excerpt from robert cargill’s ajs lecture: why qumran matters

here are the final few minutes of my december 2009 association for jewish studies lecture on ‘the state of the archaeological debate at qumran.’ i was summarizing why qumran matters for the study of the dead sea scrolls.
thanx to dave kaplan for capturing this clip.

a request to terrorists

i’d like to make a small request of islamic terrorists who keep trying to bomb americans. it’s written in arabic so you can read it. it’s just a thought:

dear islamic terrorists, you’re doing nothing to help your cause. by now, most americans know that islam is not evil, rather, people who kill innocent people in the name of islam are evil, just like those who kill innocents in the name of judaism or christianity (or name your religion) are evil. you’re only hurting your cause and giving the world a reason to hate you, which gives governments a reason to come after you.

so, if you wouldn’t mind, stop trying to blow stuff up. thanx.

on looted archaeological objects, the antiquities market, the heliodorus stele, and the israel museum

The so-called Heliodorus Stele is said to be both authentic and from an archaeological excavation in Beit Guvrin, Israel. Scholars wonder how an object discovered in a sanctioned excavation made it onto the antiquities market.

there is an excellent editorial on the bible and interpretation site by editors mark elliot and paul flesher about the so-called ‘heliodorus stele.’ specifically, the editorial asks the question why this inscription, if authentic, wound up in the hands of collectors and antiquity dealers?

the article concludes:

In short, we would argue that there are many questions which need to be answered about the Heliodorus Stele, above and beyond the inscription written upon it: when was it found; how was it found; if it were looted from Beit Guvrin, did the dig directors know when and how it was taken; did the IAA and the Parks Authority know that such looting was going on and, if so, what steps did they take to prevent further looting; how did Gil Chaya really come into possession of the stele; how did the Steinhardts find out about it and buy it; how much did they pay for it and was Chaya allowed to keep the money; why wasn’t the sale stopped; why was the sale allowed in the first place; what role did the Israel Museum play in this; and why isn’t the IAA (and the dig directors) questioning all this if the object has been shown through analysis to come from the same place on a licensed dig as three other similar objects?

there are a few different conclusions we can draw about the heliodorus stele, and each one of them raises some serious questions. i want to know the following:

• looted – if it was taken from beit guvrin, why aren’t the authorities trying to apprehend the looter(s)? who received money for the transfer of this looted object?
• antiquities market – if it was not looted, but is simply an unprovenanced object on the antiquities market, why are scholars and journals publishing articles about unprovenanced materials?
• forgery – if it is a forgery, what is the israel museum doing displaying it? and who got duped into saying this forgery is authentic? also, if a forgery, were the fragments discovered during the ‘dig for a day’ excavations planted?

put simply, if it was discovered in a legitimate excavation, what on earth is it doing on the antiquities market? and who took it?

nothing to do jan 3? watch ‘blood for the gods’ on discovery

there are no bowl games scheduled for jan 3, 2010. so what are nerds, biblical scholars, history junkies, and intellectuals supposed to watch on a sunday night? how about a short series about the history of human sacrifice on discovery channel called blood for the gods. the first two episodes are ‘sex & death‘ and ‘blood & power.’ the episodes debut back-to-back on sunday, january 3, 2010 at 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm.

the teaser for ‘sex & death‘ says:

To some ancient people, sex and death go hand in hand in fertility sacrifices meant to promote life…through gruesome rituals of death. But are the legends of fertility sacrifices true? Did Aztecs really cut out the hearts of thousands of victims?

the teaser for ‘blood & power‘ says:

Human Sacrifice in some cases is all about power – power over life and death, power in this world, and power in the next world. We’ll learn the price of power in grisly practices ranging from Egyptian pharaohs to Chinese rituals.

tune in. a couple of the experts interviewed are ancient near eastern scholars you may know.

absolutely unacceptable and condemnable – murder on christmas eve

Salvation Army Major Philip Wise was murdered on Christmas Eve.

this story is absolutely unacceptable and utterly condemnable. who robs a charity worker? who murders someone who gives their life to helping the poor? who murders in cold blood?

The 40-year-old father of three joined the Salvation Army along with his wife, Cindy, 16 years ago, and they had spent the past few years reaching out to those in the Baring Cross neighborhood. The North Little Rock center provides youth programs, weekly church services and Sunday School and a food pantry, among other services.

Wise was returning to that Salvation Army center at 1505 W. 18th St. with his children Thursday afternoon when two black men, both with handguns, approached him and demanded money. One shot was fired, and Wise was killed as his children stood by. His wife, who was in the center at the time, was the one to call 911.

when they catch these two, and they will, it will be death for both of them. i don’t say that often, but if ever it is justified, here it is. murder of a charity worker in front of his children for a bucket of salvation army change.

absolutely unacceptable.

one reason why i love the west wing (still)

one reason why i loved the west wing (and still do).

could you imagine if a president from either party really, i mean really knew the bible – not just its verses, but also their context and their implications for governance if the hermeneutic used for some verses like prohibitions against homosexuality were consistently applied a throughout the text? can you imagine if the thoughtfulness that went into making this tv show actually went in to decisions made by our leaders?

bennett-cargill wedding announcement

Roslyn Bennett and Dr. Robert Cargill announce their engagement.

Roslyn Richelle Bennett and Dr. Robert R. Cargill (both of Agoura Hills, CA) proudly announce their engagement. Bennett is the daughter of Ruth Anne Bennett of Farwell, TX and Rick Bennett of Lubbock, TX. Bennett graduated from Farwell HS (1996) and Lubbock Christian University (BA, 2001). She is the Youth Minister for the University Church of Christ in Malibu, CA. Cargill is the son of Leonard and Sharon Cargill of Madera, CA. Cargill attended Madera HS and graduated from Bullard HS (1991), Fresno City College (AA, 1993), CSU Fresno (BS, 1996), Pepperdine (MS, MDiv, 2000), UCLA (MA, 2007; PhD, 2008). Cargill is an archaeologist and instructional technologist at UCLA. The couple will be married in March 2010 overlooking the ocean in Ventura, CA.

the msnbc 2009 year in pictures

the 2009 year in pictures is available over at msnbc. it is a recap of this past year’s news events.

new smithsonian article by andrew lawler entitled: who wrote the dead sea scrolls?

The caves to the west of Qumran.

andrew lawler has written a new article for smithsonian magazine entitled, ‘who wrote the dead sea scrolls?’ it is a survey of the modern state of the qumran archaeological debate. it is fair, and represents everyone evenly, yet demonstrates how many different ways the site of qumran can be interpreted.

i’ve got a brief mention and quote towards the end, taking my usual place as one trying to make peace between the two sides. i am quoted as saying that qumran was a settlement, ‘that wanted to be self-reliant—the question is just how jewish and just how devout they were.’ the answer, of course, is that they were definitely jewish, and that their devotion was at least great enough to build a few miqva’ot (jewish ritual baths) at the site (and who knows, maybe copy a scroll or two…)

it’s a solid article, and i recommend it to everyone. kudos to andrew.

details of raphael golb’s impersonation of lawrence schiffman

Raphael Golb is accused of multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of forgery, identity theft, criminal impersonation, and aggravated harassment against New York University professor Dr. Lawrence Schiffman.

the following are the transcripts of two affidavits in support of search warrants to search the home of raphael golb, son of university of chicago oriental institute historian norman golb. golb was later arrested and charged with criminal impersonation, forgery, identity theft, and aggravated harassment in connection with an anonymous internet smear campaign involving scholars studying the dead sea scrolls.

in particular, golb was charged with the criminal impersonation of new york university’s dr. lawrence schiffman. below, the court filings will show evidence of forged emails purportedly sent by multiple aliases of raphael golb that attempt not only to accuse falsely dr. schiffman of plagiarizing golb’s father, norman golb, but admit to the plagiarism on dr. schiffman’s behalf, without his knowledge, using first person language, and signing the emails ‘lawrence schiffman.’

---

excerpt from the jan 12, 2009 affidavit in support of a search warrant § 12-28 (pp. 5-11)

IMPERSONATION AND HARASSMENT OF DR. LAWRENCE SCHIFFMAN

12. Dr. Lawrence Schiffman informs me that an individual has impersonated him via email, and that he has been the subject of an effort to discredit him via email and the internet. This effort to discredit Dr. Schiffman is related to his scholarship and work concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr. Schiffman informs me that the following emails were sent to NYU personnel, purporting to be from Dr. Schiffman. Dr. Scmffrnan did not send the below emails that were sent in his name, nor did he create that email account, nor did he give anyone permission or authority to use his name to open the email account or send the emails.

13. On or about August 4, 2008, the following email was sent to multiple NYU recipients:

Date Mon, 04 Aug 2008
From larry schiffman
To [Multiple NYU recipients, email addresses redacted]
Subject plagiarism charges

Miryam, Sara, Cory, Ariel,

Apparently, someone is intent on exposing a minor failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago.

You are not to mention the name of the scholar in question to any of our students, and every effort must be made to prevent this article from coming to their attention. This is my career at stake. I hope you will all understand.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-professor-snitch-chicago-historians-work

Lawrence Schiffman

14. On or about August 5, 2008, the following email was sent to multiple NYU recipients:

Date Tue, 05 Aug 2008
From larry schiffman
To Cory Peacock
Subject Re: plagiarism charges
Cc [Multiple NYU recipients, email addresses redacted]

Cory, thanks for your kind words.

This is definitely ruining my week. I don’t know if you can understand how I feel, but it is as if someone had set fire to my beard. The last thing I need now is to be investigated by the dean.

Best,

Lawrence Schiffman

15. On or about August 5, 2008, the following email was sent to multiple NYU recipients:

Date Tue, 05 Aug 2008
From larry schiffman
To [Multiple NYU recipients, email addresses redacted]

Dear colleagues,

Apparently, someone is intent on exposing a minor failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago.

Every effort must be made to prevent this article from coming to students’ attention. This is my career at stake. I hope you will all understand.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

Lawrence Schiffman

16. On or about August 5, 2008, the following email was sent to a dean at NYU:

From: larry schiffman [mailto:larry.schiffman@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05,2008
To: [Catharine Stimpson -email address redacted]
Subject: Plagiarism charges

Dear Dean Stimpson,

I would like to know what action I can take to counter charges of plagiarism that have been raised against me.

Apparently, someone is intent on exposing a failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago. 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. If I had given credit to this man I would have been banned from conferences around the world.

I am especially concerned that this affair may come to students’ attention. My career is at stake. I hope you will understand.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

Lawrence Schiffman, professor

17. As indicated previously, Dr. Schiffman did not send the above emails, nor did he give anyone permission to do so. The above emails referred the recipient to a blog (short for “weblog”) with the internet address:

http://www.nowpublic.com/culmre/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

I have viewed the above blog/webpage. It indicates it is authored by “Peter Kaufman”, created August 4, 2008 at 2:35 pm. Most blogging sites do not verify the identity of it’s bloggers. Therefore Peter Kaufman could merely be an alias. Essentially, this blog accuses Dr. Schiffman of plagiarizing the work of Dr. Norman Golb. This blog also links³ to blogs written by an individual using the name Charles Gadda. After the blog, there are comments by various individuals, including “Charles Gadda”, and “Raphael Joel”, who praise the writing of Peter Kaufman, praise Dr. Norman Golb, and criticize Dr. Schiffman.^{4
3 A “link”, or “hyperlink”, is computer code embedded within the text of a webpage that, when clicked on, directs the computer user to a particular webpage.
4 Assuming that “Peter Kaufman”, “Charles Gadda”, and “Raphael Joel” were the same person, this use of multiple internet aliases to conduct a discourse would be an example of internet “sockpuppetry”.}

18. There are numerous other blogs on the internet that follow the above pattern. For example, blog page:

http://plagiarist-schiffman.blogspot.com/2008/08/succinct-summary-of-allegations-of.html

is a blog that indicates to the public that it is maintained by user “plagiarist-schiffman”, and which is also highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

19. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (plagiarist-schiffman.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is steve.goranson@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on August 7, 2008 from IP address⁵ 128.122.89.41, and has been modified from that IP address. As indicated later in this affidavit, the IP address 128.122.89.41 indicates that the person accessing this blog was using computers at the NYU Bobst Library. As indicated below, Steve Goranson is a real person who is a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar, who informs me that he did not open this email account, or give anyone permission to open the email account.
^{5An IP (Internet Protocol) address is the numeric address for a computer or device that is connected to the Internet.}

20. Another blog that follows this pattern is

http://larryschiffman.blogspot.com/

This is a blog that indicates to the public that it was created and maintained by user “Larry Schiffman” and which is highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

21. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (larry.schiffman.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is larry.schiffman@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on August 4, 2008 from IP address 128.122.89.193, and also modified from this IP address. As indicated later in this affidavit, the IP address 128.122.89.41 indicates that the person accessing-this blog was using computers at the NYU Bobst Library. Dr. Schiffman did not open this blog or email address, nor did he give anyone permission to use his name to open the site or email address.

22. Another blog that follows this pattern is

http://lawrence-schiffman-speaks.blogspot.com

This is a blog that indicates to the public that it was created and maintained by user “lawrence.schiffman.speaks” and which is highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

23. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (lawrence.schiffman.speaks.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is Jewish.museum.schiffman@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on September 24, 2008 from IP address 128.122.89.194, and also modified from this IP address. As indicated later in this affidavit, the IP address 128.122.89.194 indicates that the person accessing this blog was using computers at the NYU Bobst Library. Dr. Schiffman did not open this blog or email address, nor did he give anyone permission to use his name to open the site or email address.

24. Another blog is:

http://timothyfishbane.wordpress.com/dead-sea-scrolls-distinguished-lecture-series-at-raleigh-museum

This blog indicates that it was created by “Timothy Fishbane” on or about August 4, 2008, and titled “Dead Sea Scrolls: “Distinguished Lecture Series” at Raleigh Museum” that attacked several speakers, including Dr. Schiffman and other scholars.

25. On October 31, 2008, the following email was sent to a dean of NYU (Richard Foley) that was critical of Dr. Schiffman.

Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2008
From: Simon Adler
To: [Email address of Richard Foley redacted]
Subject: Article on Jewish Museum lecture by Lawrence Schiffman

Dear Dean Foley,

I think you should see this. Among other things, the author seems to be saying that an NYU department chairman took legal action to keep him from publishing?

http://peter2kaufman.wordpress.com/

Best,
Simon Adler

26. On November 7, 2008, the following email was sent to a Dean at NYU (Catherine Stimpson)

Date: Fri, 07 Nov 2008
From: Media Watch
To: east.coast.faculty@gmail.com [and other email recipients]
Subject: Lecture review challenges NYU department chair’s Dead Sea
Scrolls
scholarship, professional conduct

Dear East Coast colleagues,

Some of you might wish to take a look at this article [embedded link to http://peter2kaufman.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/lawrence-schiffmans-dazzling-jewish-museum-lecture/%5D and the public exchange of letters that follows it; among other things, the suggestion is made that one of our colleagues at New York University has taken legal action in an effort to prevent the dissemination of allegations of misconduct that have recently aired on several news sites, including George Mason University’s History News Network.

These allegations, involving the famous Dead Sea Scrolls, are to the effect that our colleague borrowed the published research of another American scholar without crediting him, and attempted to hide this misappropriation by publicly misrepresenting the views of that scholar; that these facts came to light in an interview with a well-known Israeli journalist; but that an investigation into the matter has been blocked at NYU.

With best post-election regards,

Steven Gibbs

27. On November 25, 2008, the following email was sent to a teaching assistant of Dr. Schiffman at NYU (Ariel Simon)

From: Simon Adler
Date: Tue, Nov 25, 2008
Subject: Dr. Schiffman’s talk
To: [email address of Ariel Simon redacted]

Ariel, I see that Larry has you forking out the Jodi Magness junk to your students, rather than Magen and Peleg — this strikes me as rather poor judgment on his part.

Incidentally, have you read this interesting review of his talk?

http://peter2kaufman.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/lawrence-schiffmans-dazzling-jewish-museum-lecture/

Best,

Simon Adler

28. Both of the above hyperlinks

http://peter2kaufman.wordpress.com/, and
http://peter2kaufman.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/lawrence-schiffmans-dazzling-jewish-museum-lecture/

point to the same blog, purportedly written by “Peter Kaufman”, who writes that he had attended a lecture given by Dr. Schiffman the night before, is highly critical of him, and accuses him of plagiarizing Dr. Golb.

==end of transcript==

---

excerpt from a mar 2, 2009 affidavit in support of an application for a search warrant § 19-33 (pp. 8-12)

IMPERSONATION AND HARASSMENT OF DR. LAWRENCE SCHIFFMAN

19. Dr. Schiffman informs me that an individual has impersonated him via email, and that he has been the subject of an effort to discredit him via email and the internet.³ As previously indicated, Dr. Lawrence Schiffman is a professor at NYU who specializes in the Dead Sea Scrolls. The effort to discredit Dr. Schiffman is related to his scholarship and work concerning the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dr. Schiffman informs me that emails were sent to NYU personnel, from an email account named “larry.schiffman@gmail.com”, purporting to be from Dr. Schiffman, and purporting to admit to plagiarism in the past. Some emails specifically allege that Dr. Golb was plagiarized. The emails point the recipient to view webpages/blogs that accuse Dr. Schiffman of plagiarizing the works of Dr. Norman Golb. The allegations of plagiarism are false.
^{3 As will be detailed later in this affidavit, investigation has revealed that the individual who impersonated Dr. Schiffman is Raphael Golb. This affidavit will also detail the dozens of internet aliases/email accounts used by Raphael Golb.}

20. Dr. Schiffman did not create this email account, did not send these emails, and did not give anyone permission or authority to do so. NYU email recipients forwarded copies of the emails to Dr. Schiffman, and he was able to review them.

21. Records from Google/Gmail pertaining to this email account (“larry.schiffman@gmail.com”) indicate that the email account was created on August 3, 2008 from IP address (Internet Protocol Address)⁴ 128.122.89.32. Publicly available information, as well as NYU personnel indicate that this IP address belongs to the NYU Bobst library. The email account was accessed from IP Address 28.122.89.193 (NYU Bobst⁵), and 216.165.95.64 (NYU NAT – a pool of internet access IP addresses). As will be detailed later in this affidavit, these IP addresses are generally for NYU’s computers that are available to the general NYU community, and that Raphael Golb had access to.
^{4 An IP (Internet Protocol) address is the numeric address for a computer or device that is connected to the Internet.
5 As indicated previously, the ultimate location of this IP address was determined based upon publicly available information as well as NYU personnel. For brevity and clarity, this phrase will be omitted in the future.}

22. Gmail records of “larry.schiffman@gmail.com” indicate that it sent approximately eleven separate emails purporting to be from Dr. Schiffman, purporting to admit to plagiarism, directing the recipient to a blog accusing Dr. Schiffman of plagiarism, and requesting that the recipient not mention the allegations of plagiarism to anyone. Many of the emails were to multiple recipients. These emails were sent to NYU students, deans, the NYU Provost (the NYU senior academic administrator), and NYU newspapers. In each email, the recipient is pointed to a blog, and advised that past plagiarism conduct has been exposed, and requests that these allegations be kept secret. These records also indicate that the email account holder activated blog: larryschiffman.wordpress.com and larryschiffman.blogspot.com. These are blogs that accuse Dr. Schiffman of plagiarism.

23. For example, Gmail records indicate the following correspondence between email account “larry.schiffman@gmail.com” and other email accounts.

Date Tue, 05 Aug 2008
From larry schiffman
To [Multiple NYU recipients, email addresses redacted]

Dear colleagues,

Apparently, someone is intent on exposing a minor failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago.

Every effort must be made to prevent this article from coming to students’ attention. This is my career at stake. I hope you will all understand.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

Lawrence Schiffman

——————

From: larry schiffman [mailto:larry.schiffman@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, August 05,2008
To: [Catharine Stimpson -email address redacted]
Subject: Plagiarism charges

Dear Dean Stimpson,

I would like to know what action I can take to counter charges of plagiarism that have been raised against me.

Apparently, someone is intent on exposing a failing of mine that dates back almost fifteen years ago. 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. If I had given credit to this man I would have been banned from conferences around the world.

I am especially concerned that this affair may come to students’ attention. My career is at stake. I hope you will understand.

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-nyu-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

Lawrence Schiffman, professor

24. As indicated previously, Dr. Schiffman did not send the above emails, nor did he give anyone permission to do so. The above emails referred the recipient to a blog (short for “weblog”) with the internet address:

http://www.nowpublic.com/culture/plagiarism-and-dead-sea-scrolls-did-department-chairman-pilfer-chicago-historian-s-work

I have viewed the above blog/webpage. It indicates it is authored by “Peter Kaufman”, created August 4, 2008 at 2:35 pm. Most blogging sites do not verify the identity of their bloggers. Therefore, Peter Kaufman could merely be an alias. Essentially, this blog accuses Dr. Schiffman of plagiarizing the work of Dr. Norman Golb. This blog also links⁶ to blogs written by an individual using the name Charles Gadda. After the blog, there are comments by various individuals, including “Charles Gadda”, and “Raphael Joel”, who praise the writing of Peter Kaufman, praise Dr. Norman Golb, and criticize Dr. Schiffman.^{7
6 A “link”, or “hyperlink”, is computer code embedded within the text of a webpage that, when clicked on, directs the computer user to a particular webpage.
7 Assuming that “Peter Kaufman”, “Charles Gadda”, and “Raphael Joel” were the same person, this use of multiple internet aliases to conduct a discourse would be an example of internet “sockpuppetry”. This affidavit does not imply that use of such aliases, by itself, constitutes a criminal offense.}

25. There are numerous other blogs on the internet that follow the above pattern. For example, blog page:

http://plagiarist-schiffman.blogspot.com/2008/08/succinct-summary-of-allegations-of.html

is a blog that indicates to the public that it is maintained by user “plagiarist-schiffman”, and which is also highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

26. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (plagiarist-schiffman.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is steve.goranson@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on August 7, 2008 from IP address 128.122.89.41, and that the blog was modified from that IP address. As indicated later in this affidavit, the IP address 128.122.89.41 indicates that the person accessing this blog was using computers at the NYU Bobst Library. As described later, Steve Goranson is a real person who has researched the Dead Sea Scrolls. Mr. Goranson informs me that he did not open this email account, or give anyone permission to open the email account.

27. Another blog that follows this pattern is

http://larryschiffman.blogspot.com/

This is a blog that indicates to the public that it was created and maintained by user “Larry Schiffman” and which is highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

28. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (larry.schiffman.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is larry.schiffman@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on August 4, 2008 from IP address 128.122.89.193, and was also modified from this IP address (an IP address at NYU Bobst library). Dr. Schiffman did not open this blog or email address, nor did he give anyone permission to use his name to open the site or email address.

29. Another blog that follows this partern is

http://lawrence-schiffman-speaks.blogspot.com

This is a blog that indicates to the public that it was created and maintained by user “lawrence.schiffman.speaks” and which is highly critical of Dr. Schiffman.

30. Records from Google (that runs blogspot) pertaining to this blog (lawrence.schiffman.speaks.blogspot.com) indicate that the email address of the person maintaining this blog is Jewish.museum.schiffman@gmail.com, and that the blog was created on September 24, 2008 from IP address 128.122.89.194, and also modified from this IP address (this IP address belongs to computers at the NYU Bobst Library). Dr. Schiffman did not open this blog or email address, nor did he give anyone permission to use his name to open the site or email address.

31. Another blog is:

http://timothyfishbane.wordpress.com/dead-sea-scrolls-distinguished-lecture-series-at-raleigh-museum

This blog indicates that it was created by “Timothy Fishbane” on or about August 4, 2008, and titled “Dead Sea Scrolls: “Distinguished Lecture Series” at Raleigh Museum” that attacked several speakers, including Dr. Schiffman and other scholars.

32. From August to November of 2008, multiple emails were sent to NYU personnel, and others, that were critical of Dr. Schiffman, accused him of plagiarism, and critical of other Dead Sea Scrolls scholars. For example, on August 4, 2008, the following email was sent to multiple recipients at NYU, and was critical of Dr. Schiffman:

Subject: NYU department chairman plagiarizes and misrepresents scholar’s work,
goes uninvestigated for 15 years
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008
From: Peter Kaufman
To: [NYU email addresses redacted]

Dear Mr. Roach,

I am writing to ask why it is that the outrageous misconduct of Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at NYU, has never been investigated.

This man has in large measure based his career on the plagiarism and misrepresentation of another scholar’s work. For the basic facts, see:

http://larry.schiffman.wordpress.com/charges-of-impropriety-surface-against-new-york-university-professor-lawrence-schiffman/

With best wishes,

Peter Kaufman

33. On or about July 5, 2007, an article/blog appeared on the internet at webaddress: http://www.voieeofsandiego.org/articles/2007/07/05/letters/078deadsea070607.txt which was titled: Other Side of the Scrolls, By Charles Gadda, New York. The article is critical of a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, and the fact that Norman Golb is not properly referenced. In response to this blog, there is a comment by an individual using the name “Tuesday Kuykendall” who praises Dr. Golb’s book, “Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.” In response to this posting, there is a comment by an individual using the name “Larry Schiffman” declaring that the statement [who declares the comment] by Tuesday Kukendall is “revelatory” and criticizing Dead Sea Scrolls exhibits in general. Dr. Schiffman informs me that he did not post this comment, nor did he give anyone permission to use his name to post this comment.

==end transcript==