Ezekiel's Merkavah anniversary 2021

TODAY IS THE 5TH OF TAMUZ, the anniversary of Ezekiel's Merkavah Vision: Tuesday, 5 Tammuz, 5781 June 15, 2021.

Jewish History
Ezekiel's Vision of the "Chariot" (429 BCE)
On the 5th of Tammuz of the year 3332 from creation (429 BCE), Ezekiel, among the only prophets to prophesy outside of the Holy Land, beheld a vision of the Divine "Chariot" representing the spiritual infrastructure of creation.

I give Chabad credit for noticing the date. It isn't receiving much attention elsewhere. They are using a rabbinic chronology that differs from the scholarly date by a good bit. The vision took place in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin (Ezekiel 1:2), which according to the scholarly chronology was 593 BCE.

Ezekiel's wild vision of heaven and its denizens is recorded in chapter 1 of his book. A follow-up vision from a year later (September 592, Ezek 8:1) is recorded in chapter 10. This vision is the foundation for Western mysticism. I have discussed it in detail here with links. Additional relevant post are here, here, and here. The vision also acquired some connections with the Festival of Shavuot. See here and here.

And here's something I've been saving up. This seems like a good time to post it. Cross-file under Just For Fun: The secret Jewish history of UFOs (and why Ezekiel might have had a close encounter) (Seth Rogovoy, The Forward).

Ezekiel’s vision of a merkavah, or chariot, the foundation of a whole school of kabbalistic thought called Merkavah mysticism, is perhaps the best-known Bible story that can be read as an account of a close encounter.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Hebrew Bible job at the Harvard Divinity School

RECEIVED FROM THE HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL:

HARVARD DIVINITY SCHOOL
May 2021
Position in Hebrew Bible

Harvard University’s Faculty of Divinity seeks to make a full-time, tenure-track appointment in the field of Hebrew Bible. The search is open to a variety of approaches and to any area of specialization within the field, understood as the critical study of the Hebrew Bible within the broader context of the history, literature, and religious thought of ancient Israel and Second Temple Judaism. The successful candidate should be proficient in the appropriate languages and demonstrate promise of excellence in research and teaching in the field of Hebrew Bible.

The successful candidate will work closely with students in the Divinity School’s Masters programs and the doctoral program in the Committee on the Study of Religion in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. They will also likely teach and advise undergraduates in the College, as well as graduate students in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and related departments and programs in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Applicants should also be able to contribute to the Divinity School’s degree programs, including its multi-religious Master of Divinity program. We therefore seek a candidate who is attentive to the interpretation of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh, Old Testament) within later communities of reception, and who is familiar with forms of analysis that address race, gender, and social location.

If travel and on-campus visits during the next academic year prove difficult or even impossible, the Faculty of Divinity intends to proceed with online interviews and visits.

Applications should be made online at: http://academicpositions.harvard.edu. The application includes a CV, a cover letter, and the names of three references whom the School will contact. Thereafter it will be the responsibility of the candidates to ensure that three references have been uploaded by the referees to their applications. Review of applications will begin on September 1, 2021, although applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

Letters of nomination are also welcome and should be sent to Dean David N. Hempton at hdsdeansoffice@hds.harvard.edu. Applicants should address any questions regarding the position itself or the online application system to the HDS Faculty Search Office at hebrewbiblesearch@hds.harvard.edu.

HDS is an equal opportunity, affirmative-action employer, and encourages applications and nominations of women and/or ethnic minority candidates, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, pregnancy and pregnancy related conditions, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UPDATE: Part of the announcement was cut off in the original posting. Now corrected!

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The lost Roman altar on Mount Gerizim

THE AWOL BLOG: Open Access Articles in the Journal of Roman Archaeology. One article is of particular interest:

A Roman altar on Mount Gerizim: Rediscovering a civic icon on tetradrachms of Neapolis (Samaria) (Andreas J. M. Kropp)

Abstract

This article examines the iconography of a type of Caracalla tetradrachm that has been newly attributed to Neapolis in Roman Palestine and whose reverse depicts a monumental altar decorated with statues of Tyche, Ephesian Artemis, and Kore Persephone. The study contextualizes these deities in the religious life of Neapolis and identifies the monument as an altar often depicted as a miniscule element in panoramic views of Mount Gerizim on the bronze coins of Neapolis. The tetradrachms provide, for the first time, a close-up view of this long-lost civic monument.

We hear a lot about the altar on Mount Ebal (more recently, here and links) and the Samaritan Temple on Mount Gerizim. It seems there was a Roman altar on Mount Gerizim too. I had not heard of it before.

Cross-file under Numismatics.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Willi, Roman Writing Equipment

THE ETC BLOG: Roman Writing Equipment (Peter M. Head). A new e-book by Anna Willi from The LatinNow Project. Good to know.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

More on that evil-eye amulet

NAUGHTY APOTROPAIC AMULET: New Discovery Highlights How Jews and Christians Were Once Naughty with Magic (Candida Moss, Daily Beast/Yahoo News).

While the amulet was certainly used to protect the wearer from hostile supernatural forces, and for most people this will be news, the IAA’s framing of the discovery as novel is overstated. The collection of images shown attacking the evil eye on the amulet is remarkably similar to a mosaic from ancient Antioch.

I didn't know that. The link in the quote leads to a post at Dr. Bond's blog. You can see an image of the "House of the Evil Eye" mosaic there.

Professor Moss also discusses the challenges for establishing the provenance of the object.

Background here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Starts today! Caesarea Maritima International Conference

ONLINE CONFERENCE: Caesarea Maritima International Conference (Charles Savelle, The BibleExposition Blog). It takes place on 13-15 June and begins in just a few hours. Follow the link for the program and the viewing link.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Who really destroyed the first Temple?

HERE'S SOMETHING DIFFERENT: Who Really Destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem? Renowned biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman suggests we got it wrong all along: that the real culprits weren’t the Babylonians (Elon Gilad, Haaretz).

... This, says renowned biblical scholar Richard Elliott Friedman, a professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia and author of the best-selling book “Who Wrote the Bible?” may have been a case of mistaken identity. The Babylonians may have destroyed Judah and kicked out its populace, but they did not destroy the temple. The culprits were the Edomites, a small kingdom in the southern Transjordan, he posits.

Just when you think there is something in biblical studies that everyone agrees on ...

I am skeptical about this one. But you decide. You can read the underlying article by Professor Friedman here. Link courtesy of Joseph Lauer.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Just like Jonah?

IT HAPPENS: Humpback whale swallows diver whole, then spits him out. 56-year-old Michael Packard lives to tell tale after spending 30 to 40 seconds inside huge marine mammal (Times of Israel/AP). Granted, Jonah was in the big fish for three days, but 30 seconds of that would feel like three days. I bet he was praying like Jonah was too. I would be praying.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Mermelstein, Power and Emotion in Ancient Judaism (CUP)

NEW BOOK FROM CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS:

Power and Emotion in Ancient Judaism
Community and Identity in Formation

AUTHOR: Ari Mermelstein, Yeshiva University, New York
DATE PUBLISHED: June 2021
AVAILABILITY: This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
FORMAT: Adobe eBook Reader
ISBN: 9781108934633

$ 80.00 USD Adobe eBook Reader

Description

In this book, Ari Mermelstein examines the mutually-reinforcing relationship between power and emotion in ancient Judaism. Ancient Jewish writers in both Palestine and the diaspora contended that Jewish identity entails not simply allegiance to God and performance of the commandments but also the acquisition of specific emotional norms. These rules regarding feeling were both shaped by and responses to networks of power - God, the foreign empire, and other groups of Jews - which threatened Jews' sense of agency. According to these writers, emotional communities that felt Jewish would succeed in neutralizing the power wielded over them by others and, depending on the circumstances, restore their power to acculturate, maintain their Jewish identity, and achieve redemption. An important contribution to the history of emotions, this book argues that power relations are the basis for historical changes in emotion discourse.

• Theorizes the relationship between power, emotion, and identity
• Analyses a broad array of ancient Jewish sources to demonstrate the importance of this relationship
• Provides an account of Jewish identity which includes not just practice and belief but also emotion

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Rashi and Charlemagne

PROF. RABBI ROBERT HARRIS: On the Origins of Rashi's Peshat Commentary (TheTorah.com).

The shift in biblical exegesis from homiletic readings to literary, contextual commentaries has its roots in Charlemagne's 9th century Carolingian Revolution. It comes to the fore only in the 11th century with Rashi's quasi-peshat commentary, soon followed by the peshat approach of R. Joseph Kara and Rashbam.

The section on the reign of Charlemagne is also of interest. By one reckoning, his reign marks the end of late antiquty. His patronage of scribal scholarship helped to preserve much ancient literature that otherwise might have been lost.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Review of A catalogue of Greek manuscripts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

BRYN MAYR CLASSICAL REVIEW: A catalogue of Greek manuscripts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Nadezhda Kavrus-Hoffmann, Pablo Alvarez, A catalogue of Greek manuscripts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021. Pp. xxxiii, 321. ISBN 9780472131891 $99.00.

Review by
Georgi Parpulov, University of Binghamton. g.r.parpulov@bham.ac.uk

This looks like a useful resource. It seems to have a good online counterpart as well.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Fertility charms or erotica?

ICONOGRAPHY: Birth Rites in Canaan: The Enigma of the Nude Female Figurines. Canaanite homes in the Bronze Age had nude female figurines but none showing birth. Other areas did have birth figurines. What could this mean? (Haaretz, Ruth Schuster).

One such figurine was found in Israel this March.

For some thoughts on fertility and infertility in the Bible, see here.

For more on that perplexing drawing from Kultillet Ajrud, see here and links and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Miqra’ot Gedolot Torah translation (JPS)

FROM THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY:

The Commentators' Bible, 5-volume set The Rubin JPS Miqra'ot Gedolot

Edited, translated, and annotated by Michael Carasik

Commentators' Bible Series 1798 pages

Set August 2018
978-0-8276-1351-5
$360.00

About the Book

The biblical commentaries known as Miqra’ot Gedolot have inspired and educated generations of Hebrew readers. Now, with the five volumes of the acclaimed English edition of Miqra’ot Gedolot—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy—the voices of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Nachmanides, Rashbam, Abarbanel, Kimhi, and other medieval Bible commentators come alive, speaking in a contemporary English translation annotated and explicated for lay readers.

Each page in this five-volume series contains the biblical text in Hebrew surrounded by both the 1917 and 1985 JPS translations, and by new contemporary English translations of the major commentators. The books also include an introduction, a glossary of terms, a list of names used in the text, notes on source texts, a special topics list, and resources for further study.

The large-format volumes are beautifully designed for easy navigation among the many elements on each page, including explanatory notes and selected additional comments from the works of Bekhor Shor, Sforno, Gersonides, and Hizkuni, among others.

I noted the inception of this project in 2006 and the publication of a volume in 2009. The Torah volumes are now finished. I don't know if there are plans for more.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Butts & Young (eds.), Syriac Christian Culture (CUAP)

NEW BOOK FROM THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS:

Syriac Christian Culture: Beginnings to Renaissance Hardcover – March 5, 2021
by Aaron Michael Butts (Editor), Robin Darling Young (Editor)

Hardcover
from $76.35

Syriac Christianity developed in the first centuries CE in the Middle East, where it continued to flourish throughout Late Antiquity and the Medieval period, while also spreading widely, as far as India and China. Today, Syriac Christians are found in the Middle East, in India, as well in diasporas scattered across the globe. Over this extended time period and across this vast geographic expanse, Syriac Christians have built impressive churches and monasteries, crafted fine pieces of art, and written and transmitted a sizable body of literature. Though often overlooked, neglected, and even persecuted, Syriac Christianity has been – and continues to be – an important part of the humanistic heritage of the last two millennia.

The present volume brings together fourteen studies that offer fresh perspectives on Syriac Christianity, especially its literary texts and authors. The timeframes of the individual studies span from the second-century Syriac translation of the Hebrew Bible up to the thirteenth century with the end of the Syriac Renaissance. Several studies analyze key authors from Late Antiquity, such as Aphrahat, Ephrem, Narsai, and Jacob of Serugh. Others investigate translations into Syriac, both from Hebrew and from Greek, while still others examine hagiography, especially its formation and transmission. Reflecting a growing trend in the field, the volume also devotes significant attention to the Medieval period, during which Syriac Christians lived under Islamic rule. The studies in the volume are united in their quest to explore the richness, diversity, and vibrance of Syriac Christianity.

Cross-file under Syriac Watch.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Photo Companion to the Bible: 2 Samuel

THE HOLY LAND PHOTOS' BLOG: A Photo Resource for 2 Samuel (Carl Rasmussen). That resource has been published by Todd Bolen, whom we all know well from the Bible Places Blog.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Aramaic on BBC Radio

ARAMAIC WATCH: Aramaic: an imperial language without an empire (The Forum, BBC Radio).

A history of a language that was once spoken from Egypt to Afghanistan and played an important role in the creation of great religious writings.

A 40-minute episode that is being broadcasted this week. You can listen to the recording at the link, at least if you are in the UK. I'm not sure about elsewhere.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Archaeology (July/August 2021)

ARCHAEOLOGY MAGAZINE has a new issue out (July/August 2021). Access is by paid subscription, but parts of the issue are open access. The two following are of interest:

The Ugarit Archives. Thousands of cuneiform tablets written in a distinctive script tell the dramatic story of a Bronze Age merchant city in Syria (Roger Atwood). Note also the sidebars: Women in Ugarit and A Poem for Ugarit.

A Challenging World (Jarrett A. Lobell). That "world" is the cliff caves around Qumran, where archaeologists recently discovered more scroll fragments and other artifacts (in the "Cave of Horror"). See here and here.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

Ancient anchor found at Tel Dor

BUILT TO LAST: Ancient stone anchor used for 2,000 years found on Israel’s northern coast. Parks authority says the artifact, uncovered in an underwater dig at Tel Dor, was first used in the Bronze Age (Times of Israel).

The anchor, which was found in an underwater dig at the Tel Dor archaeological site in northern Israel, was first used in the Bronze Age some 3,300 years ago and remained in use during the Byzantine period until roughly 500 CE, according to the parks authority.

Ancient anchors turn up now and then. A Roman-era wooden anchor was found in the Dead Sea in 2004. See here and here. Another (see here and here) was reported in 2005. Also in 2004, a stone anchor, attached to ship wreckage dated to the ninth century BCE, was found at Hof Dor. In 2011, three late antique iron anchors were recovered at Bat Yam beach.

Cross-file under marine (maritime, underwater) archaeology.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

The (Church Slavonic) Writing on the Wall

CHURCH SLAVONIC WATCH: The Walls Speak: Ancient Graffiti Deciphered In Kyiv Cathedral. After 15 years of work, Ukrainian researchers have published a study of thousands of messages -- some dating back nearly 1,000 years -- scratched onto the walls of Kyiv’s St. Sophia Cathedral (Radio Free Europe, Ukraine). The cited graffiti range from the pious to the personal to the whimsical. The oldest one is a drawing of a duck, signed by "Petro" in 1065.

It's always nice to have graffiti in an old language alongside the literary texts. Graffiti give us a better idea of what regular people were thinking and talking about.

For PaleoJudaica posts on (Old) Church Slavonic, with explanation of why we're interested, see here and links.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.

BAS Publication Awards 2021

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: BAS Publication Awards – Call for Entries. Nominations close on June 15, 2021—just 5 days left!

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.