Lawrence H. Schiffman is Chairman of New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and serves as Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. He is also a member of the University’s Centers for Ancient Studies and Near Eastern Studies. He is a past president of the Association for Jewish Studies. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Center for Online Judaic Studies in New York.
During the academic year 1989/90 he was a Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem as part of a research group dealing with the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was featured in the PBS Nova series documentary, “Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” as well as in four BBC documentaries on the scrolls, the McNeil-Lehrer program, and a Discovery special. He appears regularly in the popular educational series, “Mysteries of the Bible,” which appears on Arts and Entertainment (A&E) and he appeared in Kingdom of David on PBS. In 1992/3 he was a fellow of the Annenberg Research Institute in Philadelphia where he was part of a research team working on the unpublished scrolls. Together with a colleague, he served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000). In 1991, he was appointed to the team publishing the scrolls in the Oxford series, Discoveries in the Judean Desert. He is a former editor of the journal Dead Sea Discoveries published by Brill. He is a regular contributor to the Long Island Jewish World, New York Sentinel and associated newspapers.
Professor Schiffman received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature. His publications include The Halakhah at Qumran (E. J. Brill, 1975); Sectarian Law in the Dead Sea Scrolls: Courts, Testimony, and the Penal Code (Scholars Press, 1983); Who Was a Jew? Rabbinic Perspectives on the Jewish-Christian Schism (Ktav, 1985); From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism (Ktav, 1991); a Hebrew book entitled Halakhah, Halikhah u-Meshihiyut be-Khat Midbar Yehudah (Law, Custom, and Messianism in the Dead Sea Sect) (Merkaz Shazar, 1993); the jointly authored monograph, Hebrew and Aramaic Magical Texts from the Cairo Genizah (Sheffield, 1992); Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls (Jewish Publication Society, 1994; Doubleday paperback, in the Anchor Research Library, 1995) and almost 200 articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Judaism. His most recent book is Texts and Traditions: A Source Reader for the Study of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism (Ktav, 1998).
Professor Schiffman served as director of New York University’s program at the archaeological excavations at Dor, Israel, from 1980-82. He has served as visiting professor at Yale University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Duke University, Shier Visiting Distinguished Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Toronto, the Johns Hopkins University, the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow, the Luce Visiting Professor at the University of Hartford and the Hartford Seminary, the Azrieli Graduate School of Education at Yeshiva University, the Pontifical Gregorian University, Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome), and Queens College of CUNY.
He was a member of the academic committee for the Summer 1997 celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls held in Jerusalem and is on the planning committee for the 60th anniversary, to be held in 2007. Dr. Schiffman is a fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research and a corresponding fellow of the Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies at Bar-Ilan University. He has been chairman of the Columbia University Seminar for the Study of the Hebrew Bible. He is a member of the board of the World Union for Jewish Studies. He is active in the Society for Biblical Literature where he served as chairman of the Qumran section.
• Scholars, Scrolls, and Scandals: The Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism—with or without slides
This lecture will survey the controversy over the Dead Sea Scrolls and their significance for an understanding of the continuity of Judaism from Second Temple times into the Talmudic period. Among the subjects we will address are sectarianism in ancient Judaism, Jewish Bible interpretation and law, theology and messianism and Jewish continuity. The lecture can be given with or without PowerPoint slides.
• Judaism, Islam and Israel's Crisis with Terrorism
By tracing the historical development of Islam and its relationship to Judaism and the Jewish people, we can understand why, in modern times, Islam has become a sworn enemy of the Jews and the State of Israel. The history of Islamic sectarianism and modern historical developments explain the turn towards terrorism. The "modernization" of Islam that occurred in the Middle Ages opened up the way for the possibility of Islam’s contributing to world society but the challenge facing Moslem societies is whether they can again adopt the rhetoric of modernization.
• This Land is Your Land”: The Jewish Claim to Jerusalem and the Land of Israel
A thorough discussion of the religious, historical and international legal claims of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. We will demonstrate not only the justice of these claims, but the recognition of them by other religions and the nations of the world.
• Who Was a Jew? Controversies over Jewish Identity from Ancient to Modern Times
Throughout Jewish history there have been controversies about Jewish identity. The traditional answer to "Who was a Jew?” has stood us in good stead in preserving Jewish identity. Groups of Jews that were not completely aware of these rules or who sought to modify them separated from the mainstream of the Jewish people. Among groups to be discussed are the Samaritans, early Christians, Karaites, Ethiopian Jews and modern Jewish movements.
• Moses Received the Torah at Sinai: Written Torah, Oral Torah, and the Authority of the Rabbis
As we prepare for the holiday of Shavuot, this lecture discusses the nature of that which was revealed to the Jewish people at Sinai, the manner in which they passed down both the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, and how the unity of this dual-Torah provides the key to Jewish continuity and survival. We also discuss the authority and responsibility of the rabbis as interpreters of the Torah in making possible Jewish life in every generation while at the same time preserving the strong links in our chain of tradition.