LAWRENCE SCHIFFMAN

'Lawrence H. Schiffman' is the Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University (NYU). He is a scholar in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls research. His major interests are Dead Sea Scrolls; Jewish religious, political, and social history in late antiquity; the history of Jewish law and Talmudic literature. As an Orthodox Jew, Dr. Schiffman brings an Orthodox perspective to the field of Judaic studies, for example, as an Orthodox Jew he takes seriously the Talmud's description of the Sadducees and applies this to his understanding of the Qumran sect which he identifies as Essenes and sees as having their origin as a renegade band of Sadducee separatists.