad Island off the coast of Syria.

The sailing ship attempts to replicate what the Greek historian Herodotus mentions as the first circumnavigation of Africa in about 600 BC. It would involve the circumnavigation of Africa, a feat which has not been undertaken for two and a half millennia.

[...]

Background here.

BELATED HAPPY FIFTH BLOGIVERSARY to Mark Goodacre's New Testament Gateway blog and to David Meadows's Rogue Classicism.

EVE'S TOMB?

Religion today
By DONNA ABU-NASR – 18 hours ago

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — On a sweltering August morning, a small group of Iranians crowded outside the green metal door of a cemetery. They wanted to go in to look at the remains of one particular tomb: the tomb of biblical Eve.

Like hundreds of Muslims who visit Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage in nearby Mecca, the Iranians had heard the legend that Eve was buried in that spot. The two blue signs inscribed with "The Graveyard of our mother Eve" flanking the cemetery entrance appeared to add credibility to a story passed on by generations of Saudis but never scientifically proven.

"We hear this is the tomb of Eve," said Minoo Ghadimkhani, 45. "That is why we want to go in."

There is no archaeological evidence old enough to authenticate the story of Eve's burial in Jiddah, according to many Bible experts. But that hasn't kept the legend from persisting.

[...]

Many?

William Dever, a professor emeritus of Near Eastern studies at the University of Arizona and a prominent U.S. archaeologist, said there just isn't any archaeological evidence going back far enough to back up the claims.

"The problem is that these are all legends, these are all myths and we can't date them," said Dever, who specializes in the history of Israel and Near East in biblical times. "My guess is the story could go back two or three thousand years, but we don't have any archaeological proof."

"There are lots of traditional tombs of saints of various kinds in the Middle East," he added. "But they are never excavated or investigated scientifically."

Asked if he had heard of any other final resting place for Eve, Dever said, "No. There are tombs of Abraham all over the place, but I don't honestly know in Israel or the West Bank or Jordan of any Eve tomb in these places."

[...]

As Mark Twain would say, it comforts my heart to encounter the revered burial place of a relative.

A JOB in Premodern Judaism at UC Davis:

The Religious Studies Program at the University of California Davis announces a search for a tenure-track faculty position in “The History of Premodern Judaism.” Applicants must have strong research plans and teaching records and an expertise in Jewish texts for either the biblical, Second Temple, rabbinic or medieval periods. Applicants should be prepared to teach a broad range of introductory and advanced courses in Jewish Studies and to take an active role in UC Davis’ Jewish Studies Program. The program also welcomes applicants with an interest in the historical, comparative and theoretical study of religion. Rank is assistant professor and a Ph.D. is required. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and expertise.

Please submit application materials—a cover letter including a statement of research and teaching interests and curriculum vitae--electronically to:
https://secure.caes.ucdavis.edu/Recruitment/
(3) professional letters of reference via e-mail to dbiale@ucdavis.edu, followed by signed original copies to:
David Biale
Search Committee Chair
Religious Studies Program
University of California, Davis
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA
95616
Please also submit a writing sample (electronic PDF)to David Biale via e-mail at dbiale@ucdavis.edu

For full consideration applications should be received by October 15, 2008. The position is open until filled.

The University of California, Davis, is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer with a strong institutional commitment to the achievement of diversity among its faculty and staff.

(Via the H-JUDAIC list.)

CAESAREA'S underwater archaeological park: the video.

BNTC 08 REPORTS: I've been lax about commenting on the British New Testament Conference this year, but others have made up for that. Sean the Baptist (congratulations on the Australia job, Sean!) has his own report and he links to others. And let me echo his and Mark's thanks to Louise Lawrence, who did a great job of keeping things running smoothly.

I'm looking forward to the Aberdeen meeting in 2009 (assuming the world doesn't end tomorrow - maybe toss up a prayer to Michael and the Hashmal just in case).

ANCIENT ISRAELITE BLING:

“Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver” Exhibit Opens
(September 8, '08, 6:47 Edahn Golan) (IDEX online)

Small, delicately designed gold jewelry items dating as far back as 2,500 BCE document fashion, class and even manufacturing capabilities in an exhibit about to open at the Harry Oppenheimer Diamond Museum in Ramat Gan, Israel.

More than 100 gold jewelry items found in archeological digs in Israel are on display at the exhibition, the latest from the Ottoman period (1517-1917). Animals, goddesses and geometric shapes dominate the designs, used to signify power, wealth, status as well as beliefs. The items, on loan from the Hecht and Rockefeller museums, are mostly minute and could be a reflection of the scarcity of gold.

[...]

UPDATE: And more from Diamond Intelligence Briefs (Tacy):

ISRAEL DIAMOND MUSEUM OFFERS FIRST VIEW OF ANCIENT JEWELRY FROM ARCHEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN ISRAEL

8 September 2008

The Harry Oppenheimer Israel Diamond Museum, located within the Israeli Diamond Industry complex, has opened the ‘Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver’ exhibition of rare and ancient jewelry excavated in archeological sites throughout Israel.

The exhibition, which takes its name from the Book of Proverbs, chapter 25, verse 11: "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver", features gold jewelry that has never before been seen, much of which dates from Biblical times and even earlier. In the days of the Bible, golden balls used in intricate jewelry designs were known as ‘apples’. Though the exhibit does not focus solely on diamonds, it makes a clear statement about the vital nature of the interaction between the diamond industry and the jewelry industry, throughout the world.

The jewels, some of which are set with precious stones, enable a rare glimpse into the lifestyle and culture of the ancient Israelites, and attest to the Land of Israel's unique position as a cultural and commercial crossroad of the ancient world. All of the items have been lent to the Diamond Museum courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The exhibition also reveals a great deal about the creation of ancient jewelry – the methods, the craftsmen, the influences of other ancient civilizations and the role jewelry played in the religion and culture of the times. Over 100 pieces from the huge collections of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Hecht Museum were individually chosen by curator Yehuda Kassif to shed light on this subject.

[...]

MARTIN GOODMAN'S Rome and Jerusalem: the Clash of Civilizations is reviewed by Rivkah Fishman-Duker in Jewish Political Studies Review. Excerpt:

Rome and Jerusalem appears at a time of world crisis for the Jewish people and religion. Many doubt the very existence of a Jewish people and call Jews an "imagined community." The ancient heritage and roots of the Jews in the Land of Israel have been subject to corrosive deconstruction and doubt and have come under vicious and libelous attacks. A wide array of intellectuals, politicians, and Christian and Muslim leaders challenge the existence of a sovereign Jewish state of Israel. Moreover, Judaism often seems so diluted that it cannot be clearly defined.

In light of this background, Martin Goodman's erudite and encyclopedic volume restores ancient Jewish civilization to its proper place in world history and contributes to the ongoing debate about the origins of hatred toward Jews and Judaism. The work is indeed a tour de force.

Earlier reviews are noted here and here.

GOT BACK TO ST. ANDREWS on Saturday evening. There was heavy flooding in northern England and the train was delayed repeatedly while the tracks were cleared. But we made it. Many thanks to everyone at Durham for hosting a very good conference.

I'M HEADING BACK to St. Andrews later this afternoon. If you don't hear from me until Monday, it's because I'm temporarily without Internet access at home.

THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL as the Patron of High-Energy Physics? Well, okay, but I would have thought that the Hashmal was in charge of such things.

HELEN INGRAM, who has attended the BNTC regularly in recent years (see, e.g., here, here, here, and here), can't make it this year, but she sent strict instructions that I am to post pictures of the whisky drinking event in Lloyd Pietersen's room, which took place last night. I obey.





Helen, Cat, and Mark, we miss you!

Oh ... and there were some good papers at the conference too.

UPDATE (9 September): More here.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: I have noted before that between the 1920s and the 1990s the Supreme Muslim Council has changed its tune regarding ancient Jewish occupation of the Temple Mount. Arutz Sheva has published some photographic documentation.

The Temple Institute's Rabbi Chaim Richman writes that the pamphlet provides proof that the Waqf's current position is a departure from traditional Muslim belief. "In recent years," he writes, "the Moslem Waqf has come to deny the historic existence of the Holy Temple, claiming that the Temple Mount belongs solely to the Moslem nation, and that there exists no connection between the Jewish nation and the Temple Mount. It is clear from this pamphlet that the revised Waqf position strays from traditional Moslem acknowledgment of the Mount's Jewish antecedents."

(Heads up, reader Yoel Heltai)

UPDATE (5 September): The scans come (via the Temple Institute, unattributed) from Todd Bolen's Bible Places blog. Thanks to Joseph I. Lauer for e-mailing to point this out. He relays that an Arutz Sheva video does give correct attribution. I'm taking part of the lunch period to blog and don't have time to watch it myself.

METATRON WATCH: "So, with my guardian angel Metatron, who I imagine looks like a black Lamborghini Transformer with big bazooka arms, at my side I ventured forth to find out the past of the woman who was telling me my future."

SECOND-TEMPLE ERA CITY WALLS have been found in Jerusalem:

Jerusalem ancient walls unveiled
(BBC)

Archaeologists in Jerusalem have given a first glimpse of what they say is a newly-exposed section of the city walls built 2,100 years ago.

They say the mortarless stone structure is the best preserved section of the city's walls ever seen from the period of the Second Jewish Temple.

[...]

The construction dates from the period of the Second Temple - the 2nd Century BC until the temple's destruction by the Romans in the year 70.

The researchers believe the walls show the ancient city's boundaries when it was at its largest, with a circumference of 6km, compared to the 4km of walling surrounding what is now the Old City.

[...]

UPDATE: More details in the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release. Excerpt:

The Fortifications of the Second Temple Period
South of the line of fortifications from the Byzantine period and at a depth of approximately 4 meters below the elevation of its base, a tower that is preserved to a height of 3.20 meters was exposed which dates to the time of the Hasmonean Dynasty (the Second Temple period). The tower was built on the bedrock which was straightened and made fairly level. It was constructed of large stones that are characterized by a dressed boss in their center, with no bonding material between them. The “header-stretcher” construction method used in building the tower is typical of the Hasmonean period. The tower was part of the line of the “First Wall” that is described by Josephus. Other sections of the “First Wall” were revealed at the base of the western wall of the Ottoman city wall, in David’s Citadel and in other excavations that were conducted in the Jewish Quarter. The soil fill and the pottery sherds that abut the city wall prove that it was used until the time of the Great Revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in the year 70 CE. Afterwards, the stones of the wall were taken for secondary use, probably in order to build “Aelia Capitolina”, the Roman colony which the emperor Hadrian established on the ruins of Jerusalem in the year 131 CE.

I'M IN DURHAM, blogging from the St. John's College Library. Curiously, Firefox is not cooperating with their wireless setup, but Safari works fine. I've found Firefox (both 2 and 3) to be unusually buggy lately. Is anyone else having that problem?

I'M OFF to Durham for the annual British New Testament Conference, which starts later today and goes through Saturday. Darrell Hannah and I co-chair the NT & Second Temple Judaism Seminar. I'm not presenting a paper this year, but I'm responding to the paper by Preston Sprinkle.

I pre-posting this yesterday on Wednesday afternoon. I expect to have full Internet access at Durham, in which case blogging should continue more or less as usual. Look for me again later today (Thursday).

BARACK OBAMA meets Hebrew epigraphy and the Old Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Sort of.

Barack, Thy Name is Biblical (Washington Post)

Vilifying Barack Obama's name has become a favorite blood sport in the 2008 presidential campaign. Recent examples range from repeated mentions of "B. Hussein Obama" by conservative pundit Ann Coulter to four allusions to Obama's "Muslim sounding middle name" by Republican strategist Cheri Jabobus on MSNBC in defense of similar language. Time correspondent Mark Halperin predicts that the McCain campaign will likely continue to "emphasize Barack Hussein Obama's unusual name," despite McCain's repudiation of this tactic. Obama himself warns supporters that his "funny" name will be targeted.

The actual lineage of Barack Obama's name, however, extending back to a revered biblical namesake, befits his status as a Christian of rich ancestral influences. Obama's first name, Barack, means "blessed" in the African languages of Luo and Swahili, both spoken widely in his deceased father's birthplace of Kenya. The African "Barack" originates from the Arabic word "baracka." Barack and "baracka" mean the same as the Hebrew word "baruch," as Obama himself noted in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," and at recent campaign appearances.

[...]

Barack Obama shares with past American presidents, including Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Benjamin Harrison, the distinction of a notable biblical namesake. Baruch Ben Neriah was a scribe and friend of the prophet Jeremiah and also the reputed author of the apocryphal Book of Baruch, a canonical biblical book for Roman Catholics. He is the subject of Jewish and Christian religious lore from the Talmud to the writings of fourth-century church father Jerome and is portrayed as a righteous sage granted a tour of heaven itself.

Baruch Ben Neriah makes a fascinating appearance in recent archeological finds, as detailed by J. Edward Wright in his book, "Baruch Ben Neriah: From Biblical Scribe to Apocalyptic Seer." Showing up also, indirectly, in these finds is Ebed-Melech, a black Ethiopian who is identified with Baruch Ben Neriah in some ancient rabbinic commentaries and who rescued Jeremiah after the prophet was imprisoned by three ministers of King Zedekiah (Jeremiah 38:1-13). The names of Baruch Ben Neriah, "the scribe," and of two of these royal ministers all appear in ancient Hebrew inscriptions on clay seals, the first on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and the others unearthed in dramatic recent finds by archeologist Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem just this July and in August 2005.

[...]

Some think that the Baruch bulla is a forgery, but this is debated.

There are three or four ancient books of Baruch. In the OT Apocrypha, 1 Baruch. In the OT Pseudepigrapha, 2 Baruch (preserved in Syriac, a Greek fragment, and an Arabic translation of the Syriac), 3 Baruch (preserved in Greek and Slavonic), and the Paraleipomena of Jeremiah, which is also sometimes known as 4 Baruch.

The only Arabic rendering of the name Baruch which I can find (in the Arabic version of 2 Baruch and in the United Bible Society translation of the Bible) is Bārūxa (بآرُوخّ), with x for k. Curious. The Arabic name Mubarak is from the same root and has the same meaning - "blessed."

UPDATE: Robert Schwartz e-mails:

Obama’s given name may be from the Arabic word that is cognate to the Hebrew baruch. Or it may be from the word that means lightning (e.g. Ehud Barak אֵהוּד בָּרָק). Without knowing the Arabic spelling of his name (something that could probably only be garnered from his late father’s papers) I do not think that we can know which it is. I believe that he has cited both possibilities.

Likewise, Richard Bauckham also wrote to suggest it is the same name, which comes from the Barak (or Baraq) in the Judges 4-5. Could be; it sounds plausible. But the name seems to have been mediated through Luo or Swahili, and I don't know what changes that might have involved.

GEZA VERMES has an article on "The Truth about the Historical Jesus" in Standpoint Online. Excerpt:

To recapitulate, the philological, literary and historical analysis of the Semitic meaning of Jesus’s titles corroborates his image as it emerges from the Synoptic Gospels. Hence the only reasonable conclusion to draw from a combined study of the Gospel picture and the honorific titles is that the historical Jesus was a Galilean charismatic whose aim was to conduct his repentant Palestinian Jewish contemporaries into the spiritual realm called the Kingdom of God through preaching, healing and exorcising.

Traditional Christianity does not stop at this portrait of the human Jesus, but overlays it with the majestic ! image of the Christ of faith arising from the mystical meditations of Paul and John and the Hellenistic philosophy of the Greek Church Fathers.

In a nutshell, Jesus’s preaching was centred on God, the heavenly Father, on the dignity of all human beings as children of God, on life turned into worship by total trust, on an overwhelming sense of urgency to do one’s duty without procrastination, on the sanctification of the here and now, and above all on the love of God through the love of one’s neighbour.

TWO NEW BOOKS on plants in the Bible are given brief reviews in the Christian Science Monitor. And I may as well seize the chance to plug two new books by my colleague, Dr. Nathan MacDonald: What Did the Ancient Israelites Eat?: Diet in Biblical Times (Eerdmans 2008) and Not Bread Alone: The Uses of Food in the Old Testament (OUP, 2008).

BETWEEN MEETINGS and heading to Edinburgh in a few minutes for the next one. My home broadband is down for the next week or two, so probably no blogging today. In case you hadn't worked it out, I'm back from research leave and holiday and am now Head of School again. Oh joy! But I expect (hope for!) things to quiet down some by the middle of the month.

THE SPIEGEL ARTICLE ON CYRUS THE GREAT (noted here) has received a vigorous response from one Cyrus Kar at Payvand. It looks interesting and I've been meaning to take some time to fact-check it, but it's become clear that time for that won't be forthcoming anytime soon. But you can follow the link and see what you think yourself. I blog, you decide.

I stand by my own evaluation of Cyrus, at the first link.

Things are still going to be busy this week, and I'll be off for a conference on Thursday, but I'll blog as much as I can.

METATRON WATCH: Here's some New Age advice in the Llewellyn Journal for invoking the Archangel Metatron. It has no particular historical interest and I'm not encouraging this sort of thing, but it is notable evidence that a version of the Metatron cult is still alive and well today.

I've been swamped today and, as you may have guessed, news is slow. I'll be just as busy or busier tomorrow, but I'll do my best to slip in some blogging.

THE FRIED SCROLLS OF HERCULANEUM get a boost from Wired:

But there is an exquisite edge to the discovery of this Epicurean library in Herculaneum, and it is honed not so much by the knowledge of what has been found as the fear of what might be lost. An alliance of mainly British and American scholars, convinced that more texts remain to be found at the Villa of the Papyri, are calling for its urgent excavation. They cite the threat posed to the villa, which has never been completely liberated from its prison of rock, by a further eruption of Vesuvius. The volcano's bellows were heard as recently as 1998.

Richard Janko, head of classical studies at the University of Michigan, believes the Villa of the Papyri promises to yield the greatest number of new texts since the discoveries in the 16th century that nourished the High Renaissance and fashioned Western secular humanism. "This is the only place in the world where we know for certain that a Greco-Roman library was entombed in a manner that ensured its preservation," Janko says.

"There are almost certainly more books to be found there."

This is curious, because I thought new excavation at the site had already started. Does anyone out there know what the story is?

Background at that last link and here.

UPDATE: The Australian has the much longer original article (via the Agade list). This part is of interest:

When I meet the archeological superintendent of the region, Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, at his office in Pompeii, the curtains are partly drawn across a hard, bright Neapolitan sky. The author of several books on the region's antiquities, Guzzo is a genial man with a professorial air who speaks in heavily accented English.

"So you have seen the villa," he says, lighting a pipe, a lifted brow accenting his playful tone. "They make this cavity, this cave. It is not soclear, and they bring into view only a small part. And when they finish we have to manage the cave."

The chief impediment to further excavation, Guzzo adds, is not so much financial as political. "Our task is to preserve what is found but it is very difficult to project an entire excavation. Digging at the villa, that's a huge undertaking. We would have to change streets, demolish houses and change the lives of thousands of people in Ercolano and Portici. It is a problem for the mayors. It is a political decision in the true sense of the word."

Guzzo points out that barely half of the scrolls found at the villa have been read by scholars, and questions the motivation of those pushing for an excavation in search of antiquity's lost works. "For me they must open and read all the papyri they have had for centuries, before we look for others," he says. "If I want to eat a meal at my home I don't go to the supermarket if I have a full fridge."

He concedes, on the other hand, the strong possibility that more remains to be found in "parts of the villa where the ancient diggers don't go". And this seems to add weight to the claim by scholars such as Fowler and Janko that another wing of the library, perhaps a separate Latin collection, awaits discovery.

Vesuvius last erupted in 1944 as Allied soldiers were thrusting up the Sorrentine coast against the retreating Reich. It remains a restive, brooding presence. Scholars with a passionate concern for the Villa of the Papyri hear the ticking of the volcano's geological clock.

Guzzo, however, regards the threat with a combination of Neapolitan fatalism and incorrigible pragmatism. "Earthquakes are possible," he says. "But they are not. What can we do about nature?

"Today I think the method of archeology is not to find treasures," he concludes. "It's to solve historical problems."

Janko, not surprisingly, bridles at the likening of his scholarly impulse to the exploits of a tomb raider. "It is amazing to claim that it is treasure hunting when one asks to have the papyri excavated before Vesuvius buries them definitively," he says. "If lava flows over the site again, I doubt we will ever have access to them.

"As for the publication of all the papyri being demanded before more are excavated, might one ask that the whole of Pompeii and Herculaneum be properly published before anything more there is unearthed? It seems to me to be arrogance to deny future generations the opportunity to read more such books, just because there are at present very few classical scholars with the competence and the energy to decipher and bring out those that we do have."

I take Superintendent Guzzo's point, but I think it has to be balanced against the importance of getting any remaining scrolls out of the ground and into the hands of conservators before those scrolls deteriorate further. It's going to take a long time to edit them all in any case, but that has been true of many major manuscript discoveries, including (somewhat unfairly infamously) the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Cairo Geniza, and the Oxyrhynchus papyri. The editing of the last two sets of texts is nowhere near finished. That said, in the coming years new technology is likely to speed the process up considerably.

A GREEK STUDY DAY at Cambridge University:

7th Annual Greek Study Day, 15th September 2008
Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge

Bookings now being taken! The Greek Study Day is aimed at those teaching New Testament Greek in universities and colleges. It provides an opportunity to hear about different methods and textbooks, to share experiences and to develop new ideas and approaches for teaching. To attend, please complete the form below

and send to:

Jane McLarty jdm35@cam.c.uk
Lucy Cavendish College
Cambridge CB3 0BU

PLEASE NOTE: a formatted electronic version is available for download under 'files' at http://groups.google.co.uk/group/BNTS/post


HEA CLASSICS AND PHILOSOPHICAL & RELIGIOUS STUDIES CENTRES
Modern approaches to teaching Ancient Languages
Seventh study day for teachers of Greek for students of Theology and Religious Studies
Monday 15th September 2008, 10.30 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. at Lucy Cavendish College
With the support of the Philosophical & Religious Studies subject centres of the Higher Education Academy, and the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, we enclose the programme and details of a study day at Lucy Cavendish College.

What kind of day?
This will be a practical day with presentations and discussions aimed both at those teaching beginners and also those teaching intermediate students. It is the seventh such day, and the previous days have been highly valued by participants.
We will have a presentation from an experienced teacher of modern languages; from a member of the ‘Reading Greek’ team; and from a colleague on how clause analysis can help students approach the language.
We are also looking forward to a visit to Trinity College’s Wren Library to view holdings of interest to New Testament scholars.

What will happen?
We encourage those attending to bring examples of materials, handouts or ideas they have successfully used with students to share with others, especially those which relate to the topics of the presentations. We are keen to draw out ‘good practice’ ideas to improve the learning experience of all of our students. Please tell us on the booking form what you will bring.

How do I book?
The cost for the day, to include coffee, a buffet lunch, and a cup of tea is £20.00. Payment should be sent with your booking. Cheques should be payable to Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, which is handling the booking arrangements (see contact below). Booking forms should be sent to: Jane McLarty at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge (details on the booking form) as soon as possible since places are limited. You can post, fax or email it (but in the latter two cases you will need to post your cheque separately). The final date for receipt of bookings for the study day is Monday 8th September 2008.

Location
This year we are meeting at the Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge; for directions please go to http://www.lucy-cav.cam.ac.uk/pages/conferences/directions.php

Questions?
If you have any questions about the day, please contact one of the organising team:
Dr Steve Walton (London School of Theology; tel: 01923 456326; email: s.walton@lst.ac.uk)
Ms Jane McLarty (Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge)
tel: 01223 332197; fax 01223 764435; email: jdm35@cam.ac.uk)
Mr Geoffrey Williams (Spurgeon’s College, London)
tel: 01992 581339; email: geoffreynt@googlemail.com)


GREEK TEACHERS’ STUDY DAY BOOKING FORM
For the attention of Jane McLarty (Admissions Tutor. Lucy Cavendish
College, Lady Margaret Road, Cambridge CB3 0BU; tel: 01223 332197; fax
01223 764435; email: jdm35@cam.ac.uk)
Modern approaches to teaching ancient languages
A study day for teachers of Greek
at Lucy Cavendish College, Monday 15th September 2008
I shall come to this study day and enclose a cheque for £20.00 payable
to Lucy Cavendish College
 Please tick here if you require a receipt
Name: ____________________________________________________________
Address for contact:
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________
Telephone: ____________________________________________
Email address: ___________________________________________________
Main Greek teaching interests:
I will bring with me the following examples of resources, handouts or ideas which I have used successfully with students:
Please tell us below if you have particular dietary needs (e.g. vegetarian)

HEA CLASSICS & THEOLOGY CENTRES: NT/KOINE GREEK GROUP
Modern approaches to teaching Ancient Languages
Seventh study day for teachers of Greek
Monday 15th September 2008
10.30 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.
at Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge
Time What Who
1030 Arrival and coffee
1045 Welcome
1100 Reading Greek and adult beginners Janet Watson
1200 Learning from modern language teaching Tina Hodgett
An experienced secondary school teacher of inflected languages; now in the Anglican ministry
1300 Lunch
1330 Parsing’s Purpose David Palmer
1430 Visit to the Wren Library Dr Jonathan Smith Trinity College
1600 Coffee and depart

From the British New Testament Society e-mail list.

THE PROJECT TO REPHOTOGRAPH the Dead Sea Scrolls is, not surprisingly, getting a lot of media attention, some of which includes some new information. From CNN:

"Just by applying the latest infrared technologies and shooting at very high detail, lots of resolution, we are already opening up new characters from the scrolls that are either extremely indistinct or you just couldn't see them before," said Simon Tanner, director of King's Digital Consultancy Services.

Tanner, who has worked on previous digital projects involving antiquities, is on a team that also includes Greg Bearman, who recently retired as principal scientist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Bearman pioneered archaeological digital imaging and owns a company, Snapshot Spectra, that makes the imagers.

"To switch over to digital is really the way to go, and people were resistant to it initially, because it was a new way of doing stuff," he said. "They want their light table and their magnifying glass."

But with digital imaging, Bearman said, "You can see where the ink has broken away and you can see the texture of the animal skin, so you can see more detail than you can see with the naked eye."

Another benefit of the imaging process, Bearman said, is that it enables scientists to determine the amount of water present in the parchment.
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That will help authorities determine whether the parchment is too wet or too dry, and enable them to keep the scrolls in conditions that are perfect for conservation.

More on the last point from the APF:

"I believe that by using spectral photography we will succeed, through non-invasive means, to determine the amount of water present in the parchment from which the scrolls are made," said Greg Berman, an imaging expert who recently retired from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory research centre.

"Data such as this has added value for conservation and preservation issues. If, for example, we discover that the parchments are too dry, it will be necessary to modify the conditions in which they are maintained," said Berman, one of several international experts who have worked alongside IAA staff.

From the Guardian:

The detailed colour photographs of papyrus fragments may help to identify pieces that fit together and fragments written by the same scribes. Scholars hope that this information will enable them to piece together more of the fragments and so come closer to putting complete sections of the scrolls together.

And the Telegraph has pictures.

Background here.

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH: There is dissent among the Ultra-Orthodox on whether it is permissible to visit the Temple Mount.

Reclaiming Judaism's holiest place
By Nadav Shragai (Haaretz)
Tags: Israel

The police at the Mugrabi Gate, at the entrance to the Temple Mount, are used to the sight. Every few days a group of ultra-Orthodox Temple Mount Faithful congregates in front of the gate. A few of them wear the black kneesocks and tasseled tie belt of the Belzer Hassidic sect, while others are American youths, students from the Mir Yeshiva. Occasionally they are joined by Gerer Hassidim, and of course national-religious Jews, with their crocheted skullcaps. Only after a thorough check of the worshipers' bags, to make sure they contain no prayer books, prayer shawls or phylacteries, do the police allow them to enter the Temple Mount compound.

This unusual "coalition," which has been visiting the mount at least once a week for years, is defined in the ultra-Orthodox world as somewhere between eccentric and untouchable, but primarily as rebelling against a halakhic prohibition stating that today there is theoretically no greater sin than entering the Temple Mount; that anyone who violates this ruling is doomed to an untimely death.

[...]

THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS are being rephotographed with the aim of putting the photos online:

Israel to Display the Dead Sea Scrolls on the Internet

By ETHAN BRONNER (NYT)
Published: August 26, 2008

JERUSALEM — In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a cave, half a dozen specialists embarked this week on a historic undertaking: digitally photographing every one of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the entire file — among the most sought-after and examined documents on earth — available to all on the Internet.

Equipped with high-powered cameras with resolution and clarity many times greater than those of conventional models, and with lights that emit neither heat nor ultraviolet rays, the scientists and technicians are uncovering previously illegible sections and letters of the scrolls, discoveries that could have significant scholarly impact.

[...]

The entire collection was photographed only once before — in the 1950s using infrared — and those photographs are stored in a climate-controlled room because they show things already lost from some of the scrolls. The old infrared pictures will also be scanned in the new digital effort.

[...]

Very good news.

UPDATE (28 August): More here.

THE SHROUD OF TURIN is going to be subjected to new authenticity tests at Oxford University.

Age of shroud of Turin disputed again
John Follain (London Times)

A LEADING expert on the shroud of Turin has won the support of an Oxford University laboratory for new carbon dating tests on the venerated but controversial relic, which was dismissed two decades ago as a fake.

[...]

John Jackson, a physicist at Colorado University and a prominent expert on the relic, has argued that the tests were skewed by 1,300 years because of high levels of carbon monoxide. He said many other elements of the shroud, including details of the image, indicate that it is much more ancient.

“It’s the radiocarbon date that, to our minds, is like a square peg in a round hole. It’s not fitting properly and the question is ‘Why?’,” Jackson told an interviewer.

Oxford has agreed to work with Jackson to reassess the age of the shroud. He will now try to demonstrate through experiments in his laboratory that the results were flawed, in the hope that this could prompt new tests on the relic itself.

[...]

This was already reported last May, but it does not seem that any of the new tests have actually been done yet.

(Via the Agade list.)

THE BIBLE REMIXED:

Chronological Study Bible stirs interest, skepticism

By BOB SMIETANA • Staff Writer (The Tennessean) • August 24, 2008

Like most versions of the Good Book, the new Chronological Study Bible from Thomas Nelson starts with "In the beginning," and ends with "Amen."

Everything else is up for grabs.

Entire books, like the Psalms, have been chopped up and mixed in with other sections of the Scripture, while others have been combined into nine story arcs, known as epochs.

Editors at the Nashville-based Christian publisher say their remix of the Protestant Bible's 66 books will give readers new insights to the Scriptures. But some scholars believe the project will lead to confusion, not enlightenment.

[...]

The concerns that at once occurred to me are laid out later in the article:

The new Bible's chronology is based on the setting of each text — when the events in it occurred — rather than when it was written.

That's a problem, says Doug Knight, Buffington professor of Hebrew Bible at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Many books of the Bible, he said, were written long after the fact. For example, Knight says, the book of Joshua is set in the late Bronze Age, but was probably composed several hundred years later. Inserting notes about the historical context of a Bible passage won't help if that text was written hundreds of years later, he said.

"Why would that be relevant, if the author is not living in the Bronze Age?," he said. "What's happening in the author's own time is relevant."

That's especially true of a book like Daniel, Knight said.

That Old Testament account is set in the 6th century B.C., at the time when the Jews had been conquered by the Babylonians. But it was probably written in the 2nd century B.C., when Israel was ruled by a tyrant named Antiochus Epiphanes, and was written to encourage the Jews to keep their faith, despite being persecuted.

"It's a powerful account if you put it in the time period of Antiochus Epiphanes," Knight said.

VISION OF GABRIEL WATCH: April DeConick has some pertinent questions and observations. And Israel Knohl has responded here.

(Background here.)

THE PHOENICIA has an Expedition Artist:

Painter will document attempt to circumnavigate Africa

August 24, 2008 (LA Times)

SOUNDING like it was lifted from a Rudyard Kipling novel, "expedition artist" may be one of the world's most intriguing job titles. And Tujunga painter Danielle Eubank will be doing just that aboard the Phoenicia, documenting Philip Beale's attempt to circumnavigate Africa in a replica of a 600 B.C. Phoenician cargo ship.

[...]

Having just returned from the boat's launch, where she spent the previous month helping build the ship with other crew members, Eubank, 39, will set to work on her first round of paintings. She'll rejoin the crew for the Kenya-to-Tanzania and Gibraltar-to-Tunisia legs, shooting pictures and sketching, either with charcoal and pencils or with the same oils she uses for her final paintings.

[...]

Background here.

A NEW JESUS MOVIE – to be filmed in New Zealand – is in the works:

Shroud of secrecy around movie
South Canterbury | Saturday, 23 August 2008 (Timaru Herald)

TWIZEL'S Falstone Camp will become Capernaum, a 3000-year-old fishing village, and Lake Benmore the Sea of Galilee in the biblical movie Kingdom Come to be shot next year.

A CONFERENCE ON ANCIENT LIBRARIES is being held by the School of Classics at the University of St. Andrews on 9 to 11 September.

Libraries operate as the core foundation of research and study in the modern Western world. Historically, they have enabled the preservation and transmission of knowledge from antiquity to the Middle Ages, to the contemporary era. Yet in the diachronic history of the library, we still lack fundamental facts about its institutional role, organisation and mode of operation in the ancient world. This is especially acute as both archaeological research and the study of ancient literary texts have enabled significant advancement to our knowledge and understanding of ancient written culture and its various loci of production and dissemination.

One of the ‘Science and Empire’ project’s principal research objectives is to examine the institutional contexts associated with the production and dissemination of ancient scientific, technical, and encyclopaedic writing. Our conference, accordingly, aims to re-open discussion of the role, function and users of ancient libraries. We are keen to explore the shifting conditions under which the library operated as a physical and institutional entity, but also as intellectual and symbolic space over the long span of antiquity. In addition, we wish to investigate a variety of scholarly practices and social and intellectual networks that developed within the domain of the ancient library. We thus hope to illuminate the relationship between the library and the broader culture of reading, writing and intellectual exchange in antiquity.

The conference will bring together literary scholars, historians and archaeologists of all periods of Graeco-Roman antiquity specialising in the above fields.

FUN FACT (unverified): Syriac and Amharic (Ethiopic) are "each spoken by more than 31,000 persons" in the United States.