2 Kings 20-20
20 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
Archive for September, 2016
Discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls
The Scrolls were discovered not by the Bedouin boy, as everyone says, but in the Cairo Genizah in the 1860s and on. In 1947, the Bedouin boy discovered the “first” seven scrolls. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
What kinds of texts are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The Scrolls fall into three categories – books of the Hebrew scriptures, apocryphal literature and materials from the sectarians themselves. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
The Dead Sea Sect
The Dead Sea Sect was a group of Jews who broke off from the Temple establishment, leaving Jerusalem in about 152 BCE when Jonathan the Maccabee took over as high priest. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Media
The media assumed that the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls would solve problems related to Christianity, but the Scrolls are actually biblical and Second Temple Jewish texts. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
What We Learn from the Scrolls
The richness of the inner debate of Judaism and the beautiful literature of the Second Temple period becomes clear through the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
The Scrolls and Christianity
There is still a popular conception that the Dead Sea Scrolls can solve the problem of early Christianity, but that prevents us from learning about the rise of Christianity through these Jewish texts. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
What lessons can be learned from the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls?
The real relevance of the Dead Sea Scrolls is not the Scrolls themselves, but a real understanding of Second Temple times. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
The Talmud as History
It is problematic to use the Talmud for history because there is much anonymous material and even named materials are not necessarily accurate quotes. Prof. Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University
The White Paper of 1939
The White Paper of 1939 stated that the British had fulfilled their promise to build a Jewish national home in Palestine and they were no longer committed to free Jewish immigration into Palestine. Prof. Ron Zweig, New York University