Willem Smellik, President IOTS

And so the triennial meeting of IOSOT/IOTS/IOQS (and the other associated groups) is coming to an end. As usual I have not been to all the sessions I would have liked or seen all the sights I had hoped to see but at least I have this afternoon to remedy the latter! It was a wonderful conference in a tremendous city. The folks from U of Helsinki did an incredible job organizing this incredibly complex set of meetings and in just over an hour they will announce where it will be in 2013. Stay tuned!

In the meantime for those who are interested I have placed my notes from the papers I did attend on a shared folder in Evernote. I am not sure how long I will leave it available, but in the meantime you can read them here. (I will do a post another time on how valuable the free Evernote is for note taking and research.) And don’t forget, you can see my Helsinki pictures on my flickr account.

 

If you are twitter I have started relevant hash tags, but i don’t believe there are many twitterers at the conference.

 

Targum Scholars gathered for dinner in 2007

I am told that the weather is “beastly hot” in Finland right now. It has even approached 90º F! But I am greatly looking forward to our trip there. Why am I going to Finland? Of course you remember that the 2010 IOSOT (and IOTS) conference is in Helsinki this year! Don’t you?

It is shaping up to be a great set of conferences. In addition to IOSOT there will also be meeting:

• IOSCS 29–31 July
• IOMS 2 Aug
• IOQS 2–4 Aug
• IOTS 4–6 Aug
• ISLP 2–5 Aug
• SAHD 3 Aug

I am looking forward to seeing my colleagues and a rare week away with my bride. We start the journey tomorrow and arrive in Helsinki on Sunday morning. You can be sure I will have some news and pictures to share once we are there!

(In the meantime, you can see some of my pictures from the 2007 IOSOT in Ljubljana at my flickr account.)

 

Dear All,

I would like to remind you to register before the end of April to benefit from lower fees.

For registration, please use the following website:
http://www.helsinki.fi/teol/pro/iosot/general/registration.htm

For accommodation, see
http://www.helsinki.fi/teol/pro/iosot/general/accomodation.htm

For hotels in close proximity to the synagogue, as well as information about kosher catering, see the attached file “touristinfo”. However, do check current prices, as they seem to be out of date. In contrast to other conferences, it seems that the organization has been able to offer reduced prices for the accommodation.

Please note that the IOTS organization allows for kosher lunches and a kosher dinner on Thursday evening: “Kosher lunch/lunches must be pre-booked with the online registration form. The price depends of final number of participants (EUR 28–45). Payment at the restaurant.”

With kind regards

Willem Smelik

 

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.

Read more »»

 

• Carol Newsome is the editor to receive submission from North America.
• In the last three years (since the last report to IOSOT) there were 80 some articles and additional short notes for a total just over 120 (sorry, I missed the exact figures).
• Of those articles 30 were from the US, 30 from Israel, just under that from the UK and so on…
• VT is going to add an additional 20 pages per issue to accommodate additional articles.
• They will soon being using Arabic instead of Roman numerals (Yeah!)
• There will be a theme issue one/year. This fall: “Prophecy in Greece, Ugarit, and Israel.”

IOSOT President & the XXth Congress

The new President of IOSOT is the outstanding LXX scholar Prof. Raija Sollamo which means that the 2010 Congress will be held in Helsinki, Finland!

This was an amazing conference and I encourage everyone who can to submit papers and attend. I was particularly encouraged by the number of doctoral students and young scholars (I think I still qualify) who gave excellent papers. So save up your Euros now! Helsinki here we come!

 

At the moment, I just heard an excellent paper (all the more so since it is from a first-year student) on Qoh. 4.17-5.6 (Heb. numbering). Jennifer Barbour was arguing that these verses have behind them an allusion to Saul and his foolish offerings and vows/oaths. I cannot do the paper justice but I did want to note that she presented a very strong argument for viewing these verses as two strophes rather than four. Note the parallelism of (1) going/vowing to God (vv. 17 and 3), (2) fools (same), (3) do not be rash with words (vv. 1 and 5) and (4) a statement about dreams (vv. 2 and 6).

Eccl. 4:17 [Heb.]  Guard your steps when you go to the house of God; to draw near to listen is better than the sacrifice offered by fools; for they do not know how to keep from doing evil.

5:1 Never be rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be quick to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few.

2   For dreams come with many cares, and a fool’s voice with many words.

3   When you make a vow to God, do not delay fulfilling it; for he has no pleasure in fools. Fulfill what you vow.

4 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not fulfill it.

5 Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say before the messenger that it was a mistake; why should God be angry at your words, and destroy the work of your hands?

6   With many dreams come vanities and a multitude of words; but fear God.

I do not know of anyone else who has noted this form (not that I would, I have not studies it carefully) and apparently no one else in the room had either. John Barton, for example, expressed that he was persuaded by this reading that Jennifer Presented. It is great to see such a sharp and talented young scholar!

The other paper was by Heath Thomas, who has just finished his doctorate with Gordon McConville at U. of Gloucester. He has been working on Lamentations and this paper was on its use as a liturgical document. I think he is fundamentally correct (as I have written elsewhere) and that it was used in this was fairly early on. At one point a scholar (whose name I missed) said that if the liturgical use was the goal then it failed. This made no sense to me since not only is it still read on Tisha b’Av in Jewish worship, but in many Christian traditions it is read during Holy Week. A text being read in the context of worship. That sounds like liturgy to me… There is more to Heath’s argument and I look forward to seeing it in print.
….
Last night was the final banquet (hence this not being posted earlier) and this morning are the last four papers and business meeting. No official word yet on where it will be in 2010 but the hot rumor is Helsinki.

It has been a great time in Ljubljana, I have met wonderful scholars and made new friend. This is one of the best conferences to attend, in my opinion. But I am looking forward to seeing my bride and kids. Tomorrow is travel day, so I may not be able to post again until next week (assuming I do not get another long layover!) so have a good weekend!

 

Today James Charlesworth presented an image of a fragment (in two parts) that he acquired on 25 October 2006. He said it had been in Zurich since the 50′s and reportedly came from Kando. Some details (and please note, these are Charlesworth’s comments and views):

• One fragment in two pieces under glass. (The sellers put the smaller piece in the wrong place, it goes below the larger piece.)
• Dimensions: I didn’t get those down…
• Back: abraided leather, no ink.
• No stitching.
• No guide lines, horizontal or vertical.

The text:

• Gen. 32:3-7a
• Matches MT where extant.
• A vacat is present before the first readable line.
• No corrections
• No sign of Qumran scribal school.
• JC’s view of the paleography is c. 50-110 CE.
• AMSC14 dates it from 95-195 CE.

JC believes it was found in the caves of the Dead Sea region. He wants scholars to report that he has tried to prove that it is a fake and he has been unable to so he asserts that it is authentic.

He also announced that he has acquired another 30 DSS fragments. They will all(?) be available online later in August at http://ijco.org/.

NB: The image that Lombatti posted is not that of the fragment shown by Charlesworth. It is pretty though. What fragment is it?

 

The festivities were unbelievable (and unbelievably long). The ceremonies were in the Cathedral Square (Pogačarjev trg) and the Prime Minister of Slovenia (at right) spoke. I will see if I can get portions of the speeches posted at some point. The evening included:

• Slovenian Prime Minister Janaz Janša
• Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Jankovič
• Prof. Dr. Boštjan Žekš, President of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Prof. Dr. Andreja Kocijančič, Rector of the U. of Ljubljana
• Msgr. Alojz Uran, Archbishop and President of the Slovenian Bishops’ Conference
• Prof. Dr. David Petersen, Past President of SBL
• Prof. Dr. Jože Krašovec, President of IOSOT

The entire thing was broadcast on national television. It started at 9pm and ended at 11:40 after the Boys Choir of St. Petersburg, the Slovenian Brass Ensemble, the Slovenian Phil. Orch. and the Symphonic Orchestra of RTV Serbia, 4 soloists and 300 singers from seven countries performed. The central piece was Beethoven’s Symphony in D minor (all 1 hour and 20 minutes of it!). The five churches in the city all rang their bells together at one point. I feel for the next president of IOSOT who has to top this!

The papers began today and so far so good. The Qumran papers overlap with the regular IOSOT for the next day undermining one of the benefits of a smaller congress, you can attend most of the papers. Still it is great to see old friends and for me, who spends 98% of his time doing administrative work rather than research and writing, it is good to get back into the game and do a bit of writing. (Even if it is mostly for the blog!)