American Tourist Returns “Hazor” Tablet to Israel After 13 Years

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In the fall of 1962, 22-year-old Jesse Salsberg was honeymooning in Israel with his 19-year-old bride. An observant Jew and a graduate of New York’s Yeshiva University, Salsberg was thinking of settling permanently in Israel.

Among the sights the couple visited was the Biblical mound of Hazor which had been excavated in the 50’s by Yigael Yadin. After exploring the mound, the Salsbergs walked back to their car on the pebbly road leading down from the mound. Momentarily, the new Mrs. Salsberg stumbled. Her attentive husband reached out to hold her, she hardly needed it. It was nothing. But, as he reached out, he noticed an unusual sherd on the ground. He reached down and picked it up. Only about 2 inches by 2 inches, the brown piece of clay seemed to have writing on it. Contrary to a later report in the New York Times, Mr. Salsberg was not an amateur archaeologist and indeed knew little about the subject. Israelis who were with him suggested the fragment was a seal and the writing was probably Old Hebrew. Salsberg put the object in his pocket thinking it an interesting souvenir, and then forgot about it.

Not until five years later—when his first son was two years old—did Jesse Salsberg decide to try to find out what was on the clay fragment. His first stop was New York’s Metropolitan Museum, but he was advised he would have to leave it. Someone had told him the Metropolitan tends to lose things, so he declined and put the sherd back into his pocket.

Later he tried to call the great American archaeologist Nelson Glueck at Hebrew Union College, but couldn’t get through to him.

In the fall of 1970—eight years after he found the little piece of clay—Salsberg found his way to Dr. Shalom Paul, then of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Paul was able to identify the writing as cuneiform and dated the writing to about 3,500 years ago. The writing, according to Paul, was Old Babylonian. This was the first indication Salsberg had that he had found something important.

The ability to read cuneiform “from the stone” (rather than from a transcription) is a rare one. Only a handful of people in the United States can do so. One of these is William Hallo of Yale University. Professor Paul called his friend Hallo who responded with enthusiasm and excitement. Two weeks after the call Hallo came to New York to see the tablet.

As Hallo transcribed the seemingly impenetrable impressions “from the stone”, he literally danced a jig, as Salsberg remembers it. The writing involved real estate litigation and actually mentioned the city of Hazor! Hallo could hardly contain himself. And Salsberg was as excited as Hallo.

At this point, the story becomes complicated, obscure and even somewhat conflicting. Through Hallo, word reached Israel of Salsberg’s find. At about the same time, the Israelis understood that Salsberg was demanding payment—as much as $10,000—for the tablet’s return. Salsberg does not deny that there was talk of money; at one point in the lengthy and often bitter negotiations that followed, Salsberg’s wife, Salsberg concedes, may have implied that the Salsbergs wanted as much as $100,000 for the piece. Nevertheless, Salsberg insists that all he ever really wanted was a free trip to Israel for himself and his family, where he would present the tablet to the Israeli government.

The Israeli position was clear from the outset. Under Israeli law all antiquities found in the country belong to the people of Israel as represented by the Israeli government. Since the tablet belonged not to Salsberg, but to Israel, Salsberg was legally 036bound to return it promptly and without payment. However, as the finder, Salsberg was entitled to compensation upon application to the Antiquities Department—compensation based on the Antiquities Department’s assessment of the tablet’s worth. This payment would be made only after the tablet’s return. As one Israeli representative put it, “We would not pay a ransom for the tablet.”

Salsberg remained unrelenting, continuing to insist that he and his family (which now included two boys) be given a free trip to present the sherd.

According to Martin Novack, a New York lawyer who represented the Israeli government in the final stages of the negotiations, “incredible efforts were made to work out a solution.” But all to no avail.

For his part, Salsberg was offended from the start by what he regarded as attempts to take the tablet without compensation or even a receipt, as well as by efforts to embarrass and pressure him. Moreover, he did not regard himself as a criminal, as the Israelis seemed to be casting him.

Salsberg claims that on at least two occasions, the trip he sought was promised to him and then withdrawn.

When efforts to persuade Salsberg to give up the tablet without condition failed, Israel took the matter to New York District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau and asked him to press criminal charges against Salsberg for possession of stolen property.

Before Salsberg learned of this development, Nahum Bernstein, another New York lawyer who had unsuccessfully negotiated with Salsberg for the return of the tablet, again contacted Salsberg: Bernstein arranged for a Mr. Rubin to offer to pay Salsberg $6,500 for the tablet. Bernstein would arrange for the exchange if Salsberg accepted. However, Salsberg refused the offer because, as he put it, “I wanted to give it to Israel and all I wanted was the trip I had been promised.”

In fact, as Mr. Bernstein explained to the BAR, there was no Mr. Rubin. The whole thing was a ruse, although Salsberg does not and will not know it until he reads it in the BAR. If Salsberg had accepted the offer, Bernstein explained, the District Attorney would have been watching as Salsberg turned the tablet over for the $6,500 and would have seized the tablet as stolen property.

However, when Salsberg failed to rise to the bait, District Attorney Morgenthau called Salsberg in and advised him that he would be prosecuted for possession of stolen property unless he surrendered the tablet. Under this threat, on November 19, 1975, Salsberg gave up the sherd.

Mr. Novack has told the BAR that it is his understanding that Salsberg is now to receive no compensation for the tablet because of the circumstances under which it was returned. Reliable sources in Jerusalem confirm this.

However, Novack has written Salsberg on behalf of the State of Israel that “It is reasonably certain to assume that upon the display of the sherd in a museum in Israel, there will be reflected Mr. Salsberg’s finding of it.”

For Salsberg, it was a “terrible nightmare.” “Sometimes I wish I never found it,” he says.

Where does justice lie? Our readers may decide for themselves.

The tablet itself, which the New York District Attorney described as “priceless” when he turned it over to the Israeli government at a press conference, records litigation involving some real estate in Hazor and another, as yet unidentified town. The real estate must have been of considerable value and significance because the case was conducted in the presence of the King of Hazor himself and was adjudicated by him. A number of witnesses were present, and a heavy fine was fixed for anyone who should in the future contest the King’s decision.

The tablet actually mentions the name of the city of Hazor and thus not only allays any lingering doubt as to the Biblical identification of the site, but Hazor thus becomes one of a small handful of sites whose identification has been confirmed by a written document found on the site. (Others are Gezer, Beth-Shean, and Arad.)

The tablet is written in Old Babylonian cuneiform; its language is Akkadian. If preliminary studies are correct and the tablet dates from the first half of the second millennium, then this will be the oldest Akkadian legal text yet found in Israel.

The ruler of Hazor is referred to in the tablet as “king”. This confirms references to 044the ruler of Hazor by this title in both the Mari and Amarna letters.

But the most intriguing aspect of the tablet is its clear archival character. That is, it was doubtless part of a library or administrative center of similar documents. Its discovery means that someday, this cache of texts may yet be found at Hazor. It is lying there somewhere, buried beneath the centuries.

In the fall of 1962, 22-year-old Jesse Salsberg was honeymooning in Israel with his 19-year-old bride. An observant Jew and a graduate of New York’s Yeshiva University, Salsberg was thinking of settling permanently in Israel.