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Dead Sea Scroll Book Reviews, for Religious Studies 225
University of Pennsylvania, Robert Kraft, Spring Term 1995
Copyright by the respective authors; 
reproduction with appropriate credits is permitted.

[[NOTE: The assignment was to summarize the reviewed book and to 
compare it especially with the textbooks used in the course, by James 
VanderKam <t>The Dead Sea Scrolls Today</> (Eerdmans/SPCK 1994) and 
Joseph Fitzmyer <t>Responses to 101 Questions on the Dead Sea 
Scrolls</> (Paulist Press 1992). As with this note, any comments by 
the course instructor are enclosed in double brackets below.]] 
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Devorah Dimant and Lawrence Schiffman, eds., <t>Time to Prepare the 
Way Into the Wilderness</>. 
Way In the Wilderness</> [[check title, publication info]]

Reviewed by Hunter E. Powell
hpowell@sas.upenn.edu 

   
   The text that I reviewed is an anthology edited by Devorah Dimant 
and Lawrence Schiffman called <Time to Prepare the Way Into the 
Wilderness>.  This anthology is one the most recent publications 
discussing aspects of the Dead Sea Scrolls that had either not been 
explored due the problems with reading the texts or with their 
interpretation.  The need for this collection of essays derived 
from the need to publish information on new trends that have 
emerged from the the research of various leading scholars.  The book, 
overall, is quite technical -- not a popular presentation. Rather it 
would be more beneficial as a reference book more than anything else.  
It was a very confusing read at times, but written very concisely.  I 
found myself having to refer to the conclusion at the end of certain 
papers in order to grasp the overall message being conveyed. Dimant 
and Shiffman both indicate in their preface that the anthology was 
intended to include much more than it does, but it was too early for 
such ambitious perspective.  The scholars included in the 
anthology are some of the foremost experts on the Dead Sea Scrolls, 
and each plays an integral part in the studies of the Qumran material.  

Joseph M. Baumgarten: 

    Baumgarten sheds light on the 4qtoh which illustrates the laws about
fluxes from both the men and women in the Qumran community and their
purity.  Those that secrete either semen or menstrual blood must be kept
away from the city and from each other.  Due to the extremely small
portion the text preserved Baumgarten uses other sources such as the
Damascus Document and the Temple Scroll to compare, contrast, and complete
4Qtoh.  It is also notes that there is a time period that for those who
flux to become pure, but those who come in contact with these impure ones
must bathe before eating.  The text does not say they must count seven
days like the impure ones.  

Magen Broshi: 

     Broshi essentially compares and contrasts the architectural designs
in the Temple Scroll (TS) and the Description of the New Jerusalem (DNJ). 
The description is fairly rigid and mathematical.  Broshi takes great care
to analyze both town plans and the Temple plans to find a common ground
between the two.  He basically finds a few structural and size difference
(although they were both very explicit).  He does mention that the TS is
far better preserved than the DNJ, but neither have been studied to any
great length until now. 

Devorah Dimant: 

    In her portion of the anthology, Dimant, takes on the task of
recreating the Qumran library, specifically cave 4.  By organizing the all
of the DSS, even the unedited ones, into an organized library, the texts
become organized by subject matter rather than numbers.  The reasoning
behind this undertaking is to make future research of the DSS easier an
less confusing.  Although, this library is still in its early stages,
Dimant hopes to eventually have completely organized list of the DSS. 

Jacob Milgrom: 

     Milgrom also discusses the unpublished text on impurities in 4Toh. 
He defines this scroll, and attempts to fill in its missing parts.  He
addresses the fact that Qumran followed the laws of the Torah when it came
to impurities.  The issues that impurity is seen as demonic and that if
one touches another who is more impure then will gain those impurities as
well.  Much of the study is parallel to Baumgartens research.

Lawrence H.Schiffman: 

     Schiffman addresses the methods of sacral and non-sacral slaughter
within a portion of the Temple Scroll.  He recognizes the authors
three-fold division regarding matters of slaughter.  The text expresses a
more Sadducean approach, which Schiffman admits is an interesting find,
but more research must be conducted before any definite conclusions are
reached.  

Emmanuel Tov:

     Tov attempts to research the possibility that there are groups of
biblical texts in the Qumran texts.  He asks such questions as whether
there are pairs of texts copied from each other, do any Qumran texts
overlap, and can clusters be found.  Evidence has been found to confirm
that biblical text clusters do exist.  Tov believes that are different
groups within the Qumran community, but he does not speculate as to
whether or not they live together peacefully.  Tov simply wanted to
establish the fact that there were different groups.  

Eugene Ulrich:

     The purpose of Ulrichs study is to examine the six biblical
manuscripts from cave four in the paleo-Hebrew script together to
understand if the texts represents similarities or contrasts, and to see
if the texts form groups of texts or if they are simply varied forms of
biblical scrolls.  Ulrich does not distinguish them from other biblical
manuscripts except for there script.  He addresses this through the use of
paleography and date, the orthography, and textual character.  

Moshe Wienfeld:

      This paper basically deals with analyzing the Hymn to the Creator
(col. 26:9-15).  She states that the text contains basic elements of the
Qedushah in the conventional Jewish morning prayer and the book of
Jubilees and in Ben Sira. 

Hunter Powell