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I am happy to conclude by inviting Professor Jacob Klein, the honoree, to say a few words, please.
Professor Jacob Klein reflects on his academic journey, mentors, and dedication to Assyriology and Sumerian studies on his 90th birthday.
Key Takeaways
- Assyriology and Sumerian studies are crucial for understanding ancient Near Eastern culture and biblical history.
- Mentorship and academic lineage play a vital role in scholarly development.
- Sumerian literature represents the origins of human history and writing.
- Bar-Ilan University contributed to the development of Assyriology despite challenges.
- Personal dedication and passion sustain a lifelong academic career.
What the video covers
- Professor Jacob Klein delivers remarks on the occasion of his retirement and 90th birthday.
- He honors his teachers and mentors who shaped his academic career, including Pinhas Artzi and Samuel Noah Kramer.
- Klein explains the significance of Assyriology and Sumerian studies, emphasizing their importance to ancient Near Eastern history and biblical studies.
- He recounts his academic experiences at Bar-Ilan University, University of Pennsylvania, and Hebrew University.
- Klein highlights the influence of renowned scholars such as Ephraim Avigdor Speiser and Moshe Greenberg.
- He describes Samuel Noah Kramer as a pivotal figure and academic father who bequeathed his library to Bar-Ilan University.
- Klein stresses the cultural and historical importance of Sumerian literature as the beginning of human history through writing.
- He discusses the challenges and opportunities of teaching Assyriology in Israel, particularly at Bar-Ilan University.
- Klein expresses gratitude to his students and colleagues for their support throughout his career.
- He concludes with personal reflections on reaching age 90 in reasonable health and continuing his scholarly engagement.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Invitation to Speak
- 01:39Commemorating Teachers and Mentors
- 03:18Introduction to Assyriology and Ancient Cultures
- 05:01Importance of Sumerian Language and Literature
- 06:22Influential Scholars and Academic Experiences
- 07:52Samuel Noah Kramer and His Legacy
- 09:27Significance of Sumerian Literature in History
- 12:17Teaching Assyriology in Israel and Academic Challenges
- 13:44Gratitude and Personal Reflections at Age 90
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Before I begin my remarks, I would very much like to ask everyone who spoke to send me their lecture and their text, because due to my hearing aid and such, I didn't manage to catch all the details you said; so I would be very
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grateful to anyone who finds it helpful to send their presentation. I will not publish anything, in fact, I have already stopped publishing. Well, if, because I have this hearing aid, I speak more than usual, then I ask: My
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dear friends and colleagues, hello to you all, and welcome to celebrate with me, or perhaps more accurately, to console me, on the day of my retirement from my long academic career. You are all surely familiar with the well-known
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saying, "After the righteous pass away, speak." Meaning, it is a commandment to mention the merits and deeds of great people, ah, after their passing. In this spirit, I would like, with your permission, to commemorate my teachers and masters, my mentors, from whom I
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learned most of my humble knowledge, which I have endeavored to pass on to my students as best I could. I will list my teachers in chronological order, and may their memories all be for a blessing. And if during these brief
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remarks, through critical notes, I should, God forbid, offend any of them, I ask their spirits and souls for forgiveness and pardon. I also apologize in advance if I have forgotten any of my teachers due to my advanced age and failing memory. First
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and foremost, I must mention the well-known Hungarian-Jewish Assyriologist, Professor Pinhas Artzi, who was the first to teach Assyriology at Bar-Ilan. He was the primary influence, and thus, most of my research and publications were dedicated to the field of Assyriology.
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Those who have never heard the term "Assyriology" have nothing to be ashamed of regarding the last 3,000 years before the common era. Ah, ah, excuse me, ah, it concerns an ancient culture that was born and flourished in ancient
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Mesopotamia during the three millennia before the common era, and only a few "crazy" scholars, in quotes, ah, are involved in Assyriology. Indeed, Professor Artzi, not only in spoken Hebrew but also in his mother tongue, Hungarian, was soft-spoken and prone to
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stuttering, but at the same time, he possessed a phenomenal memory and was one of the world's most renowned Assyriologists. Thanks to his vast knowledge and his extraordinary enthusiasm for the history of the ancient Near East, Professor Artzi managed to awaken, ah, to awaken an
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interest in the history and culture of the ancient Near East, and I decided to study Akkadian. While studying the Akkadian language, which is one of the most important ancient Semitic languages, it became clear to me that one cannot be at home in Akkadian
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without also knowing the Sumerian language. The ancient language, which is considered an isolated language, of course, ah, Sumerian was, for those who don't know, the mother tongue of the Sumerians, and it flourished even before Akkadian and, like it, was
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written in cuneiform script. Besides Professor Artzi, I had a number of other important teachers from whom I was privileged to learn much, and I will mention some of them here: I was privileged to be an enthusiastic student of the famous teacher of
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Rashi’s commentary, Nechama Leibowitz, who taught me the following great rule: If you can determine what was difficult for Rashi linguistically and contextually, you already understand Rashi's commentary. I went to a scholar who specialized in Jewish biblical interpretation, and he wondered sadly
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at my persistence in such an esoteric and neglected field as Assyriology. I was also lucky enough to study at the University of Pennsylvania and hear there the lectures of the scholar A.
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The world-renowned American scholar of the ancient Near East, Ephraim Avigdor Speiser. In fact, from him I learned most of my knowledge in the field of the Akkadian language. There, at the University of Pennsylvania, I also attended the fascinating classes. Of
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the great scholar Moshe Greenberg, the pick of Speiser's students, who later also taught me at the Hebrew University. Over time he became a dear friend to me, And last but not least, indeed, but important. The one who influenced my
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academic path the most Was the world-renowned Jewish Sumerologist Samuel Noah Kramer. Happy, This researcher, whose original Hebrew name was Simcha Noah Kramer, was perhaps not the greatest. Sumerologist in the world at the time, But thanks to his total
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devotion to Sumerian culture and literature on one hand, and his scholarly and popular book, "History Begins at Sumer," Kramer became the most famous Sumerologist in the world.
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While other Sumerologists usually had to settle for one to three students, Kramer managed to attract students from every corner of the globe, Who flocked to his doorstep even from Iraq. And his classes were sometimes attended by 10 or more research students. More than
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that, I was lucky, and I happened to be his last student. And I was interested, Yes, a research student indeed, Who was interested in Sumerian culture, which was, of course, the, uh, Main preoccupation of Kramer. As such, Kramer saw me as the successor to his
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teachings, brought me closer to Brought me close and became a great friend to me, and even a sort of academic father.
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Kramer was indeed a complete atheist, An international figure, seemingly completely detached from Judaism, but beneath this exterior, due to his origins from an Orthodox Jewish family, he acquired respect for Judaism, Israel, and Israeli researchers. He agreed to
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serve as a visiting professor for a whole year At the Hebrew University, and for another academic year, he also gave a series of fascinating lectures at Bar-Ilan. The peak of the friendship between us—between me and Kramer—came when he bequeathed his important
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scientific library to Bar-Ilan University, which is located today in the Jewish Studies building, and this is to know that in those days, before the era—before the digital era, Uh.
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And the computer, Uh, what is it? A rich library of a great researcher like Kramer enjoyed a prestigious status and contributed greatly, very much, to the development of research in the field of Assyriology, the ancient Near East, and
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the Bible. And if you ask me why I saw fit to dedicate the best of my research to the remote and isolated Sumerian literature, I will answer you with the well-known proverb That is on the lips of researchers of the ancient Near East
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, which is: History begins at Sumer. However, the term "history" in this context does not refer to history in its narrow sense, That is, to the history of humanity from a political perspective, but rather this term, History, uh, Means, that is to say, the
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entirety of human culture in its broadest sense with all its manifestations and aspects, and it started With writing. It appeared, was discovered for the first time, in its first manifestation, in Sumer.
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Therefore, Sumerian literature is important not only for the study of the history of ancient world literature in general, but also for the study of the Bible in particular. Kramer understood this fact early on, and therefore he dedicated most of his research and
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publications to Sumerian literature. That is the reason why I also invested most of my scientific work in ancient literature. And now, after what I have said, anyone who has been sitting here does not need to ask me, as everyone
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always asks: "Why do you deal with Sumer, with this strange thing?" It is also important to note that in those days, Assyriology was taught in Israel only at the Hebrew University, and to a lesser extent at Tel Aviv University.
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Bar-Ilan University, itself an institution whose primary goal is to develop Jewish studies, nevertheless, thanks to the broad work and influence of the well-known Hebrew language scholar Menachem Zvi Kaddari, the university allowed me to teach Sumerian and Akk
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students— "crazy," in quotes—who were interested in Assyriology and the study of the Ancient Near East. And since there was already a department called the Department of Assyriology at the Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University, I taught this subject in a
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sub-department of Hebrew Language that we called the Assyriological Track. It is also worth noting that while most universities in the United States and Europe at that time used to teach Assyriology only to a few advanced research students preparing for their
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doctorates, the number of students in my Akkadian and Sumerian courses sometimes reached ten or more, and they included students at all levels, from undergraduate to doctoral. In my courses, I tried to convince the students that these studies are
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important for any other researcher dealing with the Hebrew language, Bible , archaeology, the history of ancient Israel and the Ancient Near East, and so on. And indeed, some of my best students, who themselves became excellent and important researchers,
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among them Yitzhak Sefati and others, studied Assyriology with me. I must mention that in those days, most of the excellent students who were interested in Ancient Near Eastern studies, including Assyriology and Sumerology, went up to Jerusalem. They went there
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to study under the great scholar Hayim Tadmor. As for me, the young Assyriologist at Bar-Ilan, I had no chance to compete, of course, with Hayim Tadmor. Especially since the small and young Bar-Ilan University did not enjoy the prestige of the Hebrew
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University. Uh. Ah, [since they] allowed me to teach Assyriology in the field of Assyriology, I was forced, excuse me, therefore I could usually teach only one semester course, or at most two in the field of Assyriology, and for most of my life, I was forced
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to teach Bible or ancient Hebrew— subjects that attracted a larger number of Israeli students. This, of course, required me to publish some studies of secondary importance in the field of Bible. Whenever I was asked what my specialty was, I answered: "I deal with
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Assyriology and Biblical research." Therefore, my academic work split in two directions: teaching the Bible on one hand, and Assyriology on the other.
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But still, most of my scientific research focused on Assyriology and Sumerology, and in the field of Sumerology, I dedicated most of my scientific work to editing beautiful Sumerian literature. And now, in conclusion, allow me to express a few
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words of thanks to you. Yes. First, I am grateful to the Holy One, Blessed be He, of course, first of all for enabling me to reach the age of 90, perhaps not at my full strength, but in a reasonable state of health, and this
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allows me to stand before you and allows me...You don't need to be afraid that I will continue much longer. I am honored to stand before you and share my words. Second, I am grateful to Bar-Ilan University, whose leaders
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allowed me to develop and work there as a phonologist and contribute my modest part to science. Third, I am grateful to my devoted wife, Ahuva, who is sitting here. She supported me materially and spiritually in my studies and research throughout our
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years of marriage. And she bore the main burden of raising our two dear sons, Avi Noam and Yuval. None is more deserving of the verse. A woman of valor, who can find? Her worth is far beyond pearls. Her husband’s heart
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trusts in her, and he shall lack no fortune. He lacks nothing. Thank you to all my students, whose work with me enriched me no less than they learned from me, both those who are here and those not present. And my heartfelt
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thanks to all those who made the effort to come from near and far to bless me and celebrate my birthday with me.
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Special thanks to all those who worked and put effort into organizing this conference and dedicated it. Blessings and thanks to all, and may the Lord be with you.
Topics:Jacob KleinAssyriologySumerian literatureancient Near EastSamuel Noah KramerBar-Ilan UniversityAkkadian languageacademic mentorshipbiblical studieshistory of writing
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