ד"ר צבי שמעון

Dr. Zvi Shimhon

CV

Education

2009 Ph.D Bar Ilan University Bible
1998 M.S. Yeshiva University (Block Scholarship Program) Education
1994 B.A. (with Honors) (Dean's List of  Excellent Undergraduate Students) Bar Ilan University Talmud and Bible
Dissertation

"Contrast in Biblical Narrative" (Heb.). Supervisor Prof. Ed Greesnstein [ President's Scholarship Program

Pinchas Churgin Award for Outsdanding Doctoral Thesis].

Professional Experience

2001-present Bible Lecturer, Bar Ilan University
2005-2014 Bible Lecturer, Ashkelon College
2011-2012 Bible lecturer, Herzog Teacher's College
1996-1998 Virtual Beit Midrash (VBM) - Weekly internet article on bilical exegesis with a subscription of over a thousand students

Awards and Honors

2011 Outstanding Lecturer, Bar Ilan University
2011 Memorial Foundation Grant
2010 Outstanding Lecturer, Ashkelon College
2010 Beth Shalom Grant
2009 Pinchas Churgin Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis
2003 President's Scholarship for Excellent Doctoral Students, Bar Ilan University   
1996-7 Block Program Scholarship, Yeshiva University
1993 Block Program Scholarship, Yeshiva University, Jewish Studies, Bar Ilan University   
1993 Bible Department Asher Veizer Undergraduate Studies Scholarship, for Excellence, Bar Ilan University 
1993 Talmud Department Undergraduate Studies Scholarship for Excellence, Bar Ilan University
1988 Edgar M. Bronfman Youth Fellowship

 

Publications

List of publications

Books

Human Choice: The Biblical Drama of Choice (Heb.) by Magnes Press 2015

Contrast in Biblical Narrative (Heb.) Ph.D. not published, Bar Ilan University 2008

Articles

"The Place of God in the Bible: Between Jewish and Christian Theology," in Biblical Theology, ed. Mark Warwick Elliott and Carey Walsh, Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2016

"Distinguishing Abraham from the "Terahides": Ideology of Separation behind Etiology," in Doubling and Duplicating in Genesis, ed. Elizabeth Hayes and Karolien Vermeulen, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns 2016

What is Melchizedek the King-Priest Doing in the Abraham Narrative?” in Ve-‘Ed Ya’aleh (Gen 2:6): Essays in Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies Presented to Edward L. Greenstein, ed. Peter Machinist, Robert Harris, et. al., (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns(, Forthcoming

Published in Bar Ilan University's internet site (Heb.)

"Did Abraham Fulfill the Commandment of Lech Lecha?" (2014)

"The Message of Jacob's Dream: Bethel, not Babel" (2012)

"From Materialism to Material: Characterization of Lot in the Story of his Release

  from Captivity (Gen. 14)" (2010)

"Type Scene and Characterization in Genesis" (2010)

"The Significance of the Physical Appearance of Characters in the Bible" (2008)

"Judah Leadership vs. Reuben Leadership" (2007)

"Poetry in the Creation Narratives: Song of the Sabbath and Song of Praise to the Woman" (2006)

Published in English in the Virtual Beit Midrash (VBM) between the years 1996-98. Articles may be accessed at:

http://www.vbm-torah.org/intparsha.htm

Genesis

Chapter 9- “The New Order and Shedding  Blood”

Chapters 14,15- “Abram’s Fear”

Chapter 18- “The Cry of Sodom”

Chapter 24- “A Test of Character”

Chapter 25- “The Chronicles of Isaac”

Chapter 28- “The Stairway to Heaven”

Chapter 32- “From Jacob to Israel”

Chapter 37- “The Fall and Rise of Joseph”

Chapter 47- “Jacob’s Last Wish”

Exodus

Chapter 6- “The Names of God”

Chapter 16- “The Test of the Manna”

Chapter 22- “The Sun of a Thief”

Chapter 27- “The Kindling of the Menorah”

Chapter 32- “The Golden calf”

Chapter 37- “The Mysterious Keruvim”

Leviticus

Chapter 1- “The Significance of the Sacrifices”

Chapters 1-3 “The Secrets of the Sacrifices”

Chapter 7- “The Prohibition of Eating Blood”

Chapter 9- “Playing with Fire”

Chapter 12- “A Life and Death Situation”

Chapter 19- “Holiness”

Chapter 23- “The Counting of the Omer”

Numbers

Chapter 1- “Levite Genes”

Chapter 6- “The Nazirite”

Chapter 12- “Remembering Miriam’s Sin”

Chapter 13- “Spy vs. Spy”

Chapter 16- “Dirty Politics, Crisis in the Coalition”

Chapter 21- “The Snake that Heals”

Chapter 25- “Succumbing to Seduction”

Chapter 27- “Women’s Turf”

Chapter 35- “Killer on the Run”

 

Deuteronomy

Chapters 1-3 “Address to the Nation”

Chapter 5- “Just One Sabbath”

Chapter 10- “Love thy Stranger”

Chapter 21- “Love and War, The Fate of the Female Captive”

Chapter 30- “The Path of Return”

Chapter 32- “Divine Poetry”

Conferences

2019 SBL, Rome "The Vertical Axis of the Elijah, Ahab and Jezebel Narrative"
2019 IOSOT, Aberdeen Subject of Paper: "The Structure of the Abraham Cycle of Narratives"
2018 EABS/SBL Conference, Helsinki

Subject of Paper: "The Connection between the Opening and Closing Chapters of the Pentateuch"

2017 EABS/SBL Conference, Berlin

Subject of Paper:
1. "Interpolation or Interpretation: The War of the Kings in its Wider Context";
2. Presiding “Literary Features” – Fact or Fiction (EABS)

2015 EABS Conference, Cordoba, Spain

Subject of Paper: "Metonymy and Figurative Language in Contrastive Analogies"

2014 SBL International Conference, Vienna

Subject of Paper: 

1. "Ideology of Separation in the Abraham Narrative";

2. Presiding “Literary Features” – Fact or Fiction" (EABS)

2013 SBL International Conference, St Andrews, Scotland 

Subject of Paper: 

1."Before and After Alter's Literary Approach to "Composite Artistry"; 

2. "The Place of God in the Bible: Between Jewish and Christian Theology";

3. Presiding in one of three Stylistics and the Hebrew Bible sessions

2013 Sixteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem

Subject of Paper: "The Significance of Writing Torah on the Rocks in Shechem"

2012 SBL International Conference, Amsterdam

Subject of Paper:

1. "Alternating Description in Biblical Narrative";
 2. "Jacob's Dream in its Narrative Context"

2011 SBL National Conference, San Francisco Subject of Paper: "The Desired Qualities of the King"
2010 SBL National Conference, Atlanta Subject of Paper: "Theology of Choice"
2010 The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Subject of Paper:
''Biblical Theology as a Source for a Modern Theology''(Heb)
2010 NAPH International Conference, New York       Subject of Paper: ''Structuralism and Biblical Narrative''

 

Courses

course (Hebrew)

01-030-01

What is the Bible? Panoramic Survey of the Hebrew Bible

credits equal 2 Annual course hours

Annual

Via Zoom

course (English) 01-086-35 The Book of Joshua credits equal 2 Annual course hours Annual On-Line
course (Hebrew) 01-098-35 Peace and War in the Bible credits equal 2 Annual course hours Annual On-Line

workshop (Hebrew)

 01-136-01 

Genesis: The Beginnings of Humanity and the Father of the Nation

credits equal 2 Annual course hours

Annual

 

course (Hebrew) 01-805-35 What is the Bible? Panoramic Survey of the Hebrew Bible credits equal 2 Annual course hours Annual On-Line

course (Hebrew)

01-806-35 

Biblical Characters: Biblical Leaders

credits equal 2 Annual course hours

Annual

On-Line

course (Hebrew) 01-806-36 Biblical Characters: Biblical Leaders credits equal 2 Annual course hours Annual On-Line

Research

Biblical Narrative; Literary Analysis;Biblical Theology; Biblical Law