Contents I-XIII introduction 1-17 Division A: The Bible and Its World 18-56 Division B: History of the Jewish People 57-79 Division C: Rabbinic Literature and Jewish Law 80-93 Division C: Jewish Thought 94-154 Division D: Literatures

Solomon's Temple and the "Big-Foot" Temple at Ain-Dara

PROGRAM

3

104 The Bible and the Ancient East – Session A

The Storehouse and Makkedah in the Idumean Ostraca

The Notion of Fate in Ugaritic Literature

Symbolism of Hair in the Bible and Ancient Egyptian Culture

The Rise and Fall of Two Regional Empires

Chairperson: Gershon Galil

The Quarrel Between Ishboshet and Abner in Samuel 3:7-11

Interpretation in Mesopotamian Legal, Belles-Lettristic and Omen

Literature

Sharon Keller (E)

Egypt Though Israel's Eyes

Chairperson: Pnina Galpaz-Feller

The Cult of Snakes in Ancient Canaan / Israel

The Brazen Serpent, a Perplexing Remedy: An Analysis of Num 21:4-9 in

Light of Archeology, Near Eastern Serpent Emblems, and Inner-Biblical

Exegesis

Rabbinic Parallels in Cuneiform Literature

PROGRAM

4

204 Changes in Settlement and Culture in the Persian Period – Session

Chairperson: Aaron Demsky

The Southern Frontier of Yehud and the Creation of Idumea

Idumea During the Persian Period

Hellenism in the Land of Israel from the 5th Century BCE to the 2nd

Century BCE in Light of Semitic Epigraphy

Lisbeth S. Fried (E)

From Optimism to Doubt in Jewish Encounters with the Other

Land Tenure Systems in Persian Yehud

Chairperson: Cynthia Edenburg

Demographic Processes in Judea from the End of the Iron Age to the

Hellenistic Period

Oded Lipschits (H)

The Importance of the Yehud Stamp Impressions for Understanding the

History of Judea During the Persian Period

Einat Ambar-Armon (H)

Relations Between the Greek World and the Land of Israel During the

Persian Period

Adi Erlich

The Persian Terracotta Figurines from Maresha: Local and Regional

Aspects

PROGRAM

Chairperson: Shalom Pawall

In Anticipation of a New Edition of the Yeho'ash Royal Building

Inscription: Philological Aspects

Amnon Rosenfeld and Shimon Ilani (H)

In Anticipation of a New Edition of the Yeho'ash Royal Building

Inscription: Philological and Geological Aspects

107 Qumran

Chairperson: Gary A. Anderson

Temple, Sacrifice and Priesthood in the Epistle to the Hebrews and the

Dead Sea Scrolls

Rachel Elior (H)

Enoch, Son of Jared, in the Priestly Literature and in Polemical Traditions

in Relation to the Calendar

Hagi Sefer (H)

Spouter of Lies or Righteous High Priest?

Offhand Biblical Exegesis in the Dead Sea Scrolls

Chairperson: Bezalel Porten

Geographical Terminology in the Bible: nhr, nhl, and nhl ytn

"Yahweh From Sinai Came ": Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Henry Baker Tristram, Biblical Naturalist: Methods of Identifying and

Interpreting Flora and Fauna

PROGRAM

Chairperson: Uriel Simon

Judah's Speech (Genesis 44 vv.18-34)

The Meaning of Walad in the Cycle of Abraham and Sarah

"I am the Lord Who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans…" – Who

Brought Abraham Out and from Where ?

Charlotte Katzoff (H)

The Story of Isaac and Jacob: Insights from Contemporary Analytic

Philosophy

111 The Giving of the Torah

Chairperson: Remon Kasher

Jethro's Visit Preceded the Giving of the Torah

Elijah and Moses at Sinai

What Is the Difference Between G-d’s Direct Revelation to Man and Gd’s

Indirect Revelation in the Narrative of the Giving of the Torah

112 Prophets and Historiography

Chairperson: Shmuel Ahitov

The Land that Yet Remains and the Promised Land (Jos.13:1-6)

Did Zephaniah Write the Song of Moses?

Law Interpretation in Jeremiah: Exegetical Techniques and Ideological

Intentions

Rony Goldstein (H)

Jeremiah's Prophecy on Nebuchadnezar's Conquest of Egypt

PROGRAM

7

113 The Book of Ezekiel

The Prophetic Story about the Abandoned Baby and Her Father (Ezekiel

16)

Tova Ganzel (H)

The Concept of Holiness in the Book of Ezekiel

“The Lord is there”: The Temple Vision in the Book of Ezekiel and the

Question of Fictionality in the Hebrew Bible

Leonid Dreier (E)

The Temple of Ezekiel: Why Are Some Data Lacking?

Chairperson: Yitzhak Peleg

The Meaning of the Oath:"..by the gazelles or the wild does…"(SOS 7)

The Legal Scheme of the Book of Ruth

The Acrostic Form in Lamentations

The Book of Esther: Making and Unmaking of Jewish Identity

The Purloined Esther – Hamichtav Haganuv

PROGRAM

8

115 Religion and Ritual

Shem Theology in the Holiness Writings

Fasting As a Penitential Act, a Biblical Phenomenon?

The Second Passover in the Bible

On the Various Perceptions of the Calf Cult in the Book of Kings

Chairperson: Yael Shemesh

Biblical Narrative in the Light of the Theory of Semantic Fields

The So-Called Rape of Dinah and the Massacre of Shechem

Military Pioneering and Volunteering to Save Lives According to Biblical

Morality

Amnon Shapira (H)

The Biblical Roots of Modern (Buberianic) Anarchism

Chairperson: George Savran

Yefet ben Eli's Approach to Characterization in Biblical Narrative: The

Case of Competing Female Characters in the Story of Abraham

Yael Shemesh (H)

The Character of Rachel: From Beloved Wife to Mother of the Nation

Michal, Daughter of King Saul: A Further Look

"I am Mother, Hear me Roar": Maternal Power in the Hebrew Bible

PROGRAM

9

118 The Status of Women in the Bible

Recent "Reconstructions" of Biblical Women: Scholarship, History, and

the Question of Gender

Joseph Fleishman (E)

On the Right of a Daughter to Her Father's Household Property:

Inheritance of the Dowry

Cynthia Edenburg (H)

The World of Ideology versus Social Reality in Deuteronomic Family

Laws

Lorit Ramon (H)

Proverbs 7 and the Riddle of the Strange Woman

Chairperson: Isaac Gottlieb

Biblical Women in Modern Hebrew Poetry

Cohesion in the Hebrew Bible

The Question of the “Second Bullock” in the Story of Gideon’s Struggle

Against the Cult of the Calf

Amos Frisch (H)

Comparisons with David As a Means of Evaluation in the Book of Kings

Chairperson: Amos Frisch

Genesis: Opening Expressions in the Bible

Biblical Metaphor Reconsidered: Metaphor As a Mode of Orientation

Psalms As Language Games

PROGRAM

10

431 Biblical Hebrew

Verbal Tenses in the Book of Amos As Linguistic Evidence of Its Judean

Origin

M. Patrizia Sciumbata (E)

Semantic Change in Late Biblical Hebrew: The Contribution of

Paradigmatical-Componential Analysis

Haim Dihi (H)

A Compilation of Lexical Innovations in the Book of Ben Sira

Chairperson: Tzemah Yoreh

The Oath As a Biblical Tool of Characterization:

Jael, Wife of Heber the Kenite, in Biblical Perspective

Reading Law As Narrative: A Study in the Casuistic Laws of the

Pentateuch

122 Targum – Session A

Chairperson: Avigdor Shinan

Reward, Punishment and Eschatology in the Aramaic Version of Psalms

The Targumic Versions of the Martyrdom of Isaiah

Prayer As Reflected in Targum Onkelos

PROGRAM

11

123 Targum – Session B

Developing a Description Method of Targum Manuscript

The Genitive Constructions in Targum Jonathan to Samuel

Anticuitates Judaicae As the Hellenistic Targum

The Genitive Constructions in Targum Jonathan to Samuel

Haftarot and Christianity

On the Relationship Between the Jewish-Christian Polemics and the

Masorah Notes in Rashi's Commentary to the Bible

Moshe Rachimi (H)

The Concealed Anti-Christian Polemic in Rav Ovadia Sforno’s

Commentary to the Pentateuch

Ari Geiger (H)

"Written Law" or "Oral Law" – How did Nicholas of Lyra Learn Jewish

Sources?

PROGRAM

Chairperson: Jonathan Jacobs

Divergent Aggadot in Rashi's Commentary to the Bible

The Understanding of Metaphor As a Device in Biblical Composition by

Twelfth Century Northern French Jewish Exegetes

Martin Lockshin (H)

Was Joseph Bekhor Shor a Peshat Exegete?

Did Rashi Support the Idea of Autonomic Morality?

Chairperson: Ruth Ben-Meir

R. Abraham Ibn Ezra and the Karaites: The Contribution of the Heretics

to the Faithful

Ayala Mishaly (H)

Halakhic Juxtaposition and Halakhic Contrast – Abraham Ibn Ezra's

Interpretation of Leviticus 19:3

Aharon Mondschein (H)

R. Abraham Ibn Ezra Between Peshat and Mysticism

PROGRAM

13

127 Bible Commentary in Spain and the East

The Travels of the Children of Israel in the Sinai Desert According to Rav

Sa'adia Gaon and Maimonedes in the Light of Arab Literature

Mordechai Cohen (E)

Nahmanides' Literary Hermeneutic in Light of His Commentary on Gen

1:1

Michelle Levine (H)

Ramban's Insights on the Literary Role of Character Epithets in the Book

of Genesis

Jair Haas (H)

‘Repetition of Meaning in Different Words’ As a Poetic Ornament in

Spanish Bible Exegesis

128 Medieval Bible Commentary in Christian Lands

Chairperson: Nahem Ilan

The Pentateuch Text in Codices Written by Early Ashkenazi Scholars in

the 10th-12th Centuries

Yitzhak Berger (E)

Exegetical Innovation in the Commentary to Chronicles in MS Munich 5

"Retrospection" As an Exegetical Devise in Rashbam's Torah

Commentary

PROGRAM

Chairperson: Mordechai Cohen

The "Metzudot" Commentary on the Prophets and Writings with

Reference to Earlier Sources

Tmima Davidovitz (H)

Characteristic Features in Hanaziv's Exegesis According to His

Commentary on the Pentateuch

Michael Avioz (H)

The Da'at Mikra Commentary: Tradition and Criticism

Chairperson: James L. Kugel

A "Biblical Dictionary" in the Bible

The Counting of Jacob's Descendants Coming to Egypt: Questions of

Text and Tradition

Itshak Sappir (H)

The Meaning of Expressions Determining the Direction of Prayer in

Rabbinic Literature

131 Land, Merit and the Problem of Divine Revelation

Chairperson: Daniel Maoz

Midrash and the Letter of Barnabus

Paul's Halachah on "Softies" and what is "Natural" in Social World

Context

Jermay Penner (E)

Land, Merit and the Problem of Divine Revelation in Mekhilta Pisha 1

PROGRAM

15

Special Sessions

Chairperson: Anita Shapira

Piety and Gender: Toward an Outline of the Spiritual Lives of Medieval

Jewish Women

Benjamin Brown (H)

Halakha and Religious Ethics: Creating a Conceptual Research Model

Deportation and Extermination: the Becoming and Representation of

Memory

Magda Teter (E)

Jewish Law and Canon Law: Dealing with the Other

Chairperson: Sara Japhet

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

PROGRAM

16

The Nineteenth Congress of the International of Masoretic

Chairperson: Aron Dotan

Opening Remarks

The Meaning of the Differences Between the Babylonian and Tiberian

Accents

Ronit Shoshani (H)

The Chronological Development of the Accent Shin/segol

The Names of the Accent Shalshelet

A Babylonian List of Petuhot and Setumot Connected to "Sefer Tagge"

The Growth Processes of the Sets of Signs in the Palestinian System

A Puzzling Masoretic Note: Seven-Word Verses With a Yod in Every

Word

David \Yehuda Lyons

Research in the Cumulative Tiberian Masora: Achievements and Aims

The Place of Biblical Accentuation in Modern Bible Commentaries

PROGRAM

17

137 The Study of the Masorah – Session C

The Accentuation of Particle-Following Combinations in the Prose Books

Incongruity in Bible Verses

Tippeha or Me'ayla: A Discussion of Two Verses

PROGRAM

18

Division B: History of the Jewish People

Chairperson: Gershon Bacon

The Past that Shapes the Present in Biblical Historiography

Jewish Historiography from the Closing of the Biblical Canon until

Chazal: Facts and Explanations

Reoven Bonefil (H)

The Role of Historical Memory in Political Nationalism: Heretical

Reflections on Guiding the Perplexed

Ya'akov Shavit (H)

Reconstructions of the Past As a Tool for Creating a Contemporary

Identity in Zionist Historiography

201 Jews and Other Minorities: Their Legal Status and Interrelation

(Planery Session)

Chairperson: Michael Heyd

Were Jews and Christians One Group in the Pre-Constantinian Era

The Jews and their Relationships with Dominant and Minority Population

Groups From the Second Temple Era to the Talmudic Period

Yosef Hakker (H)

Social and Religious Links Between Jews, Protestants, Catholics and

Armenians in Istanbul in the Early Modern Period

Deborah Dash Moore (E)

Jewish American and African American Reflections on Otherness in

World War II

PROGRAM

Chairperson: Yaacov Blidstein

The Image of the Leader in the Thought of Maimonides

(The First Phases) The Canonization of Maimonides – Interrelationships

of Authority and Text

Haym Soloveitchik (E)

Mishneh Torah – Dimensions and Agendas

Chairperson: Ram Ben-Shalom