More on "The Dovekeepers"

MORE ON THE DOVEKEEPERS: Alice Hoffman presents her new novel at 2 South Florida book fairs.

More reviews noted here.

"Footnote" reviewed by M&C

FOOTNOTE is reviewed by Monsters and Critics.

More reviews here and links.

Shemini Atzeret and Simhat Torah

SHEMINI ATZERET AND SIMHAT TORAH (more here) came and went while I was out of circulation. Best wishes to all those who celebrated.

I'm in the San Diego Airport, taking advantage of the free wireless while I wait for my flight. Looks like things have been quiet for the last few days, but I'll do a little posting before I grab an early lunch.

Back to St. Andrews

HEADING BACK TO ST. ANDREWS later this morning. I expect to be there Sunday evening.

Cairo Geniza digitization at TAU

CAIRO GENIZA DIGITIZATION AT TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: Piecing Together the Priceless 'Cairo Genizah' (Science Daily).

Now researchers at Tel Aviv University are working to piece together this illuminating collection, bringing the pages of the texts back together for the first time in centuries. The results are being made available to scholars around the world through a website. Profs. Lior Wolf and Nachum Dershowitz of TAU's Blavatnik School of Computer Science have developed sophisticated software, based on facial recognition technology, that can identify digitized Genizah fragments thought to be a part of the same work and make editorial "joins."

Their technology was developed in close collaboration with the Friedberg Genizah Project, a non-profit organization that seeks to facilitate Genizah research by tracking, cataloguing, and digitizing all the fragments of this collection. The research was presented at the 2011 IEEE International Conference on Computer Vision.

More on the Friedberg Geniza Project here. More on manuscript digitization projects here and here.

AP: Ancient stone to be part of scroll exhibit in NYC

AP: Ancient stone to be part of scroll exhibit in NYC. A stone from the Western Wall, no less.

Background on the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition at Discovery Times Square here.

More on the rescued Bible manuscripts from Syria

MORE ON THE RESCUED BIBLE MANUSCRIPTS FROM SYRIA:

Carr helped get ancient Bible out of Damascus

By VIVA SARAH PRESS, CJN Israel Bureau
Wednesday, 19 October 2011

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Toronto’s Judy Feld Carr – who rescued Syrian Jewry – told a packed audience at Israel’s national library about how she got a 700-year-old Bible out of Damascus and eventually brought it to Jerusalem.

[...]

Background here.

ALex Joffe: Diversity at Dura-Europos

ALEX JOFFE: Diversity at Dura-Europos (Jewish Ideas Daily).

A new exhibit at New York University's Institute for the Study of the Ancient World brings to life the ancient city of Dura-Europos, which stands high above the Euphrates River on the eastern border of modern Syria, a monument to vanished eras. The exhibition celebrates both the peoples who lived there—Jews, Christians, and pagans—and, more quietly, the scholars who unearthed the city during the 20th century's golden age of Near East archaeology

Background on the exhibition and on Dura Europos here and many links.

Ancient Sukkot iconongraphy

FOR SUKKOT: An Ancient 'Obsession' with Sukkot Iconography.

But although Sukkot emphasizes the present-and a recently created annual design competition called Sukkah City has lent the ritual a postmodern thrust-there is something primordial about its symbols. The lulav and etrog, whether alongside each other or appearing separately, are some of the most prominent symbols in early Jewish art.

Has some nice photos of mosaics etc.

Syriac symposium at Artuklu University

ARAMAIC WATCH: An International Syriac Symposium is planned at Mardin Artuklu University:

SYRIAC IN ITS MULTI-CULTURAL CONTEXT
20-22 April 2012, Mardin

We cordially invite you to contribute to the first Syriac Studies Symposium of Mardin Artuklu University, Turkey. With great pleasure, we organize this symposium in Mardin, a city integral to Syriac culture, history, archaeology and architecture.

[...]

Follow the link for details, registration information, etc.

(Via Elif Keser on the Hugoye list.)

More on the Syriac program at Artuklu University here and links.

Hannibal and Kocaeli

PUNIC WATCH: At Today's Zaman, Elsie Alan opens a two-part series on Hannibal, inspired by her residency in Kocaeli where he spent the end of his life: [THE OUTSIDER] Kocaeli dead celebrities: Hannibal, menace of Rome.

Fake metal codices in U.S. News & World Report

FAKE METAL CODICES WATCH: That article in U.S. News and World Report has come out in the print edition. It doesn't seem to be online, at least yet, but Joel Watts summarizes and quotes from it: Jordan Codices *featured in U.S. News and World Report. The reporter is the one who contacted me in early August. If Mr. Elkington showed Dr. Thonemann the copper codex because it was one "he (Elkington) thought seemed dubious," he did not say so in his introductory note to Thonemann which I have posted here. On the contrary, he made it clear that he thought it was ancient and suggested an Alexandrian provenance. He said he contacted Thonemann for help with deciphering the Greek. (By the way, what is a "putative investigation"?)

More background here and here.

James McGrath: AAR & SBL "Together Again"

TOGETHER AGAIN: Over at the Bible and Interpretation website James McGrath has some reflections on the American Academy of Religion (AAR) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) split and reconciliation.

Background here.

In San Diego

I'M IN SAN DIEGO. More later.

Reviewlet of "Footnote"

A REVIEWLET OF FOOTNOTE at NY1.com: Movie About Talmudic Scholars Is No "Footnote" At NY Film Festival.

More reviews are noted here.

Off to San Diego

I'M OFF TO SAN DIEGO, unexpectedly, for a family emergency. I may be able to keep up blogging pretty well, since jet lag will have me up in the wee hours of the morning anyway. But posting may be light and sporadic for the next ten or twelve days. For the moment, I've preposted one more thing, to go up in a few minutes.

I'll let you know when I'm in California.

More archaeology and politics

MORE ARCHAEOLOGY AND POLITICS: I don't have time to comment on either of these articles right now, but I do want to note them:

PA rewriting Jewish history

Special: Palestinian archeological revisionism aims to nullify Jewish connection to land

Giulio Meotti (Ynet News)
Published: 10.11.11, 15:22 / Israel News

Palestinians are using archeology to advance their statehood bid. Prominent archaeologist Gabriel Barkai called it "cultural Intifada."

The PA will seek World Heritage status for the birthplace of Jesus, Bethlehem, once the UN’s cultural agency (UNESCO) admits them as a full member. Hamdan Taha, the Palestinian Authority minister who deals with antiquities and culture, also listed Nablus and Hebron among 20 cultural heritage sites which he said could be nominated as World Heritage Sites.

Professor Taha is a pioneer of the new Palestinian revisionism. Last January National Geographic magazine ran a “Travel Palestine” ad that appeared to blot out the State of Israel’s existence. Published by Taha’s Ministry of Antiquities, the ad said that “Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River.” This is just one example of Taha’s propaganda successes around the world.

[...]

More on Hamdan Taha here. More on Rachel's Tomb here and links.

Top archaeologist decries Jerusalem dig as unscientific 'tourist gimmick'
Dr. Eilat Mazar, who worked in close cooperation with the group - which promotes the 'Judaization' of East Jerusalem - says excavations carried out in violation of accepted procedures.

By Nir Hasson (Haaretz)

An archaeologist who worked with the Elad association in Jerusalem's City of David claims that the association and the Antiquities Authority are carrying out excavations "without any commitment to scientific archaeological work."

[...]

More on the Elad controversy here and links.

Samaritan Sukkot

SAMARITAN SUKKOT has already started:

Gallery: Samaritans celebrate Succot atop Mount Gerizim

By BEN HARTMAN AND REUTERS (Jerusalem Post
10/11/2011 16:04

Members of the Samaritan community took part in a traditional pilgrimage marking the holiday of Succot near the West Bank city of Nablus.

Members of the Samaritan community took part on Tuesday in a traditional pilgrimage marking the holiday of Succot atop Mount Gerizim near the West Bank city of Nablus.

[...]

The article includes a photo gallery. Another photo gallery is a the MSNBC Photo Blog: Ancient Samaritan community marks the Feast of the Tabernacles with sunrise pilgrimage. And there's one more picture (scroll down) at the National Post's Photos of the Day, Oct. 11, 2011.

Sukkot

SUKKOT, the seven-day festival of Booths or Tabernacles, begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating it.

Wayne Stiles has a relevant Jerusalem Post column: Sights and Insights: Succot and the waters of Siloam.

Second-Temple era mikve discovered

A SECOND-TEMPLE-ERA MIKVE has been discovered near Kibbutz Tzora (which is near Beit Shemesh and thirteen or so kilometers west of Jerusalem):

Mikve Discovery Tangible Proof of Jewish Civilization in Tzora
It comes down to water. The upgrading of a water supply system paves the way for the discovery of a mikve.

By Aryeh ben Hayim (Arutz Sheva)
First Publish: 10/11/2011, 6:14 PM

Samson was moved by the divine spirit between Tzora and Eshtaol.

Now the Israel Antiquities Authority has discovered the remains of a mikve( a ritual bath) from the Second Temple period (first century BCE-first century CE) as part of an archeological rescue dig prior to the installation of a water line by the Mekorot Company at an antiquities site, c. 2 kilometers north of Kibbutz Tzora.

[...]