Photographs of highlights of the Symposium
This year we celebrate the centennial of the Damascus Document's
discovery
in the Cairo Geniza (CD) and also the recently published DJD edition of
the Qumran Damascus manuscripts. Since its inital discovery, CD sparked
a lively debate partiularly about its sectarian origins and halacha,
issues
with far-reaching implications not only for the development of Jewish lawbut also for the very nature of Second
Temple period Judaisms and its
continuity
into the early medieval period.
With the publication of all the manuscripts, the time is ripe for renewed
study and asessment of this important document, its multi-faceted content and form, its literary history, its place
in the Qumran corpus, the light it sheds on Qumran and other communities, its contribution to the various fields of
Judaic studies on which it impacts: history, biblical
interpretation,
halacha, Jewish thought, Hebrew language, paleography and codicology. The Damascus Document symposium provides a
special opportunity to bring
together
scholars working in different disciplines and in different periods
including
the medieval Geniza context. Papers may take an interdisciplinary
approach
or focus on one aspect, developing it synchronically or diachronically,
and should deal with major issues or broad trends.