Prof. Rendsburg of Rutgers @ TBA

On Tuesday, March 24, 7:30 PM, Temple B\'nai Abraham\'s 2015 Bloom Lecture will be Exploring The Dead Sea Scrolls with Professor Gary A. Rendsburg, Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. This lecture is free and open to the community.Register online or call 973.994.2290. The story of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, and their subsequent publication in the years 1948 and following, has been told many times. And yet the story bears retelling time and again. We will present the story of the initial finds, the excavations of Qumran, the progress of scholarly work (along with the delays!) during the ensuing decades, and then the present scene as we enter the digital age, with all the scrolls now available online via a dedicated website from the Israel Antiquities Authority. Gary A. Rendsburg serves as the Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History in the Department of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. His teaching and research focus on ‘all things ancient Israel’ – primarily language and literature, though also history and archaeology. His secondary interests include post-biblical Judaism, the Hebrew manuscript tradition, and Jewish life in the Middle Ages. Prof Rendsburg is the author of six books and about 150 articles; his most popular book is The Bible and the Ancient Near East, co-authored with the late Cyrus Gordon. In addition, he has produced two courses for the ‘Teaching Company – Great Courses’ program, one on ‘The Book of Genesis’ and one on ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls’. Prof Rendsburg has visited all the major archaeological sites in Israel, Egypt, and Jordan; plus he has excavated at Tel Dor and Caesarea. He previously taught at Cornell University and Canisius College; and he has served as visiting professor or visiting fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Colgate University, the University of Oxford, the University of Sydney, and the Hebrew University. His current book project is entitled How the Bible Is Written, with particular attention to the use of language to create literature. This lecture is supported by the Bernard and Muriel Bloom Memorial Lecture Fund.