The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Public Conference [June 2021]

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Second Public Conference [June 6 - 9, 2021]

Conference recordings

We are pleased to share the full recordings from "The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Second Public Conference," which took place virtually on June 6 - 9, 2021. The recordings, found below, are broken down by session.  Please note that some speakers declined to be recorded, so these presentations were omitted.

You can download the Conference Program PDF here.

You may also download the PDF copy of the Speaker Biographies here.

This conference is meant to serve as a follow-up to our Dead Sea Scrolls in Recent Scholarship conference of May 2020. Please follow this link to watch the recordings of last year's conference.

The conference was generously sponsored by:

NYU Skirball Department of Hebrew & Judaic Studies | Israel Antiquities Authority | Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority

DAY 1: Sunday, June 6

Opening Session

Chair and Opening Remarks - Alex Jassen, New York University

Greeting and Welcome - Andrew D. Hamilton, President, New York University

Welcome- Gideon Avni, Israel Antiquities Authority

Welcome- Emily Master, Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Welcome- Joe Uziel, Israel Antiquities Authority

Opening Session

Report on the Judean Desert Caves Archaeological Project

Chair: Ilit Cohen-Ofri, Israel Antiquities Authority

Excavations in Murabba' at Cave 4: Preliminary Insights - Haim Cohen, Israel Antiquities Authority

"And I will bring them to dwell in Jerusalem": New Fragments of the Greek Minor Prophets Scroll (8HevXII gr) - Oren Ableman, Israel Antiquities Authority

Report on the Judean Desert Caves Archaeological Project

Major Issues in Dead Sea Scrolls Research

Chair: Angela Kim Harkins, Boston College

Scribal Text Groups among the Bible Manuscripts Found in the Judean Desert - Emanuel Tov, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Evidence for Scribal Apprenticeship and Education at Qumran - Sidnie White Crawford, University of Nebraska

What Do We Know about the Teacher of Righteousness? - John J. Collins, Yale University

Troops of Light: Militant Prayer and Ritual Cursing in the Dead Sea Scrolls - Daniel Falk, Penn State University

Major Issues in Dead Sea Scrolls Research

DAY 2: Monday, June 7

Archaeology of Qumran

Chair: Molly Zahn, University of Kansas

Qumran in the Late Hellenistic Period: An Archaeological Reassessment - Dennis Mizzi, University of Malta

To Sit or to Squat? The Qumran Toilet Revisited - Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina

Searching for Qumran Cave 6Q - Marcello Fidanzio, Faculty of Theology, Lugano

Archaeology of Qumran

Archaeology and Sectarianism

Chair: Jodi Magness, University of North Carolina

The Archaeology of Sectarianism: Social Analysis of Khirbet Qumran - Eyal Regev, Bar-Ilan University

The Gate of the Essenes in Jerusalem - Timothy H. Lim, University of Edinburgh

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Tefillin (Phylacteries) Assemblage from the Judean Desert: A Work-in-Progress - Yonatan Adler, Ariel University

Archaeology and Sectarianism

Launching the Qumranica (SQE) Virtual Scholarly Environment 

Chair: Esther Chazon

Scripta Qumranica Electronica: The Vision, Concept, and Challenges of a New Online Platform for the Dead Sea Scrolls - Reinhard Kratz, University of Göttingen and Pnina Shor, Israel Antiquities Authority

A Short Tour of the Qumranica Platform - Bronson Brown deVost, University of Göttingen

Digital and Material Reconstruction of Highly Fragmentary Scrolls - Jonathan Ben-Dov, Tel Aviv University and Eshbal Ratzon, Ariel University

Towards a New Edition of 4QInstruction: The Case of the Prologue - Asaf Gayer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Launching the Qumranica (SQE) Virtual Scholarly Environment

DAY 3: Tuesday, June 8

Manuscript and Text

Chair: Eileen Schuller, McMaster University

Do 11Q19 and 11Q20 Represent Different Recensions of the Temple Scroll? Methodological Considerations -  Andrew Gross, Catholic University of America

4QpaleoExodm (4Q22) and the ‘Samaritan’ Tenth Commandment.  - Hila Dayfani, University of Oxford, Oriel College

Pesher Habakkuk: From Behind the Scenes of a Forthcoming New Commentary  - Noam Mizrachi, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Dead Sea Scrolls and Authorship - George Brooke, University of Manchester 

Manuscript and Text

Aramaic and Parabiblical Texts

Chair: Joseph Angel,  Yeshiva University

A God’s-Eye View: The Perception of Sacrifice in Aramaic Levi - Liane Feldman, New York University

Is There 'Poetry' in the 'Prose' of the Genesis Apocryphon? - Moshe J. Bernstein, Yeshiva University

Books and Writings in the Aramaic Texts from Qumran - Devorah Dimant, University of Haifa

What Did Levi Do? - James C. VanderKam, University of Notre Dame

'Seal the Words of the Scroll until the Time of the End' (Daniel 12:4): Hidden Manuscripts and the Search for a New Biblical Past - Eva Mroczek, University of California, Davis

Aramaic and Parabiblical Texts

DAY 4: Wednesday, June 9

Legal and Sectarian Texts

Chair: Sidnie White Crawford, University of Nebraska

'Bringing the Messiah(s) Through Law': Reflections upon Completing a New Commentary to the Damascus Document - Steven Fraade, Yale University

Inter-sectarian Polemic in Miqsat Ma`asei Ha-Torah (4QMMT) - Vered Noam, Tel Aviv University

On Timing and Law: A Multimodal Analysis of the Maskil in 4Q259 - James M. Tucker, University of Toronto The Temple Scroll and Mishnah Middot: A Literary Comparison - Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University

Legal and Sectarian Texts

Scripture, Scrolls, and Second Temple Judaism

Chair: Alison Schofield, University of Denver

Why Did Moses Stay for Forty Days and Forty Nights on Mt. Sinai? - Ariel Feldman, Brite Divinity School

Lived Wisdom in Early Judaism - Elisa Uusimäki, Aarhus University

Are the Dead Sea Scrolls Authentic? Insights from Early Qumran Scholarship - Michael Langlois, University of Strasbourg

Scripture, Scrolls, and Second Temple Judaism

War and Violence in the Scrolls

Chair: Liane Feldman, New York University

“Deep into that darkness peering": New Light on the War Scroll (1QM) - Guy Stiebel, Tel Aviv University

The Origins of Violence in the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Sociological Perspective - Alex Jassen, New York University

War and Violence in the Scrolls

Closing Remarks and Thanks

Chair: Alex P. Jassen, New York University

Emily Master, Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority

Joe Uziel, Israel Antiquities Authority

Lawrence H. Schiffman, New York University

Closing Remarks and Thanks