Milestones

026

Professor Avraham Biran, the renowned Israeli archaeologist and former director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology (NGSBA), passed away on September 16, 2008, just one month shy of his 99th birthday. In 2002 Dr. Biran was awarded the State of Israel’s most distinguished honor, the Israel Prize, in recognition of his contributions to the field of archaeological research in the Land of Israel.

Avraham Biran was born in 1909 to Aharon and Naomi Bergman (in 1949, with the declaration of the State of Israel, he changed his name to a Hebrew one, Biran, a practice followed by many other Jews in Israel at the time). Avraham was a third-generation southern Levantine Jew. Following the death of his father in 1919, although desperately poor, his mother insisted on sending Avraham and his sister to Haifa’s prestigious Reali high school founded in 1913—a place Biran and many others have referred to as the “Eton of Palestine.” By the time Avraham was 13, he and his siblings had been orphaned. The adversity of losing his parents early in life propelled him to dream, to work extremely hard in his studies and to develop an amazingly positive sense of humor.

Biran traveled by ocean liner in the early 1930s to pursue university studies in the United States. There he took his B.A. degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he studied under the great scholar William Foxwell Albright and became Albright’s first Ph.D. student. To the end of his life, Biran acknowledged his great intellectual debt to Albright.

After earning his doctorate, Biran returned home to Palestine and was appointed Thayer Fellow at the American School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem (1935–1937). During his fellowship period, Albright encouraged Biran to conduct his first excavation. This involved the debate concerning the identification of the Biblical site of Anathoth. Biran was set the task of excavating two probes into the site of Ras el-Kharrubeh (“head of the Carob tree” in Arabic) and concluded that he had located Anathoth. Albright disagreed with his student’s findings, but today the identification of Ras el-Kharrubeh with Anathoth is universally accepted among Israeli, European and American archaeologists. Biran learned from Albright the importance of encouraging younger scholars—a quality he kept during his long life.

In 1936 Avraham married Ruth Frankel, an American woman he met while attending the Johns Hopkins University, shortly after she arrived by ship to Palestine. For family fiscal reasons, as well as his Zionist aspirations, in 1937 Biran left the field of archaeology for 24 years and became involved with a new career in government administration.

In 1961 Dr. Biran decided to return to archaeology—his first love—replacing the late Professor Shmuel Yeivin as director of the Department of Antiquities in the Israel Government. From 1961 to 1974, he expanded and improved the function of the department, encouraging the first major American archaeological expeditions at Israeli sites following the World War II. A true internationalist, Biran encouraged foreign research expeditions in Israel.

At the age of 65, Biran “retired” from the Department of Antiquities and took up the post of director of the NGSBA at the Hebrew Union College’s Jerusalem campus. Many people thought Biran’s appointment would be a temporary one, but he served the NGSBA with distinction until he fully retired at the age of 93.

Dr. Biran was 78 years old when I had the honor of serving as his assistant director for five years at the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology. With the exception of a few of his peers, everyone referred to him as “Professor Biran,” but Dr. Biran’s senatorial voice radiated warmth that was always punctuated with hearty laughs and the use of “darling” for the women, and “Habibi” for the men (an Arabic word for “my beloved” of a male).

I spent three summers as a field supervisor at his excavations at Tel Dan. Between 1966 and 1999, he excavated Dan for 33 seasons—perhaps the longest continually run excavation project in Israel. Biran’s successor as director of the NGSBA, David Ilan, is admirably spearheading efforts to bring the publication of the Dan excavations to fruition.

At the height of the so-called Biblical minimalist debate in Biblical studies, Biran found one of the 20th century’s most important early inscriptions from the Holy Land. Discovered in a sealed archaeological context near an Iron Age II gate at Tel Dan, the “House of David” inscription (as it has become known) is the earliest extra-Biblical evidence supporting the existence of a Davidic dynasty (see photo of Biran with inscription above). What a wonderful way to crown a lifetime career dedicated to the study of the history of the Land of Israel.

Like Yigael Yadin, Professor Biran’s oratory skills helped forge vibrant public interest in Biblical archaeology, not only for the public in Israel but around the world. Avraham Biran’s enthusiasm for his life’s work in Biblical archaeology was infectious, and he will be deeply missed.—Thomas E. Levy, University of California, San Diego

028

Professor Moshe Kochavi, a founding faculty member of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, died on February 4, 2008, after a long illness. He was 79.

Kochavi studied archaeology at the Hebrew University under Yohanan Aharoni and later collaborated with him to establish the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, serving twice as its director.

Combining his study of archaeology with geography and geographical history, Kochavi conducted the first major archaeological survey of the Judean hill country in 1967–1968, just after the Six-Day War.

Moshe Kochavi was born in Bucharest, Romania, in 1928 and immigrated with his family to British Mandate Palestine when he was five years old. He served as a combat medic during the 1947 War of Independence and was wounded twice.

In 1949 he married his wife, Nora, a ceramic specialist who worked closely with him on many projects and passed away after 50 years of marriage.

In 1955 Kochavi began his studies in archaeology and participated in excavations at Hazor with Yigael Yadin, and at Ramat Rah.el with Yohanan Aharoni, whom he also assisted in the Negev and Judean Desert surveys. He received his Ph.D. in 1967 from the Hebrew University, based on his own excavations at sites in the Negev.

In 1972 Kochavi began 14 seasons of excavation at Aphek-Antipatris, during which he made great advances in the study of ceramic typography and the Egyptian presence in Canaan during the Bronze Age.

Kochavi also led the excavation of Iron Age Izbet Sartah, the likely location of Biblical Ebenezer, from 1976 to 1978.

Kochavi taught at Tel Aviv University from 1968 until his retirement in 1997, but he also held positions throughout his career at Oxford, Harvard, Tokyo, Toronto and New York Universities. He was chairperson of the Israel Archaeological Council (1999–2000) and Governing Council member of the Israel Exploration Society.

His work has inspired some of his students—among them Israel Finkelstein, Zvi Gal and Adam Zertal—to perform surveys of large areas of Israel, including the hill country and Shephelah.—D.D.R.

Bezalel “Tzali” Narkiss, founder and first director of the Hebrew University, died on June 27, 2008, at age 81. Narkiss was the Nicolas Landau Professor of Art History at the Hebrew University, where he had been on the faculty since 1964.

Narkiss founded the (CJA) in 1979 and created the Jerusalem Index of Jewish Art to document and virtually preserve endangered Jewish art and architecture. In nearly 30 years, CJA has done work in more than 40 countries (many in Eastern Europe) to preserve Jewish art, Hebrew illuminated manuscripts, ritual objects, synagogues, Jewish buildings, mikva’ot and tombstones. The documentation process includes a written description, architectural plans and photographs.

Narkiss received the Israel Prize in 1999 for his work.

Throughout his long career at the Hebrew University, Narkiss served as guest faculty at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, at Brown University and at Princeton University.

In addition to his teaching positions, Narkiss was art editor for the Massada Press (1963–1975) and for the massive Encyclopaedia Judaica project (1965–1970), as well as holding the title editor-in-chief of the Journal of Jewish Art (1974–1986).—D.D.R.

Professor Avraham Biran, the renowned Israeli archaeologist and former director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology (NGSBA), passed away on September 16, 2008, just one month shy of his 99th birthday. In 2002 Dr. Biran was awarded the State of Israel’s most distinguished honor, the Israel Prize, in recognition of his contributions to the field of archaeological research in the Land of Israel. Avraham Biran was born in 1909 to Aharon and Naomi Bergman (in 1949, with the declaration of the State of Israel, he changed his name to a Hebrew one, Biran, a practice followed by […]