BARlines

014

Jerusalem Congress

Summer’s Star—The Meetings of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament

The highlight of last summer’s scholarly meetings was clearly the XIIth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT), which held its sessions in Jerusalem from August 24 through August 29.

There were, to be sure, numerous other estival scholarly convocations of note and worth: the SNTS (Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas) in Atlanta, the International Byzantine Congress in Washington, the International SBL (Society of Biblical Literature), the CBA (Catholic Biblical Association), the IOMS (International Organization of Masoretic Studies), the IOSCS (the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies) and others.

But the XIIth Congress (the Latin numbering is used by the organization itself) of the IOSOT was special. As the secretary of the IOSOT, Professor John Emerton of St. John’s College in Cambridge, England, remarked in his opening address, this was the first time this organization of largely European scholars had met outside of Europe and it was also the first time the IOSOT had selected a Jewish president.

The new president of the IOSOT is Professor Benjamin Mazar, former president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the doyen of Israeli archaeologists and Biblical historians. Mazar celebrated his 80th birthday at the congress, which lent it a special festival air. One public congratulant referred to Mazar as the Nestor of Biblical archaeology and Biblical history. A selection of Mazar’s articles, revised to reflect recent scholarly developments, was published by the Israel Exploration Society and released at the congress to mark the occasion. (See review by Philip King in Books in Brief.)

One reservation that had been expressed about holding the IOSOT congress in Jerusalem was the fear that scholars from Communist nations that did not recognize Israel would not be permitted to attend. The delicate arrangements for the issuance of invitations and visas to these scholars reflected Byzantine complexity. But against all odds, more than 20 scholars from Communist countries came to Jerusalem and were treated as special guests. Scholars from Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and East Germany were allowed by their governments to come to Israel for the scholarly convocation. The East Germans received permission to attend only a day before their departure.

The remainder of scholars in attendance came from around the globe: Egypt, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Australia, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Tanzania, Yugoslavia, as well as from North America, Western Europe and, of course, Israel. In all, over 400 participants attended the sessions, including a contingent from the Biblical Archaeology Society—subscribers to Bible Review and Biblical Archaeology Review.

As Ephraim Urbach, president of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, remarked in his address to the congress:

“In addition to the traditional challenges which previous generations of scholars have had to face, modern students of the Bible must assimilate an overwhelming corpus of data ensuing from the spectacular archaeological discoveries made in our neighboring countries, centers of ancient civilizations, and the steadily increasing yield from many sites in Israel itself. The impact of these discoveries has shattered not a few accepted theories, constructs and emendations of Scripture. Yet the transformations taking place in this field are due not only to the discoveries of new sources and additional material, but perhaps even more so to the adaptation of new methods and approaches which have developed in the various disciplines, be it historiography, linguistics, comparative study of religion, anthropology, sociology and last, but not least, the introduction of the use of the computer.”

Lectures were given morning, noon and night. Each morning three invited papers on a particular topic were introduced by a moderator who set the subject in its broader context. The world’s leading scholars spoke on such subjects as Prophetic Literature, Schools and Scribal Activity in the Biblical Period, and Social and Religious Institutions in the Ancient Near East. Discussion and questions followed the lectures.

In the afternoon, simultaneous shorter lectures on a variety of subjects gave the participants a smorgasbord of choices. Topics ranged from “Adultery, Prophetic Tradition and the Decalogue” to “Vocatives and Euphemisms in the Aramaic Targums to the Pentateuch.”

The proceedings opened with an evening 016session that not only included scholarly talks, but greetings from Jerusalem’s irrepressible mayor, Teddy Kollek, and two beautiful harp interludes by Adina Haroz. While the participants could hardly expect Mayor Kollek to appear at each of the succeeding evening programs, they would have liked more musical interludes—a minor criticism of the excellent organization and planning of the meetings by Professor Avi Hurwitz and the arrangements by Janet Amitai.

Other evening sessions included a special opening of the Israel Museum limited to the participants of the Congress. The featured exhibits were the stunning Dayan collection^a and finds from the Shoulder of Hinnom excavations in Jerusalem that included two unrolled amulets containing the oldest preserved Biblical text—from the seventh or sixth century B.C. The two texts scratched on the silver surface are slightly varying versions of the priestly blessing from Numbers 6:24–26.^b

The final evening session was held in the great hall of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. The monumental wall of this great hall is covered with three large modern tapestries by the Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall. The effect is awe-inspiring. The lectures in the great hall were preceded by an elegant banquet.

A series of tours to archaeological excavations in Jerusalem and throughout the country rounded out the action-packed and word-packed program.

The XIIIth Congress of the IOSOT is scheduled for the summer of 1989 in Louvain, Belgium. This raises a problem. The IOSOT holds its meetings every three years. The World Congress of Jewish Studies holds its meetings every four years. The International Congress of Biblical Archaeology holds its meetings every five years. All three congresses are now scheduled for the summer of 1989. The leaders of these three great congresses should meet in the very near future to coordinate their plans and possibly to reschedule one of the meetings to 1988 and another to 1990. This will maximize attendance at all of these congresses and enable the many people who wish to attend all three to do so.

New Prize

Fellner Awards Honor Best Article in BAR and BR

An award for the best article in Biblical Archaeology Review and Bible Review in 1985–86 has been announced by the Leopold and Clara M. Fellner Charitable Foundation.

Four distinguished judges have been selected to choose the recipients of the awards which carry a prize of $500 each. The judges for BAR will be Fredric Brandfon, Assistant Professor of Religion at the College of Charleston and John Laughlin, Associate Professor of Religion at Averett College.

Brandfon is executive director of the excavations at Tel Gerisa in Israel. During his recent tenure as Mellon Fellow at the University of Southern California, Brandfon taught at BAS Vacation Seminars at Pomona College and the University of Judaism.

Laughlin is known to BAR readers as the author of “The Remarkable Discoveries at Tel Dan,” BAR 07:05, based on his experience as staff member at the Tel Dan excavations. Most recently he has excavated at Capernaum and taught at the 1986 BAS Vacation Seminar at Johns Hopkins University.

The judges for Bible Review will be Katherine Doob Sakenfeld, Associate Professor of Old Testament and director of Ph.D. studies at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Lawrence Schiffman, Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. Sakenfeld is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Bible Review and is the author of Faithfulness in Action (Fortress Press, 1985).

Schiffman’s most recent publication is Who Was a Jew? (KTAV, 1985).

The Fellner Foundation was established by Leopold and Clara Fellner to perpetuate the name and memory of their parents, Rabbi Joel Fellner and Gisella Schreiber and Ernest Mannheimer and Arabella Weiss. The Fellner Awards will by announced in the January/February Biblical Archaeology Review and in the Spring Bible Review.

Jerusalem Congress

Summer’s Star—The Meetings of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament