Women’s Initiative for Jewish Studies (WIJS) at Young Israel of New Rochelle is proud to present Dr. Rachel Hallote on Wednesday, December 14 at 8 p.m. on Zoom. She will be the fourth speaker of the 2022-2023 season in the monthly scholarly programming offered by WIJS at YINR.

Hallote will speak on the topic “Politics and Archaeology in Israel,” exploring ways in which archaeology has been abused and misinterpreted to justify modern political agendas. In Israel today archaeology has become a pawn for both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict. We will examine the politics surrounding well-known archaeological sites such as Masada, as well as recent political misinterpretations of archaeological finds from Jerusalem.

Hallote is an archaeologist who works in Israel. She is professor of history at Purchase College SUNY, and previous director of the Jewish studies program there. Her research involves biblical history as well as the beginnings of the discipline of biblical archaeology in the 19th century. Hallote has worked at numerous archaeological sites in Israel, including Tell Miqne and Megiddo. Her publications include “Bible, Map and Spade: The American Palestine Exploration Society, Frederick Jones Bliss and the Forgotten Story of Early American Biblical Archaeology” (Gorgias Press, 2006). She is co-host of a popular semi-humorous podcast about the archaeology of Israel called “This Week in the Ancient Near East.”

All WIJS programming is open to women and men. Please visit www.yinr.org/wijs to view the complete WIJS 2022-23 schedule. For more information, to be added to the WIJS email list, or for Zoom information, please call 914-636-2215 or email: [email protected]. Individuals on the WIJS mailing list will automatically receive the Zoom information.

By Tamar Croog