Horvat Tsalit flourished during the turbulent years from King Herod to the violent Bar Kochba War (circa 30 BCE to 135 CE). According to ancient historian Flavius Josephus, it provided sanctuary to Judean militias fleeing inland after attacking聽coastal Ascalon (now Ashkelon)聽and being repulsed by the Roman garrison there in the winter of 66 to 67 CE. That is the only reference in Josephus鈥檚 writing to the village.

When you鈥檙e digging up shards聽strewn around stone foundations scoured by desert sands for almost two millennia, this kind of information can bring a site to life. That鈥檚 why two archeologists at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva invited 91亚色聽Professor Steve Mason to be the excavation historian.

Right: Steve Mason at Masada

Mason holds the in Greco-Roman Cultural Interaction at 91亚色. He is an expert on Flavius Josephus, chronicler of turbulent first-century Jewish history, including the Judean-Roman War that featured the guerrilla attack on Ascalon and led to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE.

鈥淚 will try to construct the big picture鈥� for Israeli and 91亚色 students participating in the dig, says Mason, one of whose聽current聽projects neatly dovetails with the dig. He is nearing completion of a book about the聽Judean-Roman War of 66 to 74聽CE聽for Cambridge University Press.

Archeologists and , experts in the Roman-Byzantine era, will lead daily excavations and offer lectures and workshops on field methods. Mason will lecture on the ancient context of the site.

Horvat Tsalit was an unwalled settlement of perhaps 1,000 to 2,000 inhabitants situated in the hills of ancient Judea. In the 1980s, archeologists excavated the watchtower that stood sentinel over the village through three Judean-Roman wars. 鈥淭he site has the potential of turning up valuable evidence of these wars,鈥� says Mason, who will do a little digging himself. 鈥淵ou never know what will turn up. It鈥檚 fascinating.鈥�

Above: The site of Horvat Tsalit, the ancient village where聽excavations begin this summer

The excavation at Horvat Tsalit will run for three seasons, beginning this summer from July 10 to Aug. 6. As many as 20 Israeli and up to 20 Canadian students could be wielding trowels on daily digs. Daytime temperatures typically spike at 33 degrees C at this time of year but canopies will shade the diggers from the intense sun.

91亚色 is co-sponsoring the dig with Ben-Gurion University. Funding for Mason鈥檚 Canada Research Chair聽and from 91亚色鈥檚 Israel & Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies are supporting聽the project.

91亚色 undergraduates seeking credit and graduate students seeking adventure are welcome to apply. will offer transferable half-course credits for a fee to 91亚色 students who complete the four-week season. Non-credit volunteers who cannot stay for the entire four weeks must commit to the first or last half of the dig.

For US$1,600, Canadian students receive accommodation in Beer Sheva, two meals (breakfast and lunch) and transportation to and from the Horvat Tsalit site daily for the entire four weeks. The fee does not include airfare.

Application forms are available by e-mailing tsalitexped@gmail.com. General queries can be e-mailed to Steve Mason at smason@yorku.ca.

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McMurtry, former attorney general of Ontario, will open with remarks on social justice in Canada. Each panelist will speak about a different aspect of the theme, followed by a question and answer period. Robert Latham, director of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for International & Security Studies, will talk about rights to mobility and citizenship; sociologist Lesley Wood, about social movement, globalization and policing; and Sara Horowitz, director of 91亚色鈥檚 Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies, about gender, genocide and Jewish memory.

The two-hour event starts at 1pm in 280N 91亚色 Lanes.

Research Matters is an annual lecture series showcasing 91亚色 research and sponsored by the associate dean of research in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS). Dean Martin Singer and Barbara Crow, associate dean of research, will introduce the Jan. 12 panel discussion.

Previous panels have discussed issues such as scholarship and policy development, internationalization and global health, the north, China, knowledge mobilization, pandemic planning and interdisciplinary research. To view videos of the panel discussions, visit the聽LA&PS website.

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The talk, presented by the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at 91亚色, will take place Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3:30pm in W136 Executive Learning Centre, Seymour Schulich Building, Keele campus. The lecture is free of charge.

Right: Xu Xin

Xin, director of the Glazer Institute for Jewish Studies at Nanjing University, is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University in Israel and the only professor of Jewish studies in China.

The Centre for Jewish Studies at 91亚色 is Canada's first interdisciplinary research centre in Jewish studies, bringing together a vibrant community of scholars and teachers to promote cutting-edge research in the field.聽Jewish studies encompasses the study of the texts, histories and cultures of the Jewish people, which developed alongside and within Western and non-Western civilizations.

The event is being co-sponsored by the 91亚色 Centre for Asian Research and the Department of Humanities.

For more information, visit the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies website or call 416-736-5823.

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Golda Koschitzky, 91亚色 benefactor and honorary degree recipient, has died. She was 102.

On Nov. 5, 1999, 91亚色 presented the philanthropist and Jewish education innovator with an honorary doctor of laws. Over 90 years old at the time, she had supported the establishment of a聽professorship then a Chair in Jewish Teacher Education at 91亚色 through the Israel Koschitzky Family Charitable Foundation, named for her husband. The Chair was the first of its kind in North America at a public university and was created to respond to聽a growing demand for teachers of Hebrew and Jewish studies in Canada and beyond.

Right: Golda Koschitzky received an honorary doctor of laws in 1999. Photo courtesy of Clara Thomas Archives & Special聽Collections, ASC06177.

In 2008, 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Jewish Studies was renamed the Israel聽& Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies. The dedication followed another generous gift from the Koschitzky family in honour of the 100th birthday of the Koschitzky family matriarch and the 50th anniversary of 91亚色 in 2009. The centre conducts cutting-edge research in a range of Jewish studies and offers one of the largest university-level programs in Jewish studies outside Israel.

"91亚色 has lost a great friend with Golda Koschitzky's passing," said President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri.聽"Her vision and generosity have helped put 91亚色 at the forefront of Jewish studies, and her legacy will endure through the Israel & Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at 91亚色."

Professor Michael Brown, director of 91亚色's Centre for Jewish Studies in 1999 when Golda Koschitzky received her honorary degree, said聽she and her聽family聽have provided leadership and support for local, national and international organizations, including the United Jewish Appeal/Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto.

"Having endured physical hardship in Nazi-occupied Europe, the Koschitzky family arrived in Canada at the end of the Second World War penniless, but determined to succeed and help others around them,鈥� Brown said at the time. "Through their devotion to family and traditional Judaism, through their commitment to education, and through their participation in the commercial and cultural life of Canada, they became role models for members of the Jewish community as well as for newcomers to Canada of all backgrounds.鈥�

Right: Golda Koschitzky, seated, with, from left, Saul, Mira, Julia and Henry Koschitzky

Golda Koschitzky leaves聽sons Saul and Henry, daughters-in-law Mira and Julia, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Shiva will be observed at the home of Saul and Mira Koschitzky, 4 Coreydale Court, North 91亚色, through Sunday morning.

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