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Lawrence Schiffman

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Lawrence Schiffman
Born
Lawrence Harvey Schiffman

1948 (age 75–76)
New York,US
Academic background
Alma materBrandeis University
ThesisThe Halakhah at Qumran(1974)
Academic work
Discipline
Sub-discipline
Institutions
WebsitelawrenceschiffmanEdit this at Wikidata

Lawrence Harvey Schiffman(born 1948) is a professor atNew York University(as of 2014);[1]he was formerly Vice-Provost of Undergraduate Education atYeshiva Universityand Professor of Jewish Studies (from early 2011 to 2014).[2]He had previously been Chair of New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and served as the Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies atNew York University(NYU). He is currently the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies.[3]He is a specialist in theDead Sea Scrolls,Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, andTalmudicliterature.

Education[edit]

Schiffman was a graduate ofGreat Neck North High School.He received his BA, MA, and PhD degrees from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies atBrandeis University.[4]His senior thesis was devoted to the use ofPsalmsin theQumranHodayot.His PhD thesis eventually became his first book,The Halakhah at Qumran.[5]

Memberships[edit]

Lawrence Schiffman with Pope Francis

Schiffman is a member of the University's Center for Ancient Studies and Center for Near Eastern Studies. He served as president of theAssociation for Jewish Studiesfrom 2000 to 2003.[6]During the academic year 1989/90 he was a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies of theHebrew University of Jerusalemas part of a research group dealing with the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was a member of the academic committee for the Summer, 1997 celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the 2008 60th anniversary conference, both held in Jerusalem. He is a fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research and a corresponding fellow of the Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He has been chairman of the Columbia University Seminar for the Study of the Hebrew Bible. He is a member of the board of theWorld Union for Jewish Studiesand the Society for Biblical Literature where he served as chairman of the Qumran section. He is a member of theEnoch seminarand of the advisory board ofHenoch.[7]He is also chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) and led an IJCIC delegation for a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican in June 2013, according to theWorld Jewish Congress.[8]

He served on the academic panel of theRohr Jewish Learning Institute's Sinai Scholars Society Academic Symposium, and as a scholar-in-residence at theNational Jewish Retreat.[9][10]

Film appearances[edit]

Schiffman was featured in the PBS Nova series documentary,Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls,as well as in four BBC documentaries on the scrolls, the McNeil–Lehrer program, and a Discovery special. He appears regularly in the popular educational seriesMysteries of the Bible,which appears on Arts and Entertainment (A&E), and more recently, in the four-part seriesKingdom of Davidon PBS.[11]

Visiting professorships[edit]

Schiffman at Dor Excavation, August, 1981

Schiffman served as director of New York University's program at the archaeological excavations at Dor, Israel, from 1980 to 1982, in conjunction with the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society.[12]He has served as visiting professor at Yale University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Duke University, Shier Visiting Distinguished Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Toronto, the Johns Hopkins University, the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, the Luce Visiting Professor at theUniversity of Hartfordand the Hartford Seminary, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Queens College and Yeshiva University.[13]

Contributions to the field of Dead Sea Scrolls[edit]

In 1985, Schiffman helped organize a Dead Sea Scrolls conference at New York University, where the field of Dead Sea Scrolls became organized as a separate field in Judaism in Late Antiquity.[14]

He also played a role in the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the full publication of the scrolls and to the decision of the Israel Antiquities Authority to make them fully available to the academic community. He focuses in his research on showing that the Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish texts and do not have far-reaching and dramatic implications for the study ofChristianity.[15]

In 1992/3 Schiffman was a fellow of the Annenberg Research Institute in Philadelphia where he was part of a research team working on the unpublished scrolls. Together with a colleague, he served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000). In 1991, he was appointed to the team publishing the scrolls in the Oxford series, Discoveries in the Judean Desert. He edited the journalDead Sea Discoveriesfor ten years. He served as editor-in-chief of theCenter for Online Judaic Studiesin New York.[16]

In 2011, Schiffman was a consultant for the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit which showcased the significance of the scrolls at Discovery Times Square.[17]The exhibit, entitled "The Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times", brought artifacts from the biblical andSecond Templeperiod toNew York City.Some of these artifacts (including scrolls) had never been exhibited outsideIsraelbefore.[18]

In 2020, aFestschriftwas published in his honor by former students and colleagues. The volume, entitledFrom Scrolls to Traditions,contains 20 articles on the Biblical period, Second Temple period and theDead Sea Scrolls.[19]

Works[edit]

Thesis[edit]

  • Schiffman, Lawrence H. (1974).The Halakhah at Qumran (in 2 volumes)(Thesis). Ann Arbor, MI: Brandeis University.OCLC5803566.

Books[edit]

Edited by[edit]

Awards[edit]

2014: co-recipient of theNational Jewish Book Awardin the Scholarship category withLouis H. FeldmanandJames L. Kugelfor editingOutside the Bible

References[edit]

  1. ^"Comings and Goings at YU".Yeshiva University. The Commentator. September 10, 2014.
  2. ^"Yeshiva University News » President Joel Appoints Vice Provost".Archived fromthe originalon 2011-01-15.Retrieved2011-01-13.
  3. ^"Professor Lawrence H. Schiffman".Lawrence H. Schiffman official website.
  4. ^Drew Silver, "Schiffman, Lawrence H."Encyclopedia Judaica(2nd ed.), 18:131-132.
  5. ^From Scrolls to Traditions, ed. Stuart S. Miller, Michael D. Swartz, Steven Fine, Naomi Grunhaus, Alex P. Jassen, 2020, p.XII
  6. ^"AJS at 40".associationforjewishstudies.org.Retrieved2019-08-04.
  7. ^NYU: The Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Lawrence H. Schiffman
  8. ^Pope: 'A true Christian cannot be an anti-Semite' – World Jewish Congress website, 24 June 2013
  9. ^Lakein, Dvora (May 5, 2009)."Chabad's Rohr JLI Offers Retreat to Self".Chabad Lubavtich World HQ/News.RetrievedAugust 1,2017.
  10. ^Margolin, Dovid (May 20, 2015)."Sinai Scholarship: Top Students, Academics Explore Torah's Depths at National Forum".Chabad.'The symposium gives participating students a very valuable experience', says Rabbi Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, professor of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University and a world-renowned biblical scholar, who served on the academic panel that judged the winning paper.
  11. ^Dead Sea Scrolls Expert Dr. Lawrence Schiffman Named Scholar-in-Residence at Congregation Ezrath Israel in Ellenville, NYArchived2009-12-13 at theWayback Machine
  12. ^Drew Silver, "Schiffman, Lawrence H."Encyclopedia Judaica(2nd ed.), 18:131-132.
  13. ^NYU: The Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, Lawrence H. Schiffman
  14. ^Lawrence H. Schiffman, "The Dead Sea Scrolls: How They Changed My Life," Biblical Archaeology Review, 33:04, Jul/Aug 2007.
  15. ^Lawrence H. Schiffman, "The Dead Sea Scrolls: How They Changed My Life",Biblical Archaeology Review,33:04, Jul/Aug 2007.
  16. ^"Dead Sea Scrolls Expert Dr. Lawrence Schiffman Named Scholar-in-Residence at Congregation Ezrath Israel in Ellenville, NY "
  17. ^"Biblical history nestled in neon buzz ",The Christian Scientist Monitor,Nov. 16, 2011.
  18. ^Edward Rothstein, "The Scrolls as a Start, Not an End",The New York Times,Oct. 28, 2011.
  19. ^From Scrolls to Traditions, ed. Stuart S. Miller, Michael D. Swartz, Steven Fine, Naomi Grunhaus, Alex P. Jassen, 2020, TOC.

External links[edit]

Professional and academic associations
Preceded by President of theAssociation for Jewish Studies
2000–2003 		Succeeded by
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