Ancient synagogues vandalized

TWO ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES have been vandalized in recent days, one in Jericho and one in Tiberias:

Jewish worshipers: W. Bank synagogue vandalized
Police dispatch unit to area to investigate reports of Nazi swastika symbols and Arabic writing scrawled on ancient synagogue.

Vandals damage mosaic floor at ancient synagogue
Oldest known synagogue mosaic at Hamat Tiberias National Park damaged, walls spray-painted, apparently in protest of archaeological digging at Jewish grave sites.

Both articles are from the Jerusalem Post. More on the Na'aran synagogue in Jericho here and links. The Tiberias synagogue has been mentioned here and here.

Coptic biblical and apocryphal manuscripts to be auctioned

ALIN SUCIU notes an upcoming auction of Coptic manuscripts: Christie’s Auction of an Early Christian Papyrus Document. They include fragments of 1 Kingdoms/1 Samuel and of a psalmic work that may be a biblical apocryphon and which may or may not be Manichean (Manichaean). Both manuscripts have been published previously.

As always, the ideal would be for a philanthropist to buy the manuscripts and donate them to a museum. But if that is too much to hope for, I do encourage any buyer to make the manuscripts available for scholars like Alin to study.

The 7 Most Terrifying Archaeological Discoveries

CRACKED.COM has produced another archaeological list: The 7 Most Terrifying Archaeological Discoveries.

Stories previously covered by PaleoJudaica include the dead babies at Ashkelon and chemical warfare at Dura-Europos. The Buckinghamshire dead-baby cache is just as horrifying as the Ashkelon one.

Tony Burke awarded F. W. Beare Prize

CONGRATULATIONS TO TONY BURKE: Infancy Gospel of Thomas Edition Wins Book Prize.

Review of Bagnall (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Papyrology

THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF PAPYROLOGY, edited by Roger Bagnall, is reviewed by Edgar Ebojo at the Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian Studies website. Excerpt:

This magnificent Handbook is a very rich resource for those who are interested in the science and art of papyrology. Closer to home, this will definitely be a “textbook” for many years to come that will be constantly consulted by postgraduate researchers dealing particularly with biblical manuscripts, either in a roll or codex format, or whether written on a papyrus or parchment. This Handbook is definitely for everyone who recognizes that the past is a very certain guide for the future. Let me end this humble review with how I would like to see the future of papyrology–similar to how Peter Van Minnen (p. 659) ends this Handbook–with a high sense of optimism, “The past will continue to surprise into the distant future as far as the eye can see”.

Bird, Jewish Jesus discussion

MICHAEL BIRD responds to James Crossley: James Crossley on Mike Bird’s Jewish Jesus. Nazis are involved, or, more precisely, not involved. Alcoholic content comes up too.

A new boundary inscription at Gezer

BIBLE PLACES BLOG: New Gezer Boundary Inscription. That makes 13, plus the same expedition rediscovered the lost number 4.

One more time: PaleoJudaica miscellenea

I'M BACK IN MY OFFICE and trying to catch up with everything. Here, briefly, is what I have found from the last five days or so which seems blogworthy.

First, belated happy Shavuot to all those celebrating. It began on the evening of the 26th while I was in transit. More here.

The Steinsaltz Talmud is being translated into English: Steinsaltz Talmud available in English. The first volume of Steinsaltz’s Koren Talmud Bavli is being launched in conjunction with Shavuot (JTA/Times of Israel). Background here and links.

Canaanite bling: Archaeologists find rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry near the ancient city of Megiddo (AP). People sure liked gold earrings in ancient Palestine. Lots more ancient bling here and links.

A Hebrew inscription from 390 CE in Portugal: Evidence of early Jews in Portugal found. It is reportedly the earliest surviving remnant of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula and the earliest Hebrew inscription from the area by two or three centuries.

An Iron Age II extrabiblical reference to Bethlehem: Ancient Bethlehem seal found; first reference to city outside Bible. Reservations about the reading were initially expressed by George Athas (et al.), but (see update to the post) he has provisionally withdrawn them and I am not currently aware of any other epigraphers who question the reading.

A project to digitize Samaritan manuscripts is covered in detail by Ofer Aderet in Haaretz: Using cutting-edge technology, researchers unearth the history of Israel’s Samaritan community. A pioneering digitizing project led by American experts will now enable members of the community – numbering just 750 – to glance at their past.

Financial problems in the small Samaritan community in Palestine in the 19th and early 20th centuries forced its members to sell their ancient texts to buyers in Europe and the United States. A pioneering digitizing project, developed by Dr. Jim Ridolfo from the University of Cincinnati, will now enable members of the community - 750 people, who live in Holon and on Mount Gerizim, near Nablus - to see what they have been missing.

Ridolfo is collaborating with a team of researchers from Michigan State University, as well as several other academic institutions.

The 32-year-old American scholar, who is in Israel conducting research at Tel Aviv University and visiting the Samaritan community, explained the vision behind the project, which he says goes beyond the boundaries of academia.

"Our goal is to enable the Samaritan community in Mount Gerizim and Holon to have access to ancient Samaritan manuscripts in libraries, archives and museums abroad," explains Ridolfo, an assistant professor of composition and rhetoric, who is writing a book on the project. "This project differs from similar digitization projects, in that we're primarily interested in tailoring the archival interfaces not just to scholars but also to the Samaritan community."

Cool. For many more manuscript digitization projects, see here and links.

Efforts to revive spoken Aramaic in the Holy Land: Christian villages attempt to revive ancient Biblical language. In both the Galilee and the West Bank, Christian communities are putting a new focus on Aramaic, with a little help from a Swedish television channel. (AP). Somewhat related story here.

Temple Mount Watch: Netanyahu - "Fatal mistake" to concede sacred sites.

(Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday it would be a "fatal mistake" ever to give up control over Jerusalem's holy sites.

And finally, the Daily Mail is trying to flog the story of that bogus Gospel of Barnabas manuscript back to life: Seized from smugglers, the leather-bound 'gospel' which Iran claims will bring down Christianity and shake world politics. Background here and links.

Home

I'M BACK IN ST. ANDREWS. As usual, more later.

Off to Scotland

I'M OFF TO ST. ANDREWS AGAIN. I expect to be there Sunday evening and, as usual, I will check in when I'm home. But guess what? My first week back in Scotland looks to be almost as busy as my last two weeks in California. So blogging may continue to be less than consistent for a while, but I will blog as much as time permits. Meanwhile, have a good weekend.

PaleoJudaica miscellanea

SORRY FOR THE LIGHT POSTING. Extremely busy here, and likely to stay that way the rest of the week. But here are some recent headlines, on which I don't have time for much comment.

In Jerusalem: Cabinet Advances Bible Museum (Arutz Sheva)

A harbinger of the higher education bubble in Israel? Budget-pinched women’s Talmud program to close. Program was first course to provide stipends to women scholars in order to facilitate long-term study of Talmudic texts (Jerusalem Post).

More on the Arabic Talmud, with some commentary from an Israel National Library curator: Introducing: Talmud in Arabic. Over 90 Jordanian researchers spend six years translating Babylonian Talmud into Arabic; demand across Arab world said to be strong (ynetnews.com).

Meawhile, the ADL has had a look at the introduction to the translation and what they found is not encouraging: New Arabic Translation of Talmud Promotes Anti-Semitic Narratives (via the Talmud Blog FB page).

Background on the Arabic Talmud is here and links.

Nehemiah scroll fragment

EXCITING NEWS FROM BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Book of Nehemiah Found Among the Scrolls. Scroll scholars find first fragment of Nehemiah.

Of course readers of PaleoJudaica have known about this for nearly four years. But it's good to hear that the official publication is coming out soon.

Armenian manuscripts digitized in Syria

FINISHING a digitization project in Syria, and none too soon:

Armenian manuscripts digitized in Syria

May 18, 2012 - 15:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at St. John’s University completed a manuscript preservation project in the Middle East shortly before the violence worsened in Syria, sctimes.com reports.

“This was our last current project in Syria, and we had done actually a series of projects - about six of them in Syria - in different locations,” said the Rev. Columba Stewart, executive director of the Collegeville-based library.

However, HMML-trained technicians in Aleppo, Syria, were able to complete the digitization of 225 Armenian manuscripts belonging to the Armenian Orthodox Diocese of Aleppo - one of the largest Armenian collections in Syria.

[...]

Adam McCollum, who is mentioned later in the article, is lead cataloger of Eastern Christian manuscripts at HMML and has a blog, hmmlorientalia, to which I have linked from time to time.

No word on the contents of the manuscripts, but many Old Testament pseudepigrapha circulated in Armenian translations, and translations of Philo of Alexandria's works were also transmitted in an important Armenian manuscript tradition. Perhaps some of these manuscripts preserve such material.

Lots of other digitization projects have been noted here and links.

PaleoJudaica miscellanea

STILL UNBELIEVABLY BUSY, but I'm taking a few minutes to catch up with blogging. Here are some recent stories of interest:

More on that Arabic Talmud from Arutz Sheva: Talmud in Arabic Being Sold in Jordan. A group of researchers and translators in Jordan have translated the Talmud into Arabic. Translated version sold in local book fairs. A copy has been purchased by the National Library in Jerusalem.

Background here and links.

An article on IAA supervision of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Philadelphia exhibition: Dead Sea Scolls exhibit opens under careful scrutiny (AP).

Background here and links.

New archeological discovery: Ancient olive oil press unearthed in Modi’in. Archaeologists say the unusually well-preserved facility was active 1,400 years ago (Times of Israel).

Can't make it up: Jesus Christ, now they’ve made him a video-game character (Religion World blog, Orlando Sentinel).

James Charlesworth has released his much awaited report on Talpiot Tomb B and you can download it as a pdf file: What is the Message of the "Patio Tomb" in Talpiot, Jerusalem? I don't have time right now to give it the attention it deserves, but Mark Goodacre, who has been following this story much more closely than I, has some reflections: James Charlesworth on Talpiot Tomb B.

Background here and links.

Review of Friedman, The Aleppo Codex

MATTI FRIEDMAN'S THE ALEPPO CODEX is reviewed by Lauri Miller at Salon: “The Aleppo Codex”: The bizarre history of a precious book. A reporter traces the shadowy fate of the definitive version of the Hebrew Bible. Excerpt:

The codex was the perfect version of the Bible, a sort of atomic clock of Judaism, and intended to be the model for all subsequent copies. Its early history was fraught: captured by Crusaders in the fall of Jerusalem, ransomed by the Jewish community in Cairo and consulted by the fabled sage Maimonides, it was eventually taken to the Syrian city of Aleppo. There, it resided for half a century. Although it was well-cared-for by Aleppo’s Jewish community, it had come to be revered as a relic or treasure; few were allowed to see it and no one was allowed to copy it.

All that changed in 1947, when the establishment of the state of Israel by a United Nations resolution led to unrest in the Arab world and the harassment and persecution of Jewish communities in Muslim nations. In Aleppo, this took the form of riots and the sacking of the synagogue. The codex — commonly referred to as the Crown — was supposed to have been consumed in a fire set by the mob.

It was not, and in 1958, the Crown was smuggled into Jerusalem by a cheese merchant who was one of the few Syrian Jews to receive official permission to emigrate to Israel. Friedman became interested in this “lonely treasure and millennium-old traveler” in 2008, when he decided to write an article about it. He imagined the piece would be “an uplifting and uncomplicated account of the rescue of a cultural artifact,” but what he discovered instead was a thicket of conflicting reports, missing records, puzzling omissions, stonewalling officials and obsessed amateur sleuths.

Blessed are the cheese merchants.

Earlier reviews etc. here and links.

Classical Timeline

A NEW ONLINE PROJECT run by University of Aberdeen postgraduate Erlend D. MacGillivray is seeking an editor to help with the project:

An editorship supervising entries on Judaism and Christianity in Classical antiquity for www.classicaltimeline.com is currently vacant and is seeking suitably qualified candidates to apply. It is expected that the prospective editor will have an academic position, a PhD, or have published research within this field. The editor can choose to devote as much time as they wish to this role, but it is anticipated that they will spend on average 2 hours a week contributing and supervising material. While they are expected to be fastidious in ensuring the reliability of the content of the timeline, it should be noted that there will be a disclaimer on the introductory screen stating that the timeline is not intended to be a substitute for more conventional sources of information on the Classical world, and that serious inquirers should continue to direct their attention to such resources.

ClassicalTimeline has only been online for less than a week but has already several thousand views.This should be an exciting project to be involved in; particularly for those who wish to try and increase public knowledge on the history of Judaism and Christianity and for those interested in the expanding field of the digital humanities. For more information please visit http://www.classicalstudiesonline.org/get-involved/.

Charlesworth on the Talpiot Tombs controversy

JAMES CHARLESWORTH is interviewed by Ben Witherington at Professor Witherington's blog, The Bible and Culture: Dr. Jim Charlesworth on Talpiot Tomb B. These are Professor Charlesworth's views given first-hand for the first time and it is very helpful to have them. He will be posting more on his website (www.FJCO-DSS-Events.org) this week. I look forward to seeing what he has to say.

Background here and links.

Phoenicia back in Gibraltar

THE GOOD SHIP PHOENICIA is back under sail and has just rescued a sailor stranded in Gibraltar. Sort of. Phoenicia cruises into Gibraltar’s Ocean Village. What's upcoming:

Speaking this week of Phoenicia’s return to the Rock, Captain Philip Beale commented, “Phoenicia is delighted to be back in Gibraltar and hosted once again by Ocean Village. We first visited Ocean Village towards the end of Phoenicia's historic circumnavigation of Africa in August 2010 and we received exemplary service and support from the team. They have also worked tirelessly for our current visit and offered vital assistance to crew member Len who has been a fortnight in Gibraltar in anticipation of our arrival. We are still urgently looking for one or two other crew members for our sail to London’s St Katharine Docks where she will be transformed into a floating museum for the summer. If you’re keen – get in touch.”

Phoenicia will now retrace the ancient Phoenician-Cornish tin trade route and head towards Falmouth and finally London, arriving at St Katharine Docks on 2 June. “The Phoenicians: The Greatest Ancient Sailors” exhibition will run through to September and feature ancient artefacts from the Phoenician era. Visitors will be able to climb onboard Phoenicia for a tour of the vessel and learn more about Phoenician culture as well as the recent expedition that triumphed over Somali pirates, treacherous storms and mechanical problems to recreate one of mankind’s greatest journeys. Visit phoenicia.org.uk to purchase tickets or for more information. Phoenicia hopes to visit Gibraltar again later on in the year and offer tours to local schoolchildren. Meanwhile, Len’s grandchildren, all seven of them, are back in South Africa following the Ship’s Log and satellite tracker and keeping a scrapbook of their grandfather’s fantastic adventures.

Background on Phoenicia and her epic circum-African voyage is here and links.

Abraham Tal receives Gesenius Fellowship

CONGRATULATIONS TO ABRAHAM TAL. Jack Sasson reports on the Agade list:

From Stefan Schorch (schorch_AT@gmx.de):
====================================

Professor Abraham Tal is the first recipient of the newly established Gesenius-fellowship at the University of Halle-Wittenberg.

Tal is professor emeritus of Tel Aviv University, former Vice President of the Academy of the Hebrew Language in Jerusalem, and Editor-in-Chief of The Historical Dictionary of the Hebrew Language. He has published widely in the field of Hebrew and Aramaic
linguistics. Among his numerous publications are the pioneering critical edition of "The Samaritan Targum of the Pentateuch" (1980-83); "A Dictionary of Samaritan Aramaic" (2000). For more details, see his homepage at: http://humanities.tau.ac.il/segel/abraham/

Tal is the first "Wilhelm-Gesenius-Gastwissenschaftler" at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. The Gesenius fellowship and the Gesenius junior-fellowship were established by the Institute of Biblical studies at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in commemoration of Wilhelm Gesenius (1786-1842), the founder of modern Hebrew studies, who was a professor at this institute throughout his entire academic career, 1810-1842.

Go here for the homepage of the "Gesenius fellowship": http://www.theologie.uni-halle.de/at/gesenius/.

Earlier PaleoJudaica posts involving Professor Tal are here, here, and here.

Arrived

I'M IN SAN DIEGO. More tomorrow.