Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book

H-JUDAIC: Manfred R. Lehmann Memorial Master Workshop in the History of the Jewish Book 2017 at the University of Pennsylvania. Ancient Judaism is within the remit of the conference:

Examining the history of book collecting in Jewish society from its inception to the 20th century, the 2017 Lehmann Workshop will consider changes in ideology, policy and development, explore divergent attitudes toward the preservation of Jewish culture, and analyze text choices, policies and manners of acquisition. Topics include the preservation of works in Hebrew characters in ancient synagogues, academies and genizot; important Hebrew and Judaica collections of medieval Jewish private and semi-public libraries as well as European royal, noble, ecclesiastical, university and public libraries of the Renaissance — based mainly on the collections of Christian Hebraists and Jewish grandees or scholars — several of which became institutions of the city and the nation. The workshop’s conclusion will examine the impact on Jewish book culture and its libraries of modern developments, such as the rise of the national state, Jewish emancipation, and the growth of new Jewish centers in Eastern Europe, America and Israel.

The conference runs on 7-8 May 2017. Follow the link for further particulars. Registration must be received by 1 March 2017.

Nehemiah and Persian propaganda

THE ASOR BLOG: Good Public Relations: What Persian Propaganda Tells Us About the ‘Nehemiah Memoir’ (Lucas Schulte).

Stretching from Egypt to the Indus River, the Persian Empire was the largest empire yet seen in the ancient Near East. Typically, the Hebrew Bible depicts ancient Near Eastern empires as divine instruments of punishment. But the Persian Empire is an exception: the Persians allowed Judean exiles to return home and rebuild the Jerusalem temple, so the Hebrew Bible uniquely depicts their empire as expressing YHWH’s benevolence. These positive depictions of Persian kings provide a better understanding both of the development of the book of Nehemiah and the Persian context behind it. Everyone needs good PR, even empires.

[...]

The Talmud and Shapur I

DR. JASON MOKHTARIAN: Concluding a Tractate with King Shapur’s Praise and Practice of Rabbinic Law (TheGemara.com).

The Bavli’s editors noted the conclusion of some tractates with an edifying message. For tractates Bava Metzia and Avodah Zarah, they placed stories about Sasanian king Shapur I. In this way, they connected their rabbinic milieu to the Sasanian world in which they operated, and imagined Sasanian authority and approval of rabbinic law.

Mendelsohn, Behold the Man

NEW BOOK FROM MAGNESS PRESS (IN HEBREW):

Behold the Man
Jesus in Israeli Art

By Amitai Mendelsohn

Purchase options: Price Site price
Printed book $ 50.00 $ 45.00

Publisher: The Hebrew University Magnes Press
In collaboration with: Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Categories:
Art, Christianity, Jewish Studies
Publish date: January 2017
Language: Hebrew
Danacode: 45-481012
ISBN: 978-965-278-464-3
Cover: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Weight: 1300 gr.

Dr. Amitai Mendelsohn investigates the various appearances of the figure of Jesus in Israeli art as a significant, multifaceted and ever-present phenomenon. Through works by prominent artists from different generations, it discusses in depth the evolving attitudes of Jewish, Zionist pre-state, and Israeli art towards Jesus, from the second half of the nineteenth century until today: from artists laboring "In the shadow of the Cross" to artists who saw Jesus as a symbol of the rebirth of the Jewish people in the land of Israel, and artists whose engagement with Jesus is detached from the complex and fraught relations between Christianity and Judaism, and who see him as symbolizing the suffering artist. The book examines the different directions taken by Israeli artists in portraying the figure of Jesus, and proves the extent of this phenomena and its ever present importance.

Although, oddly, the publisher's blurb never says this, this book is clearly the catalogue for the Behold the Man exhibition currently running at the Israel Museum. Aviya Kushner reported that it is being translated into English.

The Talmud on wage payment and loan collateral

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: What the Rich Owe the Poor. In this week’s ‘Daf Yomi,’ the deep Jewish roots of income equality, and the shared dignity it brings.

As Daf Yomi readers saw this week, the idea that the power of wealth must be constrained, that the rich have duties to the poor, is deeply rooted in Judaism. In Chapter Nine of Bava Metzia, the rabbis discussed a set of biblical commandments that impose ethical obligations on people in a position of economic advantage. The first is that an employer cannot delay payment of wages to his employees; he must pay them every day if they work during the day, or every night if they work at night. “Anyone who withholds the wages of a hired laborer,” the Sages say in Bava Metzia 111a, “violates five prohibitions and one positive mitzvah.” Such a person is considered guilty of theft because he is effectively stealing from his employee as well as violating the commandment “do not oppress your neighbor.”

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

Reading Acts on the Second Temple Period

READING ACTS: New Series: The Second Temple Period. The first post in a new blog series by Phil Long.

Over the next few months I will be posting on the history and literature of the Second Temple period. I had an opportunity to teach an eight-week series in my church on the “Time between the Testaments.” This began with the Persian period and ran through the Jewish War in A.D. 70, and I included on session on Herod the Great so I could show pictures of Masada and the Western Wall from a recent trip to Israel. The series was well received and I had the chance to develop the material in more detail for a semester long undergrad class.

[...]

The second post is already up: Why Study the Second Temple Period?

As chance would have it, my (sort of*) new honours module (i.e. upper division course) "Ancient Jewish Literature from 1 Enoch to the Mishnah" (DI4731) has its first meeting today. Phil taught his class in a church setting and mine is in a very different setting, but I'm sure there will be some opportunities for interaction at the blog level over the course of the semester.

*The course is expanded from a half-course (module) that I used to teach to a full-semester honours seminar.

Martín-Velasco and García Blanco (eds.), Greek Philosophy and Mystery Cults

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

María José Martín-Velasco, María José García Blanco (ed.), Greek Philosophy and Mystery Cults. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016. Pp. xii, 244. ISBN 9781443888301. £47.99.

Reviewed by Emilio Suárez de la Torre, Pompeu Fabra University (emilio.suarez@upf.edu)

[Authors and titles are shown at the end of the review.]

The nature of Greek culture makes it possible to publish a book with a title announcing what would be a contradictio in terminis when dealing with other cultures. But it is a crucial theme in the history of Greek philosophy and this is why we must celebrate the publication of a volume like this one in which some of the most relevant questions suggested by the title are dealt with, offering interesting analyses and proposals. It is a collection of the lectures presented at a meeting of the Iberian Society of Greek Philosophy held at the University of Santiago de Compostela in May 2012.

[...]

There's nothing specific on ancient Judaism, but much of the subject matter mentioned is of potential background interest.

Deutsch takes up new Baumgarten Chair at UC Santa Cruz

GOOD NEWS FOR ACADEMIC JEWISH STUDIES: UC Santa Cruz launches Murray Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies. Over 150 donors commit nearly $1 million to support research, teaching, and public events (Scott Rappaport, UC Santa Cruz News).

UC Santa Cruz has established an endowed chair to honor the person most responsible for the thriving Jewish Studies program that exists on the campus today.

Over 150 donors have committed a combined total of $977,130 to establish the new Murray Baumgarten Endowed Chair in Jewish Studies in the Center for Jewish Studies, located in the UC Santa Cruz Institute for Humanities Research.

The purpose of the chair is to promote research, teaching, and public outreach activities in the area of Jewish Studies.

[...]

Nathaniel Deutsch, director of the Center for Jewish Studies, was honored as the inaugural chair holder at an investiture ceremony held yesterday on campus at College Nine and Ten.

A professor of history, Deutsch is also director of the Institute for Humanities Research at UC Santa Cruz and the chair of the University of California Consortium of Humanities Centers.

[...]

Professor Deutsch has published on, inter alia, Mandaeism (Mandeism), Gnosticism, and Merkavah Mysticism. He has been mentioned by PaleoJudaica a couple of times here and here. Congratulations to him, to Professor Baumgarten, and to UC Santa Cruz.

A medieval synagogue at Huqoq?

ARCHAEOLOGY: Ruins discovered near Sea of Galilee could be rare medieval synagogue (Cheyenne Macdonald, Daily Mail).

• Building was discovered at Huqoq excavation site near Israel’s Sea of Galilee
• Placement of benches along east, north, west walls suggest it was synagogue
• But, researchers say there is little evidence of Jewish presence there at the time

Archaeologists have unearthed what could be the ancient remains of a synagogue in a village near Israel’s Sea of Galilee.

It was built during the 12th and 13th centuries, and incorporates parts of a fifth-century Roman synagogue known to contain stunning mosaics.

The placement of benches along the east, north, and west walls suggests that the ancient structure is a synagogue – but researchers say such a find is extremely rare in this setting, given the lack of a Jewish presence in the area at the time.

[...]

The Middle Ages are usually outside PaleoJudaica's realm of interest, but I note this story because the medieval ruins, whatever they are, are closely associated with the ruins of the late antique synagogue at Huqoq. For much more on the many ancient ruins etc. at Huqoq, start here and follow the links.

von Wahlde, Gnosticism, Docetism, and the Judaisms of the First Century

NEW(ISH) BOOK FROM BLOOMSBURY:

Gnosticism, Docetism, and the Judaisms of the First Century
The Search for the Wider Context of the Johannine Literature and Why It Matters

By: Urban C. von Wahlde

Published: 26-02-2015
Format: Hardback
Edition: 1st
Extent: 256
ISBN: 9780567656582
Imprint: Bloomsbury T&T Clark
Series: The Library of New Testament Studies
Volume: 517
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm
RRP: £85.00 Online price: £76.50 Saving: Save £8.50 (10%)

About Gnosticism, Docetism, and the Judaisms of the First Century
In this book von Wahlde provides an exploration of three distinct cultural and religious backgrounds against which scholars have frequently proposed that the Gospel and Letters of John are to be read and understood.

von Wahlde examines each of these three possibilities in turn, and shows how they may be regarded as plausible or implausible depending upon the evidence available. von Wahlde shows that there are features within the Gospel and/or Letters of John that do in fact suggest that they were influenced either by Gnosticism, Docetism or one of the variant forms of Judaism. However, in each case, while some of the evidence suggests a particular background, von Wahlde shows that it is equally evident that not all of the evidence can be seen to suggest the same background. Through an examination of the origins and purpose of the gospel, and drawing on the conclusions of his well-regarded commentary on the Johannine literature, von Wahlde presents a new way of understanding the Gospel in its wider contexts.

This was published in 2015 but it only just came to my attention.

Balaam's star again

CANDIDA MOSS: Is the New Star Really a Sign of a Messiah for Israel? Humans across the world will get to see a star born in 2022, and one rabbi says it’s a sign from the Bible of a new military leader for Israel (The Daily Beast). Excerpt:

With respect to the arrival of this new star in 2022, there is no doubt that it is a significant moment for astronomers and physicists. As far as Berger’s prediction’s go, other scholars are unconvinced. Joel Baden, a professor of Hebrew Bible at Yale Divinity School, told me that this interpretation of the prophecy from Numbers is problematic because, grammatically speaking, the star doesn’t “rise”—it literally “treads,” as one would when crushing grapes. Furthermore, while Berger is in good company, it’s unclear why he thinks that the star in this verse is a literal star while the scepter is a symbol for a ruler. The two images are parallel to one another, Baden told The Daily Beast, so why not read them in the same way?

Balaam's prophecy doesn't really have any obvious connection to the forecasted 2022 event. It doesn't say "The collapsing mutual orbit of a binary star pair will cause a red nova and then the Messiah will come." I might be impressed if it did, but it doesn't. In comparison, "A star will come out of Jacob" is pretty ambiguous.

Background here.

Review of Hallam, Basics of Classical Syriac

BOOK REVIEW: Book Notice: Basics of Classical Syriac (Euangelion Blog).

Steven C. Hallam
Basics of Classical Syriac: Complete Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.
Available at Amazon.com

By Jill Firth

Steven C. Hallam has taught Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and Syriac at a graduate level. He has written a clear and practical text welcoming new students into the Syriac language. Syriac is a dialect of ancient Aramaic, and is similar in basic structure to Aramaic as well as having many similarities to Hebrew. The book is written for those who have not studied Hebrew or Aramaic. Hallam encourages the reader to take Syriac on its own terms. However, students who are familiar with Hebrew or Aramaic will find the grammar easy to access.

[...]

I noted the book here when it was published last year.

Rubbish archaeology

THE TRUTH IS IN THERE: The truth is in the garbage: New research examines ancient Roman trash (Traci Watson, USA Today).

When workers began digging out the Roman cities torched by Mount Vesuvius, the exquisite wall paintings, sumptuous villas and golden jewelry they found quickly grabbed the spotlight. But archaeologists are now looking to a less glamorous feature of these cities: the garbage.

Over the last few years, a team of researchers has taken a systematic look at street trash, buckets and even storage containers from Pompeii and other ruins to understand the relationship between ordinary Romans and their stuff. The extraordinary preservation of objects by volcanic debris allows for extraordinary insights into humdrum possessions, the researchers say.

[...]

There's nothing specific about ancient Judaism in this article, but the basic principle — that ancient people's trash preserves important information for historians — is widely applicable. A couple of premier examples for our purposes are the Cairo Geniza and the Oxyrhynchus papyri (on which more here and here and many links). But there are endless more mundane examples like the Pompeii project. This analysis of day-to-day trash contributes much our knowledge of details that we would otherwise never have known.

Interview with Anneli Aejmelaeus

CSTT BLOG: REFLECTING ON A CAREER STUDYING THE SEPTUAGINT: AN INTERVIEW WITH ANNELI AEJMELAEUS (Rick Bonnie).

1. What is your research about, in general terms?
My special area of research is the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translated by Jews during the 3rd–1st centuries BCE in Alexandria. I am preparing the first critical edition of the Septuagint text of the First Book of Samuel (= First Kingdoms) for the series of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. ...

That sounds like an important project.

Who is carrying the Temple menorah on the Arch of Titus?

STEVEN FINE: WHO IS CARRYING THE TEMPLE MENORAH? A JEWISH COUNTER-NARRATIVE OF THE ARCH OF TITUS SPOLIA PANEL (Academia.edu).

Abstract
The Arch of Titus, constructed circa 81 CE under the emperor Domitian, commemorates the victory of the general, then emperor Titus in the Jewish War of 66–74 CE. Located on Rome’s Via Sacra, the Arch has been a “place of memory” for Romans, Christians and Jews since antiquity. This essay explores the history of a Jewish counter-memory of a bas relief within the arch that depicts the triumphal procession of the Jerusalem Temple treasures into Rome in 󰀷󰀱 CE. At least since the early modern period, Jews—as well as British Protestants—came to believe that the menorah bearers of this relief represent Jews, and not Roman triumphadors. This essay addresses the history of this widespread belief, particularly during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and continuing in contemporary Israel.

This is an offprint from a 2016 Brill publication, but I can find no further details. For past posts on Professor Fine's recent book, The Menorah see here and follow the links. They (plus here and here) also lead to many past PaleoJudaica posts on ancient menorahs in general. And the bottommost photo in this post shows the menorah panel in the Arch of Titus.

Chester Beatty Library manuscripts digitized.

AWOL: Chester Beatty Papyri at The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM).

The Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts (CSNTM) is pleased to announce that a six-person team, in a four-week expedition during July–August 2013, digitized all the Greek biblical papyri at the Chester Beatty Library. The CBL has granted permission to CSNTM to post the images.

These include Septuagint manuscripts, manuscripts of Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in Greek (1 Enoch, Jannes and Jambres), and New Testament manuscripts and lectionary fragments in Greek, Armenian, and Latin.

Past PaleoJudaica posts on the Chester Beatty Library are here and links. I am very much looking forward to seeing the Library for myself at the annual meeting of the British New Testament Conference, which takes place at St Patrick's College in Maynooth, Ireland, in September of 2017.

Cross-file under Technology Watch and Digitization.

For many other manuscript digitization projects, start here and follow the links.

‘Almah

YONA SABAR: Hebrew Word of the Week: ‘almah "young woman, maiden, marriageable girl; missy." With the obligatory foray into Isaiah 7:14.

That catches us up with relevant Hebrew Word of the Week columns for now.

Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

John Granger Cook, Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 327. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015. Pp. xxiv, 522. ISBN 9783161537646. €69.00 (pb).

Reviewed by James H. Dee, Austin, TX (jhdee1243@gmail.com)

Table of Contents

[The reviewer apologizes for the lateness of this review.]

This massive study aims to fill a longstanding gap in an area where both Classics and New Testament Studies operate. Professor Cook was invited by the late Martin Hengel, author of a 1977 monograph on the subject, to revise it for him—but Cook soon concluded that he should write his own book, which far surpasses Hengel's 99-page work.

The seven-page Table of Contents gives ample evidence of the scope of the investigation: a 50-page Introduction on terminology; Chapter One has 100 pages on crucifixion in Latin texts, Chapter Two offers 50 more on the evidence for Roman practices; Chapter Three devotes another 100 pages to Greek texts; Chapter Four occupies nearly 50 on Hebrew and Aramaic texts; Chapter Five is a 40-page discussion on the legal aspect of crucifixion as punishment; finally, Chapter Six takes a mere 30 pages to deal with the most famous (and, for many, the most significant) of all crucifixions, that of Jesus of Nazareth—a brevity which seems almost anticlimactic, especially from an author whose training and career have been exclusively on the religious studies side of the field (Ph.D., Emory; faculty appointment at LaGrange University). That background might make classicists wary and raise concerns about what might be theologically-driven interpretations. If so, their concerns are unwarranted. The monograph finds its place in an esteemed New Testament Monograph Series. Acknowledgements indicate wide consultation with experts in the field, including Harvard’s Kathleen Coleman, who has herself promised a book on Roman public execution.1

[...]

The book, among other things, collects references to crucifixion in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Gruesome.

Tourism up at Cartagena

PUNIC WATCH: Tourist numbers at main Cartagena sites up by 16 per cent in 2016. The most popular sites were the Roman Theatre of Cartagena and the Punic Wall (Murica Today).

As the Town Hall of Cartagena strives to increase tourist activity in the city and throughout the municipality, the Puerto de Culturas consortium of tourist attractions reports that it enjoyed a successful year in 2016.

Speaking on Tuesday, Deputy Mayoress Ana Belén Castejón confirmed that during last year the various museums and other establishments belonging to Puerto de Culturas, including the Roman Theatre, welcomed a total of 431,850 visitors, an increase of 16.7% over the year before and the highest figure yet recorded.

[...]

Cartagena in Spain does a good job of maximizing the tourism potential of its ancient Punic history and archaeology.

Past posts on Cartagena, and notably on its annual Romans and Carthaginians Festival in September, are collected here.

Visotzky, "How the Rabbis Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It"

THE BIBLE AND INTERPRETATION:

How the Rabbis Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It

In antiquity, as today, synagogue architecture followed local custom. This was true for the adoption of the Greco-Roman public building, the basilica, as the standard form for ancient synagogues. Roman buildings, churches, and synagogues might be indistinguishable from one another but for the dedicatory inscriptions and art that archeologists find within them. One may safely assume that the same architects, artisans, and contractors built all of these buildings with but minor modifications depending upon which community was paying their bills.

See Also: Aphrodite and the Rabbis: How the Jews Adapted Roman Culture to Create Judaism as We Know It (St. Martin’s Press, 2016).

By Burton L. Visotzky
Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies
Jewish Theological Seminary
www.burtonvisotzky.com
January, 2017

There's more on Professor Visotzky's new book here.

More destruction at Palmyra

PALMYRA WATCH: IS carrying out new demolitions at Palmyra — antiquities chie. Maamoun Abdulkarim says jihadist group damaged amphitheater, destroyed 16-columned structure in ancient city (AFP). Here we go again.

Background on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic recent fate, now a second time, in the hands of ISIS is here with many, many links.

Inaugural Apocrypha

OLD TESTAMENT APOCRYPHA WATCH: Trump Inauguration’s Bible Reading Is Not in Your Bible. Why it's good for Protestants to hear from the Apocrypha (David deSilva, Christianity Today).

When Cardinal Timothy Dolan moved to the podium to pray at President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, his prayer may have struck you as oddly familiar.

The passage he prayed from is very similar to Solomon’s prayer for wisdom in 1 Kings 3. But, it’s not the version Protestant Christians know, because it’s not in the Bible that we read.

It comes, instead, from the Wisdom of Solomon, a book included in the Catholic and Orthodox churches’ Old Testament, but not included in Protestant churches’ Old Testament.

[...]

No reading from 1 Enoch this time. Maybe someday.

The Old Testament Apocrypha are (at least almost entirely) ancient Jewish texts, but they are not part of the Jewish biblical canon (or the Protestant one), although they are included in the Catholic and Orthodox canons. Professor deSilva focuses in this article on why they are important for Christians, which is appropriate for Christianity Today's audience. But the OT Apocrypha are also important for the history of Judaism. In fact, it happens that just yesterday I wrote up a lecture for my new course on Ancient Jewish Literature (DI4731) on what the Old Testament Apocrypha contribute to our knowledge of Second Temple Judaism. It's actually quite a bit.

Petra meets Google Cardboard?

AWOL: A virtual trek through Petra with Google Cardboard. I didn't know there was a thing called Google Cardboard. The twenty-first century is not proving easy to keep up with.

The Google Streetview tour of Petra was noted here in 2015. Cross-file under Nabatean (Nabataean) Watch. Some past PaleoJudaica posts on on the Nabateans and the ancient city of Petra are collected here and follow the many links.

Coptic epitaphs excavated in the Sudan

COPTIC WATCH: Massive Burial Ground Unearthed at Medieval Monastery in Sudan (Owen Jarus, Live Science).

Four cemeteries, from which at least 123 individuals have been excavated so far, have been unearthed near the remains of a medieval Christian monastery in Sudan. A few of the burials contained individuals buried in unusual ways.

The cemeteries and remains, which have been excavated over the past two years, are located at a monastery called al-Ghazali near the Nile River. The people who were buried there lived about 1,000 years ago, during a time when a series of Christian kingdoms flourished in the area, according to Robert Stark, a doctoral student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, who presented the findings this month in Toronto at the joint annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society for Classical Studies.

The discoveries include well-preserved burial shrouds that in a few instances still cover the skulls of the deceased, Stark said. The archaeologists also found tombstones with engravings of prayers that were written in Greek or Coptic (an Egyptian language that uses the Greek alphabet). In one cemetery, some people were buried in mysterious ways: For example, two individuals were found with post-mortem cut marks incised in their bones.

[...]

There are more photos at Live Science: In Photos: 1,000-Year-Old Cemeteries Unearthed in Sudan. Unfortunately, neither article has a photo of any of the inscriptions, but the first one does have some more information on the tombstones and their epitaphs.

Siloam Inscription to stay in Istanbul

EPIGRAPHY AND POLITICS: Despite detente, ancient Hebrew text ‘proving’ Jewish ties to Jerusalem set to stay in Istanbul. Netanyahu has hailed Siloam Inscription as evidence ‘etched in stone’ of Jews’ historic connection to holy city, but Israeli officials are not seeking its return (Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel).

Despite Netanyahu’s argument asserting the unparalleled significance of the inscription, Israel has made no overtures to secure its return or that of the other two ancient inscriptions held at the Istanbul museum.

Israeli diplomats in Turkey and Jerusalem said there were no communications with the Turkish government on that point, and a Netanyahu spokesman said there were no current efforts to pursue the repatriation of the inscriptions.

A Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that while Israel has repeatedly expressed interest in the repatriation of the Siloam inscription, the issue is not currently on the agenda.

Well, despite the messy political situation in Turkey, they're probably safe for now where they are. PaleoJudaica followed the unsuccessful effort to have the Siloam Inscription returned to Israel on loan in 2007 in posts here, here, here, here, and here. The other two inscriptions from Israel now in the Istanbul Museum are the Gezer Calendar (on which more here, here, and here) and the Temple Warning Inscription (on which more here - and here for a fragmentary copy in Israel).

Looting arrests at Horbat Mishkena

BUSTED: Caught red-handed: 11 grave robbers arrested at northern ruins. Authorities arrest 11 grave robbers in the process of robbing ruins of ancient Jewish town mentioned in the Talmud (Arutz Sheva).

A team of antiquities raiders was apprehended at Horbat Mishkena, an archaeological site of a Roman-era Jewish town near the Golani Junction in the Lower Galilee.

The team of thieves, which was comprised of eleven Arabs, was apprehended by a squad from the of Robbery Prevention Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), acting in conjunction with the police and border guard volunteers.

The suspects were caught while digging illegally in the ancient shelter system and causing a great deal of damage to the site.

[...]

With video of the arrest. There were looting arrests near the same site just a little over a month ago.

De Gruyter open-access books 2016

AWOL: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies - De Gruyter Open - Published in 2016. Some of them are of at least background interest for the study of ancient Judaism.

Lim on the Dead Sea Scrolls At Seventy

ANNIVERSARY: The Dead Sea Scrolls At Seventy (Professor Timothy Lim, Centre for the Study of Christian Origins Blog). An excellent brief summary of the scholarly state of the question on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the site of Khirbet Qumran in 2017.

Latest on the Aramean nation in Israel

MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: Resurrecting a languishing language and culture (Brooke Conrad, The Hillsdale Collegian).

On Wednesday, the Israeli Knesset passed a bill allowing Aramaic Christians to register for free as their own ethnicity in Israel.

Previously, Aramaic Christians had to pay a cumbersome $400 to register in the Israeli state. But now, according to Shadi Khalloul, the founder of the Israeli Christian Aramaic Association, this bill not only makes it much easier for Aramaic Christians to register, but also will help the state of Israel to recognize the Aramaic Christian community as separate from their Arabic Muslim neighbors.

Khalloul belongs to a group of about 10,000 Maronite Christians who live in Israel. The Maronite Church dates back to A.D. 350 and was set apart largely because its members continued to speak Aramaic, which many believe to be the language of Jesus.

[...]

The official recognition of an Aramean nation by Israel in 2014 was noted here and here. Follow the links in the second post for more details about the constituent groups of this Aramean nation. For more on the Maronites specifically, see here and links.

Valmadonna Library acquired by Israel National Library

VALMADONNA LIBRARY UPDATE: National Library makes ‘historic’ acquisition of rare Hebrew texts. Valmadonna Trust Library’s manuscripts span the globe and a millenium, including a 1491 Bible; will be on display at institution’s new Jerusalem home (Ilan Ben Zion, Times of Israel).

Israel’s National Library on Wednesday announced the acquisition of thousands of Hebrew manuscripts and books from one of the most significant collections in the world.

The 8,000 or so texts from the Valmadonna Trust Library collection were purchased in collaboration with collectors David and Jemima Jeselsohn in a private sale through Sotheby’s for an undisclosed sum.

The Valmadonna’s 13,000-book assemblage of Hebrew texts from Amsterdam to Shanghai and a host of historic Jewish communities in between, spanning a millennium, was assembled by the late Jack V. Lunzer, a Jewish British industrialist. Lunzer died in December, at the age of 92.

[...]

This is good news. The acquisition will keep the library from being broken up any further to be sold piecemeal. Well done to the INL and to the Jeselsohns.

Background on the story is here and here and links. Past posts involving the Valmadonna Targum of Ruth are here and here, with more on the manuscript here. The Jeselsohns are also the owners of the Gabriel Revelation inscription (Vision of Gabriel).

The Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture (update)

AWOL: Open Access Journal: The Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture . There's not much directly about ancient Judaism in this journal, but there are articles on matters of background interest in late antique religion such as the Greek Magical Papyri, Syriac studies, Gnosticism, and Neoplatonism. Noted here in 2015, but there have been several new issues out since then.

Forness on Syriac homilies

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Dissertation Spotlight | Philip Michael Forness.

Philip Michael Forness, “Preaching and Religious Debate: Jacob of Serugh and the Promotion of His Christology in the Roman Near East,” Ph.D. diss., Princeton Theological Seminary, 2016.

Excerpt:

My dissertation, “Preaching and Religious Debate,” investigates homilies as a source for understanding social history. The sermons of John Chrysostom and Augustine of Hippo contain a wealth of information about the places and contexts in which they preached. But this sets them apart from most extant homilies. Indeed, the homilies falsely attributed to Chrysostom and Augustine far outnumber their authentic works. These works were often written in non-classical languages and feature in the literature of a wide variety of eastern Christian communities. Scholars have little hope of finding the context of any one of these pseudonymous homilies.

I seek to answer questions about the homiletical literature in general by focusing on these texts within Syriac literature. Syriac homilies from late antiquity provoke an exploration of the possibility of using sermons without a defined context as historical texts. Around seven hundred homilies authored in Syriac survive from the fourth through sixth centuries. Yet most have resisted efforts to identify their dates, locations, and liturgical settings. By attending to these texts, we are forced to confront the difficulty of interpreting the seemingly de-contextualized remains of most sermons from late antiquity.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch

Jesus exhibition at the Israel Museum

CONTEMPORARY ART: A Second Coming for Jesus — at the Israel Museum (Aviya Kushner, The Forward).

‘It turns out that all Israeli art is about Jesus,” an American tourist said to me as he moved away from a painting in The Israel Museum’s paradigm-shifting new exhibit titled “Behold the Man: Jesus in Israeli Art.” In Hebrew, the title is a bit different: Zeh Ha’Ish, or “This Is the Man.” Throughout the exhibit, language makes a difference; the wall text often diverges in subtle but important ways in Hebrew and English.

The world’s museums are full of portrayals of Jesus, but scenes of the Madonna and child, the crucifixion and the Last Supper are generally not thought of as Jewish subjects, or as the stuff of Jewish art. The Jesus narrative was used to invoke hatred of Jews for centuries; some Jews interpret the Hebrew name for Jesus, yeshu, as an acronym for y’mach sh’mo u’zichro, or let his name and memory be obliterated.

But in this groundbreaking and utterly fascinating exhibit, Jesus is certainly not obliterated; instead, Jesus is used to symbolize the suffering and powerlessness of Jews in the Holocaust; Palestinians in both intifadas; Mizrachi Jewish refugees housed in ma’abarot, or temporary camps, in 1950s Israel, after being expelled from Arab countries; the disabled in Israeli society; Israeli soldiers sent to die in war; and in one of the most haunting pieces, the personal suffering of a major Israeli artist who lost his wife in childbirth, and their daughter three years later, and who painted himself as Jesus and then locked the painting in a cabinet. The painting was found a year after the artist’s death.

[...]

AtHala

YONA SABAR: Hebrew Word of the Week: atHalah "inception, initiation; restart (computer)."

Solomon's mines at Timna

ARCHAEOLOGY: Preserved fortification, donkey stables dating to King Solomon discovered at TAU's Timna Valley excavations (Tel Aviv University/PhysOrg).

Some believe that the fabled mines of King Solomon were located among copper smelting camps in Israel's Timna Valley. The arid conditions at Timna have seen the astonishing preservation of 3,000-year-old organic materials, which have provided Tel Aviv University archaeologists with a unique window into the culture and practices of a sophisticated ancient society.

An advanced military fortification—a well-defined gatehouse complex—unearthed recently at Timna, including donkey stables, points to the community's highly-organized defense system and significant dependence on long-distance trade. The research was recently published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.

The fortification dates to the reigns of Kings David and Solomon in the 10th century BCE.

[...]

In the remarkably intact two-room fortification, located in one of the largest smelting camps in the Timna Valley, the researchers also found evidence of a complex long-distance trade system that probably included the northern Edomite plateau, the Mediterranean coastal plain and Judea. The complex featured pens for draught animals and other livestock. According to precise pollen, seed, and fauna analyses, they were fed with hay and grape pomace—high-quality sustenance that must have been delivered from the Mediterranean region hundreds of miles away.

"The gatehouse fortification was apparently a prominent landmark," says Dr. Ben-Yosef. "It had a cultic or symbolic function in addition to its defensive and administrative roles. The gatehouse was built of sturdy stone to defend against invasion. We found animal bones and dung piles so intact, we could analyze the food the animals were fed with precision. The food suggests special treatment and care, in accordance with the key role of the donkeys in the copper production and in trade in a logistically challenging region."

[...]

I'm keeping a special eye on the Timna excavation, because of the abundant organic remains that have been found there. The arid climate seems ideal for their preservation and the discoveries have included textiles from the 10th century BCE. If there is any place where Solomonic-era scrolls or papyri might have survived, it is Timna. Let's hope that we get lucky and some turn up.

Warlord and Scribe

ASSIMILATED TO THE BLOGOSPHERE: Warlord and Scribe: Northwest Semitics in Context. A new blog by Nathaniel E. Greene, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The opening post is Sinai 115 and Historical Canaanite Phonology.

Welcome, dear reader, to the first entry of Warlord and Scribe: Northwest Semitics in Context. I’ll have a post up soon about the name of the blog and, for those of you who stick around for that, I hope you enjoy it. Keep an eye out, too, for my forthcoming article on the Qubur al-Walaydah bowl in BASOR 377.

[...]

The Sinai 115 inscription has been in the news lately regarding a theory being promoted by Douglas Petrovich. See here and links. Mr. Greene agrees with the skepticism already expressed by other philologists about Prof. Petrovich's theory, and he adds additional arguments against it.

Cross-file under Philology.

Yom Tov

YONA SABAR: Hebrew Word of the Week: Yom Tov “(Jewish) Holiday (on which work is forbidden).” This column is from back in September of 2016, but I missed it then, so here it is. It looks as though I have missed a few (perhaps I need to refine my Google searches), so I will catch up in the coming days.

Bockmuehl, Ancient Apocryphal Gospels

READING ACTS: In Today’s Mail: Markus Bockmuehl, Ancient Apocryphal Gospels.

Thanks to WJKP for sending along a review copy of this new textbook by Markus Bockmuehl. This is the latest in the Resources for the Use of Scripture in the Church series, which is itself a subset of the Interpretation commentary series.

[...]

I look forward to Phil Long's review in due course. Meanwhile, the publisher's blurb reads as follows:

In this reader-friendly guide, Markus Bockmuehl offers a sympathetic account of the ancient apocryphal Gospel writings, showing their place within the reception history and formation of what was to become the canonical fourfold Gospel. Bockmuehl begins by helping readers understand the early history behind these noncanonical Gospels before going on to examine dozens of specific apocryphal texts. He explores the complex oral and intertextual relationships between the noncanonical and canonical Gospels, maintaining that it is legitimate and instructive to read the apocryphal writings as an engagement with the person of Jesus that both presupposes and supplements the canonical narrative outline. Appropriate for pastors and nonspecialists, this work offers a fuller understanding of these writings and their significance for biblical interpretation in the church.

Cross-file under New Book and New Testament Apocrypha.

Strategic move for Metatron

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: Metatron, Inc. Announces Strategic Move into the Areas of Mobile Encryption, and Virtual Reality for its Mobile Development Business.

The Company will embark on re-branding Metatron mobile development business in the specific areas of mobile encryption and security, and applications for the growing market in virtual reality. Under this new goal, the Company will keep its focus on a couple of dynamic concepts within the mobile market, and will look to reduce or shelve other projects to the back burner so as to keep our core focus on these market segments to better execute our projects to market.

[...]

The archangelic company Metatron.inc has been busy since its founding in 2009. It has slain a giant, engaged in due diligence, gotten pumped and crashed horribly, and still managed to recover and make a foray into the cannabis sector.

Pocket Change Blog

NUMISMATICS: Pocket Change: The Blog of the American Numismatic Society. I just discovered this blog. Its most recent post deals with, inter alia, a theme of ancient Jewish coinage from the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt: THE SECRET CHORD: HARPS AND LYRES ON ANCIENT AND MODERN COINS.

Gematria galore

APOCALYPSE WATCH: Biblical Numerology Reveals Stunning Connection Between Paris Conference, Gog and Magog (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News).

The Paris conference on Sunday, in which representatives from 70 nations met to sign an anti-Israel agreement, brought together many factors, all pointing at a final showdown that pits the 70 sons of Jacob against the 70 nations under Gog in a pre-Messianic war.

As the 70 nations gathered in Paris, many people were aware that the concept of 70 nations has its source in the 70 grandsons of Noah listed in the Bible.

[...]

Many of the usual suspects for the Apocalypse are here: Gog and Magog, Rosh, the Messiah, etc. And all of them are justified with gematria, the process of adding up the numerical value of names spelled in Hebrew and then associating them with other Hebrew words and names that have the same numerical value. For more on the ancient Jewish tradition of the seventy nations, see here.

Breaking Israel News seems to represent a Jewish movement that occupies a parallel theological space to Hal Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth Christian movement in the [edit: 1970s and] 1980s. Both expect the imminent apocalyptic end of this age and the coming of the Messiah and both justify these expectations by exegesis of scripture in light of current events. And both have similarities to the Qumran sectarian movement which gave us the Teacher of Righteousness and pesher exegesis as preserved in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I hope I don't have to repeat that my interest here is sociological and historical, not theological, and my citation of this and related stories is not an endorsement of their content.

Did an eclipse save Joshua's army?

MORE ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA: Eclipse ‘stopped the sun’ for biblical Joshua, Israeli scientists say. Researchers claim to pinpoint the exact date — October 30, 1207 BCE — and explanation for an astounding event in the Battle in Gibeon (Times of Israel).

According to the biblical story, Joshua got help from the sun to earn the Israelites one of their most epic victories. Now, a team of Israeli scientists say they’ve figured out how: The battle coincided with a solar eclipse.

Using NASA data, three scientists from Beersheba’s Ben Gurion University, in a newly published paper, dated the eclipse and the battle to October 30, 1207 BCE.

[...]

Nope, not buying it. It doesn't make a great deal of sense. The point of the poetic quotation is that whatever happened with the sun and moon led to the Israelites winning the battle at Gibeon. I don't see how a lunar eclipse that made everything dark would have been much use to anyone at any battle.

The prose text following the poetic quote in Joshua 10:12-13 says that the sun stayed in the sky for a full day until the Israelites won, which at least makes some sense. Nevertheless it too is probably wrong, a guess at the meaning of a piece of poetry that was already archaic when the book of Joshua was written. The actual meaning of the poetic passage probably involved a propitious arrangement of the sun and moon in the sky that gave the Israelites an omen of success for the battle. More on that interpretation here and here.

Balaam's star in 2022?

APOCALYPSE WATCH: New Star to Appear in Night Sky, Heralding Balaam’s Prophecy of Messiah (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News).

Five years from now, the light from the ancient collision of two stars will reveal a brand-new star in the night sky. According to Jewish esoteric sources, this is precisely the celestial phenomenon which will accompany the arrival of the Messiah.

The new star, expected to appear in 2022 in a blaze of light called a nova, will be the brightest heavenly body visible in the nighttime sky for six months. It will be the first time in recorded history that a celestial event of this kind will be witnessed by the naked eye.

Beyond its scientific uniqueness, the appearance of the new star could have much bigger implications for the earth-bound, one prominent rabbi told Breaking Israel News, pointing to a Biblical prophecy of Balaam which hails the appearance of a new star as the precursor to Messiah.

[...]

The passage in question is, of course, Numbers 24:17. Maimonides and the Zohar are also invoked. As always, my interest here is sociological and historical, not theological, and my citation of this and related stories is not an endorsement of their content.

The astronomical prediction, however, is real. If it turns out to be correct, any alien civilizations that were in the vicinity of this star-pair 1800 years ago really did have an apocalypse: the gamma-ray blast from the stellar collision would have been an extinction level event. I hope they had enough warning to get away. For similar scenarios in science fiction, see Arthur C. Clark's classic story "The Star" and Stephen Baxter's more recent "Traces."

For more on the messianic connotations of Numbers 24:17, see here.

Epic Aramaic

MODERN ARAMAIC WATCH: In England, An Effort To Preserve Ancient, Epic Assyrian Poetry (Alice Fordham, WXPR).

[Nineb] Lamassu became an academic researcher and now travels among the Assyrian diaspora recording the epics as told by men he calls bards — including the storyteller he loved listening to in the refugee camp, whose name is Khananya Zayya. Years later, Lamassu tracked him down living in New Zealand.

"It almost felt I was back in the refugee camp, right in that tent on that cold winter night with him. He had not changed" — aside from a little artificial help keeping his mustache black, he says.

Lamassu tells me there's a bard living close by in Southall, London, so of course I travel to meet him.

With an audio report. And here's a summary of the article and audio file from a reprint by the Unrepresented Peoples and Nations Organization: Assyria: A Cambridge Researcher’s Efforts to Preserve Assyrian Poetry.

Cambridge University researcher Nineb Lamassu was recently interviewed by a British journalist about his efforts to preserve epic Assyrian poems. Because of the current situation in the Middle East and particularly in Iraq, Assyrian traditions and culture are slowly disappearing and being destroyed by ISIS. Lamassu met with several members of the Assyrian diaspora to record their voices and will make these recordings available on a Cambridge University online database.

Eyes like dark wine

PROF. AARON DEMSKY: The Color of Judah’s Eyes (TheTorah.com).

חכלילי עינים מיין (Gen 49:12) is an obscure phrase. In contrast to the standard interpretation, Nachmanides’ offered an original interpretation, which finds support in modern linguistic analysis and an archaeological find.

Cross-file under Philology and Epigraphy.

Dever Fellowship report 2016: Shikhin

ASOR BLOG: My Time at a Roman-Era Jewish Settlement.

By: Jill Marshall, 2016 William G. Dever Fellowship Recipient

Thanks to ASOR’s William G. Dever Fellowship for Biblical Scholars, in Summer 2016, I traveled to Israel to participate in the Shikhin Excavation Project and to conduct research at the Albright Institute in Jerusalem. Since my research is in New Testament and early Christianity, I chose Shikhin because it is a Roman-era Jewish settlement that gives scholars insight into the socio-economic landscape of the Galilee. Directed by James R. Strange of Samford University and Mordechai Aviam of Kinnaret Academic College, the excavation reveals interesting details about ceramic production and the interactions between cities (Sepphoris) and villages (Shikhin) in the Roman period.

[...]

CFP: Horizons in Textual Criticism

ETC BLOG: Call for Papers: Horizons in Textual Criticism (Peter Gurry).

On 10-11 May, 2017, the University of Oxford will host a colloquium devoted to methodologically new and unique work in textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible and related texts.

Interview with Maggie Anton

THE TEL AVIV REVIEW: MISSIONARY POSITIONS: WHAT THE TALMUD SAYS ABOUT SEX (Gilad Halpern).

Maggie Anton, a Talmud scholar and historical fiction writer discusses her new book Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You-Know-What.

Audio interview. Background on Maggie Anton, her recent book on sex in the Talmud, and her earlier novels, is here and links.

Congratulations to Professor Elton Daniel

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Center for Iranian Studies and the Encyclopædia Iranica.

Many congratulations to Professor Elton Daniel, who has been appointed the Interim Director of the Center for Iranian Studies and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopædia Iranica. See below for the full text of the announcement:

[...]

I'm surprised that its been nearly a decade since I've mentioned the Encylopaedia Iranica. I know I have consulted it more often than that. It now goes up to Z.

Putthoff, Ontological Aspects of Early Jewish Anthropology

NEW BOOK FROM BRILL:

Ontological Aspects of Early Jewish Anthropology
The Malleable Self and the Presence of God

Tyson L. Putthoff, Trinity College Dublin
In Ontological Aspects of Early Jewish Anthropology, Tyson L. Putthoff explores early Jewish beliefs about how the human self reacts ontologically in God’s presence. Combining contemporary theory with sound exegesis, Putthoff demonstrates that early Jews widely considered the self to be intrinsically malleable, such that it mimics the ontological state of the space it inhabits. In divine space, they believed, the self therefore shares in the ontological state of God himself. The book is critical for students and scholars alike. In putting forth a new framework for conceptualising early Jewish anthropology, it challenges scholars to rethink not only what early Jews believed about the self but how we approach the subject in the first place.

Dreams in the ANE and the Joseph story

PROF. JACK M. SASSON: Joseph and the Dreams of Many Colors. Understanding the practice of dream interpretation in the Joseph story by using the ANE interpretive traditions as background (TheTorah.com).

Dreams across Centuries

Millennia before Sigmund Freud penned his classic work Die Traumdeutung (The Interpretation of Dreams, 1899) and long before the 2nd century CE professional diviner, Artemidorus of Daldis, distilled centuries of traditions on dream interpretation into his Oneirocritica,[1] people in the Ancient Near East had cultivated a strong interest in dreams and their interpretations. From the Freudian perspective, dreams are an expression of a person’s subconscious, and they teach us about a person’s inner life.

In antiquity, however, a dream was understood as a message from a deity, often reflecting an issue of importance to an entire community. In fact, in the conception of the ancients, a dream could affect many people beyond its recipient. Thus, in the ANE, a process of evaluating dreams developed, which included the following investigations: their viability, their veracity, their import, and their fulfillment.

[...]

Some background on dreams and dream interpretation in antiquity is in yesterday's post here (and links) and also here, here, here, here, and here. And then there's the story of my own revelatory dream here.

Batten on honor and shame in the NT

BIBLE ODYSSEY: Honor and Shame in the New Testament (Alicia J. Batten).

Q. We are told that ancient societies like those of Israel were "honor-shame cultures," and see various examples of that in biblical stories. My question is more about NT theology. How do the honor-shame cultural values of New Testament authors inform and shape their theology, especially Christology?

Reminder: BIOSCS is now JSCS

AWOL: Open Access Journal: The Journal of Septuagint and Cognate Studies (JSCS) formerly, The Bulletin of the International Organization of Septuagint and Cognate Studies (BIOSCS). The change in title was noted earlier here in 2015, but it's always good to post reminders when AWOL takes something up.

BI Blog 2016 statistics

BIBLIOGRAPHIA IRANICA: Statistics for 2016. It provides lots of good content and is doing well for such a specialized blog. PaleoJudaica links to it frequently for information on ancient Persia and Zoroastrianism.

Ge'ez classes begin at University of Toronto

ETHIOPIC WATCH: University of Toronto Starts Ge’ez Classes (Ezega.com).

January 13, 2017 - The University of Toronto (U of T) has begun Ge’ez classes to enable a new generation of students understand the ancient language and access long-lost trove of knowledge.

This week, Professor Robert Holmstedt of the department of Near and Middle Eastern civilizations welcomed 25 students and members of Ethiopian community in Toronto to the first day of an introductory course on Ge’ez.

With this course, U of T becomes one of the only places in the world where students can learn the fundamentals of Ge’ez, according to a statement on the university’s site.

The program came about through several significant donations, including from The Weeknd, the Ethiopian community and the Faculty of Arts & Science.

Department Chair Professor Tim Harrison has said that he hoped, with continued support, U of T would eventually add more courses and be positioned to launch the first Ethiopian studies program in North America.

Since the subject is so rarely taught, Holmstedt had to invent course materials and revise one of the only Ge’ez textbooks in English, the 40-year-old Introduction to Classical Ethiopic: Ge’ez by Thomas O. Lambdin. Ge’ez is a window into an ancient culture and offers insights into other languages, he said.

“I like giving students access to things that 99.5 percent of the world doesn’t have access to,” he said, adding: “It’s part of advancing our knowledge and the pursuit of truth. This is the very nature of the university. We can’t leave this behind.”

[...]

Excellent! Ge'ez (ancient Ethiopic) is of interest for ancient Jewish studies in particular because the text of 1 Enoch is preserved complete only in a Ge'ez translation.

Background here and links.

"All dreams follow the interpretation" - you are warned!

Dr. HAIM WEISS: “All Dreams Follow the Interpretation” – Even for the Rabbis! A New Approach to the Story of Abaye, Rava and the Dream Interpreter Bar Hedya (b. Berakhot 55b-56a) (TheGemara.com).

Introduction

Dreams – an involuntary human experience of unclear purpose, and of symbolic and enigmatic elements – presented the rabbis with an interpretive, cultural, and theological crux. Their struggle with this challenge, extending from the Mishnah (c. 200 C.E.) all the way to the late midrashim (eighth-ninth centuries), is reflected in dozens of statements, stories, and theological discussions.

In addition to these asides about dreams, three lengthy passages devoted to dreams have come down to us: y. Ma‘aser Sheni 4; 55b-c; Eichah Rabbah, and part of the ninth chapter of b. Berakhot, known by scholars as “Tractate Dreams,” 1 which will be the focus of this article.

Some past posts on dreams and dream interpretation in the Talmud are here, here, here, here, and here.

Interview with Benyamin Tsedaka

SAMARITAN WATCH: Fox column: Benny is a good Samaritan (Pastor Mark Fox, The Times-News).

“Many people learn history. Very few people learn from it.”

That was one of the statements Benyamim Tsedaka made in our 90-minute meeting for lunch a few weeks ago. Benyamim, who prefers to be called Benny to make it easier for Americans, is a 125th-generation Samaritan who knows his history and is on a mission to help others know it as well, so lessons may be learned and tragedies avoided.

The Samaritans are a tribe of Israelites that once boasted more than a million people in the 5th century, and dropped as low as 141 in 1919. Now there are 800 Samaritans, but that number is growing again. From the ancient tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Levi, the Samaritans live in or near Mount Gerizim in Israel, and follow only the first five books of the Old Testament, or, the Pentateuch.

Benny says the Samaritans and Jews are two brothers of the same nation, and he travels throughout the world for two months every year, meeting with world leaders and representing the Samaritan people. When he and I met with JL Williams and Margaret Wooten (the Wootens are Benny’s "adopted family" in Alamance County), he had just come from a meeting with one of the members of President-elect Trump's transition team.

Benny has quite the resumé. He served in the Israeli Air Force in the 1960s. Since 1969, he has served as chief editor of The Samaritan News, and has published 122 books. He is a choir director, the honorary chairman of the Samaritan Basketball Team, and since 2007, he has chaired the Samaritan Medal Committee for Peace and Humanitarian Achievements.

[...]

Yes, Mr. Tzedaka is very active I have been in touch with him occasionally over the years and you will find him from time to time in PaleoJudaica's archives - most recently in connection with his (co-authored with Sharon Sullivan) English translation of the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Malachi Martin

PALEOGRAPHY: The strange case of Father Malachi Martin, the Kerry priest who stars in Netflix's new documentary. A new documentary focuses on a Kerry priest who claimed to have carried out exorcisms. Was he the real deal or a fantasist (Darragh McManus, Independent.ie). Not an endorsement of this new film, which I have not seen and in which I have no interest, but I note this story because it tells me something interesting that I didn't know. Malachi Martin was a trained specialist in Semitic philology and paleography before he left the priesthood:

Born in Ballylongford in 1921, he became a Jesuit priest, did a doctorate in archaeology and Semitic languages in Belgium's Louvain University, worked on the famous Dead Sea scrolls, participated in archaeological digs in Egypt and served as private secretary to a Vatican cardinal, among many other achievements.

His 1999 obituary in the Independent (UK) gives additional details:

Martin grew up in a large, traditional Catholic family in County Kerry and in 1939 as a young man entered the Jesuit Order. He read for a BA in humanities at University College, Dublin, then spent three years studying philosophy followed by three years teaching in a Jesuit college in Ireland, and four years of theology studies at Milltown Park, Dublin (the college where Jesuits did their theological training). There he was ordained into the priesthood in 1954, taking his final vows as a Jesuit on 2 February 1957.

His talents were soon apparent and he was sent for further studies outside Ireland. He received doctorates from the universities of Louvain and Oxford and from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, where he concentrated on knowledge of Jesus as transmitted in Islamic and Jewish sources. As a biblical scholar, Martin's main contribution was the book The Scribal Character of the Dead Sea Scrolls, published in Louvain in 1958.

Marked out as a high-flyer, he became Professor of Palaeontology and Semitic Languages at the prestigious Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and was a theological adviser to Cardinal Augustin Bea, the head of the Vatican's Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity. This brought him into close contact with Pope John XXIII.

Martin's years in Rome coincided with the start of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), which was to transform the Catholic Church in a way that the initially-liberal Martin began to find distressing. Disillusioned by the reforms taking place among the Jesuits, the Church's largest religious order, Martin requested a release from his vows in 1964 and left Rome suddenly that June.

And then, of course, his life took a rather different direction. He is best known as the exorcising priest in the episode on which the 1973 movie The Exorcist is based.

Amusingly, in the quote from the obituary his academic title is given as "Professor of Palaeontology." That should be Professor of Palaeography.

Restorations on the Church of the Nativity

REPAIR WORK UNDERWAY: Bethlehem shrine’s treasures being restored (Josephine McKenna, Religion News Service/Crux reprint).

The Church of the Nativity, built by Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, sits in Bethlehem above what’s believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. Since 2013, Italian experts have been working with the Palestinian government to overcome cultural and religious differences and forge ahead with an ambitious restoration.

As frequently with such things, this is the traditional birthplace of Jesus. In historical terms there is no certainty where or even in what year Jesus was born. But the site has a long tradition of association with his birth:

The church was completed on Constantine’s orders in 339 A.D. but later destroyed during conflict in the sixth century. A new basilica was built by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 565 A.D. and lined with colorful wall mosaics much later, during the 12th century.

“The design of the transept is an example of exceptional craftsmanship, and so too are the mosaics, the columns, the capitals and the architraves,” Piacenti said.

Over the years the structure has suffered from degradation and water infiltration. It was declared a U.N. World Heritage site in 2012 in a bid to save it from further decay and it’s also on the World Heritage endangered list.
But Piacenti said few realize it also withstood invasions, war and natural disasters.

“This church is a fortress that has survived attacks and 15 terrible earthquakes and it is still standing today,” he said.

The restorations have been underway since 2013 and are reportedly about two-thirds complete.

Background on its listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site is here and links.

Secunda on Hanukkah and Zoroastrian Fire Veneration

DR. SHAI SECUNDA: The Development of the Chanukah Oil Miracle in Context of Zoroastrian Fire Veneration. The Ancient Fire that Fueled the Chanukah Story (TheGemara.com).

Introduction
In recent years, most scholars have observed that the story concerning the miracle of oil is a late addition to the Chanukah traditions.1 This article suggests a possible Greek precursor to the story, and examines the role that the Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism, played in both these traditions about miraculous fire.

Cross-file under, Belatedly, 'Tis The Season (Hanukkah Edition).

Kemosh and YHWH

THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST TODAY (ASOR): Kemosh, YHWH’s Counterpart and “Abomination” (Collin Cornell).

Sitting in a seminary classroom and translating the famous Mesha Inscription from Moab can create a unique sense of unease and confusion. Here is a god so similar to, well, God; to Yhwh that is, the god of the Hebrew Bible! So who was Kemosh, really?

[...]

Cross-file under Chemosh, Epigraphy, and History of Religion. More on the Mesha Inscription (Mesha Stele, Moabite Stone) is here and links.

Goodacre and Still now editors of NIGTC

READING ACTS: Goodacre and Still, New Editors of the New International Greek Text Commentary series.

Here is an exciting announcement from Eerdmans: Mark Goodacre and Todd D. Still are taking over editorship of the New International Greek Text Commentary series. The NIGTC is one on the premier New Testament commentaries published today. ...

Congratulations to both.

Magness lecturing at Baylor on Huqoq mosaics

BAYLOR UNIVERSITY: Biblical Mosaics Discovered in Ancient Israeli Synagogue Will Be Topic of Lecture by Excavation Director Jan. 19.

WACO, Texas (Jan. 12, 2017) — New discoveries of mosaics uncovered in an ancient synagogue in Israel’s Galilee region will be the topic of an upcoming slide-illustrated lecture by Jodi Magness, Ph.D., director of the excavations.

Magness’ presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be given at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in Baylor University’s McClinton Auditorium, Room 240, of the Paul L. Foster Campus for Business and Innovation, 1621 S. Third St.

[...]

Past posts on the new mosaic from Huqoq are collected here. And follow the links there for past posts on the other mosaics from Huqoq.

Herman Charles Hoskier Project

HISTORY OF NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL CRITICISM: Project Announcement: Herman Charles Hoskier and the Future of the Bible (Dr. Garrick Allen). This is a project being undertaken in Ireland by Dr. Allen, one of our recent St. Andrews PhDs. He has been mentioned at PaleoJudaica a number of times, including here, here, here, and here.

Review of Stang, Our Divine Double

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW:

Charles M. Stang, Our Divine Double. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press, 2016. Pp. 309. ISBN 9780674287198. $49.95.

Reviewed by Gregory Shaw, Stonehill College (gshaw@stonehill.edu)

Preview

Excerpt:

Eloquently written and accessible, this book traces in successive chapters the spiritual current of doubling that underlies Platonism, early Christianity, Manichaeism, and Neoplatonism. To read Our Divine Double is to fall under the spell that enthralled the author, who tells us that “the task of this book is to retrieve this tradition of the divine double from the obscurity into which it has fallen” (12). There is a prescriptive edge to Stang’s explorations. He has something at stake and his passion for retrieving the divine element in our human condition is infectious. Not only does this book invite us into the originating impulse of Christianity and other ancient traditions, it allows us to recognize that the divine double still lives among us, in intuitions, dreams and reveries, which belong to a language that has long been forgotten in our contemporary culture. Stang has discovered the syntax that allows us to reflect on such moments and recover a place for them in Western traditions.

I noted the book here when it came out last year. Further to my comments there, you can find some discussion of the divine double (heavenly counterpart) tradition in ancient Judaism in some of the essays by Andrei Orlov collected in From Apocalypticism to Merkabah Mysticisim (JSJSup 114; Leiden: Brill, 2007).

Academic conference presentations

THE ANXIOUS BENCH: Make a Good Impression at Academic Conferences (Please!) (Beth Allison Barr). Excerpt:

Most of us, when thinking about how to give a good conference paper, focus on the research, the historical conversation to which we are contributing, the questions we might get asked, and the scholars we might offend in the audience. After sitting through several sessions this past weekend, however, I think perhaps our priorities are skewed. Perhaps we should start paying at least as much attention to how we present our papers as we do to how we research our papers.

Read this before your present another conference paper. There's lots of good advice here.

Way back in 2004 there was a discussion of this issue among (and yes, we still seem to be using this term) bibliobloggers. You can see my advice, with a link to a post by Mark Goodacre, at my post on how to read a scholarly paper.

An ancient underground ritual bath in Jerusalem

MORE ARCHITECTURE: Jerusalem: Behind the Scenes of The Western Wall — A Monumental Ritual Bath (Carl Rasmussen, HolyLandPhotos' Blog).

We recently took the 80 minute guided tour called “Behind the Scenes of The Western Wall.” This tour is run by the same group that operates the much more familiar “The Western Wall Tunnels” tour.

One of the interesting finds that we visited was a large ritual bath from the late Second Temple Period (New Testament era) that is located on the lower eastern slope of the Western Hill—west of the Temple Mount proper.

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A related post was noted here yesterday. Nice photos in this one too.

JSP 26.2 (2016)

A NEW ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE PSEUDEPIGRAPHA (Volume 26, Issue 2, December 2016):

2 Baruch and the Syriac Codex Ambrosianus (7a1): Studying Old Testament Pseudepigrapha in Their Manuscript Context
Liv Ingeborg Lied
First Published January 10, 2017; pp. 67–107

Abstract
This article presents three hypotheses that may shed light on the place of 2 Baruch in the Syriac Codex Ambrosianus, the sixth-/seventh-century Old Testament codex that contains the only known complete copy of 2 Baruch. Whereas scholars of 2 Baruch have generally treated this copy in isolation from the rest of the manuscript, using it primarily as a witness to the (hypothetical) early Jewish text, this essay approaches 2 Baruch as an integral part of the codex, exploring codicological elements, the order and organization of books, as well as paratextual features. Inspired by the perspective of New Philology, this article contributes to the ongoing discussions about the origins, transmission and transformation of the so-called Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, claiming the importance of studying them in the manuscript contexts in which they are copied. The article will also be a contribution to the further study of the Codex Ambrosianus and the engagement with 2 Baruch among Syriac Christians.

Reception of the Greek Story of Melchizedek in Syriac Christian Tradition
Sergey Minov
First Published January 10, 2017; pp. 108–143

Abstract
This article focuses on the history of reception of the Story of Melchizedek, an original Greek composition from Late Antiquity, among Syriac-speaking Christians during the Middle Ages. For the first time the original Syriac text, English translation and discussion of three different witnesses to this apocryphal work in Syriac is provided, namely (1) the abbreviated translation of the Story incorporated into Catena Severi (ninth century), (2) the Pseudo-Athanasian excerpt found in ms. Vatican Syr. 159, and (3) the brief discourse entitled Melchizedek the Priest.

The Lion, the Honey, and the New Timnite Woman: Joseph and Aseneth and the Samson Cycle
Christopher Brenna
First Published January 10, 2017; pp. 144–163

Abstract
This study presents a solution for the symbol of the honeycomb employed in Joseph and Aseneth, an ancient Hellenistic Jewish novel, by recognizing signals throughout the rest of the narrative that point to an allegorical reading of Samson's encounter with the lion in Judg. 14.5–9. The thesis is that the author of Joseph and Aseneth is providing an allegorical reading of Judg. 14.5–9, where Samson is a type of wayward Israel and the Timnite woman represents foreign domination. The lion and the honey are interpreted as symbols of Samson's subsequent victory over his Philistine foes, and this symbolical movement is applied to Aseneth's transformed identity. Aseneth is a new Timnite woman and Joseph is a new Samson, reconfigured to triumph over her seductive influence. Parallels are drawn between a constructed allegorical reading of the Samson cycle and the encounter of Aseneth with Joseph and later with the heavenly man. The theological themes upon which such a reading relies are discussed.

A personal or institutional subscription is required to access the full articles. CORRECTION: A correspondent in Paris indicates that he is able to access the full articles without either kind of subscription. So perhaps they are free online, at least for some period of time. If you're interested, give it a try and find out.

Cross-file under Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Watch.

Gribetz on how to teach the Mishnah

ANCIENT JEW REVIEW: Teaching Students to Read (the Mishnah) ( Sarit Kattan Gribetz).

How do we effectively teach students to read new types of texts that might seem daunting for them at first glance? I have a set of simple suggestions, based on my experiences teaching rabbinic sources in introductory religion courses, that might help those looking for new strategies for incorporating texts and genres unfamiliar and seemingly inaccessible to students into their courses. While the example below focuses on teaching the Mishnah, it could easily be adapted to other sources, especially texts or artifacts that might confound students who encounter them on their own for the first time (e.g. Babylonian omen texts, Greek magical papyri, Justinian’s Digest, documents from the Judean desert, etc.).

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There are some really good ideas in this essay and I think I will be adapting some of them in the Mishnah unit of my new Ancient Jewish Literature course this semester. And as the author observes, her overall approach could be adapted for teaching a wide range of ancient literature.

New director for the Israel Museum

CHANGE: Israel Museum announces new director. Architect Eran Neuman of Tel Aviv University will succeed James Snyder following nine-month search (Jessica Steinberg, Times of Israel).

Eran Neuman was announced Tuesday as the new director of the Israel Museum, following a nine-month search to find a successor to James Snyder.

Snyder, who will end his 20-year tenure as director, will assume the newly created role of international president of the museum, working with the network of International Friends of the Israel Museum, and building relationships with sister institutions and collectors worldwide.

Neuman, an architect and graduate of Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and UCLA, is currently director of the Azrieli School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University.

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I noted back in March that James Snyder would be stepping down as director.

A monumental ancient hall in Jerusalem

ARCHITECTURE: A Monumental Herodian (Hasmonean?) Hall in Jerusalem — Behind the Scenes of the Western Wall (Carl Rasmussen, HolyLandPhotos' Blog).

We recently took the 80 minute guided tour called “Behind the Scenes of The Western Wall.” The main reason I signed up for this tour was to revisit a Monumental Hall from the late Second Temple Period (New Testament era).

Nice photos.

"Mastery of the wheels"

JESUS MONOTHEISM BLOG: An little noticed reference to speculation on Adam and the Merkabah in Ben Sira (Crispin Fletcher-Louis).

Ben Sira’s instruction in the “rule” or “mastery” of the wheels must have something to do with a vision of humanity exalted to position equivalent to, or identical with, the position of the human-like Glory of God that Ezekiel saw. That vision, says Ben Sira 50, is available in the liturgy of the temple. It is available, above all, in the ministry of the high priest. In that ministry there is the human-like Glory of God which Ezekiel saw. He is the one who shows us what it means to be given rule over all the works of God’s hands. He is the one who has a “mastery of the wheels of the divine chariot”.

In his own way, Ben Sira was a merkabah mystic, who provided his disciples an interpretation of Ezekiel 1.

Speculative, but interesting.

Seen on Facebook.

Bond on Josephus

BIBLE ODYSSEY: Who was Josephus? (Dr. Helen K. Bond). There are many, many past PaleoJudaica posts on Flavius Josephus. Some recent ones are here, here, here, and here and links.

More on Lithodomos

VIRTUAL REALITY: Walk Through Biblical Jerusalem of 2000 Years Ago With Stunning Clarity (Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Breaking Israel News).

While many Bible-lovers through the generations have dreamed of walking through Jerusalem of old and witnessing the glory of the working Temple, no one has done it for two thousand years – until now. Using cutting-edge virtual reality (VR) technology, one archaeology scholar has recreated a detailed, historically accurate ancient world which immerses users in the Biblical experience of a lifetime.

As an undergraduate in archaeology, Simon Young wanted to experience first-hand what he was studying in textbooks. He tried constructing models and even attempted to rebuild historical scenes with 3D technology, but something was lacking. When he began his doctoral studies, he discovered Oculus Rift, a newly developed virtual reality (VR) headset. For the first time, Young was able to put himself inside ancient history. Young used the new technology to create archaeologically correct digital reconstructions of ancient cityscapes.

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This article focuses on the background of the development of the Lithodomos app. Background here. Related story (different software) here.

Roman theatre found at Hippos-Sussita

EXCAVATION: Archaeologists find vast pagan sanctuary outside Roman city in north Israel. Location of pagan cult site outside city walls of Hippos-Sussita suggests the primary purpose of the theater was to worship the gods, not entertain the masses (Ruth Schuster, Haaretz).

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Roman town of Hippos-Sussita in northern Israel have finally found the large theatre they'd been seeking for years. But based on its location outside town, they think the propylaea bathhouse-theater compound they discovered wasn't for entertainment, but for worship.

The ancients didn't have signs saying, "Line up here to adore Augustus." Building the tale of Hippos is like building a detective story, clue by clue, says Dr. Michael Eisenberg of Haifa University, head of the Hippos excavations project.

"First we found the Pan mask, in 2015," he says. "Then we found a monumental gate leading to what we surmised might be a site of worship. This year, in a single compound outside the city walls, we found a bathhouse and a theater."

The latest discoveries in Hippos-Sussita, which is within the Sussita Natural Park run by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, were unveiled Monday at the annual conference of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology at Haifa University. At the conference, Eisenberg described the latest discoveries, including two burial grounds also located outside the city proper.

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A long, detailed essay on the new discovery and on the site of Hippos-Sussita. It's a premium article, so read it soon before it goes behind the subscription wall.

The discovery of the Pan mask was noted here and of the monumental gate here. And follow the links in those posts for additional background on Hippos-Sussita.