RelSt 225: DSS Class Minutes #9 (3 Oct 1996)
by Jessica Wiener

book review
-not due next week
-the list on the course page is not updated, you can use a newer book or 
other material that gets you into a dialogue with the material-options
	-Schiffman or Golb (he argues that Qumran was a Jewish fortress 
	and that the scrolls were not produced there, but stored by 
	regular Jews of the time from Jerusalem, etc.)
	-Miller Burrows' 2 volumes published in 1955-7, in light of
        current discussions
	-topical review from Revue de Qumran or the new DSS Journal 
        (e.g. 3 or 4 articles)
        -topical review from archives of IOUDAIOS-L or ORION-L
		-for ORION, see earlier notes to get on
		-for IOUDAIOS, listserv@lehigh.edu 
			     sub ioudaios-l [your name]

Two new issues being discussed on the internet:
-forgeries -- the market was not flooded by forgeries at the time of DSS 
 discoveries, from all indications
-relevence of inkwells found at Qumran -- even though most excavations
 don't uncover an entire archaeological site, it's unusual to find
 inkwells; even though a few were found at Qumran, there's not enough
 evidence to to know if the inhabitants were active writers or scribes

There is a view that says some caves were Genizot -- ex: cave 4
storage method of cave four is unclear because Bedouin ransacked and by 
the time archeologists got there, it was too late to determine how the
materials may have been stored -- e.g. on shelves that are no longer there
or on the ground.
Not everything in a Geniza has to have the divine name on it or
associated with it, judging from the "Cairo Geniza" discoveries.

Clarification of some terms
"Rabbinic" Judaism -- took formalized shape after DSS and is especially 
  obvious in the two Talmudim

"Oral law" and tradition comes to be written down and codified in 
-Talmudim (=learning/instruction)
	-no earlier then 5th C ce
	-2 productions -- Babylonian and Palestinian/Jerusalem
	-compiled by Geonim
	-Mishna+Gemara=Talmud
-Mishna (=repetition/learning)
	-up to 200 ce
	-used in both Talmudim
	-compiled by Tannaim (ex: Aqiba, Ishmael, Judah HaNasi)
-Gemara (=completion)
	-supplements Mishna
	-produced by Amoraim
	-different gemara in Babylonian and Palestinian/Jerusalem
         Talmudim

"Written Law"
-Masoretic Text -- standarization of Hebrew Bible in the way that it comes 
   to be used in classical Judaism
	-is already taking shape in 2nd C ce during Tannaitic period
	-Masoretes were a group of scholars who operated during the 
         ninth and tenth centuries, some of whom were Karaites
-Targumim 
	-interpretation/translation
	-developed because many people didn't speak/understand Hebrew
	-comes to be standard term for Aramaic translation
	-also used for other languages, like Greek Targum
	-Targum Onkelos is most commonly used for the Torah -- a 
         connection has been suggested between him and Aquila, 
         a greek translator dated to the second century ce

DSS -- prove that there was fluidity in Jewish biblical texts before MT
   -have produced fragments of Targums as well as of pre-Masoteric texts 
    and other texts similar to Masoretic texts
   -Big Isaiah scroll is closer to MT than other DSS fragments of Isaiah

LXX/OG (Septuagint/Old Greek)
	-72 translators were commissioned to translate the Torah from Hebrew
	to Greek in 2nd or 3rd century Alexandria, says the legend
	-subsequent translations of other biblical books are called Old
        Greek because they aren't neccesarily from the same place or time

Apocrypha
	-books in Old Greek, but not in the Jewish Scriptures (MT)
	-ex: Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, Macabees I and II
	-not respected by Rabbinic Judaism like other texts and the Talmud

DSS discovery opens new evidence of other writings being accepted as 
authoritarian by Jews, showing that we can't jump to conclusions about 
what was "scripture" in the DSS period.

-Midrashim
	-based on MT
	-commentary on written scriptures 

-Halacha -- legal material -- how to lead one's life
-Haggada(h) -- all non-legal material (stories, traditions, prayers, etc.)

Observations on working from Translations:

The same semitic word may be translated differently.  For example, in the 
scrolls, the Hebrew word Satan is used five or six times.  In all but one 
time, it is translated as foe, opponent, adversary.  Once, however, it is 
translated as Satan by Garcia Martinez.

Bnei Elohim (literally, "sons of God") in Genesis 6.1-4
DSS, Jubilees, Enoch and other passages also mention this tradition
LXX translated Bnei Elohim as "angels" in some places
DSS (Dam Doc.) refers to "watchers" as a related category

Also mentioned in DSS are Angels of Light and Angels of Darkness- various 
references (see Gaster's Index):
	-divine beings, holy ones, hosts of heaven
	-Malchai Resha / Malchai Tzedek
	-Gabriel, Raphael, Michael
their roles
	-transcendental knowledge
	-sing praises in heaven
	-eschatological war participants

Query: Why is the name of God in a different script?
"LORD" = God's special four letter name (tetragrammaton)  
"Lord" = words such as Adonai (meaning "Lord")

Also, in DSS, divine names are sometimes written in archaic Hebrew, which
separates them from their surroundings and enhances their special
significance 

Elohim -- plural of El (God, power) came to mean God (as singular)

/end/