THE DINUR CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN JEWISH HISTORY
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Haran, Menahem 1924-2015

Personal:
Born 1924, Moscow; Ph.D. 1956, Hebrew Univ.; Lect. 1957; Sen. Lect. 1962; Assoc. Prof. 1966; Prof. 1972; Emeritus 1993; Yehezkel Kaufmann Professor Emeritus of Bible.

Research Interests:
Biblical paleography. Aspects of biblical literature. Biblical cult and priesthood. Biblical religion.

Research Project:
The formation of the biblical canon and its scribal transmission through the ages.

Abstracts of Current Research:

Biblical paleography:

The work deals with the historical reasons which underlay the formation of the biblical collection of books. It is generally held that, basically, it was a process of selection from a broad range of literature, decided by theological or dogmatic considerations. As against this, it is presumed in this research that it was a trial to assemble the remainders of the ancient Israelite literature, which at the period of its canonization was already on the decline and about to disappear. The process of collecting, not selecting, the literary remainders lasted several hundreds years, all through the Second Temple period, and came in three stages, which are reflected in the tripartite division of the Hebrew Bible. In addition, the tangible, codicological form of the biblical books through Talmudic and medieval times is studied and its impact on the inner arrangements of the biblical collection is examined. A special part of the work will be allotted to the history of the Bible in its Greek translation, as it was based on paleographic conditions different from those of the Hebrew original.

Biblical cultus:

Studies focus on the four possible aspects by which cult can be defined - place, act, time and personnel, and historical inferences are drawn. It is contended that the priestly source (which makes up the major part of the Pentateuch) reflects the conditions of the First Temple period, not those of the Second Temple period, as is mostly assumed in modern scholarship. It is also maintained that the literary crystallization itself of the priestly source took place in the times of the First Temple.

Recent Publications:

Haran, M. (1990) Book-size and the thematic cycles in the Pentateuch. In: Die Hebrische Bibel und ihre zweifache Nachgeschichte - Festschrift f?r R. Rendtorff, eds. E. Blum, Ch. Macholz and E.W. Stegemann, Neukirchen-Vluyn, Neukirchener Verlag, pp.165-176.
Haran, M. (1992) Technological heritage in the preparation of skins for biblical texts in medieval Oriental Jewry. In: Pergament - Geschichte, Struktur, Restaurierung und Herstellung heute, ed. P. R?ck, Sigmaringen, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, pp.35-43.
Haran, M. (1993) 11QPsa and the canonical Book of Psalms. In: Minhah le-Nahum: Biblical and Other Studies Presented to N.M. Sarna, eds. M. Brettler and M. Fishbane, Sheffield, JSOT Press, pp.193-201.

Haran, M. (1993) On archives, libraries and the order of biblical books. Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society, 22: 51-61.

Haran, M. (1993) "Incense altars" - Are they In: Biblical Archaeology Today, 1990 - Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Biblical Archaeology, eds. A. Biran and J. Aviram, Jerusalem, Israel Exploration Society, pp.237-247.

Haran, M. (1996) Libraries in Antiquity and their beginnings among Jews. Mikhmanim (Haifa), 10: 57-66 (Reuben and Edith Hecht Museum, University of Haifa).

Haran, M. (1996) The Biblical Collection: Its Consolidation to the End of the Second Temple Times and Changes of Form to the End of the Middle Ages. Jerusalem, Bialik Institute and Magnes Press, 388 pp. (Hebrew).