This volume honors the extraordinary scholarship of Prof. Gary A. Rendsburg, whose work and friendship have influenced so many in the last five decades. Twenty-five prominent scholars from the US, Europe, Israel, and Australia have contributed significant original studies in three of Rendsburg’s areas of interest and expertise: Hebrew language, Hebrew Bible, and Hebrew manuscripts. These linguistic, philological, literary, epigraphic, and historical approaches to the study of Hebrew and its textual traditions serve as a worthy tribute to such an accomplished scholar, and also as an illustration how all of these approaches can complement one another in the fields of Hebrew and Biblical Studies.
Vincent D. Beiler, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge, researches Masoretic Bibles of the 10th–12th centuries C.E., combining palaeography, codicology, Masorah parva, and the study of colophons to establish relationships between codices.
Aaron D. Rubin, Ph.D. (2004) Harvard University, is Ann and Jay Davis Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Georgia. He has published widely on Hebrew, the Semitic languages, and Jewish languages.
Acknowledgements Preface The Publications of Gary A. Rendsburg
Part 1 Hebrew Language
1 On Third Person Masculine Plural Pronouns in Hebrew Steven E. Fassberg
2 Out of the Sweet Came Good: A Study in Semitic Etymology Edward L. Greenstein
3 Hebraisms in Mandaic C.G. Häberl
4 The Phasal Narrative Function of Long yiqṭol and weqaṭal in Biblical Hebrew Geoffrey Khan
5 Windows, Walls, and Terebinths: The -ōn Morph in חַלּוֹנֵינוּ ḥallōnēnū (Jer 9:20) and Beyond Frank H. Polak
6 On the Biblical Hebrew Preposition min Aaron D. Rubin
7 Historical Linguistics and Language Change: the Rabbinic Hebrew Deponent Azzan Yadin-Israel
8 The Etymology and Meaning of Kuntillet ʿAjrud: An Experimental Inquiry Ziony Zevit
Part 2 Hebrew Bible
9 שֵׁדִים šēḏīm: Shades of Difference between ‘Demons’, Deity, and שַׁדַּי šadday Debra Scoggins Ballentine
10 Greek Eros in Song of Songs 8:6–7 Adele Berlin
11 Month Names in the Bible Christian M.M. Brady
12 Further Reflections on Egyptian Influences on the Early Hebrews—Priestly Matters James K. Hoffmeier
13 The Akedah in a Different Voice Aaron Koller
14 Targum Jonathan in the Critical Apparatus of the Biblia Hebraica Quinta in 1 and 2 Samuel Craig E. Morrison
15 Hidden Waters: The Sounds of Sinking in the Song of the Sea Scott B. Noegel
16 Sound Play in the Song of Hannah Elizabeth Robar
17 Northern Refugees in Jerusalem: The Case of Menaḥem, Son of Yawbana William M. Schniedewind
18 Transformation and Continuity in Liturgical Poetry: The Case of Psalm 20 Benjamin D. Sommer
19 Two Notes on the Rescue of Moses in Exodus and in the Dura-Europos Synagogue Mural Jeffrey H. Tigay
20 Isaiah 15:9 H.G.M. Williamson
21 The Joy of Secondary Texts: The “Little Horn” in Masoretic Text and Old Greek Daniel 7–8 Ian Young
Part 3 Hebrew Manuscripts
22 Who Wrote Acrostic Signatures in Early Masoretic Bibles? The Case of Ḥananya ha-Levi ben Shelomo Vincent D. Beiler
23 Christian Scholarship and Jewish Prayer in 13th-Century England: Oxford, MS Arch. Selden A. 3 Judith Olszowy-Schlanger
24 The Curious Case of the Corresponding Colophons in Codex Cairo 3 Benjamin M. Outhwaite
25 A Letter from the Chief of the Samaritans, with a Little Present Stefan Schorch
Academics and students interested in the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew language, and Hebrew manuscript tradition.