`Shapiro Forgery' Draws Attention to Dead Sea Scroll Issue The fuss made over the Dead to Shapira, for there was no rea- thus justify to a great extent son to retain them, and in any what Professor Zeitlin of Drop- case they belonged to him. He sie- College, Philadelphia, has probably took them with him been claiming about the Dead when he left England. As stated Sea Scrolls on the basis of in- above, Shapira committed sui- ternal evidence." cide. He shot himself in a Rot- Dr. Solomon Zeitlin,' editor of terdam hotel through the head the Jewish Quarterly Review, on March 11, -.1884, with a re- appended to this aricle the fol- volver. 'For a few days,' re- lowing note: ported the London .Daily News, "I believe the entire blame for 'he had not left his room, the the sensationaliSm in connection door of which was kept locked. with the,Shapira forgeries should The police forced the lock and not be placed on Mr. Hillaby found -the bloody corpse lying for his dispatch published in upon the bed. Cards were found The New York Times of August upon him proclaiming him the 13, 1956. Mr. Hillaby reported agent of the British Museum re- only what he had, been told by siding at Jerusalm, and also a Professor M. Monsoor of the letter a recent date which Wisconsin University, namely proved the mental aberration that "Professor Monsoor said under which Mr. Shapira had that when he first heard by been suffering for some time.' It chance (sic!) that something re- may be that the fragments were markably like a Dead Sea scroll also among his -papers. An in- had been discovered more than quiry -from. the Rotterdam po- seventy 'years - ago and might lice did not solicit any informa- still be in the vaults of the Brit- tion whatever. I think, however, ish MuSeum, he 'could not that there is no necessity to find sleep'." Mr. Hillaby further the original strips, for there said that Prof. Monsoor's im- exist faithful copies of the texts pression is "that there is a good as well as facsimilies. And it is chance of this scroll emerging an internal evidence alone that as a genuine one." Mr. Hillaby the mystery about the Shapira adds "Dr. S. Yeivin, a noted fragments ceases to be a mys- archaeologist and director of tery. the Department of Antiquities "There is, on the other hand, in Israel, also believes the case a very important aspect of Pro- calls for reinvestigation." fessor Monsoor's efforts to re- "Evidently, Professor Man- investigate the Shapira frag- soar was unaware of the litera- thents. If it should be possible ture referred to by Oskar K. to prove — as is indicated in Rabinowitz in his article. More John Hillaby's report — that literature may be added. Ind., these fragments are textually dentally I should like to call similar to or in some parts even Professor Monsoor's attention to identical with certain scrolls novel, 'The Little Daughter of discovered since 19 -47 at Qum- Jerusalem' (translated from the ran, • then a mystery of un- French) by Myriam Harry. The paralleled importance would be author's name is a pseudonym. woven round the latter, and She is the daughter of Shapira, Sea Scrolls serves to recall an incident, more than 70 years ago, revolving around the so- called "Shapira Scroll" which has been branded a forgery. New investigations, recently made by Prof. Kenahem Mon- - soor, of the University of Wis- consin, attracted new attention to the Shapira documents, based on dispatch to the New York Times from London, by the Times correspondent, Jahn Hillaby. M. W. Shapira was .a Polish Jew who was converted to Christianity and settled in jersusalem as an antique deal- er. The British Museum pur- chased through him several Yemenite and ancient rab- binic documents. - The story goes that his repu- tation was shattered when he attempted to sell as genuine Moabite antiquities items that were declared to be spurious by t h e archaeologist Clermont- Ganneau. Shapira became notorious in 1883, when he offered for sale a Deuteronomy manuscript. These are the documents that -were later founr.i. to be forgeries. In an article in the current issue of Jewish Quarterly Re- • view on "The Shapira Forgery Mystery," Dr. Oskar K. Rabi- nowicz reviews the case crif- ically and provides data that draws attention also to the Dead Sea Scrolls. , Dr. Rabinowitz maintains that there was no prejudice against Shapira. He quotes extensively all available evidence to show that claims of 2,000 years of antiquity for the Shapira docu- ments were false. Referring to the documents, Dr. Rabinowicz. states: "The un- classical a n d ungrammatical character of the Hebrew text, as well as - the ignorance which it reveals in places, could not be set aside by any eventual new external evidence. For it is quite possible to write new He- brew texts on very old sheep- skins, but that would not make the fragments genuine. There- fore I believe that no mystery accompanies the Shapira frag- ments, even if the originals can- not be found. They may or may not be in the vaults of the Brit- - ish Museum. (like Professor Monsoor I could not •trace them there when I was looking for them three years . ago.) They were in all probability returned • FirSt Women's ORT Group Founded in City of Munich MUNICH, (JTA) — The first Women's ORT Committee in Germany was founded here with 'the installation of • officers head- ed by chairman.. Mrs. Else Mayer-Ettlinger. Mrs. Gertrude Kaphan, a past president of the Women's American ORT and a vice-president of the World ORT Union, installed the officers. - SPECIAL DISCOUNTS ON BRESSLER'S DISCOUNT HOUSE- Complete line of Toys, Games. and Gifts at. Discount -Prices. 17533 - W. 7 MILE KE. 7-2520 IMPERIAL by MARGOLIS DON'T ep • • • BUY YOUR NEW IMPERIAL-- CHRYSLER — PLYMOUTH Until You Have Seen Us! It Will Mean Money Saved. We Offer Free Pickup Service Nate Margolis Nate Rosenthal, Sales Mgr. Sam Margolis 25 Years an Imperial, Chrysler, Plymouth Dealer MARGOLIS AUTO SALES 13955 JOS. CAMPAU 1/2 Block South of 6 MILE ROAD TW. 2-7500 ■ 1111 ■•■ S ADDED EVERY WEEK to the growing list of features which sparkle in YOUR newspaper dom of the press and that can- not be limited without being lost." —Thomas Jefferson Tyranny's first target is a free press, but so long as truth is made available to the people, we have no need to fear for the future of our democratic system. THE JEWISH NEWS' complete coverage helps to keep our community free by giving it the knowledge it needs on existing world situations. THE JEWISH NEWS and help to keep our American community free from bias and ignorance. We are proud to announce the expansion of our direct teletype services from the capitals of the world and from our own Nation's Capitol, with special representatives in the White House and both Houses of Congress. THE DETROIT JEWISH EWS 17100 WEST SEVEN MILE ROAD 4.4 MAH JON66 SETS '24 95 $498 SOMETHING- NE "Our liberty depends on free- O Regular $40.00 Jr. Mah Jon9g Sets SHOP and SAVE at A Zeitlin's. Position On. Scrolls Refuted By Gen. Yigal Yadin "I' don't want to waste any - more time speaking of Prof. Zeitlin," declared Gen. Yigal Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, in answer to questions on the for- mer's charges against the an- tiquity of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Yadin, one of the chief ex- ponents of the historical sig -nifi- came of the scrolls, made the statement to the representative of The Jewish News during his visit here to address the Hanu- kah. Israel Bonds_ Festival at the Ford Auditorium Saturday night. "Prof. Zeitlin (of Dropsie College, Philadelphia) is en- tirely w r on g," the general asserted. "His - accusations are clearly refuted by carbon tests performed by scientists and ar- chaeologists, who have conclu- sively established the pre- Christian origin of the scrolls," he said. and she relates in her book the story 'of the strips of leather which had been forged by her father. She refers to her father as Mr. Benedictus and to Cler- mont-Gann.eau as Merle-Van- neau. She tells `about the sui- cide of her father in the Hotel de Bloemendaal in Rotterdam." Thus, - an old forgery may be linked to new cries—or it may cause those who are magnifying the importanCe of the Dead Sea Scrolls to pay attention to their repudiations - by Prof. Zeitlin. At least, old incidents should cause scholars to heed the 'warnings- of those who differ With them. How else can truth be •estab- lislied, if not by honoring chal- lenging viewpoints? —B. S. 'The Night Runner' - Albert J. Cohen is producing and Abner Biberman- directs "The Night Runner," now be- fore the cameras at UniverSal- International, with , Ray.. Danton and Colleen Miller playing the leads. VE. 8-9364