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Tag: Dead Sea Scrolls

  • Dead Sea Scrolls Case: Online ID Theft on Trial

    New York’s highest appeals court will consider whether or not to overturn the conviction of Raphael Golb, a man convicted of impersonating a New York University professor in emails and blog posts, according to the AP.

    Golb set up an email account on an NYU computer and sent emails as Judaic studies chairman Lawrence Schiffman. In Schiffman’s name, he made confessions of plagiarism and other things to dispell Schiffman’s criticism of Golb’s father’s work on a theory pertaining to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

    However, he continues to insist that he didn’t intend for anyone to believe it was really Schiffman.

    The 2,000-year-old documents, which were found in 1947 in Qumran, around what is now Israel, contain the earliest known versions of portions of the Hebrew Bible.

    Golb and his father, a University of Chicago historian, among other scholars believe that the writings were the work of some Jewish groups and communities. They think that the scrolls were gathered from libraries in Jerusalem and hidden in caves near Qumran to protect them during a Roman invasion in about 70 A.D.

    Schiffman and his fellow scholars say the texts were assembled by a sect known as the Essenes, and not the work of Jewish groups at all.

    What Golb did, some would (and do) call identity theft, criminal impersonation, aggravated harassment, forgery and unauthorized use of a computer. Some however, including Golb, would say that since there is no physical harm done and no property damage it is harmless “satire, irony, parody”.

    The question being posed is this: Is internet impersonation, speaking as someone you’re not, identity theft and relentless harassment? Or is it simply all in good fun, as in the modern form of the obviously forged satirical letter?

    I can say for certain that most people wouldn’t appreciate that kind of intrusion, but as far as what the law defines, that remains to be seen.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

  • Dead Sea Scrolls: Internet Impersonation A Crime?

    A dead sea scrolls controversy will be on trial in New York’s highest court on Tuesday in the case of Raphael Golb, a lawyer and writer who has been convicted of identity theft and other charges for disguising his identity in email messages and blog posts from 2006 to 2009, according to AP.

    Golb used a computer at New York University to create an email account in NYU Judaic studies chairman Lawrence Schiffman’s name, among others, to send alleged confessions of plagiarizing Professor Norman Golb’s, Raphael Golb’s father, work years earlier.

    The beginning of the conflict was that Normal Golb was one of a group of scholars that believes that the dead sea scrolls were the writings of a range of Jewish groups and communities, gathered from libraries in Jerusalem and hidden in caves near Qumran to protect them during a Roman invasion in about 70 A.D.

    Others, including Schiffman, believe the texts were assembled by a sect known as the Essenes.

    The conflict rose to a level where Schiffman and other scholars were detracting from Norman Golb’s works on the theory. This prompted Raphael to fight for his father’s good name in a way that eventually led to what Golb referred to as “satire, irony, parody”. He claims that he never intended for the recipients of the emails to believe that it was Schiffman who composed them.

    Manhattan prosecutors cited Golb’s “relentless impersonation and harassment,” and referred to his practice of sending emails under aliases to museum administrators, academics and reporters, and his act of impersonating his father’s critics online in their brief to the Court of Appeals.

    Assistant District Attorney Vincent Rivellese wrote, “The court was careful to ensure that the jury would not convict the defendant for parody, satire, or academic debate, but rather for engaging in fraudulent misrepresentations regarding his identity.”

    Golb’s Attorney Ronald Kuby said, “It’s like the world’s oldest controversy playing out in the world’s newest medium. The underlying issue is: Can you criminalize these Internet impersonations as fraud when there’s no financial benefit or tangible property associated with it?”

    I guess that will be answered as the appeal plays out.

    Image Via Wikimedia Commons

  • Dead Sea Scrolls Case to Be Heard by New York Court

    New York’s highest court on Tuesday will consider whether to overturn convictions in the Internet impersonation case of a man who argues that mocking scholars in an academic debate about the Dead Sea Scrolls was free speech protected by the First Amendment.

    Raphael Golb, an attorney and writer, was convicted of identity theft and other charges for disguising his identity in email messages and blog posts between 2006 and 2009 to discredit detractors of his father, Norman Golb, in a disagreement over the scrolls’ origins.

    The scrolls are more than 2,000 years old and were founded in the 1940s in what is now Israel. The documents contain the earliest known versions of the Bible.

    Many scholars, including New York University Judaic studies chairman Lawrence Schiffman, hold that the texts were assembled by a sect known as the Essenes. Others, including Norman Golb, a University of Chicago historian and professor, and Raphael’s father, argue the writings were the work of  Jewish groups and communities, collected from libraries and hidden in caves near Qumran to protect them from a Roman invasion around 70 A.D.

    Raphael’s lawyer Ronald Kolby argues that the trial judge’s jury instructions failed to protect Raphael’s rights to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution. Kolby said this led to his client’s convictions in court “precisely because his online impersonations called attention to, condemned and mocked alleged wrongdoing on the part of the Scrollmonopolists and exhibitors.”

    The younger Golb, 54, was sentenced to six months in prison and five years’ probation for waging an Internet campaign against his father’s academic rivals, including sending emails under a rival professor’s name.

    Raphael Golb, a literature scholar and a real estate lawyer who holds a Harvard Ph.D. and a law degree from New York University, created more than 80 online alias to advance his father’s view about the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls against what he saw as a concerted effort to exclude them, and was convicted of committing a crime along the way.

    Schiffman, a widely published authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls, became the prime target of Raphael’s online efforts.

    Golb used a New York University computer to create an email account in Schiffman’s name to send alleged confessions by Schiffman of plagiarizing Professor Norman Golb’s work years earlier.

    “This has nothing to do with scholarly debate,” said Schiffman.

    “Fraud, impersonation and harassment are criminal matters,” he continued.

    “This was actually designed to literally end my career,” said Schiffman.

    Kuby told The Associated Press that online satire, criticism and blogging, either anonymously or behind pseudonyms, are widespread.

    “The underlying issue is: Can you criminalize these Internet impersonations as fraud when there’s no financial benefit or tangible property associated with it?” argued Kuby.

    A midlevel court threw out one conviction but affirmed 29 others and concluded that the intended harm to scholars fell within the definition of injury and was not protected free speech. Golb was sentenced, but has remained free on bail during appeals. Other convictions included criminal impersonation, aggravated harassment, forgery and unauthorized use of a computer.

    In their brief to the Court of Appeals, Manhattan prosecutors cited Golb’s “relentless impersonation and harassment,” sending emails under aliases to museum administrators, academics and reporters, and eventually impersonating his father’s critics online.

    Golb acknowledged during his trial that he wrote the messages. He called his messages “satire, irony, parody,” and said he never intended for anyone to believe Schiffman actually sent them.

    Assistant District Attorney Vincent Rivellese wrote that the trial judge communicated the law properly while ensuring it did not infringe on Golb’s constitutional rights.

    “The court was careful to ensure that the jury would not convict the defendant for parody, satire, or academic debate, but rather for engaging in fraudulent misrepresentations regarding his identity,” Rivellese wrote.

    A Court of Appeals ruling in the case is expected next month.

    Image via Wikipedia Commons

  • Dead Sea Scrolls Case to Be Heard by New York Court of Appeals

    The New York Court of Appeals will hear the case of a man who seeks to overturn his conviction of Internet impersonation of a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar Tuesday. Raphael Golb, a lawyer and writer, wrote e-mails and blog posts as Lawrence Schiffman, the New York University Judaic studies chairman. Golb claims his actions were protected under the first amendment.

    “This has nothing to do with scholarly debate,” Schiffman told the New York Times in 2013. “It has to do with criminal activity. Fraud, impersonation and harassment are criminal matters. This was actually designed to literally end my career.”

    Golb wrote on behalf of his father, Doctor Norman Golb, to institutions across the country as Schiffman. The emails attempt to discredit his father’s rivals. “It is true that I should have cited Dr. Golb’s articles when using his arguments, and it is true that I misrepresented his ideas,” Tablet Magazine quoted from e-mail, “But this is simply the politics of Dead Sea Scrolls studies. If I had given credit to this man I would have been banned from conferences around the world.”

    The Associated Press reported that Golb hopes to base his case on the fact that the messages were “satire, irony, parody.”

    Meanwhile, lost Dead Sea Scroll documents have been reported to be recovered in Israel. “These parchment slips, folded and placed in capsules, are understood to be the ‘frontlets between your eyes.’ mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy (6:8). The texts are in principle the same as those required by later Rabbinic Halakha and those in use today,” IAA’s Dead Sea Scrolls Projects Pnina Shor told The Huffington Post, “Since these tefillin – phylacteries from the Judean Desert caves are the only examples we have from the Second Temple period, we do not know whether their distinctive features reflect the traditions of a specific community or whether they represent a more widespread tradition. Perhaps these ‘new’ ones will shed more light on this matter.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Google Helps Put Genesis And The Ten Commandments Online

    Google announced today that it is helping bring 5,000 images of scroll fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls online by providing Google Storage, App Engine, Maps, YouTube and Google image technology to the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library.

    This supplements earlier efforts by Google and the Israel Museum to make the Dead Sea Scrolls accessible online.

    “The Israel Antiquities Authority is launching the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, an online collection of some 5,000 images of scroll fragments, at a quality never seen before,” explains Google in a blog post. “The texts include one of the earliest known copies of the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the Ten Commandments; part of Chapter 1 of the Book of Genesis, which describes the creation of the world; and hundreds more 2,000-year-old texts, shedding light on the time when Jesus lived and preached, and on the history of Judaism.”

    Ten Commandments

    Genesis

    “Millions of users and scholars can discover and decipher details invisible to the naked eye, at 1215 dpi resolution,” says Google. “The site displays infrared and color images that are equal in quality to the Scrolls themselves. There’s a database containing information for about 900 of the manuscripts, as well as interactive content pages.”

    In October, Google helped to bring more history online by lending its services to 42 historical exhibitions related to Apartheid, D-Day, the Holocaust, and more, by way of the Google Cultural Institute.

  • Dead Sea Scrolls Now Online Thanks to Google

    With the help of The Israel Museum and Google, the Dead Sea Scrolls are now accessible to everyone via the internet.

    The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls site has just launched, and it gives you an interactive experience with the oldest known biblical manuscripts ever discovered. A little background on the Dead Sea Scrolls, from the official Google blog:

    Written between the third and first centuries BCE, the Dead Sea Scrolls include the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence. In 68 BCE, they were hidden in 11 caves in the Judean desert on the shores of the Dead Sea to protect them from the approaching Roman armies. They weren’t discovered again until 1947, when a Bedouin shepherd threw a rock in a cave and realized something was inside. Since 1965, the scrolls have been on exhibit at the Shrine of the Book at The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Among other topics, the scrolls offer critical insights into life and religion in ancient Jerusalem, including the birth of Christianity

    The scrolls that are available for your perusal are the Great Isaiah Scroll, the War Scroll, the Temple Scroll, the Community Rule Scroll. A commentary on the Habakkuk Scroll is also available on the site.

    The scrolls have been fully digitalized through high-res photos – up to 1,200 megapixels. While viewing the scrolls, you can zoom in and literally see the wear and age of the parchment. If you click on any section in the Great Isaiah Scroll (the most well known), for instance “Chapter 2: Verse 6,” you will be provided with a translation of the passage. Easy navigation allows you to jump to any part of the scroll and highlight any segment.

    Links to the scrolls are also going to show up in Google searches of specific phrases from the text.

    “We are privileged to house in the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea Scrolls ever discovered,” said James S. Snyder, Anne and Jerome Fisher Director of the Israel Museum. “They are of paramount importance among the touchstones of monotheistic world heritage, and they represent unique highlights of our Museum’s encyclopedic holdings. Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these treasures to the broadest possible public.”