Targum

Targum Lamentations articles now available

I have recently gotten permission to post almost all of my published articles on the site. If you look at the tabs at the top of the site you will see pages dedicated to Targum Lamentations and Targum Ruth. This summer I will be adding my translation and other material to the TgRuth page, but today I uploaded PDFs of four of my articles on TgLam.

“The Date, Provenance, and Sitz im Leben of Targum Lamentations,” in The Journal of the Aramaic Bible 1, (1999), 5-29.

“The Role of the מדת דינא (midat dinah) in the Targumim,” in Studies in Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity, The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Judaism and Christianity, vol. 7, ed. Craig A. Evans, (Sheffield: Sheffield Press, 2000), 364-74.

“Vindicating God,” in The Journal of the Aramaic Bible 3.1/2 (2001), 27-40.

“Targum Lamentations 1:1-4: A Theological Prologue ,” in Targum and Scripture: Studies in Aramaic Translation and Interpretation in Memory of Ernest G. Clarke. In Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture, vol. 2, (Leiden: Brill, 2002). (Also available via Google Books.)

The 20th Congress of IOSOT 1-6 August 2010

Jan 15th, 2009

by Christian Brady.

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The website for the next IOSOT is now up! I will certianly be going for IOSOT and of course IOTS, the International Organziation for Targum Studies. Details of the IOTS program including a call for papers will appear at the NTCS/IOTS website in due course.

President of the IOSOT Professor Raija Sollamo

Welcome to IOSOT-congress

The International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) is happy to celebrate its 60th anniversary and its 20th meeting on 1-6 August 2010 in Helsinki. Scholars from all over the world are invited to attend the lectures, participate in the discussions, and give papers. We also invite you to take part in associated specialized congresses to be held from 29th July to 6th August 2010 in Helsinki.

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What does the Book of Ruth teach us?

Nov 19th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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“…the book of Ruth, an idle, bungling story, foolishly told, nobody knows by whom about a strolling country girl creeping slily to bed to her cousin Boaz. Pretty stuff indeed to be called the word of God! It is, however, one of the best books in the Bible, for it is free from murder and rapine.” -Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason Part II (London, 1795), p. 23.

“This scroll tells us nothing of cleanliness or of uncleanliness, either of prohibition or permission. For what purpose, then, was it written? To teach how great is the reward of those who do deeds of kindness.” R. Ze’ira, Ruth R. II 14.

As cited in “Jewish Exegesis of the Book of Ruth” by DRG Beattie, p. 203.

Calling Targum Scholars – Sigla Project

Oct 8th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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From our beloved IOTS President Willem Smelik:

Dear members of the IOTS and other interested parties,

The IOTS has long discussed the desirability of new editions of (most of) the Targums. A first task, the collection of data on targumic manuscripts, has already started and has come to a promising, even if partial, conclusion at the Theologische Universiteit of Kampen, the Netherlands. Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman came with a proposal for a system of sigla which, if agreed upon and endorsed by the IOTS, could be used in any future studies and editions of the Targums, similar to the sigla nowadays common in the study of the Peshitta. The advantages of a common system are clear to everyone.

At the last meeting of the IOTS it was agreed that we should establish a committee to discuss the format for the sigla of manuscripts, starting with the afore-mentioned proposal. We would therefore like to invite interested scholars to come forward and express any interest that they might have in contributing to this task. The executive body of the IOTS will then discuss the options and decide upon a representative and suitable committee, who will hopefully be able to report their findings at the next meeting of the IOTS in Helsinki 2010.

The contact address is:

Willem Smelik
willem.smelik AT ucl.ac.uk
26 Tenison Road
Cambridge CB1 2DW
UK

With kind regards,
on behalf of the IOTS

Willem Smelik

Lamentations and Tisha b’Av

Aug 11th, 2008

by Christian Brady.

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This past weekend was spent doing various work around that house that required lots of hours and very little thought. Good for the soul, perhaps, but I feel like I lost two days in a wormhole. I missed offering my best wishes for a good observance on Tisha b’Av, so today I will offer instead my presentation from last week’s Catholic Biblical Association. This paper was part of the working group for the Bible in Its Traditions project. It is a very rough introduction to who the midrash and targum of Lamentations deal with this challenging text. I am keenly aware that there is much more material on and relating to Lamentations spread throughout the rabbinic corpus. So, as meagre as it is, here is something in honor of Tisha b’Av.

Rabbinic Reception of Lamentations

I am very grateful for this opportunity to contribute in some small way to the work of this seminar. My work on Lamentations began 14 years ago as I cast about for a subject for my doctoral thesis. My primary interest is in exegesis and so I was directed to consider the rabbis and how they interpreted (and transformed) the biblical text. Specifically, I worked on the Targum of Lamentations. I intend for this to be a discussion of some sample texts but feel I should start by placing us within the context of both Lamentations itself and then within the corpus of rabbinic commentaries.

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