The Wilderness captured the imagination not only of the ancients but also, as this rich symposium volume attests, of modern scholars. The prophet Isaiahâs dictum, âClear a path for the Lord in the wildernessâ (Isa 40:3), as famously quoted in the Community Rule (1QS 8:14), was the inspiration for the Sixteenth International Orion Symposium, which celebrated seventy years since the discovery of the first Qumran cave. Taking their cue from this prophetic message, the papers in this volume address issues ranging from the physicality of the Qumran caves, the wilderness experience of the Qumran inhabitants, and the yaḥadâs reception of Isaiahâs prophecy, to the wilderness as symbol, concept, and spiritual calling for writers of pseudepigrapha and New Testament works as well as for the yaḥad. A significant number of papers focus on the textual and interpretive history of Isa 40:3 and of additional key biblical passages that relate to various aspects of Israelâs connection to the wilderness.
While marking the Scrollsâ initial discovery in 1947, the Sixteenth Orion Symposium and these proceedings impressively attest to the tremendous advances in Scrollsâ research made, inter alia, through the full publication and editing of the Scrolls, the application of new methods and scientific technologies, and the cooperation of a host of scholars representing different institutions, nationalities, religions, ages, and genders. As the saying goes, âIt takes a village.â This symposium and its proceedings are the fruits of a collaborative effort carried out by colleagues at Hebrew Universityâs Orion Center, New York University, the University of Viennaâs Institute for Jewish Studies, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and the Israel Museum. The Austrian Ministry for Europe Integration and Foreign Affairs, the Austrian Embassy and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tel Aviv, and NYU donor and founder of jewishhistory.com, George S. Blumenthal, all provided additional support. As always, our deepest appreciation goes to Prof. Michael E. Stone for his vision in founding the Orion Center in 1995, and to the Orion Foundation and the Hebrew University for their constant support since we embarked on this academic journey twenty-eight years ago.
Many thanks are due the Orion Center personnel for their smooth running of the symposium. Ariella Amir, who served as the Orion Center office administrator from 1997â2019, handled the arrangements for the symposium participants and venues, assisted by Efrat Ben-David; Shiran Shevah, then Orion Bibliography Assistant, and the 2018 Orion student interns, Sharlin Decorato, Matheus Grillo, and Regina Langensteiner, provided essential and energetic logistical support before and during the symposium. Benjamin Frankel, Orion copyeditor, prepared the manuscript, working closely with Dr. Ruth Clements, Orion Chief of Publications. The editors are grateful to Profs. George J. Brooke and Jutta Jokiranta for accepting the volume into the series Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah, and to Katelyn Chin , Katerina Sofianou, and Dirk Bakker, of Brill Academic Publishers, for their assistance in shepherding the volume through to publication.
Esther G. Chazon
Jerusalem
April, 2023