The President of the IOTS, Michael Klein, passed away this past November. He will be greatly missed by his friends and colleagues. His work on the targumim and their texts over the last several decades has helped put targum studies on a solid foundation.

There will be three keynote addresses at the third meeting of the International Organization for Targum Study in Basel in August 2001. Robert Hayward will speak on "Targumic Interpretations of Jacob's Change of Name to Israel, and their Places in the Jewish Exegesis of Genesis 32." Steven Fraade will explore the notion of "Targum as Teaching in Ancient Judaism." And Paul Flesher will discuss "Targums and Priests: A Proposal Concerning Religious Developments in the Galilee." The abstracts will be posted on the Newsletter's website.

Since the death of Michael Klein has interrupted the planning of the August 2001 conference of the IOTS, the Executive Board has decided to extend the deadline for paper proposals. Papers should fit into one of the following three categories.

Papers should be of twenty-minutes length, allowing ten additional minutes for discussion. The deadline for paper titles and proposals is 15 March 2001, and 15 April 2001 for the submission of written abstracts. Please repond to: Dr. Roger Syren, Jomala Forsammling, 22150 Jomala, Finland. Phone: +35 831647. Email: Jomala@evl.fi (Please put "For R. Syren" in the Subject line.)

 

The third meeting of the International Organization for Targum Study (IOTS) is scheduled for Thursday and Friday, 2-3 August 2001, in Basel, Switzerland. It will be held in conjuction with the XVIIth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament (IOSOT) in Basel during 5-10 August 2001. As with our past Meetings, registration and accommodations will be arranged through the IOSOT. Registration and accomodation forms and other booking information can be found at the IOSOT's website (http://iosot2001.theol.unibas.ch) or can be had from the organizing Committee: IOSOT XVII Kongress Basel 2001, Postfach 112, CH-4011 Basel; Tel./Fax +41 61 267 27 96. E-Mail: iosot2001@ubaclu.unibas.ch

President Klein was actively organizing the August Conference of the IOTS when he died. Two members of the IOTS Board have agreed to share the remaining responsibilities for organizing. Roger Syren has agreed to handle matters relating to the program, while Philip Alexander has agreed to undertake the non-programmatic aspects. Dr. Syren's contact information appears above. Prof. Alexander can be reached at: Religious Studies Department, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, England. Phone: +44 0161 275 3977. Email: p.s.alexander@man.ac.uk.

 

The Journal of the Aramaic Bible has published its third issue, 2:1. Johannes de Moor has now retired from his position as lead editor and has been succeeded by Willem Smelik of University College, London. The new Secretary of the journal is R.B. ter Haar Romney of the University of Leiden and the Peshitta Institute.

At the instigation and guidance of Johannes de Moor, E.J. Brill Academic Publishers have begun an new series which will focus on the targumim and related texts. It will be called Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture. The Executive Editor will be Paul Flesher. If you have any book manuscripts you wish to discuss with him, he may be contacted at the address, telephone or email listed above.

In addition to the new series, the older series of Targum Studies is still continuing. It is now published by Global Press (http://ssips.binghamton.edu/). Michael Klein's last work, The Masorah to Targum Onqelos, has just been published by them. Further information appears at: http://ssips.binghamton.edu/ashj/masorah.html#num1

 

The Third Peshitta Symposium will be held in Leiden 12-15 August 2001, following the IOSOT Conference in Basel. Those intending to read a paper are kindly requested to return the registration form and to submit a paper title before 1 March 2001. An abstract of about 350 words should be delivered before 30 April 2001 to the organizers at Leiden University. For the complete Call for Papers and further information, go to http://www.leidenuniv.nl/gg/na/secann.html.

 

The IOTS sponsors an e-mail discussion list for the study of the targumim called Targum-L. Anyone wishing to subscribe should send their email address to "listmaster" Paul Flesher at: PFlesher@uwyo.edu.