Hebrew in the Second Temple Period: The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of Other Contemporary Sources

The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the book of Ben Sira can be properly understood only in the light of all contemporary Second Temple period sources. With this in mind, 20 experts from Israel, Europe, and the United States convened in Jerusalem in December 2008. These proceedings of the Twelfth Orion Symposium and Fifth International Symposium on the Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Ben Sira examine the Hebrew of the Second Temple period as reflected primarily in the Dead Sea Scrolls, the book of Ben Sira, Late Biblical Hebrew, and Mishnaic Hebrew. Additional contemporaneous sources―inscriptions, Greek and Latin transcriptions, and the Samaritan oral and reading traditions of the Pentateuch―are also noted.

Steven E. Fassberg, Ph.D. (1984), Harvard University, is Casper Levias Professor of Ancient Semitic Languages at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His publications include Studies in the Syntax of Biblical Hebrew (1994), and The Jewish Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Challa (2010).

Prof. Moshe Bar-Asher, Ph.D. (1976), Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; President, Academy of the Hebrew Language. His publications include: Leshonot Rishonim: Studies in the Language of the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Aramaic (2012) and Studies in Classical Hebrew (forthcoming).

Ruth A. Clements, Th.D. (1997), Harvard University Divinity School is Head of Publications at the Hebrew University’s Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and co-editor of Text, Thought, and Practice in Qumran and Early Christianity (2010).