>According to a news release put out by the New York County District Attorney’s office, Raphael Haim Golb was arrested today on charges of identity theft, criminal impersonation, and aggravated harassment. Gold is the son of Norman Golb, a professor at the University of Chicago and a specialist in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
According to the news release, Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced that Golb was arrested for creating multiple aliases in order to engage in a campaign of impersonation and harassment against scholars who opposed his father’s views on the Dead Sea Scrolls.
One of the persons who has been defamed and attacked by Golb was Dr. Robert R. Cargill from UCLA. Cargill has developed a Wikipedia page that details many of the attacks on scholars who disagree with Golb’s father.
Unfortunately, I have been inadvertently involved in this controversy since my blog was used as a forum by Raphael Golb to attack other scholars and cast aspersions on those who disagreed with the views espoused by his father.
I was unaware that Charles Gadda and many of the people who commented on my posts was Raphael Golb. As any blogger who welcomes comments, even when those comments may differ with my own views, I responded to the comments left on my post, unaware that the people commenting on what I had written had a hidden agenda.
Gargill has developed a detailed account of the ways Golb used blogs to criticize those involved in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. You should visit Gargill’s Wikipedia page. When you do, you will discover that my name and my blog appear more than a dozen times under the several aliases used by Golb. Golb visited my blog under these aliases and used my posts to criticize scholars including Cargill.
Visit Cargill’s Wikipedia page and read “Who Is Charles Gadda.”
Below is the news release from the New York County District Attorney’s office:
DISTRICT ATTORNEY – NEW YORK COUNTY
NEWS RELEASE
March 5, 2009Contact: Alicia Maxey Greene
212-335-9400Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau today announced the arrest of a 49-year-old man for creating multiple aliases to engage in a campaign of impersonation and harassment relating to the Dead Sea Scrolls and scholars of opposing viewpoints.
The defendant, RAPHAEL HAIM GOLB, was arrested on charges of identity theft, criminal impersonation and aggravated harassment. The crimes in the Criminal Court Complaint occurred during the period of July to December of 2008.
The investigation leading to today’s arrest revealed that GOLB engaged in a systematic scheme on the Internet, using dozens of Internet aliases, in order to influence and affect debate on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and in order to harass Dead Sea Scrolls scholars who disagree with his viewpoint. GOLB used computers at New York University (NYU) in an attempt to mask his true identity when conducting this Internet scheme. He gained access to NYU computers by virtue of being a graduate of the university, and having made donations to its library fund.
The investigation, which included a court-authorized search warrant that was executed this morning at GOLB’s apartment, began in response to a complaint by Lawrence Schiffman, Ph.D., that he was impersonated over the Internet. Dr. Schiffman is a NYU professor, chairman of the Hebrew & Judaic Studies Department and a leading scholar in the field of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
In August 2008, Dr. Schiffman became subject to a campaign of impersonation and harassment through the Internet, by an anonymous individual. An investigation by the District Attorney’s Office revealed that this individual was GOLB, the son of Norman Golb, Ph.D., a Dead Sea Scrolls scholar who resides in Chicago. RAPHAEL GOLB used methods which were intended to maintain his anonymity, and opened an email account – larry.schiffman @ gmail.com – purportedly in Dr. Schiffman’s name and sent 11 emails to multiple NYU recipients, in which he pretended to be Dr. Schiffman, and purported to admit to plagiarism. Simultaneously, RAPHAEL GOLB, using other Internet aliases, sent emails to NYU personnel and administration accusing Dr. Schiffman of plagiarism, and created Internet blogs accusing Dr. Schiffman of plagiarism.
GOLB also created email accounts in the names of other individuals active in the field of Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship, including Stephen Goranson and Jonathan Seidel.
The Dead Sea Scrolls consist of roughly 900 documents, including texts from the Hebrew Bible, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in 11 caves in and around the ancient ruins of Qumran, on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, in present-day Israel. The texts are of great religious and historical significance, as they include the only known surviving copies of biblical texts made before 100 A.D., and preserve evidence of considerable diversity of belief and practice within late Second Temple period Judaism, the Judaism of the second and first centuries B.C. and the first century A.D. These manuscripts generally date to between 150 B.C. and 50 A.D. Publication of the scrolls is now complete, however it was delayed for many decades.
There is considerable academic scholarship that surrounds the Dead Sea Scrolls, with areas of general consensus, and with areas of debate and differing opinions and theories. Because of the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and because of the delay in publication, the scrolls are also subject to some conspiracy theories.
Many scholars view the scrolls collection as having been assembled by an ancient Jewish sect, which many call the Essenes. Furthermore, many scholars believe that this sect resided in the settlement in Qumran, in close proximity to the caves where the scrolls were found.
The defendant’s father, Dr. Norman Golb, is a professor at the University of Chicago. He has been a proponent of the viewpoint that the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves of Qumran had nothing to do with the buildings and settlement at the Qumran site. He believes that they were not the product of the Essenes, but of many different Jewish sects and communities of ancient Israel, who hid the scrolls in the caves at Qumran while fleeing from Jerusalem.
RAPHAEL GOLB, through his Internet aliases, promoted the theories of his father and criticized the theories of others. Frequently, he criticized the manner in which the Dead Sea Scrolls have been exhibited, for not giving sufficient attention to the theories of his father.
GOLB is charged with Identity Theft in the Second Degree, a class E felony, which is punishable by up to 11/3 to 4 years in prison; Identity Theft in the Third Degree, Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree, Forgery in the Third Degree and Aggravated Harassment in the Second Degree, all class A misdemeanors, which are each punishable by up to 1 year in prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned today in Manhattan Criminal Court.
The investigation is continuing.
Read also: The Dead Sea Scroll Controversy
Claude Mariottini
Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
Tags: Dead Sea Scrolls, Raphael Golb, Robert Cargill
var addthis_pub = ‘claude mariottini’;
Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
>dr. mariottini,this is robert cargill. i know you weren’t involved in any of this. the aliases were discussing things on your website before we fully understood the nature of what we were facing.please rest assured that i don’t think you assisted them in any way. in fact, you were kind enough to delete several of the alias’ entries when they stepped over the line.you should take pride in the fact that the aliases chose your blog to discuss their theories early in the campaign; it is only because you have been a dedicated and credible source of all things biblical that they chose to make comments here.please continue the good work you do here. i look forward to reading your posts in the future.shalom – bobcargill
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>Bob,Thank you for your words. I appreciate the fact that you understand that I was not providing a forum for the aliases to criticize you or any other scholar.I just feel sorry that my blog was used to attack dedicated scholars who are involved in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In retrospect, the aliases were very forceful in their arguments for that one theory and very critical of scholars who disagreed with the theory.I know that you were one of the many people who were severely criticized by the aliases. Let us hope that the ordeal is over and that genuine scholarship can promote honest debate about the provenance of the Scrolls.Claude Mariottini
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>dr. mariottini,i appreciate your kind words. keep doing what you do ;-)-bobcargill
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>hithe whole thing really boggles the mind – been reading about it since last nite! ouch! apart from the obviously very nasty tactics used by these *aliases* was there any merit at all to the argument put forth by them/him? if the theory championed by this guy is actually valid but merely overlooked, it would be kind of sad to shut it all down cos of one overly dedicated but misguided lunatic ~ that would do disservice to the spirit of free inquiry, i would think. since all the comments have been taken down, i’m kind of in the dark as to the actual pros and cons of the argument so – were his arguments as fraudulent as his tactics? or..? :-\ thanks!
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>hi jo here again, aka wabbit — i think i just figured out a way to post using my email account so i can get follow up comments – thanks!
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>Dear Jo (aka wabbit),The position taken by the aliases is a minority position that has not been widely accepted. Maybe it was because the position had been rejected by so many scholars that the aliases decided to take matters in his [their] own hands and attack those who differed from him [them].Thank you for visiting my blog.Claude Mariottini
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>hi ClaudeThanks so much for your response. Yes, the actions of this one individual was extraordinary – I know I’ve been involved in many internet debates in the past myself but never have i seen SUCH devotion! It’s only equaled by the devotion of bob cargill in tracking all the aliases down. WoW~ So much passion on both sides! really boggles the imagination! Which is precisely why the whole thing has really started to pique my interest. Makes me want to learn the facts for myself and to learn exacty what these two theories really entail. And hopefully learn what exactly is at stake here that makes men act in such an extreme fashion. Though i’ve been doing research on my own, your input would still be greatly appreciated, as to why golb’s theory had been marginalized by most academics, and what they see as actual *weaknesses* of golb’s theory, and *strengths* of their own. I understand that you may not have time to answer such a question at this time, so if that’s the case, it’s no problem. I will still be stopping by often to see what I can learn and to participate in future discussions if I have anythig to contribute 🙂 shalom jo wabbit
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>Jo,Thank you for writing again. Right now I do not have the time to write a detailed post on this issue but I will do so during the Spring break here at the seminary, which will be in about two weeks.Claude Mariottini
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>wow thanks for the quick response :o) btw, i only just noticed you putting “him/them” “his/their” and realized that i’ve *jumped* to conclusion based on cargill’s “who is charles gadda” page that the whole aliase thing was the work of one individual. my bad! :p kind of takes the romance out of it to think that it involved more than one dedicated madman though… oh well!
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>another thought:do you think that there will be a tendency for these blog spaces/other academics to dismiss anyone espousing the golb theory out of hand, simply because of the connection to this unfortunate charles gadda incident? that is to say, would there be an unwarranted prejudice against this theory because of this incident – even if further archaelogical discoveries are made, supporting the theory? (i understand u can only get to these questions when you have the time!) this whole thing has opened a can of worms or a pandora’s box i feel, and all kinds of questions pop up — with all manner of philosophical/social/cultural implications — ! it’s like reading The Brothers Karamazov – except that it’s set in the 21st century nyc!
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>yes, there will most likely be an unfortunate tendency to associate the name and theories of norman golb with fraud, deceit, and manufactured controversy. the purpose of raphael’s campaign was to keep dr. golb’s name in the news, stir the manufactured controversy, and draw attention to norman golb. given the past week’s events, i believe it is safe to say that raffa was successful. 😉
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>hi bobi don’t know whether u read all my posts here, but you are definitely one of the reasons i got totally hooked on this drama! wow… I mean you have every right to gloat at this moment! you give the words “Obsessive Tenacity” a new meaniing! i couldn’t believe it when i saw your ginormous “who is charles gada” page representing years of work, all to track down a total nonentity jabbering about a non-existent controversy that apparently nobody was paying attention to anyway! i’m just fascinated by people who are so dedicated – probably because i’m so lazy for the most part 😦 I have a lot to learn from you seriously. I’m the type that starts reading five books at once and finishes none unfortunately… So it really takes a LOT for me to stay on one topic for any length of time, but so far i’ve been reading about this shit for like 3 days straight, not just newspaper articles on the scandal but articles on the actual theories (le monde had a particularly fascinating take on them) and now I’m thinking about ordering the golb book “Who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls” though I will probably wait until a kindle version comes out since I hate holding a heavy book in my hand ~~ so yeah, gada or raphael or whoever did this, really succeeded in getting people interested in a totally boring topic (for me anything to do with religious/historical texts from the middle east puts me to sleep right away – something about imagining all the sand i guess lol ) of course the book might just be the sixth book I start without finishing ~ :p but hey, hope springs eternal, right? 🙂 btw i’ve asked claude a few questions above and you are welcome to put in your two cents (or two dollars) if you want! i’m sure your perspective on this would be really interesting to read! Perhaps I will learn something about what makes you so unbelievably passionate! Cheers,jo wabbit
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