Jonas Carl Greenfield (October 20, 1926 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

– March 13, 1995 in

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) was an American scholar of

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken by more than 330 million people across much of West Asia, the Horn of Africa, and latterly North Africa, Malta, West Africa, Chad, and in large immigra ...

, who published in the fields of Semitic Epigraphy,

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...

Studies and Qumran Studies, and a distinguished member of the

Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, based in Jerusalem, was established in 1961 by the State of Israel to foster contact between Israeli scholars in the sciences and humanities and create a think tank for advising the government on re ...

. Greenfield studied at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, receiving a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

in 1951 and his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

in 1956 (with a dissertation on "The Lexical Status of Mishnaic Hebrew"). He taught at

Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , ...

(1954–56),

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...

(1956–1965), the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(1965–71), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1971–1995). In 1990 he became Caspar Levias Professor of Ancient Semitic Languages at the Hebrew University. He was a member of the committee of translators of the ''

Ketuvim The Ketuvim (; hbo, , Modern: ''Kəṯūvīm'', Tiberian: ''Kăṯūḇīm'' "writings") is the third and final section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), after Torah (instruction) and Nevi'im (prophets). In English translations of the Hebrew Bi ...

'' (the "Writings") for the New JPS Translation of the

Tanakh The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

was published in his honor, ''Solving Riddles and Untying Knots. Biblical, Epigraphic, and Semitic Studies in Honor of Jonas C. Greenfield''. In 2000 the

American Oriental Society The American Oriental Society was chartered under the laws of Massachusetts on September 7, 1842. It is one of the oldest learned societies in America, and is the oldest devoted to a particular field of scholarship. The Society encourages basi ...

established a prize to honor his memory, the "Jonas C. Greenfield Prize For Younger Semitists".Jonas C. Greenfield Prize For Younger Semitists
/ref> The Orion Center for the Study of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Associated Literature, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, has held the ''Jonas C. Greenfield Scholars’ Seminar'' since 1999. Israel Exploration Journal 45 no. 2–3 (1995) 61–200 was issued as the "Jonas C. Greenfield Memorial Volume." Obituaries, in addition to the latter, pages 83–84, include

Ziony Zevit Ziony Zevit (born February 13, 1942) is an American scholar of biblical literature and Northwest Semitic languages, and a professor at the American Jewish University. Biography Zevit received his B.A. degree from University of Southern CA in 1 ...

, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 298 (May 1995) 3–5 and Mark S. Smith, American Schools of Oriental Research Newsletter 45 no. 1 (Spring 1995) 1–2. For an appreciation of his work on Qumran and related texts see Baruch A. Levine, "The Contribution of Jonas Greenfield to the Study of Dead Sea Literature." Dead Sea Discoveries, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Mar. 1996), pp. 2–9

Selected works

Books

* * * * *

Shorter writings

* in 2 vols ;Chapters and articles * *

Festschrift

Footnotes

20th-century American Jews Brandeis University faculty University of California, Los Angeles faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Academic staff of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities American Hebraists Dead Sea Scrolls 1926 births 1995 deaths Yale University alumni Old Testament scholars Translators from Mandaic {{US-academic-bio-stub