A couple of weeks ago, Ofri Ilany wrote a piece in Haaretz in which he claimed that the most important person in the history of Judaism is Shaphan the scribe, who was an official in the court of Josiah. He claimed that Shaphan was the person behind the major transformation of the religion of Judah during Josiah’s reign and set the tone for what Judaism became since then.

This is quite a claim – and if I may add, one that is hard to accept.

Some of the problems with this suggestion were addressed in an answer to Ilany’s article that also appeared in Haaretz which dealt mainly with textual and historical issues.

I was approached to write something from an archaeological perspective and indeed, a short article of mine was just published in Haaretz on this.

Check it out!

And see the humourous ending of the article…:-)

P.S. see below the two articles by Ilany and Gilad in text form

Happy to post that application for the upcoming Summer School in Jewish Studies: “Jewish Civilization – From Then to Now”, which will be held at Bar-Ilan University (Ramat-Gan, Israel) from May 31 to June 11, 2026, is now open.

This summer school will deal with topics relating to Jewish culture and civilization from biblical to modern times, with lectures and tours by leading BIU faculty members (including me, Aren Maeir…) from various fields, including Bible, archaeology, history, Talmud, Philosophy, Art and Middle Eastern Studies.

Bar-Ilan University is Israel’s fastest growing (and 2nd largest) university and its stunning main campus is located in Ramat-Gan, just to the east of Tel Aviv.

The Faculty of Jewish Studies at BIU is the world’s largest and most diverse concentration of departments and researchers dealing with a broad range of topics relating to Jewish society, culture and history, from the distant past to most recent times.

If you are a student (particularly MA and PhD), you are invited to apply for this fascinating summer school. If you are a faculty member – please do recommend this to your students!

This should be a very special and impactful learning experience!

Here are the details:

Today was the last day of our short season. All told, we had great results and we definitely will have to return for more excavations. Today we had some more finds, including a couple juglets and a cowey shell.

We had a visit today by Iosi and Ziv from the Nature and Parks Authority, to discuss long term plans for conservation, signage and a new plan for trails through the site, that will hopefully enable visitors to see all the various important excavated area on the site.

Thanks to the team for their great work, Shira, Shani, and Kristina, the core team, as well as Eitan, Shlomo, Liora, Noam and Omri, who came down to help as well!

Great day today! We had some cool finds, including taking out the chalice from yesterday, a small, complete juglet, and at the very end of the day, large parts of the base of a chalice with petals!

In addition to this, we did some cool work with a laproscopic camera, to look into hard to get to parts in the excavations!

Here are some pictures from today:

Today was a great day in our short fall season. Noam Bar-David joined us for the day, and was occupied mainly with taking some new, high resolution aerial photos of the entire siege trench (for a separated study now in preparation).

In addition to this, we had a few cool finds today, including a chalice which is still in the process of being uncovered.

Finally, we were honored to host at the dig Ambassador Yasuke Arai, the Japanese Ambassador to Israel, who came to Tell es-Safi/Gath with his assistant Mr. Takume Matsuse.

Here are some pictures from today:

Today, we were back in the field for another fun-filled day of our short 2025 fall season. Special guests today were a film team from the National Geographic Society, who were filming for a series about the Bible to be air on the National Geographic channel.

At the very beginning of the day, as Kristina started to dig, a little snake popped up from the sediments she was excavating. This was a bit surprising, as you can see from the clips below (thanks to Kristina for the photo and clips below). Turns out this little fellow is known as the Braid Snake or Jan’s Cliff Racer (Platyceps rhodorachis), a harmless and rather common snake in Israel.

CORRECTION: Shem Tov Sasson just corrected me on the identification of the snake! He writes:

The snake is actually a juvenile sheltopusik or glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus). You can see how short it is proportionally and the distinct diagnostic groove that runs lengthwise dividing the upper and lower halves of its body. Either way, it is harmless and good sighting!

Thanks Shem Tov!

Although, as any good archaeologist, I don’t like snakes, I gingerly put him in a bucket and moved him out of the excavation area!

Please note this fascinating workshop which will be held at Bar-Ilan University on Nov. 5-6, 2025.

Here are the full details:

The Kramer Institute of Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, The Rivlin Institute for the Study of Settlement in the Land of Israel of the Israel & Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, The Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies and The Minerva Center for the Relations Between Israel and Aram in Biblical Times, Bar-Ilan University, In partnership with Jerusalem University College – The American Institute of Holy Land Studies are pleased to invite interested scholars to a two-day workshop on

Preserving National Identity Under Imperial Rule: The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, and their Challenge to Indigenous Identity

The workshop will take place at Bar-Ilan University, Building 410, room 312, on 5-6 November, 2025.

Program:

Wednesday | 5th November
9:00-11:00 Visit to Babylonian Jewry Museum in Or Yehuda: How is Indigeneity Preserved in Exile?
12:00-13:00 Lunch break

13:00 Opening Presentation: Indigenous Identity: Modern Political Construct or Ancient Paradigm?
by Dr Sheree Trotter, Indigenous Coalition for Israel and Director of the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem

14:00-15:40 Israelites and Judahites in Babylonia – Preserving Identity and Indigeneity
Chair: Wayne Horowitz

Identifying Exiles from the Kingdom of Israel in the Cuneiform Record Jan Safford, Hebrew University and Bar-Ilan University

Indigeneity as a Theological Factor: A Case Study of Ezekiel and the Al-Yahudu Tablets Ariel Kopilovitz, Bar-Ilan University

Psalm 137: A Contextual Hermeneutical Reading Robert Kuloba, Kyambogo University, Uganda

16:00-17:00 “A Rose by Any Other Name?” Judahite Names and Identity Preservation
Chair: Shawn Zelig Aster

Sojourner of YHWH: the Earliest Hebrew Name from Babylonia, and its Possible Implications for the Exiles’ Theology and Identity Yigal Bloch, Bible Lands Museum

Identity in Exile: Judean Names Tova Ganzel, Bar-Ilan University

Thursday | 6th November
9:30-11:30 Judahite Responses to Assyria as Seen in the Sennacherib Story
Chair: Yigal Levin

The Rabshakeh’s Rewriting of Judahite Indigeneity: Identity, Land, and Jerusalem’s Sovereignty in the Hezekiah–Sennacherib Narrative Paul Evans, McMaster Divinity College, Canada

The Narrative of Sennacherib’s Campaign Against Jerusalem: Responses to Events in Esarhaddon’s Reign Danel Kahn, University of Haifa

Implicit Reactions to Sennacherib’s Campaign and Propaganda in Deuteronomic Laws Nili Wazana, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

12:00-13:00 Lunch break
13:00-15:00 Complex Responses to Assyrian Rule
Chair: Jan Safford

Indigenous Enlil, Assur and Marduk
Wayne Horowitz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

When Indigenous Elites Cooperate with Empire: Jerusalem and Other Judahite Elites under Assyrian Rule Shawn Zelig Aster, Bar-Ilan University

Eucatastrophe and Divine Wisdom in Isaiah 1-39 Matthew Lynch, Regent College and University of British Columbia, Canada

Respondent: Yisca Zimran, Bar-Ilan University

15:30-16:30 Roundtable Discussion: What Can the Ancient Near East Teach the Modern Middle East about Indigeneity and Identity-Preservation?
Chair: Nili Samet, Bar-Ilan University

Glad to report that the festschrift volume in honor of Haskel Greenfield has appeared, and there will be a celebration for its publications at the upcoming ASOR (this acronym may be interpreted as you wish :-) meeting in Boston, in a month.

The volume includes a broad range of fascinating studies by Haskel’s colleagues, friends and students, as well as personal reflections by friends and family. The table of contents of the volume can be found here.

The Tell es-Safi/Gath Project is well-represented in the volume, which is very fitting, as Haskel has been a senior staff member in the project for many years, and co-directed with me the study of the Early Bronze Age remains on the site (from which many publications and fascinating research have appeared).

The full title of the volume is:

Beller, J. A., T. L. Greenfield, and K. D. Fowler, eds. 2025. Economies of Scale in Old World Archaeology: Essays and Reflections in Honour of Haskel J. Greenfield. British Archaeological Reports 3232. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.

I’m a co-author on 3 papers in the volume and I’ll send out the PDFs as soon as they are available:

• Albaz, S., and A. M. Maeir. 2025. “‘By the House of Their Fathers’ (Numbers 1:2): House, Community and Kinship at Early Bronze Age Tell es-Safi/Gath.” In Economies of Scale in Old World Archaeology: Essays and Reflections in Honour of Haskel J. Greenfield, edited by J. A. Beller, T. L. Greenfield, and K. D. Fowler. British Archaeological Reports 3232, 17–22. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.
• Beller, J. A., M. Fayek, and A. M. Maeir. 2025. “Luxury Items in the Shephelah? Artefact Taphonomy and Its Implications for Raw Material Acquisition at EB III Tell es-Safi/Gath, Israel.” In Economies of Scale in Old World Archaeology: Essays and Reflections in Honour of Haskel J. Greenfield, edited by J. A. Beller, T. L. Greenfield, and K. D. Fowler, 165–78. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports 3232.
• Chadwick, J. R., J. C. Katz, E. L. Welch, and A. M. Maeir. 2025. “Securing Early Urban Society – The Early and Middle Bronze Age City Fortifications at Tell es-Safi/Gath in Israel.” In Economies of Scale in Old World Archaeology: Essays and Reflections in Honour of Haskel J. Greenfield, edited by J. A. Beller, T. L. Greenfield, and K. D. Fowler. British Archaeological Reports 3232, 51–64. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports.

We had another great day in our small, fall season. We moved a lot dirt and stones, had some cool finds, and we even had a few visitors.

Next week, we keep on digging!

Today, we were out in the field for our short fall season. The is a small but experienced team and the week and a half of work should be a lot of fun. Hopefully, we’ll have some cool finds as well!

Towards the end of the day we had a once in a lifetime experience! A flying tent passed over us!