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New book on Targum Jonathan

Published September 11, 2009 in Targumic Texts. 1 Comment

I received a note from friend and colleague Dineke Houtman about the publication of a new projection on the origin and history of Targum Jonathan. This book was a collaborative project with Harry Sysling and is being published by Brill. Volume 9 in the Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture series, Alternative Targum Traditions The Use of Variant Readings for the Study in Origin and History of Targum Jonathan is available from Brill now.

The present study explores the possibility of using variant readings of the Targum of the Prophets to get a better insight into the origin and history of Targum Jonathan. The focus is on two sorts of variant readings: the Tosefta Targums and the targumic quotations in rabbinic and medieval Jewish literature. The chapter on the Tosefta Targums concentrates on variants from the book of Samuel. The chapter on the targumic quotations includes quotations of all the Prophets in early Jewish literature. In the Appendix a full list is given of all quotations of Targums of the Prophets presently known. The book is useful for the study of the genesis of Targum Jonathan as well as for its later developments.

Congratulations to Dineke and Harry! This will be a great resource for all interested in targumic studies and exegetical traditions.

Call for papers: International Organization for Targum Studies

Published July 13, 2009 in IOTS. 0 Comments

We are only a year away from the triennial IOSOT meeting and its associated meetings which includes the IOTS. The Congress will be held at the University of Helsinki and the associated meetings will overlap a bit more this time which should help to reduce costs, 10 days in Slovenia was great, but tough on the budget.

So with the Congress only a year away it is time to announce the call for papers. It is shaping up to be a very good IOTS meeting with Steven Fraade and Dineke Houtman confirmed for two of our three keynote addresses.

Please forward this call and feel free to this link to the Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies site.

International Organization for Targum Studies

Sixth Meeting
HELSINKI, FINLAND
August 4-6, 2010

CALL FOR PAPERS

The 6th meeting of the IOTS will cover a wide range of topics related to Targum Studies:

Philology;
Typology and Genre;
Translation Strategies and Theory;
Exegesis;
Theology;
Text-criticism and Manuscript Studies;
Relationship to Rabbinic Literature.

We are pleased to announce a call for short papers in any of these categories. Papers should be of twenty-minutes length, allowing ten additional minutes for discussion. The deadline for paper proposals is September 15, 2009, and March 1, 2010 for the submission of written abstracts.

DATE
The sixth meeting of the IOTS will be held from August 4-6, 2010 in conjunction with the XXth Congress of IOSOT, the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, and other specialized congresses (IOQS, IOSCS, IOMS), to be held from 1st to 6th August 2010 in Helnsinki, Finland. All information on these congresses, registration, accommodation, etc. can be found on http://www.helsinki.fi/teol/pro/iosot/abstracts/iosot.htm.

PAPER PROPOSALS
If you are interested in participating and presenting a paper, please send your proposal (title and/or subject of paper) to:

Dr. Willem Smelik,
willem.smelik @ ucl.ac.uk / willem.smelik @ gmail.com

Dept. of Hebrew and Jewish Studies
University College London
Foster Court, Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT

Please forward this call for papers to any student or scholar you think may be interested.

The 20th Congress of IOSOT 1-6 August 2010

Published January 15, 2009 in IOTS. 2 Comments

The website for the next IOSOT is now up! I will certianly be going for IOSOT and of course IOTS, the International Organziation for Targum Studies. Details of the IOTS program including a call for papers will appear here in due course.

President of the IOSOT Professor Raija Sollamo

Welcome to IOSOT-congress

The International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) is happy to celebrate its 60th anniversary and its 20th meeting on 1-6 August 2010 in Helsinki. Scholars from all over the world are invited to attend the lectures, participate in the discussions, and give papers. We also invite you to take part in associated specialized congresses to be held from 29th July to 6th August 2010 in Helsinki.

Read more »»

What would you like to see on CAL?

Published October 22, 2008 in CAL and Targumic Texts. 0 Comments

Steve Kaufman would like to invite all targumists to share with him a list of the additional features that they would like to see implemented on the CAL targum research site. The CAL is the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon and is an excellent resource. Be sure to check it out if you are not already familiar with and, as he has requested, please send him any additional features you may be interested in.

I will take his contact information directly from the site:

For further information, please contact Prof. S. Kaufman. Please DO NOT send requests for for translations from Aramaic for engagement rings and tattoos!

For information about bodily adornment in Aramaic contact Steve Caruso of The Aramaic Blog.

Targum Sigla Project

Published October 8, 2008 in IOTS, MSS and Targumic Texts. 0 Comments

From our beloved IOTS President Willem Smelik:

Dear members of the IOTS and other interested parties,

The IOTS has long discussed the desirability of new editions of (most of) the Targums. A first task, the collection of data on targumic manuscripts, has already started and has come to a promising, even if partial, conclusion at the Theologische Universiteit of Kampen, the Netherlands. Eveline van Staalduine-Sulman came with a proposal for a system of sigla which, if agreed upon and endorsed by the IOTS, could be used in any future studies and editions of the Targums, similar to the sigla nowadays common in the study of the Peshitta. The advantages of a common system are clear to everyone.

At the last meeting of the IOTS it was agreed that we should establish a committee to discuss the format for the sigla of manuscripts, starting with the afore-mentioned proposal. We would therefore like to invite interested scholars to come forward and express any interest that they might have in contributing to this task. The executive body of the IOTS will then discuss the options and decide upon a representative and suitable committee, who will hopefully be able to report their findings at the next meeting of the IOTS in Helsinki 2010.

The contact address is:

Willem Smelik
willem.smelik AT ucl.ac.uk
26 Tenison Road
Cambridge CB1 2DW
UK

With kind regards,
on behalf of the IOTS

Willem Smelik

Targumic studies on Google Books

Published September 11, 2008 in Bibliography, Targumic Texts and Translations. 0 Comments

I received an email today from Bro. Larry Kelsey with a link to Pauli’s translation of Targum Isaiah on Google Books. The excellent suggestion was that I should add it to our links of targumic texts in English translation available over at the Newsletter for Targumic and Cognate Studies (which I have done).

That started me poking around and while I am sure this is old hat to many of you, I was amazed at how many books on the targumim, current and recent volumes, are readily available there! In full form! Including my own, The Rabbinic Targum of Lamentations (although for some reason it is classified as “architecture”). Various volumes of the Aramaic Bible series are there and seem to be complete (some, like mine, are listed as “limited preview” but with 5 minutes of poking around several volumes I didn’t find any missing pages). So if you are looking for quick access to various and important studies on targumic literature and don’t have a library to hand, be sure to check out Google Books.

NTCS Wiki

Published July 25, 2008 in Wiki. 0 Comments

I (finally!) have the wiki set up. The idea is to have scholars contribute articles on Aramaic, Syriac, Targum, Peshitta, and other related subjects so that this site can become a reliable resource. You already know that the Newlsetter itself already has some targumic texts available in English translations, bibliography, and information about the International Organization for Targumic Studies. (I hope to have the bibliography in a searchable database at some point, but I have yet to find a freeware solution to that. Please send along any suggestions you may have!)

What we now need is scholars willing to contribute articles to the wiki. I have used the same software as Wikipedia so it should be familiar to folks, but I have set it up so that I have to create an account for each contributor. This should help to ensure the quality of the contributions. If you are interested in contributing please either leave a comment here or email be at cbrady AT targuman.org.

Images from the Solger MS available for TgLam and TgRuth

Published July 11, 2008 in MSS and Targumic Texts. 0 Comments

I am pleased to be able to post on NTCS images for TgLam and TgRuth from the Codex Solger MS 1-7.2° (Solger) manuscript. The images are made available with the permission of the Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg. They can be found under the “Targumim of the Megillot” section of this site

Codex Solger MS 1-7.2° (Solger) of Nürnberg is dated to 1291 and is likely to be the basis for the Rabbinic Bible, prepared by Felix Pratensis and printed in 1517 by Daniel Bomberg and reprinted without Tiberian pointing (and other minor alterations) by Lagarde in 1872. The MS contains the Hebrew text followed verse by verse with the Targum.

Images from the Solger MS:

IOSOT – IOTS 2010

Published May 12, 2008 in IOTS. 0 Comments

I just realized I never posted my final report from the IOSOT conference, including the announcement of where the next conference in 2010 will be. So, cross-posting from my blog:

Today was the final day of the XIXth IOSOT Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia. A few notes from the meeting.
Vetus Testamentum

Carol Newsome is the editor to receive submission from North America.
In the last three years (since the last report to IOSOT) there were 80 some articles and additional short notes for a total just over 120 (sorry, I missed the exact figures).
Of those articles 30 were from the US, 30 from Israel, just under that from the UK and so on…
VT is going to add an additional 20 pages per issue to accommodate additional articles.
They will soon being using Arabic instead of Roman numerals (Yeah!)
There will be a theme issue one/year. This fall: “Prophecy in Greece, Ugarit, and Israel.”

IOSOT President & the XXth Congress

The new President of IOSOT is the outstanding LXX scholar Prof. Raija Sollamo which means that the 2010 Congress will be held in Helsinki, Finland!

This was an amazing conference and I encourage everyone who can to submit papers and attend. I was particularly encouraged by the number of doctoral students and young scholars (I think I still qualify) who gave excellent papers. So save up your Euros now! Helsinki here we come!

Targumim on the Palm

Published March 7, 2008 in Targumic Texts and Translations. 0 Comments

I have now added the targumim files for Palm devices under the “Targumic Texts” section. You can use this link to go directly there. I am grateful to Prof. Steve Kaufman and the crew at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon for making these texts available. They have been put into the Palm format by Prof. Kaufman’s student David Everson.