Professor Lawrence Schiffman is professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and director of the Global Institute for Advanced Research in Jewish Studies. He is a specialist in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Judaism in late antiquity, the history of Jewish law, and Talmudic literature. He has authored many books and publications, and he is coeditor of the Encyclopedia of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He was part of research group during 1989 and 1990 that focused on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and he was a member of the academic committee for the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He also worked to make the scrolls fully published and available to the academic world.
