YU Dead Sea Scrolls seminar open to the public

The rarified discourse and debate of scholars and researchers will be open for the lay public as well as professionals to listen, observe and learn at a first time seminar on May 19th at Yeshiva University.

A confluence of scholars from different but related fields and a generous grant has brought together the first annual conference on the Dead Sea Scrolls to be held in the Lipschutz-Gutwirth Study Hall (Rubin Shul) of Yeshiva University this Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 PM.

The goal of the seminar was for students and the lay public to “see actual scholarship in action,” said Lawrence H. Schiffman, Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Judaic Studies, Yeshiva University, and a world renown expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls. The seminar would open it to the “wider public,” he said, “for lay people who are interested in learning about the Dead Sea Scrolls…its an obligation to present it to scholars and the lay public.” He and Moshe J. Bernstein, the David A. and Fannie M. Denenberg Chair in Biblical Studies, Yeshiva University, said that they wanted to do this for along time, to bring scholars together on campus. “We hope professors are lost in the larger audience. If we get 60 or 70 (attendees) we will be very happy.”

The two professors noted that Yeshiva University currently has seven professors on staff who have dealt with the Dead Sea Scrolls in some way, two experts on Second Temple literature, Two Talmud professors, one in language and two on the Dead Sea Scrolls. “It’s a public opportunity to get across the study of the scrolls,” said Bernstein. “It could have been presented in a seminar in an esoteric way…(this) brings it to a very intelligent layperson level.” They noted that the “serious and pointed questions” presented at seminars “enhances” their own work. “This is the kick start for what is hopefully a three year project,” said Bernstein. Schiffman noted that they received a three year grant through the generous support of Debra and Jay Zachter.

Before joining YU, Lawrence H. Schiffman was former Chair of New York University’s Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, where he served as Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. He was also a member of NYU’s Center for Ancient Studies and Center for Near Eastern Studies. During the academic year 1989/90 he was a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as part of a research group dealing with the Dead Sea Scrolls. He has appeared on various documentaries relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls for PBS, the BBC and A&E. He was part of a research team in 1992-1993 working on the unpublished scrolls. He is a resident of Great Neck.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are ancient Hebrew scrolls that were accidentally found by a Bedouin boy in 1947 in Israel’s Judean desert near the Dead Sea. Some of them are on display in the Shrine of the Book at the Israel museum in Jerusalem. They are also available for viewing on the Internet. The scrolls variously are written on papyrus, parchment, or bronze. The Hebrew is written in ktav Ashuri. The area was subsequently investigated archeologically and other discoveries were made and the various texts discovered have and are still being analyzed. All the books or parts of the books of the Tanach were found except for Esther. Other documents as well were found, some describing the beliefs of the people who lived there, as well as other writings. Professors Bernstein and Schiffman noted that as for the place the scrolls were found, “everyone thinks it was a library, that it shows constant use over a long period of time.” They noted that it was probably destroyed and vacated in 68 CE during the Roman war against the Jews in that area. They determined that the residents were attacked based on archeologists finding Roman arrow heads at the Qumran caves. They said that no extensive food stores were found indicating a “day to day existence.”

Other presenters at the seminar are Steven D. Fraade of Yale and Alexandria Frisch of Ursinus College. “We are hoping that it will become a permanent part of the intellectual and academic life here at Yeshiva University,” said Schiffman.

For more information and to RSVP email Amy Rotheim Sullivan at enrollment@yu.edu.