In Part 1, we introduced the Shapira manuscripts: leather fragments brought to London in 1883 that seemed to preserve an ancient and dramatically different form of Deuteronomy, were dismissed as forgeries, and then disappeared. We also began studying the text preserved in them. In Part 2, we continue that close study of the text itself, which may be a predecessor to Deuteronomy and perhaps the most important biblical text ever discovered. Feel free to join now even if you missed Part 1: after a brief recap, we’ll return to the text and ask what it can tell us about the history of the Bible, the formation of the Torah, and the development of biblical religion. Come be among the first people to study this extraordinary text!

Please note, the Tanakh stream is now on Wednesday nights.

About the facilitator

Idan Dorshav Dershowitz

Facilitator

Idan Dorshav Dershowitz joined the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation at Monash University in 2024. He was previously Director of the School of Jewish Theology and Chair of Hebrew Bible at the University of Potsdam. His research interests include the evolution of biblical religion and the methods of ancient biblical editors, as well as the development of AI tools to trace the origins of ancient texts. He is the author of The Dismembered Bible: Cutting and Pasting Scripture in Antiquity and The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book. He is currently working on a children’s book on the origins of the alphabet.