Whitley alum Dr. Julia Rhyder was awarded the 2021 David Noel Freedman Award for Excellence and Creativity in Hebrew Bible Scholarship for her paper entitled, “The Origins of the Jewish Pig Taboo: Pig Consumption and Ethnicity from Leviticus to the Maccabees.”
The award, the goal of which is to promote excellence and creativity in Hebrew Bible scholarship, is given to a member who has received a Ph.D. or Th.D, in biblical studies or related field within the last ten years, and includes a cash prize of $1000.
The news comes as Julia Rhyder prepares to take up the position of Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. Her research on the Hebrew Bible embraces a broad approach to the study of biblical texts that focuses not only on the context of their composition but also on their transmission and reception in ancient Judaism. Rhyder’s first book, Centralizing the Cult: The Holiness Legislation in Leviticus 17–26 (Mohr Siebeck, 2019) was the joint winner of the 2021 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise. Rhyder has published articles in the Journal of Biblical Literature, Dead Sea Discoveries, Zeitschrift für die alttestamentlich Wissenschaft, Semitica, and Hebrew Bible and Ancient Israel. Her current book project, begun as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Basel, explores the commemoration of warfare in festivals of the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple traditions.
We warmly congratulate Dr Rhyder on her award and wish her all the best as she joins the faculty at Harvard University.