THE HISTORY BEHIND HANUKKAH is discussed by Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg in an article in the Jerusalem Post. The focus is a debunking of the oil miracle, but it goes well beyond that.

What miracle of the oil?
By STEPHEN GABRIEL ROSENBERG

As children we all knew about the miracle of the oil that was the basis of the festival of Hanukka. When the Maccabees conquered the Temple, they found only one cruse of oil with the unbroken seal of the high priest. It was enough to fuel the holy menora for one day but by miracle it lasted eight days, and thus the Festival of Lights, the festival of Hanukka, is celebrated for eight days.
This is the story in the Talmud, based on earlier versions in Megillat Ta'anit (which records all the days when we are not to fast) and repeated in the Scroll of Antiochus, which was read in medieval times.

It has been pointed out by scholars, Orthodox and otherwise, that this account is full of difficulties. There is no other record that the oil for the menora was ever sealed by the high priest, nor that he even had such a seal. The oil was said to burn for eight days, but it would have been impossible to produce fresh pure olive oil in that time. As the temple had been polluted by the Seleucids, the menora would not have been usable and, although the claim is made that the Hasmoneans made a temporary one out of their weapons, Maccabees mentions nothing about the oil or the miracle.

Above all, who was the high priest whose seal was so important to the Hasmoneans? The story assumes that the high priest was a person of impeccable respectability, who would have upheld the laws of purity in a meticulous manner. He was the spiritual head of the Jewish people and most reliable in keeping the holy laws. That is the assumption made by the writers of the Talmud and the two other sources mentioned.

TO EXAMINE the matter further we have to consult the two Books of Maccabees. They both tell the same story but in a different way and with different details. The First Book is more down-to-earth in its account, while the Second Book takes a more religious tone seeing the hand of God behind the events.

[...]

A DEBATE ON THE DATE of the recently discovered Galilean synagogue:

Rethinking Byzantine-era Judaism
By Ran Shapira

A row of artisans and laborers - one with a saw in his hand, another with a chisel, and others with various sized hammers - are depicted on the mosaic floor recently uncovered in a Roman- or Byzantine-era synagogue at Khirbet Wadi Hamam, on Mount Nitai in the Lower Galilee. The workers appear next to a very large building, which they seem to be constructing.

Because the image appears on the synagogue floor, the researchers have assumed it depicts the construction of an important Biblical structure. Is it the Temple, Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, or some other well-known work?
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Dr. Uzi Leibner of the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology and Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies, who is leading the excavation, has no clear answer at this stage. What is clear is that the mosaic, constructed from very small stones - whose sides measure about four millimeters each - is unique. No such scenes have been found in other ancient synagogues or structures in Israel from that period. But which period exactly are we referring to - the Roman or the Byzantine? The dig at the synagogue is being carried out to answer that question.

To judge by the findings, the synagogue, which sits within the Arbel National Park, is a "Galilean synagogue" - a high-quality Romanesque structure with an elaborate facade facing toward Jerusalem and attractive stone carvings. Synagogues of this type were thought to date from the late Roman period, between the second and fourth centuries. However, in the last few years, researchers have discovered that synagogues of this type were built in the Byzantine era, too - between the fifth and sixth centuries.

The debate was sparked by the synagogue at Capernaum, a fine example of a Galilean synagogue that clearly was built in the fifth century. The findings from that synagogue and others led some researchers to consider the hypothesis that the Galilean synagogues were built mainly in the fifth and sixth centuries.

[...]

HANUKKAH begins tonight at sundown. Best wishes to those celebrating it.

A NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS FOR PALEOJUDAICA is now given above on the masthead. The old address has been dead for some time, but I've only just gotten around to setting up the new one.

SOME REAL DEAD SEA SCROLLS, in addition to the already-noted replicas, are coming to South Korea:

Oldest Bible to Be Exhibited in Seoul

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter (Korea Times)

An extraordinary exhibition is expected to unite all Christians ― Protestants and Roman Catholics alike ― this holy month.

The oldest Old Testament manuscripts found in the Dead Sea showing the history of ancient Israel at a time of transition in Judaism and the origin of Christianity are coming to Seoul to be exhibited for the first time in the nation.

Five genuine pieces and three copied pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls will be on display, along with 800 pieces of other relics at Yongsan National Memorial Museum in Seoul from Dec. 5 to June 4, 2008.

The exhibition titled ``The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Birth of Christianity'' is expected to draw much attention from not only Christians and but also Korean historians and non-Christians as it is one of the oldest anthropological and historical resources.

[...]

A CALL FOR ALEPPO CODEX FRAGMENTS:

Ben-Zvi institute calls for return of centuries-old Aleppo Codex fragments
By Anshel Pfeffer (Haaretz)

Scholars at Yad Ben-Zvi research institute in Jerusalem have called on Jews around the world who originally come from Aleppo, Syria and may possess fragments of the ancient Aleppo Codex to turn them over to Israel.

The call came yesterday at an event marking the 60th anniversary of riots against the Jews in Aleppo during which most of the codex, the authoritative copy of the Hebrew Bible written in the 10th century, was lost.

The head of Yad Ben-Zvi's Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities in the East, Prof. Yom Tov Asis, who witnessed the riots from the window of his Aleppo home when he was five years old, said yesterday: "We know for a fact that pages are being kept in various places in the world and we hope we can touch the hearts of those who are holding them."

The institute confirmed yesterday that talks are under way with former residents of Aleppo who are believed to be holding fragments of the texts, but declined to comment further so as not to jeopardize the negotiations. "This is the No. 1 asset of the Jewish people," Dr. Zvi Zameret, head of Yad Ben-Zvi said, "and I believe the Jewish people would do a great deal to have it back."

[...]

If any readers should happen to have one of these fragments or to know where one is, please get in touch with the Ben Zvi Institute.

Background here.

A CANAANITE-LANGUAGE DISCUSSION LIST is being launched by Yitzhak Sapir:

Dear all,

I would like to invite you all to a new discussion list that I created -- Canaanite! This discussion list will concentrate on the Canaanite family of languages, which for the purposes of the list includes Phoenician, Punic Neo-Punic, Ugaritic, all varieties of ancient Hebrew (even Mishnaic and Late Samaritan Hebrew), but not Modern Hebrew, and other attested 1st and 2nd millennium Canaanite dialects, including Amarna Canaanite, Ammonite, etc. I suppose that a major topic of discussion -- if the list takes off -- would be Biblical Hebrew, as would academically oriented discussions of Biblical passages. However, I really hope that similar discussions of Ugaritic or Phoenician would also take place. Thus, the recent discussions on ANE-2, where Phoenician ZYB vs Hebrew ZW or where Ugaritic vs Hebrew RP? were discussed would really have benefited from more expert input from scholars in those fields. This list would also form an important needed discussion list of one major subfamily of Northwest Semitic -- the other being covered by the Aramaic list.

So like I said, I invite everyone to join! You can do so with this link:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/canaanite/join

Also, if any scholars in relevant fields would like to take part in moderation of the list, and feel they have the time and resources to do so, please feel free to contact me privately in that regard.

Best,
Yitzhak Sapir
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canaanite

(From the Aramaic list.)

APOCRYPHA WATCH: Vivaldi's Judith opera will be playing in Australia.

Heads will roll

Vivaldi's take on the gory biblical story of Judith and Holofernes is about to be revived by a small but ambitious opera company, writes Matthew Westwood | December 01, 2007 (The Australian)

REHEARSING an opera under a flight path may not be ideal, but aiming high in difficult circumstances is the aptly named Pinchgut Opera's way.

The company is in the second week of rehearsals for its production of Antonio Vivaldi's oratorio Juditha Triumphans. On the rehearsal floor, Sally-Anne Russell as Judith is beguiling her enemy Holofernes (David Walker) with sweet and tender music. Then another passenger jet flies overhead, shaking butnot completely shattering the tense and erotic mood.

The visiting Italian conductor Attilio Cremonesi rolls his eyes. "Sometimes it's a little bit too much," he says.

Pinchgut, a part-time Sydney company, has made a virtue of creative belt-tightening. The rehearsal space in the city's inner west is a disused clothing factory that has been made available by one of the chorus members: there are, incongruously, racks of men's ties in gold, blue and maroon on the floor. The atmosphere is one of intense concentration, however, as words and music are knitted into a dramatic whole.

Juditha Triumphans is the story from biblical times of the beautiful widow Judith, who charms the Assyrian enemy Holofernes so that she can decapitate him. The source of the legend is the Book of Judith, one of the apocrypha or deuterocanonical books that are part of the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but omitted from Protestant versions.

The figure of the chaste and avenging woman inspired musicians and artists. The spectacular end to Holofernes was a scene that painters of the baroque period -- from Caravaggio to Artemisia Gentileschi, the best-known woman artist of the time -- would depict with grisly verisimilitude. Judith was the subject of more than 20 oratorios between 1621 and 1716, when Vivaldi's version was first performed in Venice.

[...]

RICHARD LEIGH, who unsuccessfully sued Dan Brown's publisher for copyright violation (not plagiarism), has died at the age of 64.

Richard Leigh

Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 30/11/2007 (The Telegraph)

Richard Leigh, who has died aged 64, was a co-author of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, one of the most controversial books of the 1980s; in 2006, with Michael Baigent, he lost his plagiarism case against the American Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, the spectacularly successful thriller which they claimed was based on their book.

Written by Leigh, Baigent and Henry Lincoln, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail claimed to have uncovered a massive conspiracy to conceal a bloodline descended from Jesus of Nazareth that has influenced the course of European history.

The protracted court case boosted sales of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, which had stalled at 3,500 copies a year in Britain, to 7,000 copies a week, a 100-fold rise. (Similarly, The Da Vinci Code returned to the bestseller lists with sales of 20,000 copies a week.) But against their royalties windfall, Leigh and Baigent - Lincoln took no part in the case - were left with a legal bill for their failed action of about £2 million.

[...]

I can't say that he made a contribution to human knowledge, but he did help keep life interesting. Peace be upon him.

APRIL DECONICK has an op-ed in the New York Times on the Gospel of Judas:

Gospel Truth

By APRIL D. DECONICK
Published: December 1, 2007

Houston

AMID much publicity last year, the National Geographic Society announced that a lost 3rd-century religious text had been found, the Gospel of Judas Iscariot. The shocker: Judas didn’t betray Jesus. Instead, Jesus asked Judas, his most trusted and beloved disciple, to hand him over to be killed. Judas’s reward? Ascent to heaven and exaltation above the other disciples.

It was a great story. Unfortunately, after re-translating the society’s transcription of the Coptic text, I have found that the actual meaning is vastly different. While National Geographic’s translation supported the provocative interpretation of Judas as a hero, a more careful reading makes clear that Judas is not only no hero, he is a demon.

[...]

Read it all.

UPDATE (7 December): More here.

PROFESSOR JOHN STRUGNELL (1930-2007)

Just got word from Eileen Schuller of the sad news that John Strugnell, one of the members of the original Dead Sea Scrolls editorial team, died on 30 November in Boston. I worked with John a good bit in the 1980s as a Harvard postgraduate working on the Scrolls. He was a giant in the field.

Requiescat in pace.

TYLER WILLIAMS needs some emergency help with this month's Biblical Studies Carnival.

MORE ON THAT WALL that has been associated with the time of Nehemiah. An AP article quotes the views of two other Israeli archaologists:

Ephraim Stern, professor emeritus of archaeology at Hebrew University and chairman of the state of Israel archaeological council, offered support for Mazar's claim.

"The material she showed me is from the Persian period," the period of Nehemiah, he said. "I can sign on the date of the material she found."

However, another scholar disputed the significance of the discovery.

Israel Finkelstein, professor of archaeology at Tel Aviv University, called the discovery "an interesting find," but said the pottery and other artifacts do not indicate that the wall was built in the time of Nehemiah. Because the debris was not connected to a floor or other structural part of the wall, the wall could have been built later, Finkelstein said.

"The wall could have been built, theoretically, in the Ottoman period," he said. "It's not later than the pottery — that's all we know."

THE FALLOUT from the Abu El-Haj tenure decision continues:

Facts in the air
By Bari Weiss (Haaretz)
Tags: land of israel, Archeology

Earlier this month, a young anthropology professor named Nadia Abu El-Haj received tenure at Barnard College, a division of Columbia University in New York. Unlike most academic promotions, which largely go unnoticed, her successful tenure bid was met with raucous jeers and cheers. Here was a victory for a "purveyor of hate," according to Paula Stern, the Barnard alumna who organized a campaign to deny El-Haj tenure. For her supporters, this marked a clear victory against the "New McCarthyism" - the alleged campaign now being waged against scholars who criticize Israel, particularly those of Arab descent.

It's all too easy to toss the news of El-Haj's tenure into the stew that is the ongoing battle over the state of Middle Eastern studies at universities today. But this is not just another round between the Zionists and the anti-Zionists. This is about the nature of truth, and the possibility of, well, facts themselves.

[...]

Let's be clear: Is it in the interest of today's Zionists to find evidence of an ancient Israelite kingdom in the Land of Israel? Of course. But recognizing such interest does not preclude the possibility of the application of fair, professional standards, and the ability of archaeologists, regardless of their ethnic group, to uphold them in good faith.

El-Haj's work does not remind readers of the need to be skeptical of the influence nationalism can have on the interpretation of archaeological facts. Instead, she has written a book condemning the notion of facts themselves. It is for this reason that those who care about the future of the veracity of facts - and not just the future of Israel - should take serious notice of her promotion.

This is a defensible reading of the book, although, largely due to Abu El-Haj's convoluted writing, as well as what I have called her argument by insinuation, I think she could also claim that this wasn't what she meant.

HANUKKAH is coming soon, and so the Jerusalem Post has a tourism-related piece on real and not-so-real archaeological connections etc. with the Maccabees:

On the Maccabee trail
By ESTI KELLER

The spectacle of two ancient armies advancing toward each other in battle is no doubt striking. And these compelling images of warriors atop elephants and steering extravagant chariots into battle are evoked at Canada Park, once the site of a Hellenistic town traditionally considered to be the New Testament settlement of Emmaus. Remnants of the town are displayed alongside plaques detailing the modest Maccabee rebel militia's most successful victory against its vast Greco-Syrian rival in 166 BCE, which was won at Emmaus.

[...]

AN ESSAY IN EL AHRAM entitled "Colonising a metaphor," by one Eric Walberg, begins with a reasonably coherent discussion of the dangers of using archaeology to prove the stories in the Bible as facts, although it draws entirely on a minimalist viewpoint which, although it is reputable, is hardly the only specialist position on the history of ancient Israel. The essay then rapidly descends into a bizarre anti-Israel conspiracy-theory rant:

The Zionists reconvened the ancient Jewish supreme court, the Sanhedrin (which condemned Jesus), in 2005 for the first time since 425 AD, and have been plotting virtually since the creation of Israel to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque and rebuild a replica of Solomon's temple there. Just recently, Israeli archaeologists "found" remains of a temple under the mosque, yet another astounding victory for this bogus science. Reconstruction plans are in place for the mythical and no doubt magnificent temple of Solomon, a temple that never existed except in the imaginations of dreamy-eyed Jewish scribes in third c BC Alexandria. Truly a breathtaking prospect, however mad. But nonetheless the logical culmination of the Zionist project, eagerly fuelled by the official Israeli archaeological establishment.

Then there's the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which sets out just such a programme in albeit an overtly grotesque form and is solemnly disowned by Zionists as a forgery, though a forgery of what is never made clear.

What is behind the Bible is not simply a record of historical facts or of even doctrines, but ultimately, the presence of God. There is much self-reference of symbols within the Bible for which the only "proof" that, say, the gospel story is true is that it fulfils the prophecies of the OT, and the only "proof" that the prophecies of the OT are true is that they are fulfilled by the gospel. This has absolutely nothing to do with digging up shards to establish some self-referential "event" in one of the Bible's many tales. There is no temple out there (or under there, where "there" happens to be the very real Al-Aqsa Mosque). The real temple exists in one's heart, though it is very unlikely that one can find it in the scheming Zionist's inflamed and secular heart. And by murdering and tormenting peaceful natives in order to scrounge some bits of a previous building and call it God's temple is unspeakable in its evil. The Naturei Karta heart has the temple in it, but for such a Jew, physical Israel itself is an abomination, and should be dismantled forthwith, or to borrow a particularly colourful metaphor of recent vintage, wiped off the map.

That's right, he equates professional archaeologists with the (self-appointed) "new Sanhedrin" and the extremists calling for the building of a third temple. He thinks there was no Solomonic Temple. He hints that maybe the Protocols of the Elders of Zion has something to it after all. And he thinks that for the true (anti-Zionist) Jew, with the President of Iran, Israel should be wiped off the map.

A Google search for Eric Walberg is illuminating. If we stick just to things written under his own name and posted on his own website, it's clear that he's a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. Al Ahram has published better.

For the evidence for the existence of the first Temple, go here.

ARAMAIC WATCH: WIKISYR -- a Wikipedia on matters Syriac ("l'encyclopédie électronique de l'Orient Syriaque").

(Via Andrew Hannouche on the Hugoye list.)

MORE ON "NEHEMIAH'S" WALL IN JERUSALEM:

Nehemiah's wall uncovered
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS (Jerusalem Post)

The remnants of a wall from the time of the prophet Nehemiah have been uncovered in an archeological excavation in Jerusalem's ancient City of David, strengthening recent claims that King David's palace has been found at the site, an Israeli archeologist said Wednesday.

Not sure I follow the logic of that.

The section of the 2,500-year-old Nehemiah wall, located just outside the Dung Gate and the Old City walls facing the Mount of Olives, was dated by pottery found during a recent dig at the site, said Hebrew University archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar.

[...]

(Via Joseph I Lauer's list.)

Tomorrow is St. Andrew's Day and our autumn graduation ceremonies, and I'm swamped today clearing space for tomorrow. Blogging will be a low priority.

UPDATE (1 December): More here.

VARIOUS ENOCHIC APOCRYPHA seem to be alluded to in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier:

JESS NEVINS' "BLACK DOSSIER" ANNOTATIONS
by Andy Khouri, Staff Writer [Comic Book Resources]
Posted: November 15, 2007 — More From This Author

The long awaited "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier" is on sale now from Wildstorm, and that means Jess Nevins has been busy. Known in far corners of the Internet for his exhaustive annotations on some of American comics' greatest works, Nevins is a master who has been acknowledged by "League" creators Kevin O'Neil and Alan Moore, who've provided him with their own commentaries and remarks about his hugely impressive work.

Nevins has already completed his annotations for "Black Dossier," and CBR News is proud to re-publish his startlingly prodigious work here for our readers. To discuss Nevins' annotations and "Black Dossier" with fellow readers, don't forget to stop by CBR's Wildstorm forum.

[...]

The Book of Enoch is not, I believe, a reference to the various books which are falsely-attributed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah, but rather to the book in which Dr. John Dee and his assistant Edward Kelley took dictation of the angelical language from a set of angels.
Philp & Emily Graves write, "I think the reference to the Book of Enoch is possibly a double-allusion. Certainly the apocryphal Enoch talks of various Angelic beings (and is the reference for the Nephilim and Lilim, which are the offspring referenced on p26). Likely, therefore that Suttle (Dee) and Face (Kelley) communicate with the creatures from Apocryphal Enoch, and would then use such contact to write a LoEG version of Dee's Enoch."
Greg Strohecker writes,

I think Moore is referencing the actual book "1 Enoch" from the pseudepigrapha, as well as the writings of John Dee and Edward Kelly. In 1 Enoch, there is a section where it describes how some of the "Watchers", who were fallen angels, took human wives and had children with them. Their descendents were a race of giants called the Nephillim (not unlike the Titans of Greek Mythology). Here's the link and quote from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_enoch#The_Book_of_the_Watchers . "The first section of the book depicts the interaction of the fallen angels with mankind; Sêmîazâz compels the other 199 fallen angels to take human wives to have children." In the magical Enochian tradition “aethyrs” are various planes or worlds which surround and mingle with our own.

[...]

The mythos is nothing if not eclectic, with (to give a random smattering) references to Greek, Greco-Assyrian, and Egyptian mythology, Arthurian legends, and the Cthulu and Conan stories.

"PICTURING JERUSALEM" in the 1800s:

Nineteenth Century Photographs Of Israel At Yeshiva Museum
Nov 27th, 2007 (Antiques and the Arts Online, CT)

Yeshiva University Museum will present the first exhibition of Nineteenth Century photographs of Israel by James Graham and Mendel Diness. On view December 4–April 6, "Picturing Jerusalem" includes 70 rare vintage prints of the Holy Land by Diness and his teacher Graham along with a selection of original artifacts used by the photographers.

Organized by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, and featuring some of the earliest known images of Jerusalem, the exhibition is the result of discovery at a garage sale in St Paul, Minn., in 1989, when an American photographer came across some dusty boxes of glass plate negatives, silver prints, notebooks and other photographic material. This will be the first known exhibition of James Graham's work since an 1862 exhibition in London. Yeshiva University Museum provides the exhibition's premiere venue on an international exhibition tour. The tour's final stop will be the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

[...]

Two images of the Temple Mount from the 1850s appear in the article.