Yeshiva University and Jewish Publication Society Present Dec. 3 Event Celebrating Publication of Monumental Anthology

Yeshiva University and the Jewish Publication Society (JPS) will host a Hanukkah event on December 3 at the Yeshiva University Museum to celebrate the publication of Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to Scripture (JPS, December 2013). The book, a three-volume anthology of Second Temple literature, was edited by Dr. Louis H. Feldman, the Abraham Wouk Family Chair in Classics and Literature at Yeshiva University; Dr. James L. Kugel, director of the Institute for the History of the Jewish Bible at Bar-Ilan University; and Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of Judaic studies at YU. “Outside the Bible brings readers ‎into the library of Second Temple Judaism and places Second Temple texts into the wider context of the history of Judaism,” said Schiffman. “It was a great privilege to work with my coeditors and so many colleagues to produce this amazing collection of texts and commentaries.” More than 70 scholars contributed to the monumental 3,000 page compilation, including several YU faculty members. Dr. Joseph Angel, assistant professor of Bible, was a contributor to the anthology. Dr. Yaakov Elman, Herbert S. and Naomi Denenberg Chair in Talmudic Studies and professor of Jewish History, and Dr. Richard Hidary, assistant professor of Jewish History, were editorial advisors. While specialists have studied individual texts or subsections of this library, Outside the Bible seeks for the first time to bring together all of its major components into a single collection, gathering portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, the biblical apocrypha, pseudepigrapha, and the writings of Josephus and Philo of Alexandria. The December 3 event will feature a discussion with Schiffman and Alex P. Jassen, associate profes­sor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York Uni­versity, and include introductory remarks from YU President Richard M. Joel and Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz, director of JPS. The program will be preceded by a reception and followed by a book signing and curator’s tour of the Yeshiva University Museum exhibition, “Threshold to the Sacred: The Ark Door of Cairo’s Ben Ezra Synagogue.” Admission to the event is free. RSVP to Amy Rotheim Sullivan at enrollment@yu.edu or 347-266-4666.