UPCOMING ZOOM LECTURE
Tue, May 20, 2025 at 07:00 PM Jerusalem (12 noon EST; 9 am PST; 5 pm UK; 11 am Mexico):
THE WORLD’S OLDEST HEBREW BOOK, Prof. Gary Rendsburg
A small siddur, so small that it can be held in the palm of one’s hand, was discovered in Afghanistan c. 2000. Eventually it came to the attention of scholars and was purchased by the Museum of the Bible (Washington, D.C.), where it now resides on permanent display.
The Afghan siddur, which includes both prayers and an early version of the Passover Haggadah, consists of only 25 folios, and has been C-14 dated to c. 700 C.E., thereby earning it the title of “The World’s Oldest Hebrew Book” (that is, book or codex, not scroll). Prior to the discovery of this small manuscript, the oldest Hebrew codex was dated to c. 900 C.E., so that this modest little volume pushes our book knowledge back by two centuries.
Join us as Professor Gary Rendsburg narrates the remarkable journey of this manuscript from Afghanistan to Washington, though naturally he also will focus on its contents, the prayers within the siddur and elements of the Passover Haggadah text.
Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Chair in Jewish History and holds the rank of Distinguished Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies and the Department of History at Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.A. His teaching and research focus on ‘all things ancient Israel’ – primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include ancient Egypt, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Hebrew manuscript tradition. Prof. Rendsburg is the author of seven books and more than 200 articles. His most recent book is How the Bible Is Written (Hendrickson, 2019), with particular attention to the use of language to create literature. In addition, he has produced two series for the Great Courses program, one on ‘The Book of Genesis’ and one on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’; plus he lectures regularly for Smithsonian Associates, the Biblical Archaeology Society, and other adult education venues.Prof. Rendsburg has visited all the major archaeological sites of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan, plus he has excavated at Tel Dor and Caesarea. He also has done extensive research on medieval Hebrew manuscripts at leading libraries, including the Bodleian Library in Oxford, the Cambridge University Library, the Vatican Library, and the Library of Congress in Washington.
During his career, Prof. Rendsburg has served as visiting professor or visiting research scholar at the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Sydney, the Hebrew University, Bar-Ilan University, the University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, the Getty Villa, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome).At present, he is at work on two major projects: a new dictionary of the Ugaritic language and a commentary on the book of Samuel for the JPS Bible Commentary Series.
Wed, May 28, 2025 at 7 pm Jerusalem time ((12 noon EST; 9 am PST; 5 pm UK; 11 am Mexico): THE UNIQUE HISTORY OF THE JEWS OF PORTUGAL, Dr. Kathy Aron-Beller (This will be a FREE lecture)
In light of our upcoming tour to Portugal in January 2026, the unique historical experience of Portuguese Jewry and the places we will be visiting will be highlighted in this lecture. Our Jews of Portugal had a distinct relationship with both Islam and Christendom, a confluence as decisive for the Jews as for Portugal itself. From this fundamental fact so much else derived: the proverbial hubris and elitism of a sophisticated courtier class which was proud of its cultural and educational accomplishments and a particular vitality and richness of Jewish religious polemic. We will meet the Jews who yearned for Zion while at the same time maintaining an unusual sense of permanence and attachment to Portuguese soil. We will learn of the Jewish astronomers and physicians at the royal courts, where they lived in Portugal and how these men survived in two radically different spheres – those of Jewish and Christian society.
Originally from London, Dr. Katherine Aron-Beller is Senior lecturer of Jewish History in the Rothberg International School of the Hebrew University, Senior Lecturer at the Overseas School of Tel Aviv University, and at present Visiting Scholar of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University. Her areas of expertise include the history of antisemitism, contemporary antisemitism, medieval Jewish history, early modern Jewish-Christian relations and the early modern Papal Inquisition. She has lectured widely in Israel and abroad, serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the George Washington University in 2007-2008, and is a regular lecturer at Beit Avichai in Jerusalem giving many series of lectures on Jewish history. She is the author of Jews on Trial: The Papal Inquisition in Modena 1598-1638 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), the co-editor of The Roman Inquisition: Centre versus Peripheries (Leiden: Brill, 2018) and more recently Christian Images and their Jewish Desecrators: The History of an Allegation (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2024) as well as articles on the Catholic Inquisition, antisemitism, the Jews of Italy and Nazi Germany. She is now working on finishing a book on conversion between Judaism and Christianity in early modern Italy. Dr. Aron-Beller has been a scholar in residence on many trips with Jewish Historical Seminars including trips to England, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sicily, Spain and Portugal.
*In order to register for a lecture, one needs to first pay USD 12 per lecture via PayPal.me/JHSeminars.
**PLEASE NOTE: If you are not available to watch the live session of a lecture, there is the option to receive the recording of the lecture instead. Same goes for recordings of past lectures (with the same payment of USD 12 via PayPal.me/JHSeminars). The list is on our website: www.jewishhistoricalseminars.com.