SPOTLIGHT ON EMANUEL TOV

Apple's Profiles in Success

Our good friend, Professor Emanuel Tov was interviewed recently for Apple's Profiles in Success.

The following includes excerpts from the Apple article entitled "Macs Underpin Dead Sea Scrolls Project" and can be found in full here.

In 1991 Professor Tov became Editor-in-Chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project.  The discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls in 1947 heralded a new era in the understanding of the Old Testament.

For much of the past half century, however, the detailed contents of the scrolls were not available to most scholars, or the public.  Only eight volumes had been published between 1947 and 1990.

Professor Tov enacted two major structural changes in managing the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project.  Recognizing the principle that many hands make light work, Professor Tov increased the existing editing team from 10 people to nearly 100 spread out all over the world. This international team now needed a unified and efficient way to communicate their findings.  Previously, researchers had relied upon typed documents and surface mail to communicate.  In order to increase productivity, Tov knew that technology would be key.  With a platform meeting all the logistical and technical challenges the team faced, the Mac became the answer.

'“The Mac played an absolutely critical role in our 16 years of work," confirms Professor Emanuel Tov, Editor-in-Chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication Project, based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  “Most important for us was the Mac’s versatility in using different fonts, as we were working in Greek, Hebrew-Aramaic, ancient Hebrew, Syriac and English.  We also found the Macs so easy to use, and they literally never crash.”'

'Once the Mac platform had been selected, and editorial guidelines
prepared, Professor Tov’s team selected Accordance — an advanced biblical studies software tool developed specifically for the Mac — as its main reference tool.'

Thanks to Professor Tov and his team, 29 additional volumes have been published in a mere 16 years.

Broad Biblical Scholarship

"Over the years Prof. Tov has specialized in various aspects of the textual criticism of Hebrew and Greek Scripture as well as in the Qumran Scrolls.  He has written eleven books, edited fourteen books, edited two electronic databases, and authored more than 170 studies on the Septuagint, the Qumran texts, and the text of the Hebrew and Greek Bible, as well as other aspects of biblical studies." (Tov, Emanuel. Bio-sketch.).

Professor Tov also oversaw the preparation of the Hebrew Masoretic Text and Septuagint Parallel Database which is available from CCAT.  In Accordance this MT/LXX lets you view every word of the Hebrew Bible in parallel with its corresponding Septuagint Greek word.  More on the MT/LXX here.

It is not possible to mention everything that Professor Tov has contributed to the academic community, but we must highlight his recent article entitled "The Septuagint Translation of the Hebrew Bible: Its Nature and Importance for Scholarship".  In the article, Professor Tov overviews the content, origin, use, and translation character of the LXX as well as its influence on literary and textual analysis of Hebrew scripture.  Tov's overview of the Septuagint's influence on Bible translation is an excellent resource for newcomers to linguistic study of the Hebrew Bible.  The full article may be viewed here.

More information regarding Professor Emanuel Tov's publications and current projects can be found here.

'Tov' in Hebrew means 'good', and Professor Tov has certainly been good for Biblical scholarship and for Accordance.

Thousands of Mac fans crowded the show floor of the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco this year, and OakTree Software Inc. was right in the middle of them!  I've had the privilege of attending MacWorld for several years, demonstrating Accordance to hundreds
(it seemed like thousands) of conference attendees.

Having the only booth displaying ancient Greek and Hebrew texts results in quite a few turns of the head as waves of people pass by, and the comments thrown our way are often pretty interesting... several folks saw our Bible Atlas and wondered if we were a Google Earth competitor!

Our Bible Lands PhotoGuide brings in the shutterbugs, and others are attracted by the huge assortment of commentaries, texts and tools. The enthusiasm of Accordance users—both new and old—keeps the Accordance booth hopping throughout the day.

We had opportunities to venture out onto the show floor once or twice during the show (we were really too busy to spend much time browsing all the cool Mac stuff), and there were a few things that caught my eye. The Apple booth was so crowded throughout the week that I didn't even realize that they had dozens of the new MacBook Air on display till the end of the week!  IPod accessories were easy to find, but I was particularly impressed by the increase in the vendors displaying computer products.  The last couple of years seemed more like "iPod World" than MacWorld, but it was evident that Apple continues to increase their market share by the numbers of new Mac developers at the show.

Returning to the Accordance booth from my tours of the show floor, I was impressed each time by the enthusiasm I saw there.  Mac users love their iPods, iPhones and cool laptops, but what really seems to put a sparkle in their eye is to see the power of what their computers can do when the right tool for the job is installed on their hard drives.

I left MacWorld with the conviction that it's not only a great time to be a Mac user, it's an even better time to be an Accordance user!

-Mark Allison

The Bible Speaks Today NT series is now available with Accordance for only $92. 

You can download the updated widget here.

WBC is now discounted by $500.  58 vol. set has a print value of about $2500.  Available for $699.