Things have both moved along and regressed. Both slightly.
On the Levitical Cities paper, it was rejected once again by the same journal. This time, though, I got to see what the reviewers thought of it. The first review made me laugh. I read it on a Motzei Shabbat a week and a half ago, at about 12:45 AM. The reviewer opened with claiming that my research did not move research in general forward but, rather, served as "a regression" (his/her words). Perhaps the kindest thing this person wrote was that the question I raised was interesting. What of the various subjects I touched was he referring to- I don't know. He then wrote a long paragraph on all the problems with dating the Levitical City lists from a minimalist-critical perspective. Then he tried to crack a joke at my expense, but the truth is that I also laughed. Because his review was just ridiculous altogether. It latched on the issue of textual dating while utterly ignoring the main portion of my paper, which is the archeology. And so, I was not insulted.
The second reviewer was considerably kinder and even recommended I try handing the paper to an archeology journal (I would, but there aren't much options in Hebrew. But see below). He also touched on the question of the dating, and I had to concede that while I had attempted to circle around the issue, it seems like I should indeed touch upon that question.
The professor who's helping me recommended sending in the yet-again revised paper (which I still haven't finished because I'm waiting for a certain book to arrive) to a journal which he had previously thought wouldn't fit the direction I was going with the paper. Chances are slim, but who knows. If not that one, then there's another, more lower-tier journal. The plus of that journal is that it's an Orthodox journal, so they wouldn't mind a paper that throws some excavation dirt piles in the eyes of critical biblical scholarship...
But if it gets rejected there, then two years of hard work would have basically gone down the drain. That's what really worries me. My professor might tell me to translate it and try to get it published in English, but it'll be a downer for sure. I have a couple of papers, this one included, that I've put in many hours of work; they've become my pride and joy. I would like to see them published in their original language (Hebrew).
In terms of other papers, nothing has moved along so far. One positive thing to say about the paper that rejected me is that other than of course, offering me a second chance to give in the paper, they were pretty quick about the review process. It took awhile for the editor to pass it along, but the reviewers themselves went through it in just a couple of weeks. Not all journals are so fast. My other pride-and-joy paper was sent in just over a month and a half ago with no new info so far, and has now beaten the top three Israeli history journals (these being the first three journals this paper was sent to) in terms of making a decision. The previous record was a month and a half. The other two were a month, and two weeks, if I'm not mistaken.
In other news, the semester has finally started here, but as I only learn on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, tomorrow will be my first day, which is exciting.
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