Lecture Schedule and Topics  IN-PERSON and LIVE-STREAMED (Link coming soon)

LECTURE 1: FRIDAY, JUNE 10 ERIC MEYERS

The Creative Jewish Response to Tragedy:

Reexamining 586 BCE and 70 CE – Taking the Edge off Tisha B’Av

In viewing the two periods of the destruction or the Temple in Jerusalem, we have every reason to celebrate the creative and dynamic ways in which the Jewish community rallied to reconstruct their lives. Despite the loss of hegemony and the loss of life, the results of each period were nothing less than spectacular: the editing of the Bible and reclaiming the land in the first instance; and in the latter case, the launching of the synagogue as a religious space and location for social and public gatherings, as well as the emergence of rabbinic literature and a flourishing Diaspora.

Lecture 2, Saturday, JUNE 11. CAROL MEYERS

Women as Ritual Experts in Ancient Israel

Who were the most important religious figures in ancient Israel? Most people would probably say the priests were. But they would be wrong. The main arena of religious life for most people in the biblical period was not in the Jerusalem temple nor a religious shrine. Rather, it was the family household, and women were major figures in household religious activities. Those activities are largely invisible in the Bible with its focus on priesthood and sacrifice. However, archaeological materials – and some fascinating ethnographic data – can reveal many aspects of women’s household religious culture and its meaning for the lives of ordinary ancient Israelites.

LECTURE 3, JUNE 12, CAROL AND ERIC MEYERS

Holy Land Archaeology: Where the Past Meets the Present

Archaeology is commonly understood as the study of human life in the past by analyzing the material remains of the past. What is not usually recognized is that the archaeological quest for the past is inevitably shaped by the excavators’ present and can serve a vari8ety of purposes, in addition to the recovery of ancient cultures. This presentation will use several case studies to illustrate the intersection between the discoveries at ancient sites and the pressures of the modern world. The excavation of these well-known sites – all national parks in Israel – exemplify the ways excavators respond to contemporary issues and problems.