MORE DELAY in the court case over the land dispute involving the Syriac Mor Gabriel Monastery in Turkey:

Turkey Delays Assyrian Monastery Trial For the Third Time
Posted GMT 2-17-2009 2:22:4

(AINA) -- For the third time Turkey has rescheduled the hearing for the different cases regarding the land dispute of St. Gabriel Monastery. The new hearing is set for March 4. International attention increased after the state escalated the issue (AINA 2-6-2009). The hearing on February 11 was supposed to address various issues including the issue of a wall the monastery built and whether the 270 hectares that were confiscated by the government belong to the monastery. Also the new claims raised in January by the Treasury to confiscate additional 130 hectares were planned to be adjudicated.

[...]

Background here.

MORE ARTICLES have been posted on the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures website:

Dear all,

I am glad to announce that the Journal of Hebrew Scriptures (http://www.jhsonline.org) has recently published a set of articles on Jonah. The editor of the set is Philippe Guillaume

New Articles:
* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 3 (2009)
Philippe Guillaume, “Arguing under the Qiqayon: An Introduction to a Set of Articles on Jonah.”
Abstract
As per title, an introduction to the following six articles that deal with the Book of Jonah. All but the final essay in the series reflect issues hotly debated at the conference of the European Association of Biblical Studies at Lisbon in August 2008. The final essay (article 9 in this volume of JHS) is based on a paper presented at the Society of Biblical Literature conference at Boston in November 2008.

To access this article directly please go to http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_105.pdf

* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 4 (2009)
Thomas M. Bolin, “Eternal Delight and Deliciousness: The Book of Jonah After Ten Years.”
Abstract
The first part of this article reviews significant scholarly contributions on the Book of Jonah for the last ten years. Looking specifically at the work of Serge Frolov, Yvonne Sherwood, Ehud Ben Zvi, Lowell Handy and T.A. Perry demonstrates that exegesis of Jonah has entered a very fruitful period, free of the anti-Jewish biases characteristic of earlier readings and armed with more information about post-exilic Judah than ever before. Next, the article looks at God’s reference to the animals in Jon 4:11 and reads it as an expression of God’s desire for the newly submissive Ninevites to offer sacrifice to him, as the sailors do in 1:16 and Jonah vows in 2:10. Thus God is portrayed, like many ancient Near Eastern potentates, as extending his rule over peoples and exacting tribute.

To access this article directly please go to http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_106.pdf

* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 5 (2009)
Ehud Ben Zvi, “Jonah 4:11 and the Metaprophetic Character of the Book of Jonah 9.”
Abstract
The present study reaffirms the double ending, and above all, double reading of the book of Jonah. This double reading contributed much to the metaprophetic character of the book of Jonah, by which I mean, a book that—within the discourse of the relevant historical literati—provided a key for, and reflected an understanding of prophetic literature.

To access this article directly please go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_107.pdf

* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 6 (2009)
Philippe Guillaume, “Rhetorical Reading Redundant: A Response to Ehud Ben Zvi.”
Abstract
Ehud Ben Zvi's claim, in the preceding article, that the final verse of Jonah must be read both as a question and an affirmation is welcomed. Yet, it is argued here that reading a rhetorical question contributes little to the metaprophetic character of Jonah. In fact, a final rhetorical question destroys the open-endedness of the book while YHWH's unambiguous affirmation that he will show no pity for Nineveh faces readers with a deeper meaning of prophecy. Like the Elohim in chapter 3, Jonah in chapter 4 is invited to come out of the circle of anger. Destructions and reversals of fortune occur, but humans are not privy to the divine council.

To access this article directly please go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_108.pdf


* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 7 (2009)

Jakob Wöhrle, “A Prophetic Reflection on Divine Forgiveness: The Integration of the Book of Jonah into the Book of the Twelve.”

Abstract

It has often been recognized that the book of Jonah as well as several other passages in the Book of the Twelve are influenced by the so called "grace formula" ("Gnadenformel") from Exod 34:6-7 (Joel 2:12-14; Jon 3:9; 4:2; Mic 7:18-20; Nah 1:2b, 3a; Mal 1:9a). But up to now the redactional relationship of these passages and their intention in the context of the book of the Twelve have only been defined inadequately. The article shows that the redaction responsible for the final redactional stage of the book of Jonah and for the integration of this book into the book of the Twelve, is also responsible for Joel 2:12-14; Mic 7:18-20; Nah 1:2b, 3a; Mal 1:9a. Because of this redaction the Book of the Twelve can be read as a reflection on the conditions, the theological reasons and the limits of divine forgiveness.

To access this article directly please go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_109.pdf

* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 8 (2009)

Klaas Spronk, “Jonah, Nahum, and the Book of the Twelve: A Response to Jakob Wöhrle.”

Abstract

In discussion with Wöhrle's analysis in the previous article of this set, it is maintained that both the book of Jonah and the book of Nahum should be read as a unit. The book of Jonah was probably written as a reaction to the negative view on foreign peoples found in Joel 4:2. The writer of the book of Jonah builds his case upon the authoritative text from Exodus 34. Both in terms of form and content, he is also inspired by the book of Nahum. Therefore, the repeated use of Exodus 34:6-7 in these texts needs not be ascribed to a separate layer, but is probably part of a process of one book reacting to the other.

To access this article directly please go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_110.pdf

* Journal of Hebrew Scriptures - Volume 9: Article 9 (2009)

Daniel Timmer, “The Intertextual Israelite Jonah Face À L’empire:
The Post-Colonial Significance of The Book’s Cotexts and Purported Neo-Assyrian Context.”

Abstract

Jonah's use of various antecedent HB texts and its purported Neo-Assyrian setting are prominent hermeneutical signposts that are integral to the book. Until now, however, the former question has not received sustained attention and the latter has been obscured by disagreement over the book's historical veracity. This paper broadens the scope of postcolonialist discussion by considering empire through the Israelite perspective that Jonah affords and through the Neo-Assyrian literature dealing with its conquest of nation-states in the first half of the first millennium BCE. Special attention is given to how Jonah the prophet and Jonah the book attribute different identities to the different groups that appear in the book and to the book's intertextual connections to other parts of the Hebrew Bible. The paper closes by reflecting on ways that different means of identification entail different responses to power.

To access this article directly please go to
http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/Articles/article_111.pdf

---------------

New Reviews:

Ernst Axel Knauf, Josua (Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 2008).Reviewed by Philippe Guillaume.

To access JHS reviews please go to

http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/JHS/reviews/reviews_vol.html
----------------------

Please share your comments about the new beta-hypertext version of all the articles and reviews published in the journal from volume 1 to volume 7 (2007) if you find mistakes please contact Karl Anvik at kanvik@ualberta.ca (with a cc to me).


The printed publication of volume 7 (2007) of the Journal by Gorgias Press has been published. For more information please go to http://www.gorgiaspress.com/bookshop/p-56292-ben-zvi-ehud-perspectives-on-hebrew-scriptures-iv.aspx
At that page you will find links to the printed versions of vols 1-6 of the Journal.

For information about the Logos version of the Journal (vols. 1-7), please go to http://www.logos.com/products/details/4336

Regards,

Ehud Ben Zvi
History and Classics
University of Alberta
2-28 HM Tory Building
Edmonton AB Canada T6G 2H4

MORE SBL INFO: My colleague Professor Kristin De Troyer sends the programs for the sessions on the Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls at the international meeting this summer:

The Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls
International Meeting of the SBL, Rome, June 30th-July 4th 2009
Organized by Armin Lange (University of Vienna) and Kristin De Troyer (University of St. Andrews)

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Textual History of the Hebrew Bible
Talks
Emanuel Tov (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Textual History of the Masoretic Text
Kristin De Troyer (University of St. Andrews): Looking at Bathsheba with Text Critial Eyes
Julio Trebolle Barrera (Universidad Complutense de Madrid): The History of the Biblical Text: Implications for Other Fields of Study
Chelica Hiltunen (University of Oxford), An Examination of the Supposed pre-Samaritan Texts from Qumran
Panel discussion
Russ Fuller (University of San Diego)
Arie van der Kooij (Leiden University)
Eugene Ulrich (University of Notre Dame)

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Understanding of Biblical Books I
Talks
Steven Fassberg (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Language of Jewish Scriptures
Michaela Bauks (University of Koblenz-Landau): Knowledge, Nakedness, Shame, and Eternal Life in the Primeval History of the Hebrew Bible and in Selected Texts from the Qumran Library
Karin Finsterbusch (University of Koblenz-Landau): The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Deutoronomistic School
Eckart Otto (Ludwig-Maximilians Universität Munich): Did the Temple Scroll Substitute or Supplement the Torah?
Esther Chazon (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Looking Back: What the Dead Sea Scrolls can Teach us about Biblical Prayer
Mika Pajunen (University of Helsinki): The Textual Connection between 4Q380 Fragment 1 and Psalm 106

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Understanding of Biblical Books II
Talks
Armin Lange (University of Vienna): “When You Die Your Remembrance Will Flower Forever” (4Q416 2 iii 7): Qohelet 1:11 in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
John Collins (Yale University): The Book Daniel in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls, commited
Bennie H. Reynolds (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill): Symbolic and Non-Symbolic Visions of the Book of Daniel in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Panel discussion
Ida Fröhlich (Pazmany Petr University)
Thomas Römer (University of Lausanne)
Raija Sollamo (University of Helsinki)

Ancient Interpretations of Jewish Scriptures in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Talks
Michael Segal (Hebrew University of Jerusalem): Forms and Techniques in Rewritten Biblical Texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls
Matthias Weigold (University of Vienna): Jewish Commentaries in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Sarah Pearce (University of Southampton): The Interpretation of Jewish Scripture in Philo and the Dead Sea Scrolls: a Comparative Perspective
Sarianna Metso (University of Toronto), The Reception of Leviticus in the Dead Sea Scrolls
Panel discussion
Esther Eshel (Bar Ilan University)
Florentino Garcia Martinez (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)
Zlatko Plese (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

Living Jewish Law in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Talks
Larry Schiffman (New York University): The Temple Scroll and the Torah
Vered Noam (Tel Aviv University): Expounding the Torah in the DSS and Rabbinic Literature
Christof Batsch (Séminaire Qoumrân de Paris et Université Lille 3): Legal vocabulary at Qumran
Marcus Tso (Carey Theological College), The Use of Scriptural Traditions at Qumran for the Construction
Panel discussion
Philip Alexander (University of Manchester)
Lutz Doering (King's College - Lon)
Alexander Samely (University of Manchester)

Ancient Jewish History in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Talks
Hanan Eshel (Bar Ilan University), New Discoveries on the Bar Kokhba Revolt from Refuge Caves in the Judean Desert
Jutta Jokiranta (University of Helsinki), The Sociology of Jewish Life in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Cecilia Wassen (Uppsala University), The Dead Sea Scrolls on Jewish Women
Panel discussion
Lester Grabbe (University of Hull)
Tal Ilan (Freie Universität Berlin)
Jodi Magness (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Ancient Judaism
Talks
Henryk Drawnel (The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin), The Initial Narrative of the Visions of Amram and its Literary Characteristics
Paul Heger (University of Toronto), 1 Enoch – Complementary of Alternative to Mosaic Torah?
Hanna Tervanotko (University of Helsinki / University of Vienna), ”You Shall See” Rebecca’s Farewell Address in 4Q364 3 II, 1-6
Hanne von Weissenberg (University of Helsinki), The Book of the Twelve at Qumran and the Canonical Process

There's more information on the SBL international meeting here.

MORE OF THE HELIODORUS INSCRIPTION has been recovered. From the IAA press release:

New Inscriptions found at Beit Guvrin- Maresha National Park Reveal more information

New Inscriptions found at Beit Guvrin- Maresha National Park
Reveal more information on a Royal Stele at the Israel Museum
The inscriptions, found by Dr. Ian Stern of "Archeological Seminars" at an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation, relates to the Maccabean revolt

A royal Greek inscription- "The Heliodoros stele"- consisting of 23 lines inscribed on limestone, was exhibited at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, two years ago, on extended loan from Michael and Judy Steinhardt, New York. It is considered one of the most important ancient inscriptions found in Israel. Recently, three smaller fragments of a Greek inscription were found at an Israel Antiquities Authority excavation at Maresha, located inside the National Park of Beit Guvrin, under the supervision of Dr. Ian Stern and Bernie Alpert. Dr. Dov Gera, who studied the inscriptions shown to him by Dr. Stern, determined that the fragments were actually the lower portion of "The Heliodoros stele". This discovery confirmed the assumption that the stele originally stood in one of the temples in Maresha- Beit Guvrin National Park today. The new fragments were discovered in a subterranean complex by participants in the Archaeological Seminars Institute's "Dig for a Day" program.

[...]

The article also has a couple of good downloadable photos (zip file).

Background here.

(Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)

THE SBL HELLENISTIC JUDAISM SECTION has a call for papers for the November 2009 meeting and Annette Reed has e-mailed to ask colleagues to alert anyone who might be interested in presenting. Deadline for submission on the Society of Biblical Literature website is 28 February. Consider yourselves alerted!

SBL Hellenistic Judaism
Call for Papers, 2009 SBL Annual Meeting

This year, the Hellenistic Judaism Section will be dedicating 1-2 sessions to the late antique, medieval, and modern reception-histories of Hellenistic Judaism. We invite proposals for papers that speak to the reception of the Hellenistic Jewish figures, ideas, narratives, and texts -- as well as to the prehistory and formation of the very notion of "Hellenistic Judaism." We especially encourage submissions that speak to the appropriation and redeployment of these materials for the articulation of cultural and religious identities, past and present. Through a focus on reception, we hope to explore the afterlives of these materials in historiography, ethnography, translation, etc. Papers on other topics related to Hellenistic Judaism are also welcome.

ARE DEMON SIGHTINGS the result of eye disease or artificially induced equivalents? At Omphalos, Aharon Varady asks,

Could Raba’s magic recipe for perceiving demons by placing ash in one’s eye create a condition like Charles Bonnet Syndrome? Could Rav Huna’s 10:1 ratio of ubiquitous albeit invisible demons indicate a left-brained dominance when perceiving/hallucinating these creatures? Curious minds wish to know the answer to these arcane questions.

Doesn't sound terribly compelling to me - I'm not sure why ashes in the eye would simulate macular degeneration - but I suppose it's possible. Anyhow, an interesting and entertaining post.

(Via Boing Boing as pointed out to me by Michael Lyons.)

CELEBRATIONS ARE PLANNED to mark the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible:

By his Maiesties speciall commandement
There will be hosannas and great rejoicing for the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible

Michael Binyon (Times of London)

For almost 400 years its words have rung out across pulpits the length and breadth of the country. Its phrases have been on the lips of millions, its cadences the music of English literature. Few translations have been as felicitous, few books as influential.

The Authorised Version of the Bible, known also in America as the King James Version, is arguably one of the greatest works ever published in this country. And a committee has just been set up to ensure that its quatercentenary in 2011 is celebrated with rejoicing, gusto and a host of national commemorations.

[...]

MORE ON THE DEAD SEA SCROLL FRAGMENTS for sale in at a antiquarian book fair in San Francisco (San Francisco Chronicle):

George Houle, a seller from Los Angeles who is offering the Disney will and the Hepburn passport, said there's still a strong market - especially for high-end items. (Several booths were selling items for well under $100.)

That includes veteran bookseller Michael R. Thompson's three postage stamp-size pieces of the Dead Sea Scrolls, one of the higher-priced items at the fair, ranging from $135,000 to $275,000. The dark and leathery fragments, which date from between 50 B.C. and A.D. 68, were found in a cave on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea in the Middle East. Encased in coaster-size pieces of glass, they're shaped like the state of Missouri, a rooster and a Chicken McNugget.

When asked to see the pieces, Thompson reveals that he's been holding the coveted religious documents in his jacket pocket.

"You put it in a big fancy case, and it pretty much screams out that 'This is worth something,' " said Thompson, figuring the items would be harder to steal when they're close to his chest.

Background here. This is the first I've heard of a third fragment. I have been assured that the two earlier mentioned fragments are being studied by scholars and will be published. I can't say any more right now.

THE MISSING BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL XXXVII has been posted by N. T. Wrong on Wrong's retired blog. Wrong has also published a Biblioblog Top 50 for January. Like Mark Goodacre I have no idea why PaleoJudaica is missing when blogs that post considerably less frequently and sometimes less on topic are listed. How about it, N. T.?

UPDATE (15 February): Now the blog is blocked off with password protection. Odd.

A SYMPOSIUM on Archaeology, Politics, and the Media is being held at Duke University in April.

DURA-EUROPOS is best known to historians as the site of an ancient Syrian synagogue with marvelous frescoes of biblical episodes. But it's been in the news recently because excavators have found evidence in it of early chemical warfare:

Why Chemical Warfare Is Ancient History

By Ishaan Tharoor Friday, Feb. 13, 2009 (Time Magazine)

The prospect of chemical and biological warfare in this age of anthrax scares and WMD can feel — like the threat of nuclear Armageddon before it — like a uniquely modern terror. But a British archaeologist's recent find offers a reminder that chemical weapons are nothing new — in fact, they are nearly 2,000 years old. Simon James, a researcher at the University of Leicester in the U.K., claims to have found the first physical evidence of chemical weaponry, dating from a battle fought in A.D. 256 at an ancient Roman fortress. James concluded that 20 Roman soldiers unearthed beneath the town's ramparts did not die of war wounds, as previous archaeologists had assumed, but from poison gas.

[...]

BOOK REVIEW by the Archbishop of Caterbury in the Financial Times:

Mother of God

Review by Rowan Williams

Published: February 13 2009 17:17 | Last updated: February 13 2009 17:17

Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary
By Miri Rubin
Penguin £30, 400 pages
FT Bookshop price: £24

[...]

The strength of this book by Miri Rubin, one of the most interesting and original of British medieval historians, is that it charts the ways in which Mary is “used to think with”. Perhaps its most dismaying pages are those that deal with how Mary’s identity became a way of framing Jewish-Christian debate. Mary is unmistakeably Jewish – indeed, for some Christians, archetypally Jewish; she is the exemplary Jewish person, the one who does what God meant the Jewish people to do. It makes sense that she is specially concerned for her own kin. But, in legend after legend, that concern is shown chiefly in procuring conversions, often after threats and violence.

It is not surprising that medieval Jewish polemicists hit back with abusive and defamatory representations of Mary. And Rubin is right to note the radical difference in this respect between Jewish and Muslim attitudes to Mary: the Koran has more about Mary than the Bible does, and Islamic tradition is often extravagant in her praise. Nothing is really at stake here between Christians and Muslims; but the Jewish-Christian debate in the Middle Ages is another matter. For at least some Jewish writers reacting to Christian triumphalism, Mary is something of a symbol of infidelity to her people – a metaphorical as well as literal adulteress. There is room for a whole book on this subject and Rubin is uniquely equipped to write it.

[...]

PSEUDEPIGRAPHA WATCH: the Enochic literature serves as inspiration for yet another novel: Angelology by Danielle Trussoni. According to Publisher's Weekly it has just been contracted by Viking for a very large sum.

The novel has been gaining buzz as a Da Vinci Code-esque work; it follows a young nun in upstate New York who, in uncovering a correspondence between the former mother superior and Abigail Rockefeller, unwittingly reignites an ancient war between a society of angelologists (a group that studies angels) and the Nephilim (the monster-like descendants of angels and humans). The book pulls from a variety of religious and mythical histories and, per Simonoff, "blends biblical lore, the Orpheus myth, the apocryphal Book of Enoch and the fall of the rebel angels, with bravura storytelling."

VISION OF GABRIEL WATCH: April DeConick reports on The Gabriel Stone Seminar at Rice University.

Background here.

THE COURT CASE over the land dispute involving the Syriac Mor Gabriel monastery in Turkey continues (background here) and is generating some international attention:

Because of these allegations, the court hearing about the land dispute has garnered international attention. Yesterday’s hearing was attended by many representatives from the European Syriac community, the European Commission and the Dutch, Finnish and Swedish embassies.

When the representatives walked into the small courtroom in Midyat, which in all likelihood had never before witnessed such a crowded hearing, locals complained that “because of the Europeans, they would not be able to find a place in the room.”

Yılmaz Kerimo, a Swedish parliamentarian of Syriac origin who traveled to Midyat for the hearing, said they were not there to put pressure on the Turkish justice system but rather to observe Turkey’s attitude as it seeks accession to the EU.

“Turkey wants to join the EU. We are here to observe Turkey’s attitude on its way to the EU. We wish this court case had not started in the first place, but we hope it will end in accordance with the law,” he said.

No pressure.

APOCRYPHA WATCH: Haydn's Return of Tobias is reviewed in the Financial Times. Excerpt:

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has set the pace with Il ritorno di Tobia , the least known of Haydn's large-scale works. This early oratorio, based on an obscure story of healing from the Apocrypha, has long been eclipsed by The Creation and The Seasons . It lacks their iridescent tone-painting, offers no psychological insights. Its decorative arias sound like early Mozart, not the work of a practised court composer - indeed it was written not for his Esterháza patron but a Viennese charity.

Shut the turgid libretto, close your eyes, and what we heard on Tuesday was a succession of pulsing arias, elegant love songs and majestic choruses, underpinned by verdant woodwind choirs and fizzed up strings. ...

The story is found in the book of Tobit.

AN OBITUARY for Rabbi Dr. Joseph M. Baumgarten has been published by Rabbi Moshe Shuvalsky in the Baltimore Jewish Times. Excerpt:

He was awarded a scholarship to the Graduate School of Johns Hopkins University and received his Doctorate in Mathematics in 1954. Rabbi Baumgarten was a post graduate of Ner Israel Rabbinical College from 1950-53, and entered the bond of matrimony in 1954 with his late Rebbitzin Dr. Naomi Z”L, (daughter of the late Rabbi Alex Shlomo Rosenberg, the founding director of Kashrus of “OU”). Rabbi Baumgarten was the director of the department of Hebrew at Ner Israel for a few years.

Prof. William F. Albright of the Johns Hopkins University, hearing what Dr. Baumgarten had to say about “Dead Sea Scrolls” in the possession of the famous eminent Professor, Dr. Albright declared that Dr. Baumgarten is an authentic Archaeologist. The pen of Dr. Baumgarten published hundreds of papers pertaining to this aforementioned scholarly subject.

Rabbi Dr. Baumgarten held the chair as Professor of Rabbinic Literature at the Baltimore Hebrew University for more than half of a century and through his teachings and actions succeeded to inspire numerous students to observe the precepts of the Torah. For more than fifty years, Rabbi Baumgarten served as the beloved spiritual leader of the B’nei Jacob Congregation.

Background here and here.

THE FIFTH GOSPEL, Michel Faber's novel about newly recovered Aramaic scrolls about the life of Jesus, is reviewed by Christopher Guerin in PopMatters. Excerpt:

In The Fire Gospel, he finds resonance by structuring chapters according to books of the Bible, i.e., Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Judges (a hilarious take on Amazon customer reviews), Acts, Revelations [Revelation, dang it! - JRD], and Lamentations. And, a nice stroke, Malchus, though a devout believer and anchorite, is also rather pathetic, and a bore, who is really just another Theo Grippen writing to bring his own fire to humankind two thousand years earlier.

The conclusion of the book leaves the religious question open. Theo, to his credit, or his damnation, depending on your point of view, has attempted to release his fellow man from the fetters of religion, hoping to refocus its efforts on the clear and present challenges facing it. It’s possible that he survives the effort. It’s possible also that he sees his mistake, not that “bringing fire” is not a good thing, but that, like the crucifixion of Christ, itself the supreme Promethean example, no good deed goes unpunished.

Background here.

BOOK REVIEW:

How Torah Revolutionized Political Theory

By Rabbi David Wolpe (Jewish Journal)

Why do we read the Bible? For religion to be sure, but also for politics. After all, unlike the New Testament, which was written in the era of Roman rules and did not have to offer prescriptions for governance (the Romans handled all that), the Bible was a manual not only for individual piety, but also for setting up a society. What does it teach that the surrounding worlds did not know?

First, the Torah teaches a fundamental lesson in freedom. The rabbis explain the rationale for freeing the Israelites from Egypt, despite the general acceptance of slavery in the ancient world. Human beings should be, the rabbis imagine God declaring, servants to me, and not servants to servants.

Such a characteristic rabbinic observation might serve as a recurrent motif for Joshua Berman’s study, “Created Equal: How the Bible Broke With Ancient Political Thought.” Berman combs through biblical tradition to distinguish it from the political organizations of surrounding cultures.

[...]

He sums up:

Berman concludes his book by tossing a conceptual bridge across the ages: “If there was one truth the ancients held to be self-evident it was that all men were not created equal. If we maintain today that, in fact, they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, then it is because we have inherited as part of our cultural heritage notions of equality that were deeply entrenched in the ancient passages of the Pentateuch.”

The Torah was not only revolutionary in its time, but also remains revolutionary. Why did Bibles have to be smuggled into the former Soviet Union? Because the Kremlin knew that the principles shining through the Scripture could bring down tyrannies. The Torah changed the assumptions of the ancient world and helped forge the modern one. By reminding us of its ideals, Berman’s book reminds us how far we still have to go to reach them.

Interesting perspective, one that I think makes a valid point but perhaps also over-reads the biblical text. I shouldn't say much more without reading the book rather than just a review of it, but I did have reservations about this:

3. Secrecy. The book of Leviticus is often thought, well, somewhat dull. But in all the directions for the priests there is a powerful statement: the priestly class is not in possession of secret knowledge. That which they do can be known by anyone. As Berman notes, there is egalitarianism at the heart of the biblical world that is powerful, pervasive and revolutionary.

I think Leviticus presupposes a considerable amount of secret knowledge alongside the public knowledge it presents. It would not be possible to run a complete priestly cult based solely on the information in Leviticus. And the prophet Ezekiel was a Zadokite priest and he presumably got his strange visionary ideas from somewhere. It wasn't Leviticus.

UPDATE (22 February): Rabbi Wolpe e-mails:

As I am a devout reader of your blog, I was delighted to see my review posted. I want to immunize the author - I think the Leviticus point may have been more mine than his, and I accept your strictures, at least in part. The book may presuppose some secret knowledge but the gestalt of it (can I use that term?) is that secrecy is not at the heart of the sacrificial or indeed the entire spiritual system. I'll rest with that, with thanks.

Thanks for that. This is the mainstream view. My own suspicion is that Ezekiel gives us a better indication of what the pre-exilic Temple cult was like and Leviticus gives the expurgated post-exilic version, which cut out the visionary esoteric elements. I can't prove this yet and don't have time to do any serious work on it, but I believe Seth Sanders has a similar view to mine and is working on the question at present.

In any case, I think Rabbi Wolpe and I largely agree on the ideology of Leviticus.

ARAMAIC WATCH: A Syriac Department is opening in a Turkish University.

The university is planning to create a department that will focus on the language and literature of the Syriac people, who populate the Middle East and who have lived side-by-side with Muslims in peace and prosperity in Mardin for centuries. Artuklu University Rector Serdar Bedii Omay said a Syriac department was in the works and that university officials have met with leaders from the local Syriac community to achieve this goal. Present at the meeting were Deyrulzafaran Monastery Metropolitan Salibe Özmen, Archbishop Gabriyel Akyüz of Kırklar Church and other members of the Syriac community.

THE VALMADONNA LIBRARY EXHIBITION by Sotheby's is profiled by Edward Rothstein in the New York Times. Excerpt:

These 13,000 books and manuscripts were primarily collected by one man, Jack V. Lunzer, who was born in Antwerp in 1924, lives in London and made his fortune as a merchant of industrial diamonds. The collection’s geographical scale is matched by its temporal breadth, which extends over a millennium. But this endeavor is not just an exercise in bibliophilia. These are all books written in Hebrew or using Hebrew script, many of them rare or even unique. Most come from the earliest centuries of Hebrew printing in their places of origins and thus map out a history of the flourishing of Jewish communities around the world.

The collection’s historical gaps and boundaries are also revealing because they often implicitly mark periods of decline, which, we learn elsewhere, often meant public conflagrations of copies of these very books or even exterminations of the communities themselves.

The collection, named after the Italian town that Mr. Lunzer’s family has long been associated with, is known as the Valmadonna Trust Library. Sotheby’s has put it on sale as a single collection. Through next Thursday it is being handsomely displayed to the public, while luring the large institutional libraries and collectors who might be prepared to pay at least $40 million for what Sotheby’s, echoing scholars in the field, describes as “the finest private library of Hebrew books and manuscripts in the world.”

Background here.

NINA BURLEIGH has an essay at the Bible and Interpretation website:

Wily Scholars and Detectives

Since the publication of my book, I have received a variety of messages from characters who want/believe the ossuary and tablet to be real. They consistently accuse me of having had an agenda in writing the book, which simply stated is to advance the agenda of the Israel Antiquities Authority, which faked the fakes, and then planted evidence against Mr. Golan, in the interest of destroying the Israeli antiquities trade itself.

By Nina Burleigh

Nina Burleigh is the author of four critically acclaimed nonfiction books. Her latest, Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land (Collins 2008), tells the story of the unraveling of a Bible relic forgery scheme in Israel, and the intriguing world of biblical archaeology and relic collectors.
February 2009

Background here.

MORE ON THAT LOOTED SYRIAC BIBLE from the Cyprus Mail:

More antiquities arrests in the north

POLICE in the north appear to have uncovered a ring of antiquities smugglers following new reports yesterday of three more arrests on top of another nine earlier in the week.

Quoting Turkish Cypriot press reports, state television CyBC yesterday said three people had been arrested after being found with a 145-year-old church bell.

CyBC also referred to the theft of a bible from the monastery of Apostolos Varnavas [St Barnabas].

The book’s value was in the region of €1.5 million, the report said.

It was not immediately clear whether the bible referred to was the one seized in Famagusta more than a week ago for which nine people were arrested.

The Cyprus Church has made no comment on the seizure of a bible or whether or not anything matching its description had once belonged to, or was stolen from any church building in the occupied areas.

[...]

So maybe it's a modern Bible stolen from a church. But meanwhile Steve Caruso (Aramaic Blog) suspects it is a forgery that someone tried to sell him last July and David G.K. Taylor of Oxford University is convinced it's a fake, and a disappointing one at that.

UPDATE (11 February): In an update to the post linked to above, Steve Caruso clarifies that the document he was offered is not the same as the one in the news, but that they both fit what he thinks is "a consistent pattern of forgeries that are showing up in Turkey."

SOTHEBY'S has a vast Judaica collection coming up for sale. The AP reports:

The complete library, valued at more than $40 million, is being shown in its entirety for the first time at Sotheby's Manhattan galleries until Feb. 19. The trust has asked the auction house to facilitate the sale of the complete collection to a public institution or private collector. It will not break up the collection or sell individuals works.

The Valmadonna Library is the lifelong pursuit of Jack Lunzer, an 88-year-old collector from London who was in New York on Monday for the opening of the exhibition.

Lunzer will not benefit from the proceeds of the sale, which is being handled by the trust, which will also decide whether to accept an offer from a collector or an institution.

But Lunzer has made his wishes known. "I would like our library to be acquired by the Library of Congress," he said. "That would be my great joy."

[...]

Lunzer's most prized acquisition — one he pursued for more than 25 years — is a nearly pristine complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud printed in 1519-1523 by Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer of Hebrew books.

UPDATE (11 February): The Art Daily has more here. Notably:

Codex Valmadonna I
The jewel in the Valmadonna Library’s crown is one of the most important privately-owned books in the world - a Pentateuch (Hebrew Bible), written in England the summer of 1189. Known as the Codex Valmadonna I, this extraordinary book is the only dated Hebrew text in existence from medieval England, before King Edward I’s 1290 edict expelling the Jews. The year following this manuscript’s creation, 1190, mobs in York attacked the Jewish community living there, massacring the population, and looting their property; the books and manuscripts were exported and subsequently sold back to Jewish communities abroad. The Codex Valmadonna I is thus thought to have survived this journey, having been displaced from its home in England. ...

TOO BUSY to blog today. Sorry. Maybe this evening, but no promises.

BOOK REVIEW:

Approaching Yehud: New Approaches to the Study of the Persian Period
reviewed by Walter Brueggemann (The Christian Century)

Approaching Yehud: New Approaches to the Study of the Persian Period
edited by Jon L. Berquist
Society of Biblical Literature, 249 pp., $29.95 paperback
Berquist provides a series of specific studies concerning the recovery and interpretation of a colonial community that must maintain its distinct identity in the face of a seductive and insistent empire.
click here to buy from amazon.com

Before considering the specific content of this book, it is useful to recognize the importance of its having been published at all. The word Yehud in the title is the term used in documents from the fifth century BCE to refer to the territory in and around Jerusalem that functioned as a colony of the Persian Empire. That colony became the venue for the construction of Jewish identity and the formation of a Judaism in which the inhabitants of the colony inescapably engaged in a high-wire act of accommodation and resistance to the empire. The book reflects an increasingly intense scholarly focus on the Persian period of Judaism as the generative period for the formation of the Hebrew Bible and the construction of Jewish identity.

[...]

INTERNATIONAL SEPTUAGINT DAY was yesterday (8 February). I didn't know that.

(Via John Hobbins at Ancient Hebrew Poetry.)

WORD CLOUDS of the Torah and the Four Gospels (both KJV) have been posted online. Apparently "Unto" is central to their messages. Who knew? And here's one for PaleoJudaica, but it seems only to include posts from the last week on the current page.

From BYU Librarian Ryan L. Combs, who also points me to the Wordle - Beautiful Web Clouds website, where you can make your own web clouds. Have fun!

TU B'SHEVAT, the New Year for Trees, begins tonight at sundown.

HEADWALL PHOTONICS has a brag-sheet in Laser Focus World on the use of its technology on the Khirbet Qeiyafa inscription:

Headwall spectral imager helps decipher 10th century B.C. Hebrew text

February 6, 2009--Spectral instrumentation manufacturer Headwall Photonics (Fitchburg, MA) announced that its Hyperspec short-wave infrared (SWIR) spectral imaging instrumentation was used by archeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority to analyze five lines of text found on an ancient shard of pottery that dates back 3,000 years in history. The inscribed pottery shard, known as an ostracon, was scanned and imaged in the range of 1000 to 2500 nm.

[...]

Background here and follow the links back. And there's more on the technology here.

THE SITE OF HIPPOS-SUSSITA is the subject of a Tourism piece in the Jerusalem Post:

Sussita, the horse-shaped city
By STEPHEN G. ROSENBERG

Sussita was the central city of the Golan in Hellenistic and Roman times, though its name was then Hippos. It was still the central city in Byzantine times, when it was the seat of the bishop of the See of Palaestina Secunda, but its name was then changed to Sussita. Both names, in Greek and Aramaic, mean "horse" or "horse-shaped" and the city is so, perched on a rounded hill, with its head to the Golan and its tail to the Kinneret.

[...]

More on Hippos-Sussita here, here, here, here, here, and here.

MORE ON THE LOOTED SYRIAC BIBLE: Reuters has a very helpful article. As suspected, the manuscript seems to be later than first suggested, perhaps very much later.

"Ancient" Syriac bible found in Cyprus
Fri Feb 6, 2009 7:57am EST

By Sarah Ktisti and Simon Bahceli

NICOSIA (Reuters Life!) - Authorities in northern Cyprus believe they have found an ancient version of the Bible written in Syriac, a dialect of the native language of Jesus.

The manuscript was found in a police raid on suspected antiquity smugglers. Turkish Cypriot police testified in a court hearing they believe the manuscript could be about 2,000 years old.

The manuscript carries excerpts of the Bible written in gold lettering on vellum and loosely strung together, photos provided to Reuters showed. One page carries a drawing of a tree, and another eight lines of Syriac script.

Experts were however divided over the provenance of the manuscript, and whether it was an original, which would render it priceless, or a fake.

Experts said the use of gold lettering on the manuscript was likely to date it later than 2,000 years.

"I'd suspect that it is most likely to be less than 1,000 years old," leading expert Peter Williams, Warden of Tyndale House, University of Cambridge told Reuters.

Turkish Cypriot authorities seized the relic last week and nine individuals are in custody pending further investigations. More individuals are being sought in connection with the find, they said.

[...]

"One very likely source (of the manuscript) could be the Tur-Abdin area of Turkey, where there is still a Syriac speaking community," Charlotte Roueche, Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King's College London told Reuters.

Pete Williams is well-known to PaleoJudaica readers. The region of Tur-Abdin (Tur Abdin) has come up in PaleoJudaica in connection with Syriac here, here, here, here, and here.

Stories regarding the antiquity of manuscripts is commonplace. One case would be the Yonan Codex, carbon dated to the 12th century which people tried to pass off as earlier.

There's more on the Yonan Codex here.

The rest of the article gives the interesting information that Cambridge scholar JF Coakley thinks the manuscript could be quite late - 15th to 19th century or later. The article includes a photo of a not-very-informative page of the codex.

Background here.

BIBLICAL STUDIES CARNIVAL XXXVIII has been posted by Judy Redman at Judy's Research Blog. Lots of good stuff, as usual.

PRESIDENT OBAMA misattributed a Talmud quote in a recent speech - noted by Julia Duin in the Washington Times Belief Blog:

Before we go on to that, must mention that the Chief Executive's speechwriters need to be a bit more on the ball in terms of quoting Scripture. At one point, the new president said, in his National Prayer Breakfast speech this morning, "The Torah commands, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow." "

That is not in the Torah, aka the Old Testament. It's from the Talmud, specifically a quote from Rabbi Hillel in the book Talmud Shabbos. (The Talmud, a 20-volume biblical commentary, was compiled by Jewish sages in second-century AD Babylon.)

The reference is b. Shabbat 31a. The positive formulation, "Love your neighbor as yourself" does appear in the Torah in Leviticus 19:18.

Ms. Duin makes her own error in her comments. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled (based on lots of earlier material) in (roughly) the sixth century, not the second.

UPDATE (7 September): Reader Aryeh Amihay e-mails in defense of the President:

In relation to your post on President Obama’s misattributed Talmud quote I wanted to add that the story of Hillel as it appears in tractate Shabbat, has Hillel stating that “What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbour. that is the whole Torah, while the rest is the commentary thereof; go and learn it.” In other words, according to Hillel himself this is what the Torah commands, rendering the president’s statement true (he did not say he was quoting from the Torah, only that this was what the Torah commands).

MOD'IN RENAISSANCE:

Modi’in: City Of The Past And Future

By Harold Gellis (Five Towns Jewish Times Online, NY)
Published on Thursday, February 05, 2009 - COMMENTS (0)

Over 2,000 years ago, an unprecedented miracle took place in an ancient Jewish town in the center of Judea. In the obscure town of Modi’in, the high priest Matthias, Judah Maccabee, and a handful of followers rose up in battle against the mighty Greek empire. The Chanukah festival commemorates their ultimate victory.

After two millennia, another remarkable miracle has again taken place in Modi’in. The town of the Hasmoneans has come to life again. In the land where the Maccabees lived and fought, there is now Israel’s newest city. In the 21st century, Modi’in, the city of the past, is now the city of the future.

[...]

[Alex] Weinreb [deputy mayor of Modi’in], an amateur archaeologist and fierce environmentalist, is dedicated to preserving Modi’in’s past as well as ensuring its ecological future. Standing on a hill among the ruins and artifacts of the Hasmonean era, he envisions the site as a future cultural and educational center. “In the planned center, students will be able to do their dissertation on Modi’in,” muses Weinreb. “One will be able to have his bar mitzvah in the same beit k’nesset where Judah Maccabee had his bar mitzvah.”

What is needed, however, for the planned center is funding. And funding is also needed for other infrastructure in Modi’in, as well; in a city where there are more births annually than in any other city in the country except B’nei Brak, there is no hospital!

[...]

On Givat HaTeturah, a hilltop in Modi’in full of Hasmonean relics, Efraim Weiss of Pearl Skolnik describes the interconnected past and present of Modi’in: “On this hill, the Maccabees lit fires on their way to Jerusalem. On Chanukah, all the schools come up here for different activities. But they have to dress warmly because it gets quite cold here.”

A major construction project for Givat HaTeturah that would have destroyed the hilltop’s archeological treasures was thwarted by Alex Weinreb, who vigilantly works to preserve Modi’in’s ancient heritage. Givat HaTeturah is now a municipal nature site.

In the municipal building framed by the menorah, Alex Weinreb can cite an additional list of impressive accomplishments. Weinreb, the avid archaeologist, has established environmental, cultural, and historical educational programs and institutions about Modi’in and its heritage, including marking the festival of Chanukah with annual cultural events. An equally avid environmentalist, Weinreb also stood up to the phone companies and made them remove their cellular towers from the city in order to reduce cellular radiation.

But to understand the future direction of Modi’in best, one has only to look at Alex Weinreb’s slogan—“Alex Weinreb doesn’t stop at the green!”

Well, the preservation of archaeological sites and the educational programs do sound worthwhile.

UPDATE: Reader Shai Secunda e-mails:

Just to let you know, many archaeologists now consider a site in the southern end of the city (in the Buchman neighborhood) to be the site on ancient Modiin, and not Titura hill. This site contains the remains of a possible synagogue, but is fenced off and not yet open to the public.

A CUNEIFORM TABLET at the Bible Lands Museum:

Historical treasure at Bible Lands Museum

Rare 4,000 year-old cuneiform tablet that sheds light on beliefs and practices of religious Babylonian customs during Tu B'Shvat now on display at Bible Lands Museum

Ynetnews
Published: 02.04.09, 11:45 / Israel Travel

As part of Tu B'Shvat celebrations the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem reveals a rare 4,000 year old cuneiform tablet that sheds light on the beliefs and practices of the religious Babylonian customs during Tu B'Shvat.

[...]

The connection with Tu B'Shvat, which comes up in a few days, is pretty tenuous, but the tablet is quite interesting in itself.

The rare tablet takes the visitors to the ancient month Shabatu, 4,000 years ago. It is the only known example of a text recording the daily routine followed in the temples of the capital city of Larsa, which neighbored Ur in ancient Mesopotamia. In over six hundred and thirty lines, the tablet registers the rites performed in the temples during the month of Shabatu. This month is identical to the Hebrew month of Shevat and they are both the eleventh month of the year.

Given the troubles over Iraqi antiquities in recent years, it would have been helpful if the article had said more about its provenance and the route that brought it to Jerusalem. I suspect it's from a Larsa archaeological excavation, but I don't know. Anybody out there have information?

LOOTERS have been caught with what seems to be an ancient Syriac Bible. The report is muddled:

Nine arrested over 2,000 year-old Syrian bible
By Simon Bahceli (Cyprus Mail)

A TWO THOUSAND year-old Syrian Orthodox bible, believed to have been smuggled into the island from southeastern Turkey, has become the subject of major police operation in the north that has so far led to the arrest of nine suspects.

The bible, estimated to be worth around €2 million, was seized during a raid at the Famagusta bus terminal last Friday where smugglers were seeking to sell it to buyers in the north. It is thought Turkish Cypriot police had been tipped off about the impending sale.

Although the north’s ‘antiquities department’ refused yesterday to comment on the bible, because it was “the subject of an ongoing inquiry”, a statement from police said it was bound in deerskin, written in gold letters in the Syriac language, and believed to be around 2000 years old. The bible may have come from the heartland of the Syrian Orthodox community in southeastern Turkey, where a small community remains, despite often being caught in the crossfire between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish military.

“It is very likely to come from the Tur-Abdin area of Turkey, where there is still a Syriac speaking community,” Dr Chalotte Roueche, professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies at King College, London told Reuters yesterday.

In 1994, the British historian William Dalrymple wrote that the community “could die out within one generation”. However, conditions are reported to have improved in recent years with the Turkish government making efforts to protect religious minorities in the country.

Roueche added, however, that it was impossible to say for sure whether the bible was either from that area, or whether it was as old as the Turkish Cypriot police thought.

“The problem about this description is that a Syriac gospel-book could be from the 4th century, but it could date from several centuries after that, well into the middle ages. Indeed, I think that gospel books may still have been being written in Syriac then. Obviously the smugglers will have wanted to date it as ancient as possible,” Dr Roueche added.

[...]

Dr. Roueche has it right. I think the chances of this being a two thousand year old complete biblical codex in Aramaic are minimal. The Syriac language is the Aramaic dialect of Edessa and is first recorded, I believe, in the second century C.E. The codex (bound book) rather than the scroll, is also characteristic of the period well after the second century C.E. Still, if this is an ancient or even Medieval Syriac Bible codex or codex of the Gospels or some such, it is still of great interest and it's very fortunate that the authorities recovered it.

The oldest surviving complete Syriac Bible (Old and New Testament plus some Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha) is Codex Ambrosianus B.21, Milan, from the sixth or seventh century C.E. I have commented on it here. Unfortunately, the photographs seem to have been purged in our recent website upgrade. I'll try to get them back up soon.

UPDATE (7 February): More here.

MORE ON THE IRANIAN CUNEIFORM TABLETS that the U.S. court is trying to confiscate and sell off to recompense victims of terrorism:

World Iranologists ask Obama to bar seizure of Achaemenid tablets
Tehran Times Culture Desk

TEHRAN -- About 700 Iranologists and Iranian cultural heritage lovers have recently signed a petition asking President Barack Obama to prevent confiscation of Iran’s 300 Achaemenid clay tablets loaned to the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.

The petition has been organized by the European Iranologist Society (Societas Iranologica Europaea, SIE) in its website www.societasiranologicaeu.org.

[...]

Background here and follow the links back. I have commented on the case here, here and here. If so minded, you can sign the petition here. I have signed it. I'm not sure what the President's powers are in this case, but the statement is still worth making.

WHEN ISRAEL AND THE ARABS WERE ALLIES. It has happened! Excerpt from the paper abstract by Peter Feinman, posted at HNN:

Thus there once was a time when Arabs and Israel were allies and Israel was part of the Semitic world around it as brother, cousin, and husband to its many peoples, when the image of Isaac and Ishmael standing together as one matched the historical record of 853 BCE. One prays that we won't have to wait another 2861 years for these peoples to be allies and part of the same family once again.

The event in question was the Battle of Qarqar, between the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III and a coalition of West Semitic groups (including King Ahab of Israel), Arabs, and others.

THE SLAVONIC PSEUDEPIGRAPHA PROJECT has an announcement, sent to me by Andrei Orlov:

The Slavonic Pseudepigrapha Project would like to announce the launch of two new resource pages devoted to 2 (Slavonic) Enoch (http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/2enoch.html)and the Apocalypse of Abraham (http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/apocalypseabraham.html).

The resource pages include original manuscripts, translations, extensive bibliographies, and research articles pertaining to these important apocalyptic works which survived in Slavonic language.

The Slavonic Pseudepigrapha Project (http://www.marquette.edu/maqom/pseudepigrapha.html) is an electronic resource developed by scholars from the Theology Department at Marquette University (Milwaukee, USA).

Readers might also be interested in my colleague Grant Macaskill's online lecture, "The Slavonic Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction."

ANOTHER DEFENSE of the Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance by Rabbi Marvin Hier, "the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance":

Op-Ed: Museum a beacon of hope in the center of Jerusalem

By Marvin Hier · February 2, 2009 (JTA)

LOS ANGELES (JTA) -- On Oct. 29, 2008, the Israeli Supreme Court rendered a unanimous decision permitting the Simon Wiesenthal Center to resume construction on its Museum of Tolerance project on the site of the municipal parking lot in the heart of western Jerusalem. The court denied the contention of the project’s chief opponent, Sheik Raed Salah, a notorious anti-Semite and Hamas supporter, that the parking lot was a Muslim cemetery and allowed construction to resume even on the small portion where bones were found.

For half a century, hundreds of Jews, Christians and Muslims parked their cars every day on the site, with no protest whatsoever from any Muslim groups, religious leaders, nongovernmental organizations or professors.

As the court noted, “for almost 50 years the compound has not been a part of the cemetery, both in the normative sense and in the practical sense, and it was used for various public purposes." It also said, "During all those years no one raised any claim, on even one occasion, that the planning procedures violated the sanctity of the site, or that they were contrary to law as a result of the historical and religious uniqueness of the site." And, "For decades this area was not regarded as a cemetery by the general public or by the Muslim community."

"No one," the court said, "denied this position."

In 1964, the highest Muslim authority, the Muslim Religious Council, even ruled that the adjacent Independence Park (Mamilla Cemetery) was a "mundras," an abandoned site where building is permissible. Today, mundras is a widely relied-upon categorization and sanctioned throughout the Arab world -- in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories.

[...]

Background here and follow the links back.

CONGRATULATIONS to Prof. Casey Elledge, who is one of seven faculty members who just received tenure at Gustavus Adolphus College:

Casey Elledge holds a B.A. in English from Centenary College, and both a M.Div. and Ph.D. from Princeton Seminary. Elledge is Chair of the Gustavus Lecture Series as well as a member of the Achievement Recognition Committee and the Academic Petitions Committee. Since arriving at Gustavus in 2002, Elledge has been a part of five major academic publications and four general audience publications. His publications include Life after Death in Early Judaism: The Evidence of Josephus and The Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls: An Introductino to Qumran and Its Literature.

DEAD SEA SCROLLS FRAGMENTS FOR SALE (by Michael R. Thompson, Booksellers, at their display at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair later this month):

29. [DEAD SEA SCROLLS]. Original fragment from Daniel, Chapter 5, Verse 13-16. Found at Qumran, on the Dead Sea, in Cave 4, some time between 1952 and 1956. The fragment itself dates between 50 BC - AD 68 (the Roman destruction of Qumran). 32 mm. x 30 mm., written in Hebrew on brown animal hide. Preserved between glass, and enclosed in cloth chemise, in full black morocco clamshell slipcase. $275,000
Includes the verse translated in English as: "Art thou that Daniel, which art of the children of the captiuity of Iudah..."

30. [DEAD SEA SCROLLS]. Original fragment from Exodus, Chapter 18, Verse 6-8. Found at Qumran, on the Dead Sea, in Cave 4, some time between 1952 and 1956. The fragment itself dates between 150 BC - AD 68 (the Roman destruction of Qumran). 11 x 34 mm. written in Hebrew on brown animal hide. Preserved between glass, and enclosed in cloth chemise, in full black morocco clamshell slipcase. $145,000
Includes the verse translated in English as: "Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharoah and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them.”

I don't know if these are genuine or not, but if they are, it is unfortunate to find them like this in the public marketplace, although I suppose it's better than their being lost entirely. If you should happen to be in the position to buy these, I hope you will consider donating them (or at least be willing to sell them) to a museum, preferably one in Israel. If you must keep them, please, please be willing to make them available for specialists to study. It will do no harm to the value of the fragments and it will insure that the contribution they can make to history is not lost.

(Noted on Joseph I. Lauer's e-mail list.)

UPDATE (15 February): More here.

A BIBLICAL MUSEUM is planned in Virginia:

LU professor has plans for biblical museum

By Christa Desrets

Published: January 31, 2009 (Lynchburg News and Advance)

Randall Price has big plans for what is now a small space in DeMoss Hall at Liberty University.

Price, an archaeologist and Liberty professor, is executive director of LU’s Center for Judaic Studies, which opened in fall 2008.

Price plans to implement academic coursework and degree programs in Jewish studies. He also is working with school officials to establish a Biblical Museum at the university that would house antiquities from the biblical period.

Preliminary plans for a 10,000-square-foot museum already have been drawn, and Price hopes that within a couple of years it will be built.

His own collection of antiquities, as well as those that he could get on loan from dig sites, would be housed at the museum to provide the school and Lynchburg a window to the past.

“We felt there was a need to have a program in Jewish Studies because we want our Christian students to understand the issues,” said Price, who over the past 30 years has traveled to Israel more than 90 times.

With that goal in mind, in December, Price led 12 students, four from Liberty, in the school’s first archaeology program. They traveled to Qumran in eastern Israel, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered about 60 years ago in nearby caves.

[...]

GIANTS IN THE EARTH? Well, this one was put there by a hoaxer:

The Giant of Cardiff

Category: History of Science
Posted on: January 28, 2009 6:13 PM, by Brian Switek (Laelaps blog)

Given the speed at which information travels these days it is not surprising how quickly we forget hoaxes and humbugs. Every year people get their 15 minutes of fame by claiming to have seen ghosts, aliens, or fanciful creatures, but these far-out tales quickly fade away. This past summer, for instance, Matt Whitton, Rick Dyer, and "professional Bigfoot hunter" Tom Biscardi claimed to have in their possession the corpse of a Sasquatch.

Media outlets, particularly FOX News, picked up the story and ran with it but it was quickly determined that it was all a hoax. The story held the public's attention for about a week and quickly faded away, but there have been more famous hoaxes that, while they are unfamiliar now, were widely known for decades after they were perpetrated.

In October of 1869, on a farm not far from Cardiff, New York, Gideon Emmons and Henry Nicols dug into the loose soil to begin making a well. They did not get far before they struck something large, but they had no clue what it was until the soil fell back to reveal a gigantic human foot. The owner of the farm, William Newell, was brought out to oversee the dig and soon the team uncovered a super-sized human form. News quickly spread of this 10-foot-tall curiosity.

[...]

And there's this interesting tidbit:

The fact that the giant had been outed as a hoax did not stop some from trying to divine ancient secrets from it, however. Alexander McWhorter, a Yale graduate student, was sure he found Phoenician letters inscribed upon the idol. ...

Alas, no.

More on the Cardiff Giant here. Additional entertaining giant hoaxes are noted here. And posts on another giant (Og) are collected here.

PHOENICIA EXPEDITION UPDATE:

Phoenicia Expedition - Six months waiting for wind

(Sail-World.com UK)

'Just like the Phoenicians, we will have to secure the ship and wait for the prevailing winds which will turn in August 2009.'

These are the words of Philip Beale, leader of the Phoenicia Expedition which is recreating the first circumnavigation of Africa, believed to have taken place some 2500 years ago.

However, Beale and his multi national crew are still on course to beat the original Phoenicians - Greek Historian Herodotus recorded that the original voyage took nearly three years to complete with mariners planting crops enroute and waiting for the harvests.

The organisers of the Phoenicia Expedition have announced they will put a six month break in the voyage in order to meet the crucial 'weather windows' for rounding The Cape of Good Hope as well as getting out of the Gulf of Aden.

In a 70 ft replica of a 600 BC wooden ship which was built in Syria, the crew have sailed to Yemen which is where the boat will stay for the next few months.

[...]

Background here and keep following the links back. Expedition website here.

PROVERBS 31, UPDATED.

CODEX PSEUDEPIGRAPHICUS VETERIS TESTAMENTI, edited by Johann Albert Fabricius in the early 1700s, is now available online for downloading in various formats.

Alex Panayotov has placed it here, downloadable in two installments in PDF format.

You can also find it at www.archive.com in DjVu, HTML, and PDF formats. And maybe one or two others, although the Full Text version doesn't seem to have come out properly - and it hung up my Firefox browser.

Volume One

Volume Two

This is the earliest scholarly collection of Old Testament pseudepigrapha. I have more on it and its editor here. Enjoy!

MORE ON "KING SOLOMON'S MINES" is promised soon:

Digs may help decide if 'King Solomon's mines' was a misnomer
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH [Jerusalem Post]

A University of California archeologist has found evidence that sheds new light on the venerable question of whether King David and his son King Solomon controlled the copper industry in the Kingdom of Edom, which is present-day southern Jordan.

The term "King Solomon's Mines" was made famous by a 19th century novel of the same name - although, until now, no such mines have been proven to exist during the time period mentioned in the Bible.

Prof. Thomas Levy of UC San Diego, who reported the findings of an international team of archeologists he headed in an issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US) late last year, is expected to reveal more on February 18 at a meeting of his university's Social Sciences Supper Club.

[...]

Stay tuned!

Background here.

DAMAGE to the Antiquities Museum of Gaza in the latest conflict:

First evidence of damage to Gaza’s cultural sites emerges

Lauren Gelfond Feldinger | 28.1.09 | [The Art Newspaper] Issue 199

JERUSALEM. After a 3,500-year history of invasions, the latest war on the beleaguered coastal strip of Gaza has once again put historic sites at risk.

With the fragile ceasefire still in force, The Art Newspaper has learned that Gaza’s only museum has been damaged and other heritage sites and buildings may also be at risk.

The Antiquities Museum of Gaza, privately founded and run by Gazan contractor and collector Jawdat Khoudary, was badly damaged during Israel’s 22 days of air and land strikes. The glass doors and windows have been shattered and the roof and walls have been damaged. Roman and Byzantine pottery, Islamic bronze objects and many amphorae have been destroyed, initially during shooting 20m to 200m away, and later because of nearby shelling, with one direct hit to the museum’s conference hall, Mr Khoudary said. Amphorae, clay and ceramic vessels with two looped handles, were created in Gaza and the region during the fourth to seventh centuries for storing wine, olive oil and food and trading perishable commodities.

“I am very concerned: the entire Gaza Strip is an archaeological site,” said Palestinian archaeologist Professor Moain Sadeq, who founded the Palestinian Antiquities Department of Gaza in 1994, and is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Toronto while in contact daily with Gaza.

[...]

This museum was profiled recently by the New York Times.

ARAMAIC WATCH - only not:

Tattoos popular art form for students
January 29, 2009

BY OLIVIA MARTIN / Staff Writer [the Auburn Plainsman
Sketches of different tattoos hang on a wall inside Shenanigans Tattoo Parlor located on Gay Street.Sketches of different tattoos hang on a wall inside Shenanigans Tattoo Parlor located on Gay Street.

Tattoo art has gained significant attention during the past 10 years, and while it isn’t hanging in The Met, it is an art form.

Nils Larson, a tattoo artist at Shenanigans Tattoo Parlor, describes the intricacies of tattooing.

“People who say that it isn’t an art form usually don’t know about art,” Larson said. “Drawing a good picture is hard. Then, you must transfer it onto a surface with bony protrusions.”

With tattoo art gaining popularity and prestige across America, many Auburn students are braving the needle for a variety of reasons.

[...]

Brett Livesay, a senior in psychology, chose a piece with meaning.

“I have tetelestai written across my wrist,” Livesay said. “It is Aramaic for ‘it is finished’ or ‘paid in full,’ and it is the last thing Jesus said before he died. It is in block lettering to look like a stamp, as if Jesus stamped me to redeem my sins.”

[...]

Fine, but tetelestai is Greek (John 19:30), not Aramaic.

THE EISENBRAUNS ANE LOVE POETRY CONTEST is running again in 2009. Last year's contest was noted here and I posted a link to the winners here, but said link has now rotted. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Good luck!

UPDATE: James Spinti e-mails to say that the contest website (with a link to last year's results) is here.

THE LIBRARIES OF THE NEOPLATONISTS, edited by Cristina D'Ancona Costa, is reviewed by Christophe F. Erismann in BMCR (noted on Jack Sasson's Agade list). Excerpt:

One of the strengths of the book is that it highlights the importance of the so-called Philosophical collection, a set of Byzantine manuscripts containing philosophical texts, mostly related to the Neoplatonic tradition. It is an essential intermediary in the process of transmission of philosophical texts from Antiquity, so essential that, according to Richard Goulet, without it "we would only have kept from ancient philosophy a very small corpus of texts, maybe Aristotle's Organon, as is the case in several eastern traditions" (p. 54, translation is mine). This set of 17 Greek manuscripts which present similar codicological and palaeographical characteristics, comes from a copying centre which is considered to have been situated in Constantinople around 850. It comprises nothing less than: Plato's dialogues, the De anima, the De fato and Quaestiones of Alexander of Aphrodisias, the Didaskalikos of Alkinoos, the Dissertations of Maximus of Tyre, the treatises of Plotinus, the commentaries on the Republic and the Timaeus of Proclus, the commentary on the Parmenides and the treatise De primis principiis of Damascius, the commentaries on the Physics and the Categories by Simplicius, the commentaries on the Gorgias, the Phaedrus, and the Alcibiades by Olympiodorus, the treatise Contra Proclum de aeternitate mundi by John Philoponus, the commentary on the De interpretatione by Ammonius, the De caelo, the De generatione et corruptione, the History of animals, the Metaphysics, the Meteorology and the Physics of Aristotle, as well as Patristic texts and geographical and astrological writings. The "Platonic" nucleus of the Philosophical collection is probably made up of copies of remnants of the library of the philosophical school of Alexandria which had been brought from Alexandria to Constantinople at a date impossible to state precisely, but probably falling between the beginning of the seventh century and the beginning of the ninth century, as has been suggested by L. G. Westerink.

Henri Dominique Saffrey proposes, in an insightful essay, a study of one of the manuscripts of the Philosophical collection, the Parisinus graecus 1807 which contains among other things tetralogies VIII (Clitophon, Republic, Timaeus, Critias) and IX (Minos, Laws, Epinomis, Letters) of Plato, with the Definitions and the Spuria. It is the manuscript A for Plato, made around 850, the model of which went from Alexandria to Byzantium, and which travelled from Byzantium to Armenia, and then to the library of Francesco Petrarca.

Guglielmo Cavallo, Philippe Hoffman and Didier Marcotte provide remarks which complete this study of the Philosophical collection. The textual tradition of Syrianus' commentary on the Metaphysics and the influence of Neoplatonists on Byzantine thought are also studied. The second part of the book contains studies on the dissemination of Neoplatonic texts in the Syriac-speaking and Arabic-speaking areas. Henri Hugonnard-Roche provides a useful synthesis article on Syriac philosophical literature in the sixth and seventh centuries. As to the Arabic tradition, the influence of Neoplatonism during the Abbasid period, in particular on al-Kindi (P. Adamson, G. Endress), the presence of Proclus, and the proximity between sixth-century Alexandrian commentators and the Baghdad Aristotelian Ibn al-Tayyib are considered.

It wasn't the Syriac that caught my eye, but rather something that isn't mentioned in the review, although I imagine the book must note it somewhere. Some biblical (sort of) apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, specifically apocalypses, were included in Neoplatonist libraries as well. The evidence is found in Porphyry's Life of Plotinus:

16. Many Christians of this period--amongst them sectaries who had abandoned the old philosophy, men of the schools of Adelphius and Aquilinus--had possessed themselves of works by Alexander of Libya, by Philocomus, by Demostratus, and by Lydus, and exhibited also Revelations [i.e., apocalypses - JRD] bearing the names of Zoroaster, Zostrianus, Nicotheus, Allogenes, Mesus, and others of that order. Thus they fooled many, themselves fooled first; Plato, according to them, had failed to penetrate into the depth of Intellectual Being.

Plotinus fequently attacked their position at the Conferences and finally wrote the treatise which I have headed Against the Gnostics: he left to us of the circle the task of examining what he himself passed over. Amelius proceeded as far as a fortieth treatise in refutation of the book of Zostrianus: I myself have shown on many counts that the Zoroastrian volume is spurious and modern, concocted by the sectaries in order to pretend that the doctrines they had embraced were those of the ancient sage.

Both Zostrianos and Allogenes were recovered in the Nag Hammadi Coptic Gnostic library. As far as I know, the others are still lost. I haven't noted the lost Apocalypses of Zoroaster, Nicotheus, and Mesus in my earlier discussions of lost books (here, here, and here), perhaps because they aren't obviously to be counted as Old Testament pseudepigrapha. But it seems likely that at least Zoroaster was, as an ancient Gentile prophet co-opted into the Judeo-Christian tradition as we find the Sibyl in the Sibylline Oracles and Zoroaster himself in Zostrianos

UPDATE: Note also that Messos (Mesus?) is the recipient of the revelation in Allogenes and that the Zostrianos closes with the line "Teaching of Zoroaster" (as pointed out by the editors [Wire and Wintermute] of Allogenes in the Robinson translation of the Nag Hammadi Library). So it may be that Porphyry got all four names from just these two works. Wire and Wintermute also report that Allogenes can be a designation for the biblical patriarch Seth, who was important for the Sethian Gnostic movement.

THE GOLD COINS recently found in that Jerusalem excavation are covered in a Science Daily article:

Hoard Of Hundreds Of Antique Gold Coins Uncovered In Walls Around Jerusalem National Park

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2009) — One thousand three hundred year old Chanukah money in Jerusalem: a hoard of more than 250 gold coins was exposed December 11 in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in the Giv ‘ati car park in the City of David, in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park. The excavations at the site are being carried out on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in cooperation with the Nature and Parks Authority and are underwritten by the ‘Ir David Foundation.

[...]

I can't see anything new in the article, but it's a pretty good summary of past coverage. Background here. Finds from the same excavation are noted here (immediately preceding post below).

AN ANCIENT WEIGHT in the shape of a Roman boxer's head has been excavated in Jerusalem. Here's the IAA press release:

An 1,800 Year Old Marble Figurine in the Image of a Bearded Man, probably that of a Roman Boxer, was Discovered (26/1/2009)

In the archaeological excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting at the Givati car park in the City of David, in the Walls around Jerusalem National Park:

An 1,800 Year Old Marble Figurine in the Image of a Bearded Man, probably that of a Roman Boxer, was Discovered

The figurine was used as a suspended weight together with a balance scale. This is probably the only find of its kind from excavations in the country.

A figurine (bust) made of marble depicting a miniature image of a bearded man’s head was discovered in the excavations that the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting in the area of the Givati car park in the City of David, in the Walls around Jerusalem National Park.

[...]

An ancient earring and a Byzantine-era gold coin hoard were discovered recently at the same site.

(Via Joseph I. Lauer's list.)

HERE'S A NEWS VIDEO on YouTube covering the discovery of the Kirbet Qeiyafa inscription and making rather more politically of it than I would. There are numerous shots of the ostracon, although the letters are usually not visible. I kept wanting to tell Professor Garfinkel to put it down before he dropped it!

Heads up, Maggid. Background here (and follow the links back) and here.

THE KUTTAMUWA STELE from Zincirli is noted in a nice summary blog post on K. Kris Hirst's Archaeology Blog. There is some debate about whether eighth-century Sam'alian is Aramaic or something less readily classifiable. Peter Bekins has a summary of the issues at Balshanut.

For more background on the Kuttamuwa inscription, go here and keep following the links back.

ANOTHER 250th anniversary this month:

British museum director talking collections
An extract from Neil MacGregor's anniversary lecture where he reflects on the great works made by humans throughout history

Neil MacGregor (London Times)

It was 250 years ago this month that the British Museum first opened its doors to the public. When you visit the museum today, you visit somewhere that is like no other collection, no other building on earth. It is the only place where you can, in every sense, walk through the world, and through time, and look at the whole range of what humans have made and speculate as to what they have thought.

[...]

More on Neil MacGregor and the British Museum here.

THE TIMUBKTU ARCHIVES now have a library devoted to their conservation:

S. Africa helps Mali modernise ancient libraries
Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:44pm EST

By Rainer Schwenzfeier

TIMBUKTU, Mali, Jan 24 (Reuters) - South Africa and Mali opened a high-tech library in the Malian desert town of Timbuktu on Saturday, boosting efforts to preserve thousands of ancient manuscripts documenting Africa's academic past.

The launch is part of a South African plan to help Mali to protect up to 150,000 manuscripts, some of which date from the 13th century and document subjects ranging from science and the arts to social and business trends of the day.

South Africa has also been training Malian conservators to protect the texts, which some say will force the West to accept Africa has an intellectual history as old as its own. Others draw comparisons with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

[...]

Background here and keep following the links back. For why I think this is interesting see here and here.