List of The 18th World Congress of Jewish Studies, streamed via Zoom:

For the zoom link, click here.

To view the full congress program, click here.

Passcode: 613

 

• Monday, Aug 08

9:00 – 11:00 – The Masorah Comments

Chair: Lea Himmelfarb

11:30 – 13:30 – The Masorah and the Grammar of the Language

Chair: Chanan Ariel

The Pronunciation of Dagesh Lene in the Tiberian Reading Tradition Yehonatan Wormser (H)

The Hebrew Masorah in Linguistic and Cultural Contacts: What is “Dagesh”? Jonathan Howard (H)

Radak’s Reference to the Stressed Syllable in his Biblical Commentary Lea Himmelfarb (H)

14:30 – 16:30 – Cantillation Notes

Chair: Yaaqov Etsion

The Ṭaʿămê hammiqrāʾ: A Medieval ToBI Transcription of Tiberian Hebrew Sophia Pitcher (E)

Lists Divided: Minority/Majority Ephraim Halivni (H)

Divisional Patterns: Near Similarity in the Biblical Accentuation of the Prose Books Elihu Shannon (H)

 

17:00 – 19:00 – Torah Scrolls and their Preparation

Chair: Jordan Penkower

Two Newly Identified Tenth–Eleventh-Century Oriental Torah Scrolls in the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg Nehemia Gordon (E)

Notarikon Scores of God’s Name in Torah Scrolls and Esther Scrolls Ephraim B. Caspi (H)

Instructions from a Babylonian Source on How to Deal with Problematic Spacing of Open and Closed Parashot Mordechai Weintraub (H)

 

• Tuesday, Aug 09

9:00 – 11:00 – Emotion and Devotion in the Bible, Second Temple Literature, and Rabbinic Judaism

Chair: Maren Niehoff
Total Devotion in Deuteronomy: Emotions, Narrativity, and Ideals of Devotion Laura Feldt (E)

Love of Piety, Hatred for Herod: The Emotions of Devotion Among Jews in Josephus’s Antiquities Ari Mermelstein (E)

Hear It, Say It, Do It, Feel It: Total Devotion through Torah in Rabbinic Parables Tamara Holkenov (E)

 

11:30 – 13:30 – Reading the Orit: Beta Israel and Orthodox Christian Ethiopian Scriptures, Interaction and Isolation

Chair: Loren Stuckenbruck

The Beta Israel Manuscript Corpus: Classification and Textual Analysis Sophia Dege-Müller (E)

Ezra Literature Among Jews and Christians in the Horn of Africa Ted Erho (E)

Religious Instruction and Initiation into the Priesthood among the Betä Israel (Ethiopian Jews) Bar Kribus (E)

Reception of 1 Enoch in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Tradition: A Look at Manuscripts Loren Stuckenbruck (E)

Transmission, Interpretation, and Adaptation of Hebrew Bible Covenant Renewal Traditions in Beta Israel Traditions Dalit Rom–Shiloni (E)

 

15:00 – 17:00 – Biblical Figures and Religious Authority in Early Apocalyptic Texts

Chair: Søren Holst

4QVisions of Amram and the Literary Genres of Second Temple Judaism Jesper Høgenhaven (E)

The Testament Genre and the Apocalyptic Worldview Stefan Kristensen (E)

Human Choice and Divine Control in Qumran and the Hebrew Bible Kasper Siegismund (E)

Moral Agency in the Shepherd of Hermas and in Second Temple Judaism Hermut Loehr (E)

 

17:30- 19:30 – Manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible and Scribal Traditions

Chair: Yosef Ofer

Presentation of Grammatical Variants from the Manuscripts in an Edition of the Hebrew Bible Viktor Golinets (E)

RNL EVR II B 80+: – A Tiberian Torah Codex, with Babylonian Masora Kim Phillips (E)

Le-Sefer Torah Kotevim: Instructions for the Copy of Torah Scrolls in Medieval Codices of the Hebrew Bible Javier Del Barco (E)

 

• Wednesday, Aug 10

9:00 – 11:00 – Later Biblical Books

Chair: Ya’akov Dolgopolsky-Geva

Spinoza was Right: Ezra and his Peers Wrote the Old Testament. Joseph Agassi (H)

The Appendix to the Book of Daniel (12:5–13) Michael Segal (H)

A New Look at the Formation of Nehemiah’s Narrative Natan Evron (H)

“Besides being Wise, Qoheleth also Taught the People Knowledge”: The Model of the Wise Teacher in Qoheleth Compared with Ben Sira Tova Forti (H)

 

11:30 – 13:30 – Celebrating the Sixty-Fifth Anniversary of Beit Mikra: Journal for the Study of the Bible and Its World

Chair: Dalit Rom–Shiloni

Research and Zionist Ideology in the Early Days of Beit Mikra: A Chapter in the History of Biblical Studies in Israel Lea Mazor (H)

Panel Discussion with Members of the Editorial Board

Women in the Book of Deuteronomy Yael Shemesh (H)

Discourse in Deuteronomy: Narrative, Rhetoric, and Legal Sections Frank Polak (H)

 

15:00 – 17:00 – Tel Abel Beth Maacah in the Iron Age: Between Israel, Aram and Phoenicia

Chair: Naama Yahalom-Mack

Tel Abel Beth Maacah: An Overview of Ten Seasons of Excavations Nava Panitz-Cohen (E)

“If the Right Astragalus is Punctured…”: Identifying Function and Symbolic Behaviors in an Astragalus Hoard at Tel Abel Beth Maacah Matthew Susnow (E)

The Enigmatic Faience Head of a Bearded Male from Tel Abel Beth Maacah Debora Ben-Ami (E)

The Iron IIA Benyaw Inscription and its Implications for Understanding Abel Beth Maacah in Its Regional–Historical Context Naama Yahalom-Mack (E)

 

17:30- 19:30 – Biblical Archaeology

Chair: Aren Maeir

The Early Purple Dye Industry at Tel Shiqmona: The Source of the Techelet and the Royal Purple of the Jewish Temple? Golan Shalvi (H)

Did Biblical and Apocryphal Authors Use Maps? Ya’akov Dolgopolsky-Geva (H)

Aram–Damascus and the Southern Levant: Destruction and Urban Renewal in the Late Ninth Century B.C.E. Sheila Gyllenberg (E)

Ashkenaz, the Son of Gomer: The Scythians in the Bible and in the History of the Land of Israel Pawel Szkolut (E)

 

• Thursday, Aug 11

9:00 – 11:00 – Diachronic Aspects of Biblical Hebrew I

Chair: Tania Notarius

Interrogative Pronouns Functioning as Indefinite Pronouns in Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew Elitzur Bar-Asher Siegal (H)

The Syntax of Regnal Year Expressions in the Books of Kings: Literary and Diachronic Aspects Adina Moshavi (H)

Late Biblical Hebrew and Northwest Semitic Epigraphy Emmanuel Mastey (H)

Semantic Shifts in the Language of Post Exilic Books and Their Contribution to the Reconstruction of Late Biblical Hebrew: Qohelet 1-5 as a Test Case Nili Samet (H)

“And their Children spoke half Ashdodian, and they Could Not Speak Judean” (Nehemiah 13:24): Does the LBH Resonate with Nehemiah Words? Ohad Cohen (H)

 

11:30 – 13:30 – Diachronic Aspects of Biblical Hebrew II

Chair: Nili Samet

Passive Voice in Ugaritic, Archaic and Classical Biblical Hebrew in Diachronic Perspective Tania Notarius (H)

When did the Semi-Plene Biblical Spelling Come into Being? Yoel Elitzur (H)

Deviations in the Use of Tenses in the Tiberian Tradition and their Origins Chanan Ariel (H)

(We-)hinnēh and hēn in the Biblical Manuscripts of the Dead Sea as Compared to the Masoretic Text Maria Maddalena Colasuonno (E)

 

* 11:30 – 13:30 – Biblical Contexts (to view, click here)

Chair: Adi Marili

Emotion and Evaluation in the Bible: Two Sides of the Same Coin Asaf Steinberger (H)

The Nature and Use of the Urim and the Thummim: A Linguistic Analysis Ariel Cohen (E)

Body and Soul: Biblical Holism with Philological Approach Adi Marili (H)

 

15:00 – 17:00 – Biblical Interpretation from Ancient to Modern Times

Chair: Michal Dell 

Meklenburg`s Conflict in Defending Joseph and his Brothers Michal Dell (H)

On Ḥaran, Aharon, Ḥaron and Ḥarak Yuval Vadee (H)

Nachmanides’s Three References to Abraham’s Motives for Ascending to Canaan: A Test Case for Understanding the Processes of Change in Nachmanides’s Exegesis Yehuda Tropper (H)

The Peshitta in the Beta Israel Tradition Yosi Ziv (H)

 

17:30- 19:30 – Bible in its Ancient Near Eastern Setting

Chair: Shirly Natan-Yulzary

Sans Erasure: A Counterintuitive Scribal Practice Ed Greenstein (E)

Is there Nothing New Under the Sun? Jonathan Yogev (H)

True Wisdom in Job: A Diatribe against Existing Values? Dominick S. Hernández (E)

The Felled Tree: Metaphor and Theology Naama Golan (H)