2008 Woodie Awards
Revel Professor Recognized By Hebrew Academy
One of Only Two Non-Israeli Members
Shimon Aronhime
Issue date: 4/18/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
By Shimon Aronhime
This past January, Professor Richard C. Steiner of Yeshiva's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies received the most prestigious award bestowed by Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language, named as one of only two non-Israeli members of the academy. The academy actually had to amend its constitution to allow for the election of non-Israeli members this past January.As stated on their website, the Academy prescribes standards for modern Hebrew grammar, orthography, transliteration, and punctuation based upon the study of Hebrew's historical development.
Dr. Steiner grew up in the Bronx and did his undergraduate work at Yeshiva, where he received his B.A. and B.HL. He later received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Steiner has held a faculty position at Yeshiva since 1975 and has taught a wide range of courses, from Biblical exegesis and philosophy to various Semitic languages. Even before receiving the award, Dr. Steiner has been recognized as one of the foremost scholars on Semitic languages and literature.
Dr. Steiner writes for several different audiences. His decipherment of papyrus Amherst 63 (an Aramaic text in Egyptian script that contains a paganized version of Psalm 20) has generated a lot of interest in the broader academic community, thanks to a New York Times article, a Biblical Archeology Society award, and a series of articles published in academic journals. Many scholars from outside Yeshiva have apparently urged him to make the completion of that project his top priority.
The Yeshiva community, on the other hand, according to Dr. Steiner, tends to be more interested in his work in the area of Bible and biblical exegesis. In that field, Dr. Steiner recently published a monograph on Amos (Stockmen from Tekoa, Sycamores from Sheba: A Study of Amos' Occupations) based on a course he gives at Revel. It exemplifies the kind of Orthodox Jewish biblical scholarship that he has been trying to promote at Yeshiva - a kind of biblical scholarship that requires knowledge of rabbinic literature. He has therefore placed that monograph ahead of other projects because he wants to ensure the future of such scholarship at Yeshiva. In an interview with The Commentator, Steiner explained that his hope is that it will attract the brightest undergraduates at Yeshiva College and Stern to study this field in Revel and become the Yeshiva Bible professors of the future.
This past January, Professor Richard C. Steiner of Yeshiva's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies received the most prestigious award bestowed by Israel's Academy of the Hebrew Language, named as one of only two non-Israeli members of the academy. The academy actually had to amend its constitution to allow for the election of non-Israeli members this past January.As stated on their website, the Academy prescribes standards for modern Hebrew grammar, orthography, transliteration, and punctuation based upon the study of Hebrew's historical development.
Dr. Steiner grew up in the Bronx and did his undergraduate work at Yeshiva, where he received his B.A. and B.HL. He later received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Steiner has held a faculty position at Yeshiva since 1975 and has taught a wide range of courses, from Biblical exegesis and philosophy to various Semitic languages. Even before receiving the award, Dr. Steiner has been recognized as one of the foremost scholars on Semitic languages and literature.
Dr. Steiner writes for several different audiences. His decipherment of papyrus Amherst 63 (an Aramaic text in Egyptian script that contains a paganized version of Psalm 20) has generated a lot of interest in the broader academic community, thanks to a New York Times article, a Biblical Archeology Society award, and a series of articles published in academic journals. Many scholars from outside Yeshiva have apparently urged him to make the completion of that project his top priority.
The Yeshiva community, on the other hand, according to Dr. Steiner, tends to be more interested in his work in the area of Bible and biblical exegesis. In that field, Dr. Steiner recently published a monograph on Amos (Stockmen from Tekoa, Sycamores from Sheba: A Study of Amos' Occupations) based on a course he gives at Revel. It exemplifies the kind of Orthodox Jewish biblical scholarship that he has been trying to promote at Yeshiva - a kind of biblical scholarship that requires knowledge of rabbinic literature. He has therefore placed that monograph ahead of other projects because he wants to ensure the future of such scholarship at Yeshiva. In an interview with The Commentator, Steiner explained that his hope is that it will attract the brightest undergraduates at Yeshiva College and Stern to study this field in Revel and become the Yeshiva Bible professors of the future.