Lawrence H. Schiffman
Lawrence H. Schiffman is Global Distinguished Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. From 2014 he served as the Judge Abraham Lieberman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and Director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies at NYU He has served as the Chair of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU and Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Between 2011 and 2014, he served as Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University.
He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in Late Antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature.
Together with a colleague, he served as editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls (2000) and for ten years as one of the editors of the journal Dead Sea Discoveries and has authored more than 200 articles on the Dead Sea Scrolls and Rabbinic Judaism. In 2006 he was the recipient of the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Scholarship Award.
Among his recent books are The Courtyards of the House of the Lord: Studies on the Temple Scroll (2008); Qumran and Jerusalem: Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the History of Judaism (2010), (with M. Goldstone) Binding Fragments of Tractate Temurah and the Problem of Lishana Aḥarina (2018), and (with A.D. Gross) a new edition, translation and commentary on The Temple Scroll (2021).
Dr. Schiffman was featured in the PBS Nova series documentary, “Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls,” four BBC documentaries on the scrolls, a Discovery special, the series “Mysteries of the Bible” (A&E) and “Kingdom of David” (PBS)and other documentaries. He also recorded two audio lecture series for Recorded Books, The Dead Sea Scrolls: The Truth Behind the Mystique and The Hebrew Bible and has been featured in many TV documentaries on PBS and BBC.
He was the director of New York University’s program at the archaeological excavations at Dor, Israel, from 1980-82. He has been a visiting professor at Yale University, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Duke University, the University of Toronto, the Johns Hopkins University, the Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow), the University of Hartford, Queens College, Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome), Yeshiva University, and the University of Vienna.
Schiffman is a past Chair and Representative of the Orthodox Union for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC), the Jewish liaison committee to the Vatican and other religious groups. A contributing editor of the Long Island Jewish World newspaper, Dr. Schiffman has lectured widely in universities, academic conferences, and for community organizations.
Presenter at
Spring Bible & Archaeology Fest 2025, April 5-6, 2025
Caesarea and the Great Revolt against Rome
This lecture will begin with some background information on Caesarea, its construction by Herod, and its function as the capital of the Roman province of Judea. It will then discuss the role of Caesarea in the Great Revolt of the Jews against Rome in 66-73 CE. It will begin with a discussion of the conflict over rights in Caesarea that erupted between Jewish and what are generally termed “Syrian” residents, that is, Hellenized, non-Jewish, Near Eastern elements of the population. We will then see how this conflict erupted and spread to various other areas of the country, and examine the question of whether it actually was the starting point for the Jewish revolt against Rome. Further, we will detail the role that this city played in the Roman military campaign, serving as the main Roman port as well as center of governmental authority and providing winter housing for troops. Finally, we will briefly discuss the manner in which Caesarea continued to serve as the center of Roman administration in the aftermath of the revolt.
