Bene Menashe migrating to Israel

THE BENE MENASHE are coming to Israel:

After three millennia in exile, Bnei Menashe lost tribe heads home

James Hider in Jerusalem (London Times)

When Tzvi Khaute landed at Tel Aviv for the first time, he wanted to kiss the earth. Alas, the modern airport was all tarmac and stone, so he kissed the first soil he came across, in a flowerpot. Thousands of diaspora Jews from around the world make aliyah — the migration to Israel — every year, but for Tzvi and his fellow Tibeto-Burmese immigrants from the far northeast of India, the journey was particular freighted with symbolism. They believe they are descendants of one of the ten lost tribes of Israel, sent into exile by the Assyrians almost 800 years before the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.

About 1,700 members of the Bnei Menashe tribe — the Sons of Manasseh, one of the original 12 biblical tribes of Israel — have migrated to Israel, completing what they believe is an extraordinary, 2,700-year exile that took them from the Middle East seven centuries before the Christian era, through Afghanistan, China, Burma and India, before they heard that a new state of Israel had been created 62 years ago.

[...]

I've mentioned the Bene Menashe earlier here, here, and here. As I've noted before, there's no evidence for the claim that they go back to the Assyrian exile in the 700s BCE, although their genetic profile does seem to indicate some connection with the Middle East. This 2005 BBC article sums up the evidence.

Late apocalypses online

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic: A Postrabbinic Jewish Apocalypse Reader, by John C. Reeves, is available online at Google Books. Much, but not all of the text is included.

This from Sigrid Peterson on the PSCO list, in response to an announcement of lecture by Professor Martha Himmelfarb last week (22 April) at the University of Pennsylvania, to which I wish I could have gone. This is the abstract:

“Revelation after the Rabbis: Sefer Zerubbabel and Sefer Eliyyahu”

Abstract: /Sefer Zerubbabel /and /Sefer Eliyyahu/, often described as medieval Hebrew apocalypses, were composed in the first part of the seventh century. They thus faced the challenge of offering their revelations to a world that was not only post-biblical but also post-talmudic. I will discuss the implications of this situation for the content of their revelations and the quite different ways they present them, suggesting that /Sefer Eliyyahu /shows a much greater affinity for rabbinic values and rabbinic literary style than /Sefer Zerubbabel /and considering the implications of /Sefer Zerubbabel/’s distance from rabbinic culture.

Bibliography - Please read the texts if possible. Probably the most convenient place to get the translations of the two works is John Reeves, /Trajectories in Near Eastern Apocalyptic: A Postrabbinic Jewish Apocalypse Reader /(2005). I translated /Sefer Zerubbabel /in /Rabbinic Fantasies/, ed. David Stern and Mark Jay Mirsky (1990). The originals of both works await real editions. The most convenient source for the Hebrew of both works is probably Yehudah Even-Shmuel, /Midreshei Ge'ulah/, but be warned that these are "improved" version. Reeves refers you to other editions of the two works.

UNESCO drops Syria a hint.

ARAMAIC WATCH: The Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, has brought up Aramaic and Maaloula (Ma'aloula, Malula) in the hearing of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria:

She pointed out that her talks with President al-Assad underlined the role of education in bolstering social cohesion based on the roots of national identity and historical prospects and aspirations for future. "Syria is such a unique place for laying down bridges that connect history, modern life and the future," she said. Ms. Bokova spoke about her visit to Ma'lula which, she added, is given great attention by President al-Assad "not only for its importance in preserving Aramaic language, but also in order to keep it as a living example of the different cultures and religions which have lived together in tolerance over decades." ...

In other words, Mr. President, how about reopening the Aramaic Language Institute in Maaloula?

I can relate.

"THEY EXPECT ME TO ANSWER with the ancient Aramaic or Phoenician name of a fallen angel." Yeah, this happens to me a lot too.

Types of texts in the DSS

TYPES OF TEXTS in the Dead Sea Scrolls are summarized in the Youngstown Vindicator (Ohio). The list is essentially correct, although it should be noted that Pesharim are also sectarian texts and none of the Pseudepigrapha discovered at Qumran are known in the Armenian canon.

Hamas and Gaza antiquities

HAMAS is taking some interest in antiquities in Gaza according to the Christian Science Monitor:

When laborers stumbled on an ancient hoard of 1,300 silver coins and the walls of a 3,300-year-old city in the southern town of Rafah in January, it was a fresh reminder that the tiny territory maintains a rich past.

[...]

"Gaza is very small geographically, but in terms of archaeology, it is very large," says the Hamas minister of tourism and antiquities, Mohammed al-Agha. "Gaza was at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe, and there is a great accumulation of human civilization here. But we don't have our own specialists so we can't manage the sites professionally."

[...]

Construction contractors like Jawhdat Khodary, who opened a private museum in a beachfront space in 2008, would pay laborers and local fishermen for any artifacts they found, preserving at least 3,000 pieces.

[...]

But Hamas says it is making both the regulation and preservation of historical sites a priority. The tourism and antiquities ministry inaugurated in January an artifacts museum in Gaza City – in an Ottoman-era governor's residence – and took control of the Rafah coin find.

Mr. Agha says the ministry also plans to cooperate with Gaza's Islamic University to expand courses on archaeology. Hamas hired a new guard for the remains of the 3rd-century monastery that Mr. Mubaid says is Gaza's most important site.

But Mr. Khodary charges Hamas with censoring some of his finds. He claims Hamas asked him to put away tiny menorahs – and a small statue of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, whose gown was deemed too revealing.

The censorship (noted earlier here) is kind of pathetic, but the new museum and the efforts on the Rafah coin hoard are encouraging.

For that coin hoard see here. Mr. Khodary's museum has also been mentioned here and here.

More on the Azusa Pacific DSS and exhibition

AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY tells the story of how they acquired those five Dead Sea Scroll fragments. And the Treasures of the Bible: The Dead Sea Scrolls and Beyond exhibition website is here.

Background here.

UPDATE (12 May): Bad link now fixed!

Progress on the Cairo Geniza Digitization Project

THE CAIRO GENIZA DIGITIZATION PROJECT has processed about 65,000 images, about 20% of the 310,000 total estimated.

Background on the project is here.

St. George's Day is today

ST. GEORGE'S DAY is today.

Lemba "Ark of the Covenant" on display in Harare

THE LEMBA "ARK OF THE COVENANT" is on display in Harare:

African 'Jewish' tribe displays its lost ark

By Moira Schneider, April 22, 2010 (Jewish Chronicle Online)

Members of an African tribe are displaying a sacred object they believe to be the Ark of the Covenant in a Harare museum.

The item is a ngoma, a sacred drum made of wood. According to oral tradition, a ngoma was carried from Israel by the Lemba, a South African tribe who believe they are descendants of Jews from the Middle East. After it burst into flame and was destroyed, another ngoma - the one currently on display - was constructed from the ruins.

DNA research has traced the Lemba's origins to the Middle East. More remarkably, a genetic marker largely found only in Cohanim, descendants of the ancient Jewish priesthood, is present in the same proportions among the Lemba's own priests, known as the Buba.

[...]

There's a good photo of the object, which has no particular resemblance to the biblical Ark. Background here and here (scroll down) and just keep following the links back.

Tobias and the Angel by Adam Elsheimer

APOCRYPHA WATCH: Tobias and the Angel (1607), painted by Adam Elsheimer, is profiled by Michael Glover in the Independent. Excerpt:

Only 34 paintings are known to exist by him, but a number of them are amongst the most exciting and innovative works of their time. Tobias and the Angel, which was probably painted three or four years before his death, is one of those tiny, innovative works which show us why he is so important. The subject itself is not uncommon – Verrocchio, Lippo Lippi and Raphael made paintings of the same title. But Elsheimer's way of dealing with the subject was quite different. If you look at the three treatments of the subject by the other masters, you will find them all to be brilliant, and almost gaudily worldly, displays of painterly excellence, bathed in the light of day – self-preeningly so, you might even add. Elsheimer turns the subject into a much more mysterious and almost hole-in-the-corner affair. What is more, the scene is mysteriously under-lit, and variously lit – another trait common to many of Elsheimer's best works.

The story is taken not from the Bible, but from the Book of Tobit in the Apocrypha, that collection of narratives which got excluded from the Bible by the Church Fathers. Tobias is the son of Tobit. A fish attacks him while he is washing beside the River Tigris. He kills it, removes its guts, and later uses them to exorcise a demon, and to cure his father of blindness. An angel guides him across the water to safety. One important matter which Elsheimer more than suggests is that Tobias, who is represented as a small, vulnerable boy stumbling his way across the waters in the half-light, does not necessarily know that his protector and guardian is an angel because Tobias is not looking at him.

The article has an enlargeable photo of the painting.

Kurt Raveh interviewed about the Jesus Boat in CT

KURT RAVEH, excavator of the "Jesus Boat" (a first-century wooden boat discovered in the Sea of Galilee in 1986 - with no actual direct connection with Jesus), is interviewed by David Neff in Christianity Today. Excerpt:

How was the Jesus Boat discovered?

It was a real surprise. After four years of drought, in 1986 the Sea of Galilee had retreated. Two brothers, Jewish fishermen, were walking on the exposed seabed and found coins, pieces of wood, and iron nails. They called us to check into it.

We started cleaning some of the boat, and suddenly we saw the mortise and tenon joints. We found a Roman oil lamp and a Roman cooking pot. It was a boat from Roman times! This is what we had been waiting for.

At that moment, there appeared a beautiful double rainbow. It was like a blessing. We danced there like Indians from happiness.

Then the problems started. The wood was completely waterlogged so it was like wet cardboard. Our boss at the Department of Antiquities didn't have equipment. Our group was just two archaeologists, two fishermen, and two others. We had only three buckets and two shovels. An expedition like this normally brings with it a million dollars, a year of preparation, laboratories, and a 40-person professional crew.

The same issue of CT also has a review of the book The Jesus Boat: Living Proof of a Modern-Day Miracle in Galilee by Christian Stillman.

I noted the Jesus Boat story a few years ago here.

Obituary for Hanan Eshel (Jewish Ideas Daily)

AN OBITUARY FOR HANAN ESHEL in Jewish Ideas Daily:

What the Archaeologist Knew

The ghosts of Qumran have conjured up two distinct communities of modern scholars: the archaeologists who dig in the caves and discover the libraries, and the textual scholars who read and interpret the Dead Sea Scrolls in cavernous libraries of their own. Not many have been able to move with assurance among both. One of them was Hanan Eshel, who died earlier this month at age fifty-two.

[...]

Earlier tributes here.

A Bible Museum in Amsterdam

THERE'S A BIBLE MUSEUM in Amsterdam, built in the 1660s, with models of the Temple Mount and the Tabernacle.

Qumran scholar comes to Brite Divinity School

BRITE DIVINITY SCHOOL at Texas Christian University has a new director of its Jewish Studies program who is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls:

Jewish studies gets new director

Kayla Mezzell
Issue date: 4/22/10 Section: News (Daily Skiff)

Brite Divinity School officials found a new director of the Jewish Studies Program last week.

Nancy Ramsay, Brite Divinity School dean, said Ariel Feldman, a current Newton Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Manchester in England, accepted the position early last week and would join the staff as the Rosalyn and Manny Rosenthal Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and director of the Jewish Studies Program in fall 2011. Both posts are currently vacant.

Ramsay said Feldman could not relocate to the U.S. to begin teaching until he has completed the prestigious Newton fellowship. The classes traditionally taught by the director will not be taught again until Feldman arrives in 2011.

According to the Newton International fellowships website, the Newton fellowship is a post-doctoral research fellowship for international scholars. The program is administered by The British Academy, The Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society.

When he comes to campus, Feldman, a graduate of the University of Haifa in Israel, will be required to teach three graduate-level courses and one undergraduate-level course in the religion department, Ramsay said.

Ramsay said Feldman will teach the same undergraduate class as his predecessor, David Nelson, who resigned from the post in May 2009 to pursue other interests.

Because of the specialized nature of the program Feldman will be entering, Ramsay said, the position has been vacant with special lectures augmenting attention to the area in the meantime.

Feldman has specialized in the Qumran Scrolls, better known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Ramsay said. According to the Library of Congress website, the Dead Sea Scrolls were the oldest Hebrew scripture manuscript still in existence when they were discovered in 1947.

[...]

Congratulations to Dr. Feldman and to Brite Divinity School.

Ten minutes with ... James Charlesworth

TEN MINUTES WITH ... JAMES CHARLESWORTH, who tells us that in antiquity the serpert was a symbol of good sex. This and other things from his new book, The Good & Evil Serpent: How a Universal Symbol Became Christianized.

Philip Pullman interviewed in the Guardian

PHILIP PULLMAN is interviewed in the Guardian about his new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, and other things. Excerpt on Gnosticism:

But in truth he had for some while been thinking about Jesus. "Reading around the subject," he says. "I love late antiquity because it's a time of immense competition among religions. The old gods, the Greek and Roman gods, were gradually being replaced by rather fearsome or demanding new gods, such as the one that the Christians were bringing from the region we call Palestine. At the same time, Greek thought had combined with religious feelings from a little further east and produced something then known as gnosticism . . . "

It is at moments like this, that one sees the remnants of Pullman the teacher. "It's the idea that this world is a false creation of an evil demiurge," he continues, voice calm and dry, "and not the real place created by the real God, and that all of us have inside us a sort of spark of divinity that was stolen from the real God and that explains what our task is — we have to escape and get back to the real source." He smiles faintly. "Now that's a hell of a good story because it accounts for so many things: it accounts for why there's evil and suffering and sickness and so on; it accounts for why those who think deeply don't feel at home in the world; and it gives us something to do. It's one of the best stories of all time. But it's not true." He adds a polite qualification: "I don't think."

When did he decide it wasn't true? "Well I went through a very gnostic phase in my 20s," he recalls. "I read a lot of stuff about it and tried to feel the sort of angst appropriate to someone who's a prisoner of a material world. But I don't do angst very well. As the man who wanted to be a philosopher said to Dr Johnson, 'Cheerfulness keeps breaking through.' Heh-HA!" He has a linty sort of laugh, not hearty or loud, but something quickly brushed off.

"And so I came to realise that this world was actually rather a good place, which is full of things that make you laugh and things that make you happy and things that make you feel good physically, and so I gradually abandoned the idea of the evil demiurges who had created this ghastly world, and realised actually that this is our home, it's where we belong, and there ain't no elsewhere." He pauses. "So that's where I am now, spiritually speaking. Which I never do, because I don't like that word." What word would he use? "Um . . ." he ponders. "Philosophically speaking. Intellectually speaking. Emotionally speaking."

(Yeah, I can relate. I have a go at angst sometimes, but I tend to lose momentum pretty soon and start being happy again. But these days, for those so minded, the Simulation Argument can provide a form of Gnosticism in which the angst is optional.)

On his new book:

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ was recently reviewed in the Guardian by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, a great supporter of Pullman. "I think he was generous," Pullman says. "Much more generous than might have been expected, but he is a good and kindly man. And predictably, but correctly, in effect he said, 'This wasn't as good as the Bible.'" Several critics have made a similar observation. "I know," he says, a little tetchy. "But I wasn't trying to write an alternative Gospel. What I was trying to do was tell the story of Jesus in a different kind of way. And make a fable out of it." He hopes in fact that his book will lead people back to the Bible itself. "Because then they will see how many contradictions and inconsistencies there are between the gospels," he explains, "instead of this single monolithic story."

There's much more and it's worth a read.

Earlier Pullman coverage here.

Emanuel Tov lectures at St Andrews

PROFESSOR EMANUEL TOV, Editor-in-Chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls, lectured in St. Andrews last Thursday. My doctoral student, David Larsen, has posted his notes on the lecture. Many thanks to Professor Tov for coming to us and for Professor Kristin De Troyer for arranging his visit.

The Phoenicia has arrived at St Helena

THE GOOD SHIP PHOENICIA has completed another leg of her journey. (Note that this article is a week old.)

Dorset adventurer's ship Phoenicia arrives at St Helena

1:00pm Tuesday 13th April 2010 (Dorset Echo)

AFTER 17 days and nights at sea, a replica 600BC Phoenician ship has completed its latest passage on an expedition around Africa.

Phoenicia arrived at St Helena after a 1,693-mile voyage from Cape Town, South Africa on Wednesday morning.

Led by Dorset adventurer Philip Beale, the team of 11 international sailors are one step closer to their objective – recreating the first circumnavigation of Africa.
[...]

Having already made a successful navigation of the Cape of Good Hope the crew are delighted to have arrived at St Helena where they will spend a few days on dry land restocking with fresh provisions and taking a short break from life at sea.

They will also invite a local school, who have been tracking their progress online, to visit the ship and learn about the project.

The next leg of the expedition is expected to be a challenge as they sail towards the Ascension Islands and the Azores.

[...]

Background here.

UPDATE: Judith Weingarten e-mails to remind me of the expedition website here and notes that the Phoenicia has arrived at the Ascension Islands.

Welcome to Dead Sea Scrolls 3204

WELCOME TO DEAD SEA SCROLLS 3204

By Ken Ronnan | Published Mon, Apr 19 2010 10:42 am (MinnPost.com)

Professor Alex Jassen's students have a unique opportunity this year to combine classroom learning with a field visit to the same 2000-year-old document they are studying. Jassen has been teaching Dead Sea Scrolls 3204 at the University of Minnesota for several semesters, and this year served as an academic adviser to the Science Museum of Minnesota in its current exhibit of the actual scrolls. The course studies, in-depth, the impact these scrolls have had on the study of religion, mainly Judaism and Christianity.

There's video too.

I am currently teaching my Dead Sea Scrolls class DI4712/13. (Yes, I know, the website is getting out of date.)

More on the Granite Bay, Ca, DSS exhibition

MORE ON THE GRANITE BAY, CA, DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBIT:

Glimpse of holy scrolls at Sacramento area church
Parts of Dead Sea discovery on loan in Granite Bay
By Sue Nowicki (Modesto Bee)
snowicki@modbee.com

GRANITE BAY -- Want to see a piece of 2,000-year-old history as well as centuries of historic Jewish and Christian writings?

Check out "From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America" at Bayside Church in this Sacramento-area community. Eleven fragments of the famous scrolls -- about the size of a thumbnail -- are on display for the first time in Northern California. The show runs daily through May 15.

On loan from Azusa Pacific University, only three of the exhibit's fragments have been deciphered. They are from Deuteronomy and Daniel and include this verse:
Danny Poplin Jr. is scheduled to be sentenced today

Deuteronomy 8:3 "So he humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord."

[...]

The article also has a photo of the fragment of Deuteronomy 27:4b-6, on which, more here and follow the links. Background to the exhibition is here.

Metatron in the theater

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: Metatron in the theatre:

Tiny Kushner 5 one-act plays at Tricycle from 1 Sep

(LondonTheatre.co.uk)

The Guthrie Theater/Berkeley Repertory Theatre production of Tiny Kushner, a collection of five one-act plays by Tony Kushner, at Tricycle, in Kilburn, north London, from 1 to 25 Sep 2010.

It is directed by Berkeley Repertory Theatre’s Artistic Director Tony Taccone. Designed by Annie Smart, lighting by Alexander V. Nichols, sound by Victor Zupanc

Number four is:

DR. ARNOLD A. HUTSCHNECKER IN PARADISE: Metatron, a Recording Angel with a million eyes, is holding a supervisory session with Dr. Hutschneker in an upscale office in heaven. The two discuss how Hutschneker’s pains and his denial of mortality could quite possibly be related to his sessions with his own patient, Richard Milhous Nixon, with whom he frequently meets in the afterlife.

Review of Vermes books

ANOTHER VERMES REVIEW, this one of two of his books in the London Times:

Searching for the Real Jesus: Jesus, the Dead Sea Scrolls and Other Religious Themes by Geza Vermes/The Story of the Scrolls: The Miraculous Discovery and True Significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls by Geza Vermes

The Sunday Times review by Christopher Hart

Geza Vermes, arguably the greatest “Jesus” scholar of the 20th century, was born into an assimilated Hungarian Jewish family in 1924. At the age of seven he was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church. He lost both his parents in the Holocaust, joined the order of Notre Dame de Sion, and for six years was a Catholic priest. But in middle age, “without a spiritual storm”, he left the Church and found himself “back at my Jewish roots”, though not a practising Jew.

The author’s biography is relevant, in this case, since it has been Vermes’s bifocal vision, Christian and Jewish, which has given us such a startlingly vivid image of the historical Jesus. Searching for the Real Jesus is a welcome collection of 29 essays, lectures and newspaper articles, in which he offers portraits of Jesus the Jew from a number of angles, although all are derived from a method of extraordinary simplicity: reading the New Testament closely and without prejudice. As well as bringing Jesus powerfully to life, this also throws up some rather overlooked details, such as that Simon Peter (the first Pope, traditionally) was married.

[...]

The focus is on the Jesus book; the DSS book only gets part of a paragraph at the end.

Earlier Vermes review here.

Aramaic concert shut down by Syrian Government

ARAMAIC WATCH: An Aramaic concert has been shut down by the Syrian Government. The openness they once showed toward Aramaic-speaking culture in Syria seems to be deteriorating.

Review: Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint

BOOK REVIEW (BMCR):

Takamitsu Muraoka, A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint. Louvain/Paris/Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2009. Pp. xl, 757. ISBN 9789042922488. $138.00.

Reviewed by Frank Shaw, Wright State University (Dayton, OH) (feshaw72@email.com)

At some time or other nearly every classicist has consulted, or will need to consult, the Septuagint (LXX), the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek done in the Hellenistic period (along with some additional deuterocanonical or apocryphal books). Until fairly recently for vocabulary one had to employ the often dated and curt entries in LSJ, as modern specialists had yet to produce a LXX lexicon. That situation has changed over the last two decades. In 1992 Johan Lust, Erik Eynikel, and Katrin Hauspie published the first of two volumes of their A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft); the second tome appeared in 1996. The entire work was then revised as a single volume in 2003 (henceforth LEH).1 Naturally any subsequent similar work will be partly assessed in comparison with LEH. It is not as though Muraoka's recently completed dictionary is his first endeavor in Septuagintal lexicography. This volume is the culmination of a continued effort that spans over 20 years (vii). The first installment of that research appeared in 1993 when he published a LXX lexicon of the Twelve (= Minor) Prophets, and again in 2002 with a dictionary of the Twelve Prophets and the Pentateuch (both Peeters). Thus our volume is the completed work, although reviews and use of it will surely necessitate further revision. The book contains an 11-page introduction, a 5-page abbreviations list, and a 16-page bibliography. The lexicon proper is 751 pages; at the book's end is a 5-page list of words found in the standard concordance of the LXX by Hatch and Redpath (henceforth HR)2 but missing in Muraoka's dictionary entries. Important here are most Greek transliterations of Hebrew words since classicists reading the LXX will be curious about such lexemes and likely surprised at not finding an entry for them in the lexicon proper. The lexicon does not generally cover proper names (occasional exceptions: 224, 341).

[...]

Looks like a very useful new resource.

Review of Vermes, The Story of the Scrolls

THE STORY OF THE SCROLLS, by Geza Vermes, is reviewed in the Calcutta Telegraph. Excerpt:

Geza Vermes is one of the world’s acknowledged experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls. But he was only 23 when they were first discovered. He gives a cogent and objective account of how his life has come to be inextricably linked with the scrolls. He remarks at the end, lightheartedly, that he was once introduced as the man who has written the Dead Sea Scrolls in English. Most people who are aware of Vermes’s work will agree that such a description of him is entirely justified even though it does not encompass all aspects of his phenomenal scholarship and erudition.

This book is addressed to the intelligent layman who is interested in the scrolls and in the history that emerges from them. Vermes does two things in this book. First, he tells the story of their discovery, decipherment, collation, editing and annotation. This was not a smooth operation and it took inordinately long. There were too many groups of scholars involved. As a result, there were bickerings, vested interests, clash of egos, blunders and so on — all leading to the stalling of the project. This part will be of interest to those who are interested in the academic background of the project.

The other dimension of the book concerns the significance of the scrolls: how and to what extent have they extended and altered the understanding of the period. He precedes this by providing a sketch of the state of knowledge of biblical studies before the discovery of the scrolls.

Another review is noted here.

Prague Golem goes into hiding

THE PRAGUE GOLEM - the latest:

Battle over ownership rights sends Prague Golem into hiding

15-04-2010 13:18 | Daniela Lazarová (Radio Prague)

Among the souvenirs that tourists bring back from a visit to Prague are little clay figures of the Golem – a giant linked to one of Prague’s best known legends. What few of them know is that there is a fierce battle underway for ownership rights, which has sent a much larger version of the clay monster into hiding.

The much larger version is a large statue that cannot now be displayed or copied because of the ownership dispute. For a photo, click on the link above. For Golem background, go here and follow the links back.

Protesting the Ashkelon graves ruling

THE ASHKELON GRAVES CONTROVERSY just keeps going:

Eda Haredit calls on public to protest Barzilai decision

By JONAH MANDEL (Jerusalem Post)
13/04/2010 23:33

Badatz follows Atra Kadisha's stance that graves might be Jewish; UTJ to convene on issue.

Members of the Eda Haredit Badatz (Court of Justice) convened on Tuesday evening for an emergency meeting in Jerusalem following Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s Monday reversal of the cabinet decision to relocate the planned construction of a fortified emergency department at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Medical Center due to the presence of ancient bones at the original site.

The meeting was also attended by Rabbi David Shmidel, head of the haredi organization Atra Kadisha, which deals with safeguarding Jewish graves. Shmidel reiterated to the participants his group’s stance on the graves, which deems them as possibly Jewish. After hearing Shmidel, members of the Badatz decided that the graves mustn’t be moved, and signed a proclamation calling upon the public to protest the planned relocation of the graves. A demonstration is to take place in Ashkelon next week.

Earlier on Tuesday, Shmidel reiterated his group’s stance to The Jerusalem Post, saying that since there was a chance some of the graves belonged to Jews, it was prohibited by Halacha to relocate them. He also noted that Atra Kadisha had proposed an alternative site for the construction, which would be pricier but would also enable more beds for the hospital.

Although an Antiquities Authority announcement determined that the graves were “unequivocally pagan,” Shmidel pointed out that some of the wording in the announcement was ambiguous. He stressed that some of the archeological evidence upon which the statement was based did not necessarily lead to the conclusion that the graves were solely pagan.

[...]

Background here. If there was an IAA press release about the graves, I can't find it online.

An Akko World Heritage Coin from UNESCO

THE CITY OF AKKO (Acre) is getting its own UNESCO coin:

City of Akko Next in UNESCO Coin Series

By World Coin News
April 14, 2010

Third in the “UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Israel” series is a coin honoring the city of Akko. Recorded in ancient Babylonian and Egyptian sources, the city of Akko, also known as Acre, is located in the western Galilee region of Israel. It has a 4,000-year-old history, one of the longest in the world.

[...]

Follow the link for a picture.

Israeli tourism advert banned in UK for showing Western Wall

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

UK watchdog bans Israel Western Wall tourism advert

(BBC)

A UK watchdog has banned an Israeli tourism advert showing the Western Wall, saying it is 'misleading'.

The Advertising Standards Authority said the advert implied East Jerusalem, which has been occupied since 1967, was part of the state of Israel.

The Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites, is in East Jerusalem, but it is a major tourist site for most visitors to Israel.

Israel's tourism ministry said it would have been misleading to exclude it.

The ASA said they received one letter of complaint about the advert, which appeared in UK newspapers.

[...]

But the Israel's Ministry of Tourism has refused to accept the ruling.

A statement in response said the ad provides "basic, accurate information to a prospective UK visitor".

"It is entirely accurate to assert that a visitor to Israel could visit Jerusalem as part of a short visit. Had the ad omitted a reference to a visit to the city of Jerusalem, it would have been incorrect and potentially misleading."

[...]

The same issue came up a couple of years ago involving the site of Qumran. And the article refers to another case in 2009 involving West Bank sites. But anyone who visits Israel is going to want to visit the Western Wall. And anyone bothering to go would probably have a basic knowledge of the political situation. The objection is pretty pedantic, but we're dealing with British bureaucrats here.

Of course they've now given the advert much more publicity - for free - than it would have had if they'd just ignored it.

Review of Pullman, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ (London Times)

PHILIP PULLMAN'S NEW JESUS NOVEL is reviewed in the London Times:

The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman
Pullman’s retelling of the life of Jesus is a poor substitute for the King James Bible

Jeanette Winterson

There is an interesting piece of New Testament apocrypha called The Acts of Thomas. Thomas, otherwise known as Didymus (from the Greek for twin), otherwise known as Judas, is the twin brother of Jesus.

The text is a Gnostic one, and Gnosticism was the seductive heresy that the evolving early Christian Church worked hard to suppress. Pre-Christian in origin, Gnosticism is a doctrine of dualism that allows for an untainted spirit and a corrupted body. Salvation is through knowledge (gnosis) of this composite self.

[...]

Philip Pullman’s retelling of the Gospels splits Jesus and Christ into a pair of hostile twins. The good man Jesus is a leader and a teacher. His brother Christ is the scoundrel motivated by expediency and posterity. While Jesus tells his followers to take no thought for the morrow, Christ is secretly writing down everything that Jesus says, with his eye on the future publishing deal.

Her verdict:

So while I can see that Pullman wants us to remember that any religious text is both a palimpsest and revisionary, his own revisionism fails to win me over, not because I am a believer but because the Bible stories are better.

[...]

All of Jesus’s miracles in the Gospels are an affront to literalness — the dead are raised, the blind see — and an invitation towards energy, creativity and the possibility of a different order.

Pullman doesn’t want to understand this, and that may be why he has chosen to use a flat language, which makes me long for the rich and problematic language of the King James Bible, where the words themselves move us away from too much literalness towards an opening in the mind. Pullman’s text is instruction-manual English. It reads like The Good News Bible, but for atheists.

[...]

Pullman himself more or less ratifies this conclusion in an interview in the Toronto Star:

Q. What has the response been?

A. There has been a lot of coverage and a number of nice reviews. The general tendency has been to say that it’s not as good as the Bible, but it sort of works.

Iraqi cleric defends Tomb of Ezekiel

THE TOMB OF EZEKIEL (traditional) in Al-Kifl, Iraq, has a new defender:

Iraq cleric slams plan to turn Jewish tomb into mosque

By Jessica Elgot, April 12, 2010 (Jewish Chronicle)

One of Iraq’s leading clerics, Ayatollah Shaykh Ayad al-Rikabi, has denounced the proposed conversion of the ancient tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel into an Islamic site.

Iraq’s Department of Antiquities and the Iraqi Shi’i “waqf”, which controls religious heritage sites in the country, has stated that the historic tomb does not belong to Iraq’s dwindling Jewish community.

It asserted that since Ezekiel is described in the Koran as a Muslim, the tomb should be declared an Islamic site. Plans are now under way to turn the site into a mosque.

Ayatollah al-Rikabi, whose own tribe came from the area close to the tomb, has written to the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s foremost religious Shi’a leader, to request that the plans be overturned and that the tomb be kept as a Jewish holy site.

[...]

Good for him. I hope that the Grand Ayatollah listens.

Background here.

Barzilai ER to be built on originally planned site

THE ASHKELON GRAVES will not prevent the building of the Barzilai Medical Center's ER on the originally planned site:

PM U-turns, approves Barzilai ER at original site

By HERB KEINON (Jerusalem Post)
13/04/2010 01:38

Litzman says despite announcement he has not changed his position against moving graves.

In a dramatic about-face, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Monday reversed last month’s cabinet decision to relocate the Barzilai Medical Center’s planned fortified emergency department in Ashkelon due to the existence of ancient bones at the original site.

The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement saying that Netanyahu, who is also formally the country’s health minister, directed the Health Ministry’s professional staff to prepare for the construction of the emergency room at its original location.

The decision comes a day after the cabinet empowered Netanyahu to decide the issue.

The original decision to relocate the emergency room so ancient graves would not have to be disturbed, spearheaded by Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), created a public uproar for a number of reasons, including the cost involved and the additional time it would take to build the facility.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu’s decision came following recommendations made by a professional committee empowered by the cabinet ruling last month to look into the matter and return with proposals within a month.

[...]

But a hardline Haredi group is reportedly threatening violent protests.

Background here.

Conference: Judaic and Christian Visions of the Social Order

CONFERENCE PROGRAM from Jacob Neusner:

THE INSTITUTE OF ADVANCED THEOLOGY
BARD COLLEGE

PROGRAM

JUDAIC AND CHRISTIAN VISIONS OF THE SOCIAL ORDER.
DESCRIBING, ANALYZING AND COMPARING SYSTEMS OF THE FORMATIVE AGE


APRIL 27-29 2010

CHAIRED BY
JACOB NEUSNER AND BRUCE D. CHILTON
BARD COLLEGE

This conference is made possible by a grant from the Tammy and Carey Wolchok and Ahavas Tzedek, the Wolchok Family Foundation. The Foundation notes that Carey Robinson Wolchok is a former student of Professor Neusner’s.


THIS EVENT TAKES PLACE AT
MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM (MPR)
AT THE BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER

1:00-1:15 P.M. APRIL 27 2010 WELCOMING REMARKS

Bard College Dean of Faculty and Academic Vice President Michele Dominy

KEYNOTE ADDRESS
1:15 P.M.-2:15 P M APRIL 27 2010 HOW DOES RELIGION IMAGINE SOCIETY?

William Scott Green and John T. Fitzgerald
University of Miami

ANCIENT ISRAEL
2:15-3:15 P.M. APRIL 27 2010 FROM THE REPERTOIRE OF THE HEBREW BIBLE: VISIONS OF THE SOCIAL ORDER

Baruch A. Levine
New York University

3:15-3:30 P. M. Coffee Break

JUDAISM
3:30 P.M.- 4:30 P. M. APRIL 27 2010 Visions of the Social Order: the Qumran Library

James C. VanderKam
University of Notre Dame

4:30 - 5:30 P. M. APRIL 27 2010 1 ENOCH’S VAGUE VISIONS OF A FUTURE SOCIAL ORDER; FOILS TO ITS VIVID PORTRAYALS OF THE PRESENT CHAOS

George W. E. Nickelsburg
The University of Iowa

5:30-6:30 p. m. APRIL 27 2010 The Mishnah and Concepts of the Social Order

Alan J. Avery-Peck
College of the Holy Cross


6:30-8:00 P. M.
SUPPER, FACULTY DINING ROOM
KLINE REFECTORY

THE NEXT EVENT TAKES PLACE AT
MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM (MPR)
AT THE BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER

8:00-9:00 P M April 27 2010 2010 Six People You Meet in the Synagogue: Visions of Social Order in Early Rabbinic Prayer

Tzvee Zahavy
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America

. APRIL 28 2010

9:00-10:00 A.M. APRIL 28 2010 The Social Vision of Rabbinic Judaism

Jacob Neusner
Bard College

10:00 – 10:30 A.M Coffee break

CHRISTIANITY

10:30 – 12 Noon A.M. APRIL 28 Jesus and the Kingdom of God

Bruce D. Chilton
Bard College

12:00-1:00 P M
BUFFET LUNCH

THE NEXT EVENT TAKES PLACE AT
MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM (MPR)
AT THE BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER

1:00 – 2:15 P.M. APRIL 28 2010 Paul’s theory of the social order

Bruce D. Chilton
Bard College

2:15 – 3:30 P M April 28 2010 Early Christian Martyrdom, Scripture, and the Social Order

Frederick W. Weidmann
Auburn Theological Seminary

Coffee break 3:30 – 4:00 p.m.

4:00 p. m. – 5:00 P M APRIL 28 2010 Origen’s Social Vision of Christian Life

Petra Heldt
Hebrew University

THE NEXT EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN
BITO AUDITORIUM ROOM 103 IN THE
REEM - KAYDEN CENTER

5:00 P M - 6:30 p m APRIL 28 2010 Irenaeus of Lyons (130-200) Re-Imagining the Cosmos From the Perspective of the Oppressed

J.A. McGuckin
Columbia University

6:30-7:45 P M
SUPPER, FACULTY DINING ROOM
KLINE REFECTORY

THE NEXT EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE IN
BITO AUDITORIUM ROOM 103 IN THE
REEM-KAYDEN CENTER

8:00 – 9:15 p. m. April 28 2010 Eusebius’s (and Constantine’s) theory of the political order

Bruce D. Chilton
Bard College

THE NEXT EVENT TAKES PLACE AT
MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM (MPR)
AT THE BERTELSMANN CAMPUS CENTER

9:00 – 10:15 A.M. April 29 2010 Augustine’s theory of world order

J. A. McGuckin
Columbia University

10:15 – 10:30 P.M. coffee break

10:30A.M. – Noon April 29 2010 Concluding discussion: JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY: ANSWERING THE QUESTONS OF THE SOCIAL ORDER

William Scott Green and John T. Fitzgerald
University of Miami

12:00-1:15 P M
BOX LUNCH
MULTI PURPOSE ROOM


The Institute of Advanced Theology of Bard College presents this conference. Admission is free, but reservations are advised. To reserve a place write to Theresa Desmond, Institute of Advanced Theology, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N. Y. 12504 5000 or via e mail at desmond@bard.edu.

Please note that all sessions but the one on Wednesday evening are held at the Multi-Purpose Room of the Bertelsmann Campus Center. The session Wednesday evening is at Bito Auditorium Room 103 in the Reem and Kayden Center

Meals: lunches are served in the Multi-Purpose Room, suppers are at the Faculty Dining Room of the Kline refectory. Vegetarian service is available. Kosher meals may be ordered in advance through the office of Theresa Desmond, Institute of Advanced Theology, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N. Y. 12504 5000 or via e mail at desmond@bard.edu.

New issue of Hugoye

HUGOYE: JOURNAL OF SYRIAC STUDIES has just published a new issue (13.1, Winter 2010) devoted to Philoxenus of Mabbug.

Note also the upcoming First Hugoye Symposium on Libraries in the Syriac Tradition (20 May).

Conference: The Gift in Antiquity (Brown University)

THE GIFT IN ANTIQUITY: A conference at Brown University, Department of Judaic Studies, 2-4 May.

Ashkelon graves - the latest

ASHKELON GRAVES - the latest:

Netanyahu gets go-ahead to decide on Barzilai ER

By Barak Ravid and Dan Even (Haaretz)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received cabinet authorization yesterday to decide whether the construction of a contentious bomb-proof emergency ward at Barzilai Hospital will proceed as planned.

The approval was given on the prime minister's request, and due to his role as acting health minister.

This decision cancels a previous one to relocate the building because ancient graves were found at the site. A final decision on the matter is expected soon.

The cabinet decided unanimously, despite reservations expressed by Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman of United Torah Judaism, who has no vote.

In a statement, Litzman's office reiterated the ultra-Orthodox minister's dissatisfaction, stating he "is determined that the graves discovered at the Barzilai complex not be moved, and following a decision on the issue he will hold a [UTJ] faction meeting on future steps."

Litzman had said he would resign if a decision was made to move the graves and continue with construction at the original site. However, his associates have said that in light of the public protest over the cost and delay inherent in relocation, his faction's spiritual leaders may change their minds - letting Litzman stay in his post.

[...]

Background here.

Azusa Pacific DSS fragments to go on display in local church

THE AZUSA PACIFIC DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENTS will reportedly be on display at an exhibition at a local church in Granite Bay, California. This in association with an exhibition called From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America, which was on tour some years ago in association with Lee Biondi.

Dead Sea Scrolls on display in Granite Bay

Sena Christian, The Press Tribune

Bayside Church’s exhibit includes five fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

When a pastor at a local church saw fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls in person, he knew he had to bring this archaeological treasure to Granite Bay.

So he did.

Bayside Church is hosting the fragments as part of an exhibit called “From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America.” These earliest-known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible are considered one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the 20th century — or for Pastor Ray Johnston and many other Christians, of all time. The texts date back to around 150 B.C.

“When I saw (the scrolls) for the first time, I got chills,” Johnston said. “I’m inches away from the real deal.”

Now, exhibit visitors can also get close to the Dead Sea Scrolls. The exhibit will feature five scroll fragments and dozens of other biblical items, including parts of the oldest Greek New Testament papyri, a 17th century Hebrew Sefer Torah scroll, a 5,000-year-old cuneiform tablet, an original King James Bible from 1611 to 1640, the Eliot Indian Bible and the Bible that flew to the moon aboard Apollo 14 in 1971.

A Gutenberg Bible leaf will also be on display. This was the first major book printed with movable type printing, making the Bible available to the mass population. Several other displayed artifacts highlight life in the region during the period when the scrolls were written.

[...]

Bayside Church renovated a building at its complex on Sierra College Boulevard to serve as a temporary museum. Visitors wander through a darkened cave-like setting, which depicts the caves of the northwest rim of the Dead Sea near Qumran, where a Bedouin shepherd boy found the scrolls in 1947. As shepherd boys looked for a lost sheep, one threw a stone into a cave and heard a clinking sound, soon discovering the artifacts.

[...]

Bayside Church is hosting the exhibit in conjunction with Azusa Pacific University, which acquired the artifacts in August 2009. Johnston serves on the university’s board of trustees. During a board meeting following the acquisition of the scrolls, Johnston had a chance to see the manuscripts. He said the experience left him profoundly moved. At first, he didn’t think he could actually bring the fragments to his church.

“I never thought it could happen,” Johnson said. “But that doesn’t stop us.”

[...]

Background to the Azusa Pacific fragments is here.

Another obituary for Hanan Eshel

ANOTHER OBITUARY for Hanan Eshel, this one in the Jerusalem Post:

Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Hanan Eshel dies at 52
By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
08/04/2010 22:19

World famous researcher passes away after a long battle with cancer.

Prof. Hanan Eshel, a world famous researcher of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bar Kochba Revolt, passed away after a long battle with cancer early Thursday morning. He was 52.

A former head and current faculty member of Bar-Ilan University’s Martin Szusz Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Eshel wrote several books and over 200 articles. He was an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the Qumran settlement, the Second Temple period and the Bar Kochba Revolt of 132-136 CE.

Eshel also served as director of the university’s Jeselsohn Epigraphic Center of Jewish History since the center’s founding more than a decade ago.

[...]

Sad News: Ellis Rivkin

SAD NEWS: Dr. Ellis Rivkin has passed away. From the HUC-JIR News Center:

Dr. Ellis Rivkin, z''l, Passed Away on April 7

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s beloved teacher, Dr. Ellis Rivkin, died at 6:20 p.m. on Wednesday evening, April 7, at Cincinnati Jewish Hospital.

The funeral service will be held this Sunday, April 11, in the Scheuer Chapel at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati campus. The service will begin at noon; the Rivkin family will receive visitors beginning 11:00 a.m.

Immediately following the interment, friends may call on the family at the Evergreen Mansion Room, 230 W. Galbraith Rd., Cincinnati, OH. Shiva will be observed Sunday through Tuesday, at the residence of Zelda Rivkin (5110 Evergreen Ridge Road).

Dr. Rivkin was the Adolph S. Ochs Professor of Jewish History Emeritus at HUC-JIR/Cincinnati. He was born on September 7, 1918 in Baltimore, MD. He received his BA with honors from Johns Hopkins University in 1941 and his PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1946. He also attended the Baltimore Hebrew College and was awarded the BHL degree in 1943. In 1962, Dr. Rivkin was awarded a Simon Guggenheim Fellowship to do archival research on the role of the Jews in the development of early Capitalism in European archives. He published five books and wrote more than one hundred articles and reviews on Jewish history and early Christianity. Dr. Rivkin lectured widely in the US and abroad and was especially active in Christian-Jewish dialogue.

Dr. Rivkin touched and enriched thousands of lives. His memory will always be a blessing.

Via the Agade list.

Also, on the H-JUDAIC list, Jonathan Sarna has a tribute that mentions some of Dr. Rivkin's publications. He also notes the Rivkin Society website.

More on the new Assyrian Vassal Treaty tablet

MORE ON THE NEW ASSYRIAN VASSAL TREATY TABLET. The University of Toronto has a press release:

U of T researchers shed light on ancient Assyrian tablets

A cache of cuneiform tablets unearthed by a team led by a University of Toronto archaeologist has been found to contain a largely intact Assyrian treaty from the early 7th century BCE.

"The tablet is quite spectacular. It records a treaty — or covenant — between Esarhaddon, King of the Assyrian Empire and a secondary ruler who acknowledged Assyrian power. The treaty was confirmed in 672 BCE at elaborate ceremonies held in the Assyrian royal city of Nimrud (ancient Kalhu). In the text, the ruler vows to recognize the authority of Esarhaddon's successor, his son Ashurbanipal," said Timothy Harrison, professor of near eastern archaeology in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations and director of U of T's Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP).

[...]

And this article in the Montreal Gazette has a photo of some of the fragments.

Early Christianity: a new journal

EARLY CHRISTIANITY: A new journal.

The journal is concerned with early Christianity as a historical phenomenon. Thereby, “Early Christianity” aims to overcome certain limitations which have hindered the development of the discipline, including the concept of the “New Testament” itself. The journal, then, is taken to cover not only the first Christian century but also the second.

This journal will not, however, give any special prominence to reception-history or to the second century. The total phenomenon called "early Christianity" comprises a kaleidoscopic range of individual phenomena, including communal structures, social norms, discursive practices, points of conflict, material remains, and much else – far more than just the production and reception of texts. This journal will strive to reflect this multiplicity of contexts, in the expectation of new light on our subject-matter from a variety of angles.

"Early Christianity" will appear four times a year. Each issue will contain four (or five) articles, at least one of which will be in German, together with sections devoted to new books, new discoveries, and new projects. Every issue will be the primary responsibility of each of the four co-editors in turn, every alternate issue will be devoted to a specific theme.

New vassal treaty of Esarhaddon

AN ASSYRIAN VASSAL TREATY TABLET has been excavated in Turkey:

Canadian archeologists discover Old Testament-era tablet

By Jennifer Green, The Ottawa Citizen April 8, 2010 2:03 AM

Canadian archeologists in Turkey have unearthed an ancient treaty written in cuneiform that could have served as a model for the biblical description of God's covenant with the Israelites.

The tablet, dating from about 670 BC, is a treaty between the powerful Assyrian king and his weaker vassal states, written in a highly formulaic language very similar in form and style to the story of Abraham's covenant with God in the Hebrew Bible, says University of Toronto archeologist Timothy Harrison.

[...]

King Esarhaddon was nearing the end of his reign in Assyria when he drafted this treaty, trying to ensure a peaceful succession to the throne, Harrison said. "It was remarkable the kind of the intrigue went on." One of the reasons they made these treaties is that Esarhaddon's father was assassinated by a brother.

"So he brought together all the rulers in the Assyrian empire and essentially bound them to these treaties (to) avoid political crisis. It's a very complex document to deal with, sophisticated and intricate ... anticipating all the possibilities that might arise."

Harrison's dig at Tell Tayinat revealed tens of thousands of items last summer, including the tablet. It measured 43x28 centimetres, with 650 and 700 tiny lines of script -- and was smashed to pieces. Still, at least the pieces were all in one place. Dozens of similar smashed tablets were scattered.

[...]

This one clearly wasn't made of gold.

We already have copies of vassal treaties between Esarhaddon and other states (See ANET 533-34 for one with Baal of Tyre; also see here). It's not clear to me what the relationship of this new copy is to the others. But in any case, more is always better.

UPDATE (13 April): Duane Smith comments.

Sad News: Hanan Eshel

SAD NEWS: Hanan Eshel has passed away. From the Orion Center via Mladen Popovic:

Dear All,

The Orion Center would like to express its great sorrow at the death of Prof. Hanan Eshel. May his memory be for a blessing.

Our condolences to Esther Eshel and to the Eshel family.

The funeral will be today (Thursday, 8/4/10) at 4 pm at the cemetery in Ma'aleh Hahamisha (just outside of Jerusalem).

The shiva will be held at the Eshel's house (Alrozorov 17, Jerusalem). Prayer times will be 7am for shacharit and 6:45 for Mincha/Maariv.


The Orion Center
02-5881966

Hanan was a prominent scholar and did much important work on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Qumran archaeology. I last saw him at the Enoch Seminar in Naples in June of last year, where I learned that he was terminally ill. He expressed hope that he would be at the next Enoch Seminar in 2011 but, alas, it is not to be.

May his memory be for a blessing.

UPDATE: Arutz Sheva has an obituary here.

UPDATE: Gabriele Boccaccini has just sent out a tribute to Hanan to the Enoch Seminar membership. I reproduce it here with his permission.

Dear Friends:

It is with great sorrow, that I am writing you about the death of our dear friend and colleague, and co-Director of the Enoch Seminar, Hanan Eshel.

Our warmest thought are with his wife, Esti, his family and friends.

It is a devastating loss for the entire scholarly community. It seems hard today to imagine any edited volumes, research projects, or international conferences, directly or indirectly related to the Dead Sea Scrolls, without his presence and contribution.

Hanan was the driving force of the Enoch Seminar (an energetic and passionate co-Director of the project). He attended all its biennial sessions, contributing decisively to the success of the project, not only through his scholarly contribution but also fostering a positive atmosphere of collaboration and productive exchange.

His scholarly legacy is a precious gift to all of us, but here I would rather like to remember Hanan the man and the friend. His scholarly reputation was the result of hard work, substantial achievements, but primarily of the immense love and passion he had for what he studied. Hanan’s enthusiasm and energy were irresistible, almost legendary, and highly contagious, an enthusiasm and optimism that he maintained to the last days, even facing his illness.

Hanan was not only interested in work, he was interested in people. I know it well by experience, during all the time we spent together in Italy, Israel, and Ann Arbor. On more than one occasion I received from him not only support as a colleague, but help and encouragement as a friend. Many times, both publicly and privately, we talked about how the study of Second Temple Judaism is essential not only for the self-understanding of Jews and Christians but also for their relationships today. We both shared the same dream of reconciliation and mutual understanding and were aware of the responsibility that as scholars we have to find common ground in the study of this crucial period of Christian and Rabbinic origins.

I was happy he could share once more the Italian experience of the Enoch Seminar in Naples and had time for a trip to Capri with Esti, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. When he left at the end of the conference, he hugged me with his strong arms and whispered: "I'm dying, Gabriele, I don't know if I will make it for another Enoch Seminar but I will try as hard as I can." We silently struggled not to cry, as I am struggling now that I am writing this notes... I miss you, Hanan. I miss you so much.

Gabriele

Israeli tourist site rankings

ISRAELI TOURIST SITE RANKINGS (half of the top ten are antiquities related):

Biblical Zoo is Israel's No. 1 tourist destination

Some 740,000 visitors enjoyed Jerusalemite animals over past year, Dan & Bradstreet reveals. Ramat Gan Safari ranked second; last year's winner, Masada, down to third place

Ynet
Published: 04.07.10, 07:40 / Israel Travel

Israelis' favorite touristy destination is the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo, according to Dun's 100 ranking published recently by the Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) company, which provides credit information on businesses and corporations.

Dun's 100 rates the leading and most attractive tourism and recreation destinations for Israelis over the past year, and this is the 30th year it is published.

[...]

Ashkelon graves update

ASHKELON GRAVES UPDATE:

PM to Deputy Health Minister: Ashkelon ER won't be relocated

By Barak Ravid and Dan Even, Haaretz Correspondents, and Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday told Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman that he opposes relocating a planned bomb-proof emergency room for the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, due to ultra-Orthodox objections after burial grounds were discovered under the original site.

Netanyahu told Litzman that his decision about the location of the emergency room would be based on the need to prevent harm or risk to human life.

Netanyahu had appointed a task force to re-evaluate the cabinet decision to relocate the emergency room, and made his decision after the committee submitted its conclusions.
Advertisement

Netanyhau further told the minister that he believes the emergency room should be built as planned on the original site and that the remains discovered there should be re-interred elsewhere.

[...]

Background here.

A cuneiform tablet made of gold

A GOLD TABLET inscribed with Assyrian cuneiform ended up in the estate of a Holocaust survivor and there is now a legal ruling that the the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Germany, from where it came, cannot reclaim it. The 13th-century BCE tablet was excavated at ancient Ashur early in the 20th century. Click on the link to see a photograph of this remarkable object. I've never seen a cuneiform tablet made of gold, although gold tablets from about 500 BCE inscribed with Phoenician and Etruscan have been recovered at Pyrgi (see here [JSTOR] and here).

The legal ruling of the New York court can be downloaded as a pdf file here.

I know this is a stretch for PaleoJudaica, but I thought it was too interesting not to note.

UPDATE (7 April): This UPI article has the additional information that the artifact has been valued at $10 million but that the owners do not intend to sell it. As always, I hope that the owners donate it to a museum (I don't care which one) or at least that they make the object available to scholars who want to study it.

UPDATE: The New York Post has coverage here with another photograph of the tablet.

Latest on Ashkelon tomb controversy

THE ASHKELON TOMB CONTROVERSY is covered in an article by the BBC. I can't see anything new in it, but the coverage seems pretty thorough and accurate.

Religious row holds up Israeli hospital

Beth McLeod
BBC News, Ashkelon

The emergency unit at Barzilai Hospital in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon is dark and cramped. Patients jostle for space along a narrow hallway.

Construction of the planned new casualty ward has stalled due to the latest flare-up in the bitter conflict between religious and secular Jews.

Religious groups oppose building on the planned site because an ancient burial ground has been discovered there.

Dr Ron Lobel, the hospital's deputy director, cannot hide his anger.

"There are only 20 beds in here - you can imagine how it looks when a mass casualty accident happens and more than 100 patients arrive in ambulances."

[...]

Background here.

More on Maaloula

ARAMAIC WATCH: The BBC has a short video on Aramaic in the Syrian town of Maaloula (Ma'aloula, Malula). (May not be available outside the U.K. Sorry.) Predictably, it is not without errors. It refers to Aramaic as "the world's oldest language," which is odd. It's not even the world's oldest spoken language: Greek and Hebrew go back as far. The video also says that the Aramaic speakers in Maaloula speak "the same dialect" that Jesus spoke. Nonsense. They speak what is very broadly the same language, but hardly the first-century Galilean dialect of Jesus. The piece also mentions the Aramaic Institute there without mentioning that it has been shut down by the government on the grounds that the alphabet looked too much like Hebrew.

Still, it's nice to see Aramaic continuing to get some media attention, even after the Mel Gibson hype of some years ago has died down.

The Pope cites the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: The Pope cites a couple of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in his Easter Vigil homily. First, from the Life of Adam and Eve:

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

An ancient Jewish legend from the apocryphal book “The life of Adam and Eve” recounts that, in his final illness, Adam sent his son Seth together with Eve into the region of Paradise to fetch the oil of mercy, so that he could be anointed with it and healed. The two of them went in search of the tree of life, and after much praying and weeping on their part, the Archangel Michael appeared to them, and told them they would not obtain the oil of the tree of mercy and that Adam would have to die. Subsequently, Christian readers added a word of consolation to the Archangel’s message, to the effect that after 5,500 years the loving King, Christ, would come, the Son of God who would anoint all those who believe in him with the oil of his mercy. “The oil of mercy from eternity to eternity will be given to those who are reborn of water and the Holy Spirit. Then the Son of God, Christ, abounding in love, will descend into the depths of the earth and will lead your father into Paradise, to the tree of mercy.” This legend lays bare the whole of humanity’s anguish at the destiny of illness, pain and death that has been imposed upon us.

This story is from L.A.E. 35-42. There's been much scholarly discussion of the Life of Adam and Eve in recent years and the current consensus is that it is a Christian work. I don't know that that affects the Pope's point, though.

Second, a citation from 2 Enoch:

Once again, an ancient Jewish text can help us form an idea of the mysterious process that begins in us at baptism. There it is recounted how the patriarch Enoch was taken up to the throne of God. But he was filled with fear in the presence of the glorious angelic powers, and in his human weakness he could not contemplate the face of God. “Then God said to Michael,” to quote from the book of Enoch, “‘Take Enoch and remove his earthly clothing. Anoint him with sweet oil and vest him in the robes of glory!’ And Michael took off my garments, anointed me with sweet oil, and this oil was more than a radiant light … its splendour was like the rays of the sun. When I looked at myself, I saw that I was like one of the glorious beings” (Ph. Rech, Inbild des Kosmos, II 524).

The quotation is from 2 Enoch 22. Again, it is debatable whether 2 Enoch is a Jewish or a Christian work. It may well have ancient Jewish elements in it but later Christian elements may well also be present. And in this case, that may make some difference, in that the baptismal connection may be even closer than the Pope posits, which perhaps would add support to his comparison. For the latest on 2 Enoch, see here and here.

Happy Easter!

HAPPY EASTER to all those celebrating.

Anti-Semitic idiocy derails Maaloula Aramaic Institute

ARAMAIC WATCH: Anti-Semitic idiocy derails the Aramaic Institute in Maaloula, Syria.

Easter Sunday: A Syrian bid to resurrect Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is remembered on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but the language he spoke is all but forgotten. A controversial new language institute in Syria seeks to save Aramaic.

By Alastair Beach, Contributor / April 2, 2010 (CSM)

Malula, Syria

While millions will commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ this Easter Sunday, only a handful of people could discuss his works in the language of his day: Aramaic.

Nearly all of them live in three Syrian villages, the last outposts in a region largely swept by the Arabic of Islam. In a bid to preserve its ancient heritage, Syria launched a series of language courses in 2007 to bolster the fading influence of a 3,000-year-old language that once reigned supreme in the Middle East.

And so it was that an Aramaic institute joined the cluster of buildings that cling to a rocky spine in the village of Malula, about 35 miles northwest of Damascus. But the program ran into trouble recently, when a Syrian newspaper suggested that the alphabet being used to teach written Aramaic bore an uncanny resemblance to the Hebrew characters found in modern-day Israel.

Worried that a flagship heritage scheme might in any way be associated with the country’s neighboring enemy, the government-run University of Damascus, which established the institute, acted quickly to freeze the Aramaic program.

“There were some people in the press trying to cause trouble,” says George Rezkallah, an elderly villager from Malula who runs the institute. He is hopeful that classes will be able to resume this summer.

[...]

Sigh.

Background on Maaloula (Ma'aloula, Malula) and its Aramaic Institute here.

Maronites in Israel seek to preserve Aramaic

ARAMAIC WATCH: Maronite Christians in Israel seek to preserve their language:

The Ben Yehudas of Aramaic
By Dorit Shilo (Haaretz)
Tags: Israel news

Two Aramaic-language television stations in Sweden are locked in a war for viewership among speakers of the ancient Middle Eastern tongue. Devotees of Suroyo TV and Suryoyo Sat (both are variations of the Aramaic word "Syriac," the Aramaic language) wage heated online debates over which station is superior. The majority preferSuroyo, the older station, and claim Suryoyo Sat copied much of its content and broadcasts too many reruns.

Some of the stations' most avid viewers live in Israel, primarily in Haifa and the Galilee. Shady Khallul of the Upper Galilee village of Jish says, "What does it matter which channel is better? The important thing is that they exist. These channels prove that our Aramaic language lives and breathes."

[...]

Shady Khallul and his brother Amir have been working for years to revive the holy language of Aramaean Christians in Israel and to bring it back into everyday use. Their model, Shady says, is none other than Eliezer Ben Yehuda, father of the contemporary Hebrew language renaissance.

"If you, the Jews, were able to revive Hebrew and turn it into a modern language, why can't we?" he asks. "Last year we received permission from the Education Ministry to teach Aramaic in first and second grades at the school in Jish, and we had to draft a curriculum from scratch. Amir wrote the textbooks and I traveled around the world to buy dictionaries and grammar books so that we could translate and adapt them for use in Israel. I brought most of the teaching material from Sweden, and the dictionaries from France. Most Aramaic books today are printed in Lebanon, but we have no way of bringing them in from there."

Unlike biblical Aramaic, written in Hebrew letters, the modern dialect - the Western variant of which is called Syriac - is written in another ancient script, which resembles a melding of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. Like Hebrew, the language comprises 22 characters and is written right to left. Each of Aramaic's two principle dialects - Western and Eastern - has its own alphabet. Both, however, share a classical written alphabet, Estrangela, reserved for prayers and religious texts.

The challenge before the Aramaeans in Israel, who use the Western dialect, is twofold: On the one hand they must teach their children to speak the language and persuade them to use it in their everyday lives, with family, friends and at school, and on the other hand teach them to read and write in the two alphabets (the Western and the Estrangela).

[...]

Precious connection

The Maronite Christians in Jish enjoy a vibrant community life and maintain close ties with Maronites living elsewhere in Israel - mostly in Nazareth, Acre and Haifa. These include 2,000 former South Lebanon Army soldiers who sought refuge here after Israel's pullout from southern Lebanon in 2000.

"When we first expressed the desire to teach Aramaic to members of our community, the people of the village were very enthusiastic," Khallul says. "Classes were immediately started at the church in Jish, on Fridays for kids and Tuesdays for adults. This year, after the Education Ministry approved the plan, people got even more excited. Schoolchildren were given the choice of studying Aramaic, and of 100 students in first and second grade, 64 chose Aramaic class instead of art and drawing."

[...]

I wish them good success.

More on the Sepphoris/Tzipori tomb etc.

MORE ON THE SEPPHORIS/TZIPORI TOMB and other finds involving ancient bones:

Old bones that never lie
By Ran Shapira (Haaretz)
Tags: Israel news

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi was not supposed to have had a tomb at all. According to the accepted tradition, the 3rd-century sage and head of a yeshiva moved his institution from Lod to Tiberias, not far from Tzippori, as he got on in years. Ben Levi, whose sayings are mentioned in the Mishnah, was one of 10 saintly men who, tradition says, ascended to heaven without actually dying.

However, last summer, New York-born Mitch Pilcer, who operates a bed-and-breakfast in Tzippori in the lower Galilee, was making preparations to build more rooms when he discovered a cave with an inscription at its entrance, testifying that the rabbi was buried there. He had no doubts about it.

"I knew immediately who it was," says Pilcer. "I'm a yeshiva graduate, a religious person, and the inscription was very clear: 'This is the burial place of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi Hakapar.' I felt as though this was the moment I had been living for all along. The tzaddik [righteous man] had watched over me and helped me and my family succeed and now I had to watch over him."

For this reason, probably, Pilcer did not rush to call in the Israel Antiquities Authority to investigate the grave site, even though the law obligates him to do so. He did contact the ultra-Orthodox organization Atra Kadisha, however, which seeks to protect ancient graves and tries to prevent construction in their vicinity to avoid desecrating the honor of the dead.

Dror Barshad of the Antiquities Authority in the north explained that the law leaves no room for doubt: In every place where antiquities are found that might be harmed by construction, a proper excavation must be carried out. Moreover, he adds, Pilcer himself dug in the burial cave, used a coffin there as a prayer table, and damaged artifacts; therefore, he will face criminal charges. Meanwhile, the authority applied to the court, which issued a stop-work order to Pilcer and compelled him to allow the digging to be done.

"We excavated in order to get an indication about the tomb and the inscription," says Barshad, "and we did this in full cooperation with the ultra-Orthodox."

[...]

It is far from clear that this is actually the tomb of R. Yehoshua ben Levi. Background here.

The article also mentions an earlier controversy over another burial cave found in Tzipori (noted here). And, of course, graves found at the site for the proposed emergency room of the Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance conflict are both mentioned. The 2004 story of the Roman cemetery at Acre is also noted (background here and here).

Good Friday

TODAY IS GOOD FRIDAY. Best wishes to all those observing it.

David Noel Freedman Award

THE DAVID NOEL FREEDMAN AWARD for excellence and creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship has an intention-to-submit deadline of 2 April (tomorrow).

This looks like a worthy successor to the Mitchel Dahood Memorial Prize of the 1980s and 90s.

A night with Judas Iscariot

A NIGHT WITH JUDAS ISCARIOT:

Marvin Meyer, Ph.D., chairman of Chapman's Religious Studies Department, will discuss the many facets of Judas and his changing role throughout history – even taking on the role of Judas in some readings – in "A Night With Judas Iscariot" at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6 in the Fish Interfaith Center on the Chapman campus.

Admission is free and open to the public; call 714-997-6947 for more information. Event parking is available in the structure under the Chapman stadium – enter off Walnut Street. Parking permits are on sale in the structure at $2 for two hours or $3 for four hours.

"A Night With...Judas Iscariot" will be a multimedia presentation featuring Meyer, a resident of Orange, performing readings from the New Testament, the Gnostic Gospel of Judas and other texts, as he gives insight into the complexities of Judas.

Are angels the new vampires? More Enochiana.

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: Are angels the new vampires? More Enochiana today in a Globe and Mail review of Danielle Trussoni's Angelology:

Indeed, the book’s central reference is the Book of Genesis, in particular the strange few verses in chapter six describing how the “sons of God” took “the daughters of men” as wives, producing a race of giants.

These are the creatures who inhabit Angelology: malign and imperious, determined to enslave humankind, kept in check only by the heroic efforts of a secret fellowship of scholars who have been on to them from the beginning. Literally.

“I would argue that angels are much older than vampires or any of these other creatures, that they’ve been a part of our culture from before the Bible,” Trussoni says, warming to the trend question. “So I don’t know if you can say that’s new. It’s not trendy. It’s actually really arcane and nerdy, to be honest.”

Angelology is replete with ancient texts and biblical apocrypha like the Book of Enoch, the action winding from one musty library to another. Comparing it to the work of Umberto Eco, the Times reviewer called it “an elegantly ambitious archival thriller.”

But make no mistake: Trussoni’s angels are every bit as dangerous as anybody else’s vampires. The ones she has walking among us are unsavoury at best, albeit beautiful beyond imagining. The ones she has imprisoned at the bottom of the Devil’s Throat Cavern in Bulgaria’s Rhodope Mountains are downright terrifying.

This is what angels are, Trussoni says, explaining her desire to “peel back” the modern sentimentality that has reduced them to “puffy little new-age cherubs, which I find unbearable.” The “puffy white stuff” feeds a spiritual yearning, she admits, but it hardly fits with the true history of angels.

Indeed. I enjoyed Kostova's The Historian and this book sounds interesting.

John Hobbins reviews Milwaukee DSS exhibit

JOHN HOBBINS reviews the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in Milwaukee.

Codex Climaci Rescriptus resurfaces

CODEX CLIMACI RESCRIPTUS, last seen in June on auction at Sotheby's, has resurfaced in the hands of a private collector who seems to be trying to do the right thing with it:

Bible museum could make home in Dallas

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, March 30, 2010

By MATTHEW HAAG and SAM HODGES / The Dallas Morning News

Hobby Lobby Inc., the national arts and crafts store chain, says it has been on a buying spree of rare Bibles and other sacred documents to fill a proposed National Bible Museum, with Dallas a likely location.

The Oklahoma City-based company, owned by the Green family, announced Monday that it has collected a "vast array" of materials, including biblical papyri, Hebrew scrolls, medieval manuscripts and a comprehensive assortment of Bibles and rare books.

Steve Green, president of Hobby Lobby, said his family has a Christian commitment to helping tell the Bible's story and is working with a group, which includes people from Dallas, that came up with the National Bible Museum idea.

[...]

Sixth-century Bible

Hobby Lobby said Monday that it had bought Codex Climaci Rescriptus, a sixth-century Bible that includes New Testament passages in Palestinian Aramaic.

The extremely rare document – described in promotional materials as "one of the earliest-known near-complete Bibles in the world" – failed to sell at a Sotheby's auction last year, Carroll said.

In January, Hobby Lobby bought the book from Westminster College at Cambridge University, with Sotheby's handling the sale, Carroll said. He would not reveal the price.

A Sotheby's spokesman confirmed the transaction.

Carroll said the Green family agreed about four years ago to help secure property for the National Bible Museum and more recently became an aggressive buyer of materials.

[...]

UPDATE: Peter Head comments at Evangelical Textual Criticism.

Pseudepigrapha terrorism

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA TERRORISM - it had to happen sooner or later.

Pa. man charged with threatening GOP's No. 2 in Congress

By The Philadelphia Inquirer

Last Edit: Mar 29 2010 - 1:18pm

PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia man has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill the Republican party whip in the U.S. House of Representatives, officials announced Monday.

The FBI says Norman Leboon, 38, told investigators he was the "son of the god of Enoch" and that he had posted a video on the Internet threatening the lives of Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia and his family.

An FBI affidavit makes no mention of an incident last Tuesday when a bullet smashed through a window at Cantor's campaign office in Richmond about 1 a.m. Police have said their investigation indicated the bullet was a stray from a randomly fired handgun.

According to the affidavit, Leboon allegedly said in the video: "Remember Eric ... our judgment time, the final Yom Kippur has been given. You are a liar, you're a Lucifer, you're a pig, a greedy (expletive) pig. You're an abomination. You receive my bullets in your office. Remember they will be placed in your heads. You and your children are Lucifer's abominations."

[...]

Enoch appears in Chapter 5 of the Book of Genesis as a seventh generation descendant of Adam and the father of Methusaleh.

Some believe Enoch never died based on the line "Enoch walked with God; then he was no more because God took him away."

The Book of Enoch, which is not included in the Bible, is attributed to the patriarch, but it is considered an example of the body of works known as pseudepigrapha, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded.

I'm glad Rep. Cantor is okay.

Homer Simpson has Jerusalem Syndrome

HOMER SIMPSON has Jerusalem Syndrome:

In "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," the latest episode of the long-running Fox sitcom, which aired Sunday, The Simpsons set off to Israel on a church mission. They go at the urging of neighbor and devout Christian Ned Flanders, who thought a dose of the Holy Land would bring Homer much-needed salvation.

No surprise, this plan didn't go well.

Among the family's foibles and offenses, Homer became delusional and believed he was the "chosen one," destined to bring Muslims, Jews and Christians together. Diagnosed with "Jerusalem syndrome," he called himself the "Messiah" and proposed the new faith of "Chrismujews," a religion that would praise both peace and chicken.

This storyline, while certainly creative and twisted in the classic Simpsons way, is rooted in something real.

[...]

Indeed. Background here.

The Lod Mosaic is going to New York in September

THE LOD MOSAIC is going to New York in September:

Lod Mosaic Comes to the Met

By Zack Englander (The Commentator)

Published: Sunday, March 28, 2010

Updated: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Lod Mosaic

On September 28, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will begin to display a 1,700-year-old mosaic from Lod, Israel. The mosaic was found in 1996, as road workers were rebuilding the highway between Tel-Aviv and Jerusalem. Around 30,000 people came to see the mosaic when it went on display for the weekend after the excavation.

The 600-sq. foot mosaic is thought to have belonged to a wealthy Roman living in, what was then called, Lydda. It consists of colorful animals, fish and sailboats, sectioned off in a decorative border. The elaborate artwork is surprisingly well preserved with only a couple of tile-less blemishes.

[...]

A lecture series will precede the exhibition.

Background here and follow the links back.

Zahi Hawass and "the Zionist enemey"

SPEAKING OF UNHELPFUL:

Egypt antiquities chief: I gave the Zionist enemy a slap in the face
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news, Israel Egypt

The head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said that "he gave the Zionist enemy a slap in the face," when he canceled the inauguration of a restored Cairo synagogue two weeks ago, Army Radio reported on Sunday.

"Israel is the Zionist enemy, and I gave this enemy a strong slap in the face," said Doctor Zahi Hawass.

[...]

Background here.

UPDATE: More here. Jews banned from Maimonides Synagogue.

Bus ads for third Temple in Jerusalem

TEMPLE MOUNT WATCH:

J’lem posters call for 3rd Temple

By ABE SELIG (Jerusalem Post)
29/03/2010 00:51

Posters leaving out Al Aksa mosque plastered on buses with e. Jerusalem routes.

While tensions continue to simmer around the Temple Mount after riots in and around the capital’s Old City earlier this month, a new campaign calling for the construction of the Third Temple atop the holy site has made its way to the sides of 200 Egged buses in the city, which now sport posters featuring a picture of a rebuilt temple on the Mount, and nothing else.

The posters, which contain the phrase, “May the Bais Hamikdosh be rebuilt speedily and within our days,” were sponsored by the Our Land of Israel group, which is led by Rabbi Shalom Dov Volpo and activist Baruch Marzel, leave out the site’s current structures – namely the the Aksa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The campaign’s organizers chose to plaster the posters on buses whose routes take them through predominately Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem.

[...]

This is exceedingly unhelpful. I have commented here and many times before on the subject of excavation on the Temple Mount. And this ad campaign seems intended entirely to inflame the situation.

Happy Passover!

PASSOVER begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.