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| Israel Society for Oriental Studies | |
|---|---|
| Name | Israel Society for Oriental Studies |
| Formation | 1950s |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem |
| Region served | Israel |
| Fields | Oriental studies, Middle Eastern studies, Semitic studies |
| Leader title | President |
Israel Society for Oriental Studies is a scholarly learned society based in Jerusalem that focuses on the study of Near Eastern, Middle Eastern, Islamic, Semitic, and Oriental cultures, languages, and histories. It acts as a hub for researchers associated with institutions such as Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, Bar-Ilan University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and museums including the Israel Museum, fostering interdisciplinary exchange among specialists in Hebrew language, Arabic language, Aramaic, Akkadian language, and related fields. The Society situates its activities within regional and international networks that include the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, American Oriental Society, French Institute of Oriental Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and the Oriental Institute (Chicago).
The Society was founded in the mid-20th century by scholars from institutions such as Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the Weizmann Institute of Science to institutionalize research traditions established during the late Ottoman and British Mandate periods that involved figures like Eleazar Sukenik, Nahum Slouschz, and Yigael Yadin. Early membership overlapped with professors who had connections to the British Museum, the Vatican Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, reflecting links to excavations at sites such as Megiddo, Hazor, Qumran, and Lachish. During the 1960s and 1970s the Society expanded activities in collaboration with projects associated with Claude Schaeffer, Kathleen Kenyon, Yigael Yadin, and archaeologists working at Tel Megiddo and Masada. In later decades it responded to developments in postcolonial studies and global area studies by engaging with scholars tied to the School of Oriental and African Studies and the American Academy in Rome.
The Society's mission emphasizes support for philological work on corpora such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, Ugaritic texts, and Cuneiform tablets, while promoting research in fields connected to the Quran, Hadith literature, Biblical Hebrew, and Neo-Assyrian Empire studies. It organizes seminars that bring together experts whose institutional affiliations include University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Harvard University, Princeton University, Columbia University, and Leiden University. The Society sponsors archival projects involving collections housed at the National Library of Israel, the British Library, and the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden to facilitate access to manuscripts like the Aleppo Codex, Codex Sassoon, and medieval Judaeo-Arabic works. Outreach initiatives have linked the Society with cultural bodies such as the Ministry of Culture and Sport (Israel), the Jerusalem Foundation, and international funding agencies like the European Research Council.
The Society publishes monographs, edited volumes, and proceedings that have appeared alongside series issued by the Israel Exploration Society, the Magnes Press, and university presses at Oxford University Press, Brill, and Cambridge University Press. Its journals and bulletins feature contributions on topics ranging from Samaritan studies to Mamluk history, encompassing research on figures such as Saadia Gaon, Maimonides, Ibn Khaldun, and Al-Idrisi. Collaborative publications have been produced with the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, and the Revue Biblique, and have carried philological editions of texts comparable to the work published in the Journal of Semitic Studies.
The Society convenes annual conferences, thematic workshops, and lecture series that have hosted international speakers from institutions including École Pratique des Hautes Études, Universität Heidelberg, University of Chicago, and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Past events have addressed subjects such as the archaeology of Levantine Bronze Age, the epigraphy of Palmyra, numismatic studies linked to the Seleucid Empire, and manuscript traditions tied to Andalusian vernaculars. It regularly organizes symposia in cooperation with archaeological missions at Caesarea Maritima, Tel Dor, Tel Hazor, and research projects focused on the Negev Highlands and the Golan Heights.
Membership comprises academics and museum curators affiliated with Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University, Tel Aviv University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Bar Ilan University's Stephen Roth Institute, and international centers such as the Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies (University of Pennsylvania), and the Institut du Monde Arabe. Leadership has included presidents and board members connected to the Israel Exploration Society, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and notable chairs who have held positions at Hebrew University, Tel Aviv University, and the University of Haifa.
The Society maintains partnerships with archaeological missions led by scholars from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), and with institutions managing collections such as the Istanbul Archaeology Museums, the Pergamon Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It participates in international research networks including projects funded by the European Union and collaborates with initiatives at the Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Project, the Corpus of Ugaritic Texts, and digitization efforts coordinated with the Vatican Apostolic Library.
Prominent scholars associated with the Society include specialists in Semitic linguistics, epigraphy, and Islamic studies with connections to figures like Moshe Greenberg, Michael Avi-Yonah, Yitzhak Hen, Ada Yardeni, Shlomo D. Goitein, Joseph Naveh, Nahum Sarna, and Eliezer Oren. Contributions encompass philological editions of texts from the Dead Sea Scrolls, archaeological reports from digs at Megiddo and Qumran, and interdisciplinary studies linking Byzantine and Early Islamic material culture. The Society's members have been active in producing critical editions, lexicons, and corpora utilized by projects at the Academy of the Hebrew Language, the SBL Press, and international catalogues of manuscripts.
Category:Learned societies of Israel Category:Middle Eastern studies organizations