skip to content

Cambridge Forum for Jewish Studies

 

“Discovering, Deciphering and Dissenting: 
Ben Sira's Hebrew Text, 1896-2016”

12-14 September 2016 

St John's College, Cambridge

A conference on the 120th Anniversary of the Cairo Genizah Discoveries.

Sponsored by the Polonsky Co-Exist Fund, University of Cambridge and the ISDCL.

On the 120th anniversary of the discovery of the Genizah manuscripts of Ben Sira, this conference will consider the particular contributions of the Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira, in connection with the language and transmission of the book. Despite the existence of six versions in the Genizah as well as the scroll from Masada and two tiny fragments from Qumran, the characteristics of each Hebrew witness have been neglected and their palaeography is due for serious consideration.

In this light the conference will examine the features of individual manuscripts, the synoptic problems of the witnesses, their text-critical value and the history of the discoveries. It will also consider the place of the manuscripts in Jewish literary history, the Hebrew language of Ben Sira, and the interpretative character of the Hebrew.

Organisers: Dr. James Aitken, University of Cambridge, Professor Renate Egger-Wenzel, Universität Salzburg /ISDCL, and Professor Stefan Reif, St John’s College, Cambridge.

Speakers: Dr James Aitken (Cambridge), Professor Pancratius Beentjes (Nijmegen), Prof Dr Nuria Calduch-Benages (Rome), Dr Jeremy Corley (Meynooth, Ireland), Prof Dr Renate Egger-Wenzel (Salzburg), Prof Matthew Goff (Florida), Professor Jan Joosten (Strasbourg/Oxford), Professor Noam Mizrahi (Tel Aviv), Professor Vered Noam (Tel Aviv), Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger (Paris), Dr Ben Outhwaite (Genizah Unit, Cambridge), Professor Stefan Reif (Cambridge), Prof Dr Friedrich Reiterer (Salzburg), Professor Jean-Sébastien Rey (Metz), Dr Eric Reymond (Yale Divinity School), Prof Dr Aho Shemunkasho (Salzburg), Professor Benjamin G. Wright (Lehigh, USA).

Bookings: Bookings and credit car payments should be made on our bookings site.

Bookings close on August 10th 2016.

Conference fee: £40 (day rate/students £25). Accommodation can be booked at £59 per night (bed and breakfast). Meals prices vary.

Date: 
Monday, 12 September, 2016 - 10:00 to Wednesday, 14 September, 2016 - 18:00