MOSUL TORAH SCROLL UPDATE: The story of the 400-year-old Torah scroll that was recovered from a ruined synagogue near Mosul and sold to a synagogue in Baltimore was noted in PaleoJudaica last October-November (here and here). At the time I expressed concern about whether the relevant antiquities laws had been followed, but no one responded to my query and I heard no more about it. But now this story has come to the attention of the Iraq Crisis list and is generating some discussion. And Paul Barford has a long post that raises pertinent questions at the SAFECorner blog. It sounds as though my concerns were not misplaced.

Stay tuned ...

UPDATE: Note that Dorothy King has contacted the U.S. Army to try to establish what happened.