Is He Headed to Jail?

012

The Dead Sea Scrolls continue to breed conflict. In this case Raphael Golb, a New York lawyer and son of Norman Golb, a well-known Dead Sea Scroll scholar from the University of Chicago, was convicted of criminal conduct for sending emails impersonating prominent Dead Sea Scroll scholars who supposedly agreed with his father’s minority views.^a In one instance the younger Golb, impersonating prominent Dead Sea Scholar Lawrence Schiffman, confessed to having plagiarized the elder Golb’s ideas and presented them as Schiffman’s own.

In its lengthy opinion, New York’s highest court described two scholarly views of the origins of the scrolls. One it denominated the Qumran-Sectarian theory, according to which the scrolls originated with a Jewish sect living at Qumran, generally believed to be the Essenes. The other view, championed by the elder Golb, the court called the Jerusalem-Libraries theory. According to the Jerusalem-Libraries theory, the scrolls were brought to the caves near Qumran from various libraries in Jerusalem in an effort to rescue them from the impending Roman attack on Jerusalem, which culminated in 70 C.E. with the burning of the city and destruction of the Temple.

The younger Golb sent a large number of emails to a variety of recipients in which he impersonated various Dead Sea Scroll scholars, supposedly supporting the elder Golb’s views. Among those impersonated by the younger Golb was the then-most prominent American Dead Sea Scroll scholar, Harvard’s Frank Moore Cross, who has since died. In this way, Raphael Golb targeted various scholars who disagreed with his father.

In what is perhaps the most egregious instance, Raphael Golb impersonated Lawrence Schiffman, then of NYU. When Schiffman was scheduled to lecture at a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, Raphael Golb, using the pseudonym Peter Kaufman, put an article on the web accusing Schiffman of “repeated plagiarism of [Norman] Golb’s work.” Then, using Schiffman’s name, Golb sent around emails confessing to the plagiarism. The supposed emails from Schiffman stated that “someone is intent on exposing a minor failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago” and that my “career is at stake.” These fake emails were sent to Schiffman’s provost and dean at NYU. In this email, Schiffman supposedly confessed:

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. But this is simply the politics of Dead Sea Scrolls studies.

The provost responded, supposedly to Schiffman but actually to Raphael Golb, that 014 he, the provost, had assigned the matter to a dean for further investigation. Then Raphael Golb sent copies of this email from the provost plus the fake email in which Schiffman supposedly confessed to the plagiarism to five NYU student newspapers, asking them not to mention this matter, signed “Lawrence Schiffman.”

A jury convicted Raphael Golb on 30 counts; the judge sentenced the defendant to six months in jail and five years of probation. On the defendant’s appeal to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court, the conviction was affirmed.

Golb then appealed to the highest court of New York, the Court of Appeals. For various legal reasons the court reversed Golb’s conviction on ten counts, but affirmed his conviction on the remainder. Even regarding some counts that were reversed, the court observed that Raphael Golb’s impersonation of Schiffman (and others) was “more than a prank intended to cause temporary embarrassment or discomfiture, and that he acted with intent to do real harm.”

The defendant has 90 days from the date of the New York Court of Appeals’ decision (May 13, 2014) to ask the United States Supreme Court to hear his case. Otherwise, the case will be sent back to the trial judge for resentencing in light of the fact that the conviction on some of the counts has been reversed.—H.S.

The Dead Sea Scrolls continue to breed conflict. In this case Raphael Golb, a New York lawyer and son of Norman Golb, a well-known Dead Sea Scroll scholar from the University of Chicago, was convicted of criminal conduct for sending emails impersonating prominent Dead Sea Scroll scholars who supposedly agreed with his father’s minority views.a In one instance the younger Golb, impersonating prominent Dead Sea Scholar Lawrence Schiffman, confessed to having plagiarized the elder Golb’s ideas and presented them as Schiffman’s own. In its lengthy opinion, New York’s highest court described two scholarly views of the origins of the […]