"If the frescoes can survive mortar fire, which must be far more developed than in previous wars, there still remains another risk which lurks around the corner. Should the regime fall, as seems quite probable, the fate of the frescoes might very well lie in the hands of the Salafists."Which means something like this could happen. Related story and commentary here.
A Spectacular 1,500 Year Old Mosiac was Exposed in the Fields of Kibbutz Bet Qama in the South of the Country (May 2013)(HT Joseph I. Lauer. Also covered in many media articles based on this press release.)
A spectacular colorful mosaic dating to the Byzantine period (4th–6th centuries CE) was exposed in recent weeks in the fields of Kibbutz Bet Qama, in the B’nei Shimon regional council
A spectacular colorful mosaic dating to the Byzantine period (4th–6th centuries CE) was exposed in recent weeks in the fields of Kibbutz Bet Qama, in the B’nei Shimon regional council. The mosaic was discovered within the framework of an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out prior to the construction of an interchange between Ma’ahaz and Devira Junction, undertaken and funded by the Cross-Israel Highway Company.
Remains of a settlement that extends across more than six dunams were uncovered in the excavation being conducted on the kibbutz’s farmland and directed by Dr. Rina Avner of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
The main building at the site was a large hall 12 meters long by 8.5 meters wide and its ceiling was apparently covered with roof tiles. The hall’s impressive opening and the breathtaking mosaic that adorns its floor suggest that the structure was a public building.
The well-preserved mosaic is decorated with geometric patterns and its corners are enhanced with amphorae (jars used to transport wine), a pair of peacocks, and a pair of doves pecking at grapes on a tendril. These are common designs that are known from this period; however, what makes this mosaic unique is the large number of motifs that were incorporated in one carpet.
Pools and a system of channels and pipes between them used to convey water were discovered in front of the building. Steps were exposed in one of the pools and its walls were treated with colored plaster (fresco).
Archaeologists in the Antiquities Authority are still trying to determine the purpose of the impressive public building and the pools whose construction required considerable economic resources.
The site, which was located along an ancient road that ran north from Be’er Sheva, seems to have consisted of a large estate that included a church, residential buildings and storerooms, a large cistern, a public building and pools surrounded by farmland. Presumably one of the structures served as an inn for travelers who visited the place.
During the Byzantine period Jewish and Christian settlements in the region were located next to each other. Two of the nearby Jewish settlements are Horbat Rimon, where a synagogue and ritual bath (miqwe) were exposed, and the Nahal Shoval antiquities site, recently excavated prior to the construction of the Cross-Israel Highway, where ritual baths were uncovered. Noteworthy among the Christian settlements are the churches at Abu Hof in Lahav Forest and the monastery at Givot Bar.
The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Cross-Israel Highway Company will open the excavation to the visiting public, free of charge, Thursday May 16 (the day after Shavuot) between the hours 9:00–12:00. Tours will be conducted every hour on the hour. The last tour will depart at 12:00.
Visitors arriving for the tour must register in advance by email: meyrav@israntique.org.il
For inquiries kindly contact Orit: 052-4284406 or Meyrav 052-4284408
Photo Credits: Yael Yolovitch
The reconstructed sailing ship Phoenicia and her skipper the indomitable Captain Philip Beale, who proved that the historical tale of the circumnavigation of Africa by a Phoenician sailing boat in 600 BC was possible - by doing it, are now out to rain on Columbus's Parade by crossing the Atlantic in the same sailing ship, and are seeking sponsorship/gifts, donations.I doubt very much that the Phoenicians ever made it to America. Certainly no convincing evidence of this has been advanced so far. But the project is still kind of cool.
The Phoenicia team are planning the next expedition on the basis that the Phoenicians (as the greatest ancient seafarers) had capabilities and skills to cross the Atlantic two thousand years before Christopher Columbus.
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Gnosticism, a sect associated with early Christianity. The Gnostics divided the universe into two domains: the visible world and the spiritual one. They believed that a special sort of knowledge, or gnosis, would enable them to escape the evils of the physical world and allow them access to the higher spiritual realm. The Gnostics were regarded as heretics by many of the Church Fathers, but their influence was important in defining the course of early Christianity. A major archaeological discovery in Egypt in the 1940s, when a large cache of Gnostic texts were found buried in an earthenware jar, enabled scholars to learn considerably more about their beliefs.
An Enormous Quarry Dating to the Second Temple Period was Exposed in the Ramat Shlomo Quarter of Jerusalem (May 2013)Photographs:
Within the framework of an excavation project the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting An Enormous Quarry Dating to the Second Templ Period was Exposed
Within the framework of an excavation project the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting prior to the construction of Highway 21 by the Moriah Company:
An Enormous Quarry Dating to the Second Temple Period was Exposed in the Ramat Shlomo Quarter of Jerusalem
Tools used by the quarrymen and a 2,000 year old key were also uncovered at the site. The huge stones that were quarried there were presumably used in the construction of the city’s magnificent public buildings
An enormous quarry from the time of the Second Temple (first century CE) was exposed in recent weeks in excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is carrying out prior to the paving of Highway 21 by the Moriah Company. A 2,000 year old key, pick axes, severance wedges etc are also among the artifacts uncovered during the course of the excavation.
According to Irina Zilberbod, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The quarrying phenomenon created a spectacular sight of bedrock columns and steps and craters of sorts that were the result of the rock-cuttings. What remained are rock masses in various stages of quarrying, and there were those that were found in a preliminary stage of rock-cutting prior to detachment. Some of the stones that were quarried are more than 2 meters long. The giant stones were probably hewn for the sake of the construction of the city’s magnificent public buildings”.
Zilberbod explains, “The pick axes were used to cut the severance channels around the stone block in the bedrock surface and the arrowhead-shaped detachment wedge, which is solid iron, was designed to detach the base of the stone from the bedrock by means of striking it with a hammer. The key that was found, and which was probably used to open a door some 2,000 years ago, is curved and has teeth. What was it doing there? We can only surmise that it might have fallen from the pocket of one of the quarrymen”.
The enormous quarries that were exposed – totaling a 1,000 square meters in area – join other quarries that were previously documented and studied by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Research has shown that the northern neighborhoods of modern Jerusalem are situated on Jerusalem’s “city of quarries” from the Second Temple period.
The question arises: why did the quarrymen select this specific region. Researchers speculate that the answer to this lies in the Meleke rock formation found there, which is a type of rock that is easily quarried and hardens immediately after it is hewn.
In addition to this, since the northern area is topographically higher than the city of Jerusalem in the Second Temple period, it was presumably easy to transport the huge stones, some which weighed tens if not hundreds of tons, down hill along the slope to the construction sites. An ancient road dating to the Second Temple period was exposed next to the quarry and it was probably used to move the large stones.
Another puzzle regarding the transportation of such large stones is how were they actually moved? Presumably this was accomplished by means of oxen and wooden rollers, but the contemporary historical sources also mention giant wooden lifting devices.
Two supernatural beings — a Golem, a woman of clay, conjured up by a disgraced rabbi who engages in dangerous Kabbalistic arts, and a Jinni, a shape-shifting fire creature born in the Syrian desert in the seventh century, are drawn together on the streets of New York in 1899. It sounds far-fetched. But in her first novel, “The Golem and the Jinni,” a blend of historic fiction and fantasy with a dash of sci-fi and a sprinkling of philosophical discourse about faith and free will, Helene Wecker makes it work.
Dear ColleagueUPDATE (9 May): Mark Goodacre has a long post on Professor Vermes at the NT Blog.
I am deeply saddened to inform you that our dear friend, Professor Geza Vermes, passed away this morning after a recent recurrence of cancer. Margaret, Geza's wife, just called with the sad news and asked that I let you know.
Geza was Professor Emeritus of Jewish Studies at Oxford, a Governor and strong advocate of the Centre, and was recently appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Centre. His scholarship on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Jewishness of Jesus was truly pioneering and transformative. Geza was also a lovely human being and a friend and mentor to many of us. He will be deeply missed.
There are no funeral plans as yet but we will notify you if and when it is appropriate.
May Margaret be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem and may Geza's memory be for a blessing.
David
_____________
David Ariel, PhD
President
Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies
Yarnton Manor
Yarnton, Oxford
OX5 1PY
United Kingdom
What’s so interesting and admirable about this exhibit is that it isn’t content to catalog and applaud Herod’s construction projects, it also attempts to convey the man (and the ego) behind them. We can admire all that he built and accomplished, but what do we really think about the guy? Herod the man was morally atrocious, but as a politician, he was something of a phenom. He switched loyalties with astonishing finesse, aligning first with Mark Antony and then with Mark Antony’s usurper, Augustus. He ruled effectively, if forcefully, and oversaw peace and relative prosperity (if at the expense of the occasional violent suppression). The Hasmoneans—whom Herod displaced and is in political competition with—were strife-ridden. But the Hasmonean dynasty has been, rightly or wrongly, appointed as the Zionist predecessors, and Herod the Roman King has often been cast as the anti-Zionist (though in a particularly non-modern sense). The exhibit, in subtle and interesting ways, seeks to challenge this reputation. His political acumen is celebrated; his cruelty isn’t glossed over; and his architectural legacies are laid out like trophies.More on the exhibition here and links.
This passage says something important about the way the Talmud regards the transmission of knowledge. One of the key assumptions of modernity is that we are constantly progressing in our knowledge. Every generation knows more about how the world works than the one before, so that a high-school student today knows more about physics than Isaac Newton did in his time. The Talmudists have exactly the opposite view. The time of full knowledge is in the distant past, when great scholars like the Tannaim were alive. The task of the present is to try to preserve what we can of that heritage, even though we will inevitably let most of it slip through our fingers. This way of looking at time helps to explain why Judaism became, to such a large extent, a religion based on commentary. All new thoughts and discoveries had to be presented as retrieving the original meaning of canonical texts.Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and here and links.
One such keepsake, an ochre-colored, glass “Pilgrimage Jar With Jewish Symbols” dated 578–636 Jerusalem, is on view through August 25 at the Art Institute of Chicago in the exhibit “Late Roman and Early Byzantine Treasures From the British Museum.”And there are more in other museums. Read on.
“They were more or less mass produced, although it’s a bit of an anachronistic term,” said Christina Nielsen, the Art Institute’s assistant curator for late antique, early Christian and Byzantine art, of vessels like the Institute’s jar, which has menorahs depicted on two of its sides.
The jars, which are about three inches tall, can be traced to a “very savvy” workshop just outside Jerusalem that made souvenirs for both Jewish and Christian patrons, as well as jugs with nonaffiliated decorations. “They just decided, well we’ve got this thing that everybody wants, and if we tweak the imagery to different groups, we will have more customers,”
Jewish novelist writes about real magic and sorcerers of ancient BabylonThe ancient Aramaic Jewish incantation bowls come up in the discussion. I only wish that the new bowls flooding the market had been excavated by archaeologists as she says. Most of them are unprovenanced and therefore of debatable authenticity.
Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com By Greg Garrison | ggarrison@al.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on May 06, 2013 at 2:32 PM, updated May 06, 2013 at 3:23 PM
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Jewish novelist Maggie Anton has found herself dealing with some of the same subject matter as fellow female novelist J.K. Rowling of "Harry Potter" fame, but Anton's magic stories are based on real history.
Anton, author of the novel "Rav Hisda's Daughter," (Plume, 452 pp., $16) will speak Tuesday at noon at Temple Beth-El's Sisterhood luncheon.
[...]
Majoring in French, Jewish studies and religious studies with a minor in Hebrew, [IU junior David] Bloom's research areas include the conception of self in the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha, pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls. A native of Louisville, Ky., he intends to become a rabbi.
BBC pulls documentary claiming story of Jewish exodus from Jerusalem is a 'myth’The blog post by Mr. Ziv is here.
Israeli-born filmmaker accuses BBC of bowing to 'political naivete’ and 'subconscious political pressure’.
By JTA | May.02, 2013 | 2:01 PM | 58
An Israeli-born filmmaker is slamming the British Broadcasting Corp. for pulling his documentary on the Jewish exodus from Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Ilan Ziv said in a blog post on April 27 that the BBC exhibited "a mixture of incompetence, political naivete, conscious or subconscious political pressure and ultimately, I believe, a lack of courage of broadcasters when they are faced with the complexity of the Middle East issue and the intense emotions, fears and aggression it generates."
At issue is the documentary “Exile: A Myth Unearthed,” which theorizes that many Jews did not leave Jerusalem after the destruction of the Temple, and that many modern-day Palestinians may be in part descended from those Jews. The BBC had been scheduled to show the documentary, cut and renamed "Jerusalem: an Archaeological Mystery Story," late last week before it was taken off the schedule at the last minute.
[...]
An “unnamed” BBC insider who I was told “liked the film,” claimed that the film props up the myth of Exile “ which we all know did not happen, in order to support his political analysis”. I learned that the cut I was given was now irrelevant, since some internal review deemed one scène with the Palestinians to be “too emotive” and they were asked to cut it down. Realizing that a mini political storm was brewing around the film and attacks lodged against its integrity, I asked and was promised that I would be given at least a summary of the essential charges so I could answer them in length. I am obviously very familiar with some of them and could easily and in detail refute them. I told the programming executive that my reply would help them to defend the film in the Channel. After all, they professed to love the film and seemed genuinely interested to show it. I told them it was very easy for me to prepare a detailed rebuttal with citation of sources for every word of the narration, the overall analysis and for every scene. I told them that some of the academic participants in the program who saw the cut and are reputable scholars in their field did not find any factual errors or misrepresentations of facts or of the historical narrative. In other words, I argued that such a detailed and substantial defense would convince any objective reader and observer of the editorial integrity of the film. I repeated the request several times yet I never got a reply. Instead, I received an email telling me that they decided to pull it out of the schedule, citing the “ short timetable and my work load “( !) A few days later I saw the “official” version that went to the public:This makes it sound as though the problem was Palestinian objections to the film taking "the myth of Exile" too seriously as history, but the JTA article says the following:
According to the watchdog group HonestReporting, critics of the decision to drop the film have accused the BBC of succumbing to “unnamed pressure groups,” which HonestReporting says is a reference to “Jews” or “Zionists.”At this point all I can say is that I would like to know what the film actually claims. If it is what JTA says, then I would like to see the case argued in peer-review publications before anyone airs a documentary about it. Television documentaries are not serious enough venues to make any kind of scholarly case about historical matters.
Simon Plosker of HonestReporting wrote in his blog on the group's website that the BBC may have been "more concerned at upsetting anti-Israel elements by showing a film with such a heavy concentration on Jewish history in the Land of Israel."
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon are documented by ancient Greek and Roman writers, including Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Quintus Curtius Rufus.And none of them stopped at a gas station for directions.
Just what these “Jewish-Christian” readings were raises serious questions about the transmission of the gospel text. Orthodox church scholars cite them as the products of a heretical school of belief, labeled by a sectarian name like “Ebionites.” But looking at the readings in detail, it is an open question whether a sect added these words themselves for their own purposes. Or, more intriguing, were they preserving the oldest textual reading, which later dropped out of the canonical gospels?Earlier posts in the series are noted here and links.
Repeatedly, we find that readings commonly dismissed as belonging to that marginal Jewish-Christian school reflect the gospel text as it would have been known to such venerated Fathers as Ignatius (c.110), Justin Martyr (c.160) or Tertullian (c.200). Often, scholars assume that the writers in question were confused in their memory of the exact wording of the text, but some readings occur so frequently that they seem to have been standard at this very early time. Besides the Jewish-Christian texts, some also appear in such early gospels as Peter and Thomas.
"It is very much possible that the text was written on two stones, especially since the language includes references to a New Testament or Covenant", said Prof Knohl. "It could be that it was made in tablet form to imitate the idea of the two tablets of the Ten Commandments given to Moses at Mount Sinai."In the first place, this is pretty wild speculation. The analogy with the two tablets of the Ten Commandments is possible, but not compelling, and the break only means that we don't know if the text began at the top of the surviving stone or not. It is not evidence that the text did begin on an earlier stone. In the second place, even if there was a second inscribed stone, it may well have been destroyed in the last two thousand years. Most such things were.
According to Prof Knohl, the telltale sign of an additional piece lies in the fact that there is a clear break in the upper-right corner of the stone.
"We simply don't know if the text on the Gabriel stone we have now is the full composition", he said.
Prof Knohl said he was so certain of his theory that he led an extended archaeological trip himself to Jordan to try to find the second piece, but ultimately was unsuccessful.
He says he remains hopeful that in the future archaeologists or technology experts in the field of high-definition photography will be able to make additional breakthroughs.I don't doubt that such technology will be developed in due course and that it will be possible to use it on the stone as long as the stone has been carefully preserved in its current condition. This, of course, assuming the inscription is not a forgery. The stone is, after all, an unprovenanced artifact. So far all indications are that it is genuine, but it is not impossible that future technologies will give us a surprise about that as well.
"If anyone can think of a new technology or an idea to improve our readings please come and tell us", he said. "This would be a great contribution to the study of both Judaism and Christianity."
But it is in the realm of gospels that Ireland produces the most surprising findings. Throughout the Middle Ages, scholars across Western Europe make startling references to gospels otherwise thought lost, often presented under the guise of a Jewish-Christian gospel. We can debate at length what exactly they might have been referring to, but often, we can track their citations back either to the influence of Ireland, or to Irish monasteries founded in Western Europe. Irish clergy used some very strange texts, and even treated them as canonical.Earlier posts in this series are noted here and here and links
The Talmud’s Absolute Value
Through reasoning, the rabbis brought all of natural creation under the rule of law
By Adam Kirsch|April 30, 2013 12:00 AM|
One of the recurring patterns I have noticed in my reading of the Talmud is the way the text puts off explaining its key terms. From the beginning of Tractate Eruvin, for instance, it has been axiomatic that on Shabbat it is permitted to move only within a 2,000-amot techum or boundary. But why is the boundary 2,000 amot in the first place? If the Talmud were a textbook, this would be explained on the first page. But the compilers of the Talmud clearly did not envision it being read the way I, and many others doing Daf Yomi, read it—that is, in isolation.
Rather, the Talmud is a product of and commentary on a living tradition, whose principles have been passed on from generation to generation, in word and action. Presumably, in the fifth century CE, every Jewish child would have known about the 2,000-amot boundary from the time he or she began to walk. It was a rule handed down for centuries—ostensibly, since Moses received the Oral Law on Sinai—and it didn’t need to be explained or justified.
In this week’s reading, however, the rabbis finally did explain where the 2,000-amot figure comes from—and the explanation raises as many questions as it answers. ...
These writings trace the development of the figure of the Angel Gabriel in early rabbinic Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The works include the “War Scroll” – a fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at Qumran in 1947, the Book of Daniel from the 13th-century Damascus Codex of the Hebrew Bible, the Gospel of Luke from a rare 10th-century Latin manuscript of the Four Gospels from France and a Koran from Iran from either the 15th or the 16thcentury.Also, despite the lurid headline, this Daily Mail article is pretty good: Does this mysterious Hebrew stone reveal a messiah BEFORE Jesus? Controversial 'Gabriel stone' tablet goes on show in Jerusalem. The answer to the headline question is probably not.
Also on display are prayer books from the three monotheistic religions that contain illustrations of the Angel Gabriel.
Spirit Possession, Exorcism and the Historical Jesus
Thus, Jesus’ experience as portrayed in Mark closely resembles those of healers across cultures, whose careers often begin with a period of illness or spirit possession, followed by a period of trials or testing, during which the healers learn to control their spirits. Once this has been achieved, they are able to control the spirits of others. In other words, they become healers and exorcists themselves.
See Also: Jesus, the Galilean Exorcist. (Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2012)
By Amanda Witmer
Department of Religious Studies
Conrad Grebel University College, University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON Canada
March 2013
If you want to understand the history of Christian thought, in the sense of what a substantial majority of Christians actually thought and believed through much of the history of the faith, then you cannot ignore these many alternative scriptures, texts like the Gospel of Nicodemus and pseudo-Matthew, the infancy gospels and the Book of Enoch. They really were that influential. Nor was their impact confined to the poor and uneducated.Indeed.
Convergence and Divergence in Pentateuchal Theory:
Bridging the Academic Cultures of Israel, North America and Europe
Date: May 12–13, 2013
Location: Israel Institute for Advanced Studies, The Hebrew University.
The Pentateuch lies at the heart of the Western humanities. Yet despite nearly two centuries of critical scholarship, the human origins of this monument of civilization remain shrouded in the past. Indeed, the traditional conception of a unified, self-consistent foundation narrative has long been given up. Critical scholarship has isolated multiple layers of tradition, inconsistent laws, and narratives that could only have originated from separate communities within ancient Israel, and were joined together at a relatively late stage by a process of splicing and editing.
Recent developments in academic biblical studies, however, jeopardize the revolutionary progress that has been made over the last two centuries. The so-called “Documentary Hypothesis” has dominated academic discourse on the Pentateuch since the end of the nineteenth century. More recently, however, the source-critical method has come under unprecedented attack. In fact, in many quarters it has been rejected entirely. While new perspectives are constantly being generated to replace traditional paradigms, the past forty years of scholarship have witnessed not simply a proliferation of intellectual models, but the fragmentation of discourse, especially among Israeli, European, and North American scholars.
This conference seeks to further international exchange and re-establish a shared intellectual. Presentations will be offered by a group of twenty-five international scholars, drawn from the fields of Biblical Studies, Second Temple/Dead Sea Scrolls, and Jewish Studies, with extensive time for discussion and debate.
Organizers: Bernard M. Levinson, University of Minnesota; Konrad Schmid, University of Zurich; Baruch J. Schwartz, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and Jan Christian Gertz, Heidelberg University.
Speakers: Joel Baden, Yale University; Mark J. Boda, McMaster Divinity College; David Carr, Union Theological Seminary; Cynthia Edenburg, The Open University of Israel; Jan Joosten, University of Strasbourg; Reinhard G. Kratz, University of Göttingen; Christoph Levin, University of Munich; Noam Mizrahi, Tel Aviv University; Christophe Nihan, University of Lausanne; Thomas Römer, University of Lausanne and Collège de France; Christopher Rollston, George Washington University; Dalit Rom-Shiloni, Tel Aviv University; Michael Segal, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Jean Louis Ska, Pontifical Biblical Institute; Jean-Pierre Sonnet, Pontifical Gregorian University; Jeffrey Stackert, University of Chicago; Jakob Wöhrle, University of Münster; David Wright, Brandeis University; Molly Zahn, University of Kansas.
For more information: ias.huji.ac.il/convergence
Samaritans make annual sacrifice - and preserve a way of lifeMore on Samaritan Passover here and links. More on the succession of the Samaritan high priesthood in 2010 here. And a recent post on the new translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch is here.
Although there are now less than 800 Samaritans, their Passover sacrifice - set according to calendar different from the mainstream Jewish one - draws an even bigger crowd.
By Andrew Esensten | Apr.24, 2013 | 5:55 PM | 2
The Samaritan community conducted its annual Passover sacrifice Tuesday evening under the leadership of a new high priest, as 50 sheep were slaughtered on Mount Gerizim in an ancient ceremony that attracted more than 1,000 spectators from around the world.
High Priest Aabed-El Ben Asher was elevated to his position, which is reserved for the eldest member of the priestly family, following the death last week of High Priest Aaron Ben Ab-Hisda at age 84. Ben Asher, 78, is the 133rd high priest in a line that the Samaritans claim stretches back to Aaron, brother of Moses.
[...]
As best I can recall, in my Talmud reading so far there has been only one reference to the Messiah. This came in Tractate Berachot, where one sage was cited as saying that the deeds of the Messiah would not be supernatural, but political—that the only difference between our world and the messianic age would be the restoration of Jewish sovereignty. And it makes sense that messianism should not, at least so far, be a major concern of the Talmud’s rabbis. After all, they are not theologians but legislators, concerned with how Jews should live in the here and now.A flying Messiah, no less, which brings to mind flying Jesus, as well as the flying Man from the Sea in 4 Ezra 13 who is mentioned in the article cited in the immediately preceding post.
In this week’s Daf Yomi reading, however, the subject of the Messiah returned, in an utterly unexpected and roundabout fashion. ...
But a daring new book by one of the world’s leading Jewish scholars challenges this simple contrast. The Jewish Gospels is a short work aimed at general readers by Daniel Boyarin, a professor of Talmud at the University of California in Berkeley. In ancient times, the borders between what Judaism and Christianity were far more porous than we conceive today, he argues: it was not until the fourth century that the doctrinal differences were clarified, not least because of the desire of the Roman-backed church to put clear water between the spreading new faith and those it considered Jews.Background here and links, where you will see that Peter Schäfer's review of the book goes rather further than believing "that Boyarin overstates his case."
His most explosive contention is that the concept of a divine messiah was not an alien import but part of the cauldron of ideas that bubbled in the volatile world of classical Judaism. “The basic underlying thoughts from which both the Trinity and the incarnation grew are there in the very world into which Jesus was born,” he writes.
One of the oldest churches ever to be excavated in Israel was recently discovered at the archaeological site of Tel Shiloh, where the temporary Jewish Temple once stood, in Samaria.This is the only report of the discovery I can find and, as you can see, it seems pretty vague on geography and chronology. The report says that some mosaics and then the church were discovered when a drainage ditch was dug to clear the excavation of rain water.
The church, dating from the fourth century CE, was discovered at the site believed that once housed the Ark of the Covenant of the ancient Israelis. The discovery has created much excitement among Christians.
Turkey’s Syriacs yearn to be able to teach Syriac to their childrenMore stories on Syriac in Turkey here, here, here, and links.
21 April 2013 /YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN, İSTANBUL (Today's Zaman)
Turkey’s Syriacs have long been seeking ways to teach their ancient language, culture and religion to their children; they finally asked a court in Ankara to right a wrong and allow them to open schools which would include a Syriac education.
“My family has been living in Anatolia for centuries, but I don’t know Syriac. I wish there were kindergartens that started Syriac language education at an early age,” said Nazan Söğüt, who has a daughter in the eighth grade and a son in the third grade in İstanbul.
“We would like to have schools at the kindergarten level in accordance with the Education Ministry’s instructions and with certain hours of language courses in Syriac. We only want to prevent the death of our 5,500-year-old language,” said Ezel Muratoğlu, a mother of two children who live in İstanbul’s Moda district. The battle of Syriacs in the Turkish bureaucracy has failed a number of times in its effort to teach their children their ancient language. In the middle of last year, the local education authority in İstanbul did not give them permission to open kindergartens that could teach Syriac. The Syriacs then went to the directorate of private schools with the same demand, but to no avail.
[...]
Is he an imaginative Italian investigative journalist? The descendant, as he claims to be, of an ancient family endowed with mystical powers, stemming from seven androids created thousands of years ago by an extraterrestrial geneticist in ancient Sumeria? A former peace activist — as he also claims — who was attacked and put out of commission in 1986 by a secret group of mobsters called “the Illuminati,” only to resurface again, in 2009, as a popular media figure?
It’s anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, as the guessing goes on, so does a weekly show on Italia 1 television in which Adam Kadmon, which means “primordial man” in the Hebrew of the Kabbalah, unravels such “mysteries” as the abdication of Pope Benedict, the death of Hugo Chávez and the secret life of Michael Jackson, and tilts with the Illuminati, who are still out to get him.
Despite his Hebrew name, there’s no need to suspect that he’s Jewish, because the kabbalistic figure of Adam Kadmon has had literary currency outside the Jewish world for a century or more; this goes back at least as far as the late 19th-century vogue for Theosophy, a movement that drew eclectically on a wide range of mystical sources.
Today it is Palmyra’s turn to face the bullet. It too is caught in conflict albeit with the Assad regime, Hezbollah’s bedfellow, and rebel opposition forces. It remains highly strategic. Quite simply Palmyra is “smack-bang” in the middle of Syria. ...More on Palmyra in the present conflict and on its historical and archaeological significance here and links.
Palmyra remains an artistic marvel. It was one of the top tourist-destinations prior to the civil war. Its artistic heritage derives from its unique role as a buffer city which it first held in the 2nd Century between Rome in the West and Parthia (Iran) in the East. Palmyra responded to a state of “betwixt and between” and became one of the most prosperous of all caravan cities. As merchants of antiquity crisscrossed the desert, wealth flowed through the sands of Palmyra. Affluence found expression in a distinct yet hybrid art. It borrowed from Greek, Roman, Semitic and Iranian traditions while at the same time it offered its own local contribution.
This artistic endeavour finds its voice in the rich funerary art which can now be seen in the great museums of the world. In the town itself soaring burial towers, colonnades and temples dominate the landscape. The Temple of Bel is the most monumental of all of the temple-complexes in Palmyra. As with Baalbek, the Temple of Bel has retained the name of an earlier Semitic cult. It was associated with the Mesopotamian Baal, chief god of the pantheon. And as with Baabek’s Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Bel also sits on the site of a much older Semitic temple.
That’s the story of a remarkably rare archeological discovery, which no one has heard about. For some reason, possibly political, the Israeli authorities have been trying to silence this discovery which could usher in a breakthrough in our understanding of the periods of King David and his son, King Solomon.The story has also been covered by Arutz Sheva: Is the State Hiding a Major Bible Era Find? Makor Rishon says authorities are keeping lid on what may be a royal castle from David's time. For those who read Hebrew, the Makor Rishon article that broke the story is here. And Todd Bolen has a blog post up on the subject as well at his Bible Places Blog: Royal Architecture Found Near Jerusalem.
The column crown Tropper ran, or rather climbed down into, is very likely part of a complete temple or palace buried underground.
Tropper, who expected nothing short of a medal for his fortunate discovery, called over the field school’s director, Yaron Rosenthal, who in turn alerted a senior employee of Israel’s Antiquities Authority. But no medals were to come any time soon.
Professor/Associate Professor: Hebrew Bible/Old Testament StudiesThere is a catch: you have either to show up knowing a Scandinavian language or agree to learn Norwegian within two years.
Professor/Associate Professor in the New Testament
Babel’s Tower Translated
Genesis 11 and Ancient Jewish Interpretation
Phillip Michael Sherman, Maryville College, TN
In Babel's Tower Translated, Phillip Sherman explores the narrative of Genesis 11 and its reception and interpretation in several Second Temple and Early Rabbinic texts (e.g., Jubilees, Philo, Genesis Rabbah). The account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is famously ambiguous. The meaning of the narrative and the actions of both the human characters and the Israelite deity defy any easy explanation. This work explores how changing historical and hermeneutical realities altered and shifted the meaning of the text in Jewish antiquity.
Anglo-Saxon England was converted in the century or so after 597, and in the following centuries became one of the liveliest cultural centers of Western Europe. Scandinavian invasions caused massive damage in the ninth century, but Anglo-Saxon culture and literature continued to flourish until the Norman Conquest of 1066. Within a couple of generations after that cataclysm, the Anglo-Saxon language ceased to matter as a learned tongue. When we find a text associated with the Anglo-Saxon church, then, we can say confidently that it was used somewhere between 600 and 1066 or so, and is very unlikely to be much earlier or later.For early Irish Old Testament pseudepigrapha, see this essay by my colleague Grant Macaskill: The Pseudepigrapha in the Irish Church.
A century ago, M. R. James remarked that “the Anglo-Saxon and Irish scholars seem to have been in possession of a good deal of rather rare apocryphal literature,” mainly in Latin but occasionally even in Greek. ...
Israeli plan to rebuild Herod’s tomb scrapped due to experts' criticismI'm not particularly keen on the idea of full on-site reconstructions of important ancient ruins. Let's stick to scale models that can be updated and corrected as our understanding improves. And in this case, as the article points out, we're not even entirely certain that this is Herod the Great's tomb.
The reconstruction of the West Bank monument, which would have set a precedent as the world's first archaeological structure to be fully restored, was championed by a local politician but slammed by archaeologists and academics as ostentatious and populist.(Nir Hasson, Haaretz)
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The Israel Nature and Parks Authority said in a statement, “Following the public hearing organized by the authority, new insights were received that will enrich and improve the proposal [to restore the tomb]. The Israel Museum exhibition will close in eight months, and after that the findings will be returned to Herodion and be integrated into the restoration.”
Dead Sea Scrolls coming to Leonardo in Salt Lake CityBackground here with many, many links.
By Sean P. Means
| The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Apr 17 2013 10:55 am • Updated 5 hours ago
A display featuring some of the Dead Sea Scrolls — the parchments that include the earliest known manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible — is coming to Salt Lake City.
Twenty scrolls, some of which date back to near the time of Christ, will be part of an exhibit that will open in mid-November at The Leonardo, downtown Salt Lake City’s art-and-technology museum, officials announced Wednesday.
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Salt Lake City is one of only 10 cities to host the "Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times." The exhibit has been shown in New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and will open May 19 at Boston’s Museum of Science.
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It’s not often that the subject of the weekly Daf Yomi reading makes headlines in the blogosphere. But last week, the web—especially its Jewish corners—was buzzing over a bizarre photograph of an Orthodox Jewish man on an airplane, completely wrapped in a plastic bag. Many commenters on the photo assumed this had something to do with sexual purity or avoiding women, but in fact, as knowledgeable readers pointed out, it actually involved another taboo entirely.Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here, here, and links.
The man must have been a Kohen, a member of the priestly class, and Kohanim are prohibited from coming into contact with corpses. Passing over a cemetery—even, in this case, at 30,000 feet—qualifies as such a contact. By wrapping himself in plastic, the man in question must have been guarding himself against that kind of impurity or tumah. Since most Orthodox Jews, even Kohanim, do not regularly fly in plastic, it’s clear that the man in the photo was adopting a minority position about what’s required to avoid contamination. (I’d be glad to hear from knowledgeable commenters about the law on this issue.)
As it turned out, just this question—how a Kohen can travel through a cemetery—was addressed in the Talmud last week, in Eruvin 30b. ...
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.04.13
Mireille Hadas-Lebel, Philo of Alexandria: A Thinker in the Jewish Diaspora. Studies in Philo of Alexandria, 7. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2012. Pp. 240. ISBN 9789004209480. $140.00.
Reviewed by Maren R. Niehoff, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus (msmaren@mscc.huji.ac.il)
Preview
This guide to Philo’s life, thought and political activity is an important addition to Philonic scholarship, which has been flourishing and reaching out to other disciplines. While A. Kamesar has recently collected introductory essays on Philo by a team of international researchers, who highlight the status quaestionis in their respective fields,1 Hadas-Lebel singlehandedly offers a comprehensive study of Philo, lucidly outlining the different aspects of his personality without striving to provide an updated picture of Philonic research. She initially describes his historical context in Alexandria and then provides an analysis of his writings and thought, concluding with an overview of his influence among early Christians. Hadas-Lebel forcefully argues for a significant connection between Philo’s Diaspora setting and his thought: he cannot be subsumed within rabbinic Judaism, but is the main exponent of a form of Judaism that took Greek culture very seriously into account, while maintaining a strong and visible Jewish identity.
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Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.04.23
J. Albert Harrill, Paul the Apostle: His Life and Legacy in Their Roman Context. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Pp. xv, 207. ISBN 9780521757805. $24.99 (pb).
Reviewed by Paul B. Harvey, Jr., Pennsylvania State University (pbh1@psu.edu)
Preview
Harrill has published extensively on the socio-economic contexts (especially slavery) of Paul’s letters;1 here he offers a biographical sketch of Paul with a very welcome discussion of how and to what extent ancient authors appropriated Paul and his teachings. Harrill urges that Paul be reckoned among the “key figures” of ancient Mediterranean history. Few scholars acquainted with the modern study of early Christianity would, I think, quarrel with Harrill’s assessment of the apostle’s historical significance and influence. Indeed, many would surely agree with Bruce Chilton’s apothegm: without Paul, no Christianity.2
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Benyamim Tsedaka and Sharon Sullivan et al. The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah: First English Translation Compared with the Masoretic Version (2013)A complimentary copy from Eerdmans. Some background on the project is here, here, and here.
Jennifer Barbour. The Story of Israel in the Book of Qohelet: Ecclesiastes as Cultural Memory. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. xv + 225 pp. $135.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19-965782-7.
Reviewed by Jennifer L. Koosed (Albright College)
Published on H-Judaic (April, 2013)
Commissioned by Jason Kalman
The History-Haunted Meditations of Qohelet
Jennie Barbour’s The Story of Israel in the Book of Qohelet provides a new perspective on the issue of history in Qohelet. The scholarly consensus has been that historical reference is completely absent from Qohelet, a book that does not seem to be interested in either the figures or the events of ancient Israel. Barbour challenges this consensus. She argues that “history haunts Ecclesiastes” (p. 3). Barbour is not, however, trying to revive some Jewish and Christian traditional exegesis which assumes Solomonic authorship and imposes an allegorical and historicizing interpretation on the book. Rather, Barbour proposes that the author of Qohelet (highly educated and literate) is drawing on a wealth of textual traditions and a deep cultural memory that has been shaped by the experience of the Babylonian destruction and exile. This experience, then, leaves its mark on Qohelet’s meditations as well.
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'Today (11 April 2013) at sunset is Babylonian New Year, Day 1 of the Month Nisannu of Year 2324 of the Seleucid Era, the beginning of the Akitu festival. It's now time for reading Enuma Elish and praying to Marduk' - Mathieu OssendrijverAs usual, best wishes to all those celebrating.
In sum, the use of laboratory tests for inscriptions from the market is auspicious, but the labs conducting the tests must be vetted, protocols for the testing must be put in place in every case, and the results of the laboratory tests must be fully published so that they can be scrutinized as well. In short, there is much to be hopeful about, but methodological doubt must be maintained as well.Just in case you thought the results of lab testing were conclusive.
This numerical inflation reminded me of the saying chanted by the Israelites, in the First Book of Samuel, about Saul and David, comparing their greatness in battle: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” In Talmudic times, Jewish manliness was no longer measured in Philistine corpses, but in legal creativity. Still, there is a point, Eruvin 13b teaches, beyond which a sage can become too intellectually advanced.
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What kinds of food, the rabbis ask, are capable of creating an eruv? Any food or drink, the Mishnah says in Eruvin 26b, except for salt and water. The food does not even have to be a kind that the person in question can actually eat. A Nazirite, for instance, vows not to drink wine, but it is permissible to use wine to create an eruv for him. This might seem so plain as to require no further discussion. But, of course, there is one, because of a principle the Gemara goes on to explain. “We cannot learn from general rules,” Rabbi Yochanan says, because any rule might carry unstated exceptions.
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Mikve from era of Second Temple excavated in J'lem
By JPOST.COM STAFF
04/10/2013 10:42
In preparing to build a new highway near Jerusalem's Kiryat Menachem neighborhood, archeologists have discovered an ancient treasure.
An archeological excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority prior to the construction of a new road in Jerusalem's Kiryat Menachem neighborhood has led to the discovery of an ancient mikve (ritual bath) from the era of the Second Temple.
Binyamin Storchen, who headed the excavation, said that many mikves have been discovered in recent years, but the water running through this particular ritual bath is "unique and unusual."
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Truth Behind Gospel of Judas Revealed in Ancient InksAn interesting story detailing the process of authenticating the Gospel of Judas. (HT David Meadows.) Here's an image gallery, also at LiveScience. More on the Gospel of Judas here with many links.
Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 08 April 2013 Time: 11:30 AM ET
A long-lost gospel that casts Judas as a co-conspirator of Jesus, rather than a betrayer, was ruled most likely authentic in 2006. Now, scientists reveal they couldn't have made the call without a series of far more mundane documents, including Ancient Egyptian marriage licenses and property contracts.
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Which brings us to the present with Pope Francis advocating a “poor church for poor people;” this caused a flurry among Catholic writers to interpret this. Dr. William Oddie, former editor of the Catholic Herald immediately asked: “Should Pope Francis sell off the Vatican’s art collection and give the money to the poor? The answer is an emphatic ‘No’!” It’s not the paintings that would be a gesture to Jews curious to know if the Vatican archives still house the spoils of Titus from the Holy Temple. In 1996, Israel’s Minister of Religious Affairs, based on research at the University of Florence, Shimon Shetreet asked Pope John Paul II to help locate the menorah described in the Bible and depicted in Titus Arch. At another time, Israeli President Moshe Katzav asked the Vatican to inventory a list of Judaica and Temple treasures held there.The idea that the Vatican might have some of the Temple treasures in its archives has been around for a while and I have explained here why I don't think it's likely. For Sean Kingsley's theory that they are in a monastery in the Holy Land see here and links. According to the legends in the external tractate Massekhet Kelim, the treasures are hidden in various sites in Palestine and Babylon. It is possible that the Copper Scroll is a list of Temple treasures hidden in Palestine in advance of the Great Revolt in 70 CE, but if so, most of the hiding places have probably been plundered and the treasures dispersed long since. I don't think the Temple treasures are at the bottom of any sea, but I would be surprised if any substantial portion of them remains collected at any one place today.
Presently, the heirs of owners contesting many art treasures stolen by the Nazis, join the posse of many museums in Iraq and Iran seeking museum missing treasures stolen during their country’s various invasions. It would be a grand gesture of good will to the Vatican’s “elder brothers” to research the archives for the Temple treasures. And then, if found, would it make the Vatican’s archives that much poorer, to return these ritual items to the country where they were made? Of course it may be that the Vatican treasury doesn’t contain Titus’ spoils from the sacking of the Temple as Edward Gibbon suggests, and that these treasures may be somewhere at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
