ORION CENTER Scholarships and Awards
Orion Center Research Scholarships 2023/2024
To see the announcement
in Hebrew, please click here.
To see the announcement
in English, please click here.
The Orion Center invites scholars and graduate students to submit applications for its research
scholarships, for the academic year 2023/2024. The scholarships are for research on the Dead Sea
Scrolls and associated literature in all relevant disciplines. We particularly encourage integrative
studies involving the Scrolls and other aspects of Second Temple studies. Preference will be given to
junior scholars (M.A. students in the process of writing the thesis, Ph.D. students, and postdoctoral
students).
Research connected with the scholarship must be carried out in Israel. Scholarship recipients
should plan to spend at least a month in Irael. They will be associated with the Orion Center and
participate in Center programs; they will present their research in an Orion Center Scholars’ seminar.
The amount of the grant will be up to $4000.
Deadline: May 15, 2023
Requirements:
1. Applications (in Hebrew or English) should be sent by email to
orioncenter@mail.huji.ac.il.
2. Please include:
- A detailed description of the proposed research project, outlining its method and goals,
along with potential publications connected with it. If it is in Hebrew, please include a brief
description in English.
- Writing sample:10–15 pages from your doctoral dissertation, master’s thesis, or another
scholarly publication that represents your work.
- Curriculum vitae (including list of publications).
- Contact information for two referees.
- Form with personal details (attached):
Hebrew /
English
Previous Recipients
Master's Thesis Award
From time to time the Orion Center offers an award for an outstanding Master's thesis, on the Dead Sea Scrolls or
related
topics, in all relevant disciplines. Preference is given to integrative studies involving the importance of the
Scrolls
for other aspects of Second Temple period research. The amount of the award is $1000 - $2000. This award has not
been
renewed for 2013/2014. Please check here for future developments.
Previous Recipients
2008/9
- Christian Stadel, Department of Semitic Languages, Heidelberg University, Germany: "Hebraisms in the Aramic
Texts from
Qumran"
2007/8
- Roi Porat, Department of Archaeology , Hebrew University: "Bar Kokhba Refuge Caves in the Area between Ein Gedi
and Qumran,
in Light of the Renewed Research Project in the Judean Desert"
2004/5
- Leeor Gottlieb, Department of Bible, The Hebrew University: "Two Kinds of Erroneous Repetition in Textual
Witnesses of
the Hebrew Bible"
2002/3
- Noam Mizrahi, Department of Bible, The Hebrew University: "The 'Son of God' Scroll from Qumran: Exegetical
Problems in
Linguistic Perspective"
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
From time to time the Hebrew University of Jerusalem makes funding available to the Orion Center for a postdoctoral
research
fellowship at the Hebrew University , in the fields of Dead Sea Scrolls and related literature. In the past the
fellowship
has carried an award of up to $15,000 per year, for one to three years.
The fellowship has not been renewed for the coming year, but please check here for future developments.
Previous Fellows
2015/2016
(Under a cooperative arrangement with the Erasmus Programme and the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven):
- Dr. Shira Golani, Hebrew University Bible Department and Bible Project: Lists as Manifestations of Scribal
Techniques
and Cultural Memory in Second Temple Judaism
2007/2009
- Dr. Guy Stiebel, Department of Archaeology , University of London and The Hebrew University: Armis et
Litteris"The Military
Equipment of Early Roman Palestine in Light Of the Archaeological and Historical Sources
- Dr. Hanan Birenboim, Department of Jewish History, The Hebrew University: Gentile Impurity in the Hasmonaean
Period and
in the Roman Period until the Bar-Kokhba Revolt
- Dr. Rafael Zer, Department of Bible, Hebrew University: Direct and Implicit Relations between the Babylonian
and the
Tiberian Masora, and the Ancient Biblical Textual Witnesses: The Scrolls of the Judean Desert and the Aramaic
Biblical
Translations
2003/2006
- Dr. Noah Hacham, Department of the History of the Jewish People, The Hebrew University): The Third Book of
Maccabees:
Literature, History and Ideology
- Dr. Ronit Nikolsky, Department of Comparative Religion, The Hebrew University: The Development of the
Traditions about
the Ten Tribes (2003)
Previous Orion Center Grant Recipients
2016/2017
- Michael Brooks Johnson, Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at McMaster University: "The
Genres of Psalms
in 1QHodayot"
- Oded Essner, M.A. candidate in the Department of Hebrew Culture at Tel-Aviv University: "The Canticles Scrolls
from Qumran:
Language, Text, and Compositional History"
2015/2016
- Simcha Gross, Ph.D. candidate in the Religious Studies Department at Yale University: Connections between the
Dead Sea
Scrolls and Early Syriac Christianity.
2014/2015
- Mechael Osband, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan
University: The
Provenience of Chalk Vessels Found in Eretz Israel.
- Asaf Gayer, Ph.D. candidate in the Bible Department at Haifa University: Stoic Ideas in 4QInstruction from
Qumran
2012/2013
- Arjen Bakker , Ph.D candidate in the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies of the University of Leuven,
Belgium:
"The Casting of Lots and the Concept of Inheritance: """" and """" in 4QInstruction, the Serekh ha-Yahad and the
Hodayot."
- Dr. Eshbal Ratson , Ben-Gurion Prize Fellow at Ben-Gurion University: Ancient Jewish cosmology in the Enochic
literature.
- Nadav Sharon , Ph.D candidate in the Department of Jewish History at Hebrew University: "The Roman Conquest and
Its Significance
in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
2011/2012
- Michael Tuval, Ph.D. candidate in Jewish History of the Second Temple Period, Department of Jewish History, The
Hebrew
University, Jerusalem, Orion Matlow Scholar: "The Priests as Leaders of Judaism in Flavius Josephus and the Dead
Sea
Scrolls"
2010/2011
- Miryam Brand, Ph.D. candidate, New York University, Orion Matlow Scholar: ""At the Entrance Sin is Crouching":
The Source
of Sin and its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature"
- Shlomit Harel-Kendi, Ph.D. candidate, Bar-Ilan University, Orion Matlow Scholar: "Festivals in Qumran and
Related Literature"
2009/2010
- Dr. Liora Goldman , Departments of Bible and Jewish History, University of Haifa , Orion Matlow Scholar: "A New
Edition
and Commentary on the Scroll 4Q408 (4QApocryphon of Moses)"
2008/9
- Dr. Lara Guglielmo, Department of Ancient History, University Federico II of Naples, Italy: A Physical
Reconstruction
of the Halakhic Section of 4Q266 Witness
- Dr. Ariel Feldman, Department of Bible, Haifa University: The Reworking of 1-2 Kings in 4Q382
2007/8
- Eyal Ben-Eliyahu, PhD student, Department of Jewish History, The Hebrew University: National Identity and
Territory:
The Borders of the Land of Israel in the Consciousness of the People of the Second Temple and the Roman"Byzantine
Periods
- Noam Mizrahi, PhD student, Department of Bible, The Hebrew University: The Lexicon and Phraseology of the Songs
of the
Sabbath Sacrifice
2006/7
- Joseph Leon Angel Ph.D. student (New York University): Priests and Priesthood at Qumran.
- Yehoshua Granat Ph.D. student (Department of Hebrew Literature): Creation Themes in Early Hebrew Poetry and
Second Temple
Literature (Matlow Scholarship)
- Moshe Tur-Paz Ph.D. student (Department of Jewish History): Community Boundaries and Religious Exclusion during
the Second
Temple Era (Matlow Scholarship)
2005/6
- Jeremy Penner, Ph.D. student : The Development of Institutionalized Prayer within Judaism by Considering the
Evidence
for the Establishment of Regular, Set Times of Prayer within the Dead Sea Scrolls
- Alexander Paul Jassen, Ph.D. student : The Land of Israel in the Consciousness of the Jews During the Second
Temple Literature,
Mishnaic and Talmudic periods
2004/5
- Vered Hillel, Ph.D. student :Source, Structure and Composition of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs.
- Junghwa Choi, Ph.D. student : Leadership in the Qumran Community
2003/4
- Dwight Swanson, Prof: The Nature of the Authority of the Bible in Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls
- Eyal Ben Eliahoo, Ph.D. student : The Land of Israel in the Consciousness of the Jews During the Second Temple
Literature,
Mishnaic and Talmudic periods
2002/3
- Hanan Birenboim, Ph.D. student: Sin, Impurity and the Body in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
- Sara Oren, Ph.D. student: Microscopic and Forensic Analysis of the Material on Which the Scrolls are Written.
2001/2
- Shraga Bar-On, Ph.D. student: The Institution of "Casting Lots" from the Bible through the Second Temple Period
- Dr. Alexander Kulik: The Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch)
- Prof. Susan Sheridan: Analysis of the Human Remains in the German Qumran Collection
2000/1
- Dr. Håkan Bengtsson, Post-doc: What's in a Name? A Study of Sobriquets in the Pesharim
- Avner Glucklich, Ph.D. student: The Anthropological-Historical Background to the Emergence of the Dead Sea Sect
- Nataniel B. Levtow, Ph.D. student: Polemics against "Incorrect" Worship Practices in Qumran Sectarian
Literature
- Ronit Nikolsky, Ph.D. student: The History of the Rechabites
1999/2000
- Mi-Sop Park, Ph.D. student: Repetition of Particles before Nouns in Biblical Hebrew and the Hebrew of the Dead
Sea Scroll
- G. Daniel Shtiebel, Ph.D. student: The Scroll of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness in Light of the
Study
of Military Equipment and Strategy in Palestine of the Classical Period
- Roni Yishai, Ph.D. student: The Scroll, "The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness," from the
Dead Sea
Scrolls. The Six Copies of Cave 4 (4Q491-496): New Edition, Commentary and Introduction and Comparison with the
Version
of Cave 1 (1QM) and Other Relevant Fragments from Qumran
- Dr. Joe Zias: Qumran and the Essene Cemeteries and the Question of Celibacy: an Anthropological Reevaluation
1998/9
- Beatriz Monco, Ph.D. student: Multiple Recensions of a Pseudepigraphic Book Transmitted in Greek at the End of
the Ancient
Period.
- Michael Segal, research student: Exegetical Techniques in Rewritten Bible.
- Uri Yiftach, Ph.D. student: Marriage and the Marital Arrangement: Law and Practice in the Greek Papyri from the
Hellenistic,
Roman and Byzantine Near East (4th c. BCE - 7th c. CE).
1997/8
- Angela Y. Kim, Ph.D. student, University of Notre Dame: The Study of Text and the Pesher Genre in the Qumran
Fragment
of the Commentary of Hosea.
- Alexander Kulik, Ph.D. student, Hebrew University: Philological Study of the Book of the Vision of Abraham.
- Emmanuelle Main, Ph.D. student, Hebrew University: Research on the Sadducees.
- Stephen J. Pfann, Ph.D. student, Hebrew University: The Evolution of the Essene Movement: Ancient Historians,
Scrolls
and Archaeology.
- Eyal Regev, Ph.D. student, Bar Ilan University: Second Temple sects, with an emphasis on halacha, social
history and
material culture.
1996/7
- Esther Eshel, The Belief in Demons in the Land of Israel in the Second Temple Period.
- Torleif Elgvin, Edition of Some Eschatological Writings from Qumran; Noah Hacham, The Third Book of Maccabees.
- Matthew Morgenstern, The Edition of the Previously Undeciphered Columns of the Genesis Apocryphon from Cave 1.
- Dr. Yizhar Hirschfield, The Excavation Finds at Qumran: An Architectural and Chronological Analysis.
- Dr. David Rothstein, Phylactery and Mezuzah Texts from Qumran.
