13th annual Bible & Archaeology Fest

THE THIRTEENTH ANNUAL BIBLE AND ARCHAEOLOGY FEST:

Announcing the 13th annual Bible and Archaeology Fest in Atlanta

The Biblical Archaeology Society announces the 13th annual Bible and Archaeology Fest in Atlanta Georgia where 20 scholars will present the latest research on topics such as early Christianity, Gnostic scholarship, the Hebrew Bible, and more.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 22, 2010 – Announcing the 13th annual Bible and Archaeology Fest, to be held November 19–21, 2010, in Atlanta, Georgia. Twenty leading scholars will convene from around the world to share their research with the public in a dynamic seminar series designed specifically for the interested lay person. Concurrent sessions over the three-day period will address the latest developments in the fields of early Christianity, Gnostic scholarship, the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, ancient Israel and Biblical archaeology. For thirteen years, the Biblical Archaeology Society is proud to be the only organization to bring current Biblical research to the general public straight from the scholars who are at the forefront of their fields.

[...]

One might want to note in passing that the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, with four or five thousand delegates attending, is also happening at the same time and same place.

Sukkot

SUKKOT (the Festival of Booths or Tabernacles) begins this evening at sundown. Best wishes to all those celebrating.

Job in Ancient Judaism at Indiana Univ, Bloomington

JOB IN ANCIENT JUDAISM at Indiana University, Bloomington:

From J. Albert Harrill jharrill@indiana.edu:
================================

INDIANA UNIVERSITY, Bloomington.
Assistant Professor in Ancient Judaism

The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Program in Jewish Studies invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor in Ancient Judaism. Ph.D. or equivalent required. Applicants should demonstrate engagement with the critical study of post-biblical, Second Temple Judaism and/or the classical texts of early rabbinic history and culture. The successful applicant must maintain ongoing research, a record of creative and effective teaching, and an active professional profile. Teaching obligations will extend from introductory and upper-level undergraduate courses to graduate training at the master's and doctoral levels.

Applications received prior to November 1, 2010 will be assured full consideration. Applicants can anticipate the possibility of a preliminary interview at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (November 18-21 in Atlanta) or the annual meeting of the Association for Jewish Studies (December 19-21 in Boston).

Applicants must mail a cover letter, C.V., a writing sample, and a dossier with at least three letters of recommendation to:

Ancient Judaism Search Committee
The Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Program in Jewish Studies
1011 E. Third Street, Goodbody Hall 326
Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405-2601

Women and minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Indiana University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Via the Agade list. Oddly, I can find no notice of the job on the Indiana University, Bloomington, website.

Golb identity-theft trial update

GOLB IDENTITY-THEFT TRIAL UPDATE: The AP has an article on the latest: "NY man in Dead Sea Scrolls trial: It's revenge."

Samaritan synagogue excavated in Bet She'an

AN ANCIENT SAMARITAN SYNAGOGUE has been excavated in Bet She'an (Bet Shean, Beit Shean):

Archaeologists in Israel Find a 1,500 Year Old Samaritan Synagogue

JERUSALEM.- The remains of a synagogue and farmstead that operated in the Late Byzantine period, which were unknown until now, were exposed in an archaeological excavation conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and underwritten by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, prior to enlarging a residential quarter south of Bet Sheʽan, c. one half kilometer west of the Jordan Valley highway (Route 90).

[...]

The building that was exposed consisted of a rectangular hall (5 x 8 meters), the front of which faces southwest, toward Mount Gerizim, which is sacred to Samaritans. Five rectangular recesses were built in the walls of the prayer hall in which wooden benches were probably installed. The floor of the hall was a colorful mosaic, decorated with a geometric pattern. In the center of the mosaic is a Greek inscription, of which a section of its last line was revealed:
T[]OUTON NEWN
meaning “This is the temple”.

[...]

Apocalyptic traditions and Middle Eastern politics

APOCALYPTIC FOUNDATIONAL TRADITIONS in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are explored by James Carroll (Boston Globe) in relation to current politics in the Middle East: Turning history into hope: Teetering on the apocalypse. Excerpt:

This series of columns began by pointing to Western anti-Semitism and European colonialism as unindicted co-conspirators in this conflict, and we end by naming two more — the taboo realities of a transcendent weapon and a self-hypnotizing End Time theology. Neither is explicitly on the negotiators’ agenda, but each alone is enough to wreak havoc in the Middle East; together, on the world.

First theology. The humane mainstream of monotheistic religion, and therefore the civilizations that spring from it, has included an inhuman countercurrent that swirls around the idea that God wills violence. Indeed, God uses hyper-violent destruction as a mode of redemption. We call this apocalypse. In apocalyptic texts (I & II Maccabees, Daniel, Enoch are Hebrew examples; Revelation is the supreme Christian example), history is envisioned as climaxing in cosmic warfare between God and Satan. That the battle is imagined as centered in Jerusalem defines its tie to the present conflict: Jerusalem an eternal cockpit of violence.

But apocalyptic struggle, far from local, is for nothing less than cosmic order. In such a battle, no price is too high to pay, which means a destroyed earth is acceptable and individual martyrdom is glorious. The virtue of suffering embraced for the higher cause of good against evil becomes an absolute.

This vision did not come out of thin air. It was a way of coping with the savageries of actual wars, centered in Jerusalem. The bloody apogee was reached in the wars waged by Rome against the Jewish people at the beginning of the Common Era. The Jewish historian Josephus says that more than a million Jews were killed in the first Roman war, around the year 70. The Roman historian Tacitus says that more than 600,000 Jewish men, women, and children defended Jerusalem against the Roman siege. It felt like the end of the world. Jewish resistance embraced martyrdom, as typified by the saga of Masada, where the last Jewish fighters killed themselves rather than surrender.

Thus, exactly as the Passion narratives about the death of Jesus were being written down, tens of thousands of Rome-resisting Jews were crucified. The Book of Revelation, composed in the thick of the violence, portrays the Roman war in ferocious — if mainly symbolic — terms (Rome is Babylon, The emperor Nero is the beast). Yet the apocalyptic violence of God is most clearly dramatized in the Gospel notion that the God-willed death of Jesus is the transcendent destruction that saves the cosmos. Golgotha is the highpoint of martyrdom.

The Book of Revelation, also known, tellingly, as Apocalypse, locates End Time mayhem, yes, in Jerusalem. More than other texts, it planted the idea in the Western mind that the human race is ultimately doomed to a mass suicide-murder from which it can be rescued only after the fact and magically. Such holy destruction defines the rushing current of apocalyptic millennialism.

There seems to be a bit of slippage here between apocalypses, apocalyptic, eschatology, and decisive wars. Daniel, the books collected in 1 Enoch, and the Book of Revelation are apocalypses (revelations of heavenly secrets by divine being to a human being). Apocalypses are usually interested in eschatology: the theology of ultimate issues, especially the cosmic final judgment and the fate of individuals after death. (The Book of the Watchers in 1 Enoch is more interested in personal than cosmic eschatology, as are the Gnostic apocalypses.) 1-2 Maccabees deal with the persecution of Judaism by Antiochus Epiphanes and the successful Jewish guerilla war against him (the "Maccabean Revolt, a decisive war). They are historical works, not apocalypses. Presumably Mr. Carroll includes them because the Maccabean Revolt is the setting of the Book of Daniel and the Animal Apocalypse (the latter again in 1 Enoch). Both authors expected this revolt to be successful (it was) and to lead directly into the final judgment (it didn't). "Apocalyptic" is hard to define beyond generally the stuff you find in apocalypses, mainly revealed heavenly secrets, usually involving some form of cosmic or personal eschatology.

As the article goes on to say, there are eschatological and apocalyptic traditions in Islam as well. There's plenty to go around. And I'm sure you can work out for yourself what the "transcendent weapon" is.

Mr Carroll's larger point is that a lot of the ideas in these apocalypses which involve cosmic eschatology are lurking in the background and sometimes the foreground of the current politics of the Middle East, and that should make us more than a little uneasy. He concludes:

The apocalyptic mind is alive and well — armed and dangerous. If the Israelis and Palestinians succeed in defusing their local conflict, they will also have nudged the entire human family back from an impulse that, though long regarded as holy, is profoundly wicked. The earth was not created to end in a cataclysm of violence, and neither were Israel or Palestine. Peace, therefore. Shalom. Salam.

Amen to that.

Apollo signet ring excavated at Tel Dor

A SIGNET RING bearing the image of Apollo has been excavated at Tel Dor:

Archeological digs in North unearth rare signet ring

By BEN HARTMAN (Jerusalem Post)
09/20/2010 05:19

The rare find at the major port bears an intricate impression of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, light, and music.

An ancient bronze signet ring excavated recently in Tel Dor, near Zichron Ya’acov, indicates that well-heeled elites were living in the area during the Hellenistic era, archaeologists from the University of Haifa reported on Sunday.

The rare find at the major port bears an intricate impression of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, light, and music. According to Dr. Ayelet Gilboa, head of the university’s Department of Archeology, “A piece of highquality art such as this, doubtlessly created by a top-of-the-line artist, indicates that local elites developing a taste for fine art and the ability to afford it were also living in provincial towns, and not only in the capital cities of the Hellenistic kingdoms.”

The true nature of the find was only revealed after it was taken to be examined by Dr. Jessica Nitschke, professor of classical archeology at Georgetown University in Washington and Dr. Rebecca Martin, assistant professor of art at Southeast Missouri State University. Upon further examination, both scholars confirmed that the image on the ring is that of Apollo.

The signet ring dates to the 4th or 3rd century BCE.Rings of its type were used as seal or as an offering to the god whose image adorns them.

[...]

The article also mentions the Alexander the Great gemstone, on which more here. If an important mosaic floor has been excavated at Tel Dor recently, I'm afraid I must have missed it.

UPDATE (21 Spetember): Joseph I. Lauer notes that the full press release from the University of Haifa is here.

Nag Hammadi murders update

NAG HAMMADI MURDERS UPDATE:

Nagaa Hammadi case adjourned to Oct. 17

By Safaa Abdoun/Daily News Egypt September 19, 2010, 4:05 pm

CAIRO: The Emergency State Security Criminal Court in Qena adjourned on Saturday the trial of the Nagaa Hammadi drive-by shooting suspects to October 17.

The trial was postponed so that Bishop Kirollos, who heads the church in the area, and Colonel Abdel Hameed Al-Alaki, chief of Nagaa Hammadi police station, can give their testimonies, reported Al-Masry Al-Youm.

The shooting, which took place after Christmas midnight mass on Jan. 7, left six Copts and a Muslim guard dead.

[...]

The repeated delays are not encouraging Coptic Christians to believe that justice will be done.

Background here.

Another DSS court case?

ANOTHER DEAD SEA SCROLLS COURT CASE?

Grateful Dead Sea Scrolls dispute reaches New York court

The Bad Plus: "My Friend Metatron"

ARCHANGEL METATRON WATCH: In the new The Bad Plus album, Don't Stop, "My Friend Metatron":

Translations of Jewish classics into Arabic

TRANSLATIONS OF JEWISH CLASSICS into Arabic so far seems to have a limited audience:

Lost in Translation
A Ramallah man struggles to find a reading public for Maimonides

By Daniella Cheslow | Sep 14, 2010 7:00 AM | (Tablet Magazine)

When Mohammad Husein studied at Hebrew College in Boston, he was delighted to put to use his years learning Hebrew in Ramallah. As a Master’s student (class of 2007), he often went to Saturday morning services and helped his neighbors find their way in Hebrew prayer books. But once he returned to the West Bank, Husein, 54, found far less use for his professional interest in Judaism. A year after translating into Arabic an abridged version of the code of Jewish law known as the Mishneh Torah, written by the medieval philosopher Moses Maimonides, Husein said he can only find work as a truck driver. His story reflects the difficult position of Arab Muslim scholars who wish to learn about Jews.

[...]

The article discusses in detail the difficulties of finding a market for this kind of work. Note also this aside:

Husein’s difficulty doesn’t surprise Mohamed Hawary, a professor of Jewish thought and comparative religions in Cairo’s Ain Shams University. Hawary wrote in an e-mail that an Arabic translation of the six books of the Mishnah were published between 2006 and 2009 but that no one has tackled Maimonides yet.

I didn't know there was an Arabic translation of the Mishnah. That's kind of cool.

But there is hope:

One option may lie with Intellectual Encounters, a virtual academic community of scholars who study the medieval world of Islam. On the steering committee are Hebrew University rector Sarah Stroumsa, Yale Islamic studies professor Frank Griffel, and Sari Nusseibeh, who is president of Al-Quds University but working on this project privately as an Islamic philosophy scholar. Funding is from the Rothschild Family’s Yad Hanadiv Foundation in Jerusalem.

Academic director Raquel Ukeles said the program will include a course on medieval Islam to be taught at Yale, Al-Quds, Bar Ilan University in Israel, and Tübingen University in Germany. Further, the program’s website will publish translations of important works, and scholars who speak Hebrew and Arabic would be useful. Ukeles, who has traveled to Egypt, Morocco, and Qatar, said, “Everywhere I go people ask me, ‘Can you recommend books about Jewish philosophy?’ ”

“Now that I know about Husein, and if he’s doing good work, I think I can work with him to raise money,” she said.

I wish Mr. Husein every success with his work.

As the article notes, much of the work of Maimonides was written in Judeo-Arabic - Arabic written in the Hebrew alphabet. A lot of Hebrew literature was also translated into Judeo-Arabic in the Middle Ages for Arabic-speaking Jews. I need to gear myself up to work with this brand of Arabic soon, because some of the earliest and best manuscript evidence for the Hebrew document Sefer ha-Razim (Sepher HaRazim) , which I am translating for the More Old Testament Pseudepigrapha Project, is found in a Judeo-Arabic translation from the Cairo Geniza.

Séamus Ó Coigligh, R.I.P.

SEÁMUS Ó COIGHLIGH, R.I.P.:

Language, literature expert and former curator of Cork Public Museum

(The Irish Times)

Séamus Ó Coigligh: SÉAMUS Ó Coigligh, polymath, expert in European languages and literature and former curator of Cork Public Museum, has died at the age of 94. During the Cold War, he wrote a column in The Irish Times , An Eye on Russia and An Eye on Eastern Europe, from 1959 until 1972. He was a frequent book reviewer on Russian affairs in The Irish Times , and also contributed articles to various European and Irish language journals.

His specialty was mostly in Irish and in European languages, but this caught my eye:

Ó Coigligh lived among his thousands of books in all rooms of his house, books which he referred to as his “friends”. He was able to read all current European languages, as well as a number of extinct languages such as Manx. As well as understanding Aramaic and Hebrew, he had a good grasp of Urdu and Arabic. He usually introduced himself to a new language by first studying the Bible in that language.

[...]

I do that too. I also do it to keep up languages that I already know. For example I read the Arabic New Testament some years ago when I wanted a break from Qur'anic Arabic.

Requiescat in pace.

Koine Greek still spoken?

KOINE GREEK STILL SPOKEN? Sort of.

(Via James McGrath on FB.)

More on Bible Lands Museum Jewish magic exhibit

MORE ON THE BIBLE LANDS MUSEUM EXHIBITION ON JEWISH MAGIC:

A walk through the subconscious

The exhibition 'Angels and Demons' at the Bible Lands Museum focuses on the rich history of sorcery in Judaism.

By Benny Ziffer (Haaretz)

There has been a sort of exorcism going on in the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem over the past few months. An exhibit called "Angels and Demons" - curated by gifted Assyriologist Filip Vukosavovic, whose life story would make a great novel - tells the story of this young Montenegrin's love for Israel and his decision to join his fate to that of Jerusalem, by researching incantations and amulets related to Jewish tradition.

The exhibit displays the entire history of Jewish magic, from the early Middle Ages onward, in the form of objects, some of which you wouldn't suspect of being useful for sorcery if it weren't for the explanations provided. These items embody humanity's fears, past and present, in the face of danger. A seemingly shapeless lump of clay turns out to be a little sculpture of a person with its hands and feet tied, signifying the desire of its owner to symbolically bind evil so it won't harm him. And there are angels for all seasons, whose names are no less strange than the powers attributed to them. Their role? To defend people in difficult times, whether from the evil eye, bad health or other problems.

[...]

Nice article, but I think he means "unconscious." (The text of the article also uses "subconscious," so it's not an editor's error.) Also, "sorcery" is usually reserved for offensive magic that aims to harm another person. Most of the magic discussed here does not seem to come under that category.

Golb trial and Eisenman-Qimron case

THE GOLB IDENTITY THEFT TRIAL is tied to the Eisenman-Qimron Dead Sea Scrolls copyright trial by Neil Wilkof at the IPCat blog (which deals with copyright, IT, etc. issues). Excerpt:

One of the most media-drenched iconic copyright cases of the last 20 years must certainly be the dispute over the copyrightability of the Scrolls. Well, not exactly the Scrolls themselves, since they entered the public domain nearly 2,000 years ago. But in the case of Eisenman v. Qimron, the Israel Supreme Court was called upon the decide on whether the reconstruction of one of the ancient texts by an Israeli academic--Professor Elisha Qimron-- was a protected copyright work.

What Qimron did was study the text itself, which itself was a physical recreation of a large number of parchment fragements that had been discovered in a desert cave in the late 1940's. Imagine having your grandchild tear up into fragments your favorite copy of Beowulf in the original Norse language and then try to put the fragments back together again--you get the idea. Since the physical reconstruction itself revealed gaps in the text, Professor Qimron was asked to complete the text, which he did.

The reconstructed text was then set to be the centerpeice of a book that Professor Qimron intended to publish. But before he could do so, however, the reconstruction was published in a journal--Biblical Archealogical Review. Qimron alleged infringement, while the defendants challenged the copyrightability of Qimron's reconstruction, arguing inter alia that what he did was reconstruct a pre-existing work (albeit of ancient provenance) that may well have significant academic value, but which did not constitute a "work" in the copyright sense. Qimron prevailed at tht trial court level and the Supreme Court affirmed.

Behind the particulars of the case (and the archaeo-political intrigue behind it) the debate continues to rage over who composed the Scrolls. Two of the most prominent scholars in this field are Lawrence Schiffman of New York University and Norman Golb of the University of Chicago (who was a witness in the copyright case discussed above). The debate centers on whether the authors of the scrolls were members of the Essenes, an ascetic sect that lived in the Judean desert, or other groups located in Jerusalem and elsewhere. Now the issue of the authorship of the scrolls has led to its own lawsuit.

I believe Qimron's text of 4QMMT was published without permission in A Facsimile Edition of the Dead Sea Scrolls, not BAR. In any case, the post has links at the bottom to various resources on the earlier trial. You can read an unofficial English translation of the Hebrew-text Israeli Supreme Court judgment here.

Also, the current case is now getting attention from British media with this Telegraph article.

Background here.

Yom Kippur

YOM KIPPUR (THE DAY OF ATONEMENT) begins this evening at sundown. An easy fast to those observing it. The biblical precepts for Yom Kippur appear in Leviticus 23:26-32.

International Conference on Judaea and Rome in Coins

THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON JUDAEA AND ROME IN COINS, 65 BCE TO 135 CE, was held earlier this week in London. Nikos Kokkinos has posted abstracts of several papers on the Ioudaios-L list.

I noted the conference last year here, but mistakenly implied that it would be in 2009.

Cyrus Cylinder political fallout

CYRUS CYLINDER POLITICAL FALLOUT: The UAE National has a balanced and sensible article on the latest Iranian response to the loan of the Cyrus Cylinder by the British Museum. Excerpt:

The cylinder is now back in Iran, on loan from London for four months. This has presented the Iranian clerical regime with a dilemma. Celebrations of Iran’s pre-Islamic past have been out of fashion for 30 years as too reminiscent of the shah.

But Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has seized the opportunity to bask in the cylinder’s glow and turn it into a symbol of the Islamic Republic’s power and prestige. For years Mr Ahmadinejad has been seen as a religious zealot, impatiently awaiting the return of the messiah of Shiite Islam. Now he is emerging as an Iranian nationalist.

In a ceremony on Sunday to unveil the cylinder at the Iranian National Museum, Mr Ahmadinejad sought to link modern Iran with the old Persian empire. He decorated a man dressed as one of King Cyrus’s soldiers with a keffiyeh, which is part of the uniform of the pro-government militia, the Basij. Having described Cyrus as “King of the World”, he praised the cylinder as embodying respect for the basic rights of mankind, freedom of thought and choice, and the revolutionary ideal of fighting oppression. Folk dancers representing the various ethnic groups of Iran performed to the sound of traditional instruments.

Stepping up the rhetoric, the hard-line newspaper Keyhan said that the cylinder “belonged to Iran” and suggested it should not be returned to the “thieves” of the British Museum.

There are several problems with this Iranian nationalist discourse. First, the cylinder was discovered in Babylon, 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, so if it were to be returned, it would be to Iraq, not Iran. Second, scholars are somewhat sceptical as to the thesis of Cyrus the Great as the pioneer of human rights. The proclamation appears to be part of a tradition going back thousands of years in Mesopotamia – modern Iraq – whereby new kings would make such declarations on ascending to the throne. “The Cylinder may indeed be a document of human rights and it is clearly linked with the history of Iran, but it is in no real sense an Iranian document: it is part of a much larger history of the ancient Near East, of Mesopotamian kingship, and of the Jewish diaspora,” Neil MacGregor, the director of the British Museum, has argued. In short, the cylinder’s origins lie as much in Mesopotamian tradition as in Persian.

Academic disputes aside, what matters is the context in which Mr Ahmadinejad was speaking. It is not uncommon for a politician in a tight spot to wrap himself in the nation’s flag, and the Iranian president is certainly beset by problems. ...

I don't think the British Museum has covered itself with glory by giving Iran's batty head of state this excuse for a political platform, although he does seem to be seizing the opportunity to make a fool of himself with it. Cyrus was an ancient empire builder, not a human rights champion, but in some ways he looks pretty good next to the current Iranian Government.

That article calling for Iran to keep the Cylinder sounds ominous.

Background here.

New pagan finds at Hippos-Sussita

NEW PAGAN FINDS AT HIPPOS-SUSSITA:

Greek Gods In The Land Of Jesus

By News Staff | September 16th 2010 12:05 AM | Print | E-mail | Track Comments
(Science 2.0)

Tolerance has meant different things in different eras. For some religions in the past, there was a 'convert or die' mentality, which tended to drive out competitors but, at least when it comes to works of art, old religions have always survived.

A fresco of Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune from the Byzantine period had been discovered at the Sussita site, on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, and a maenad, one of the companions of the wine god Dionysus, was found also. The city of Sussita is located within the Sussita National Park under the management of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

[...]

During their excavations the researchers found a residence that appeared to belong to person of rank in the city and it contained an inner courtyard with a small fountain at its center. Near the fountain they found the fresco of Tyche, and they believe she had been deified as the city's goddess of fortune.

According to the researchers, the wall painting may be dated to the end of the Roman period or the beginning of the Byzantine period, the 3rd-4th centuries A.D.

[...]

Tyche was not the only mythological figure to be discovered in this compound. Found on a bone plate was an etched relief of a maenad, one of a group of female followers of Dionysus, the god of wine. ...

The article has photographs of both finds.

For a related discovery at Hippos-Sussita last year, go here. And for more posts on the site, go here.

Schiffman testifies in Golb trial

LAWRENCE SCHIFFMAN is testifying in the Raphael Golb identity-theft trial:

Scholar says he never ripped off Dead Sea Scrolls 'bully'

By DAVID K. LI (New York Post)

Last Updated: 4:32 PM, September 16, 2010

Posted: 4:31 PM, September 16, 2010

A leading Hebrew scholar today angrily lashed out at accusations he ripped off a rival’s work and deserved to be targeted by a relentless cyber bully.

Lawrence Schiffman -- chairman of NYU's department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies -- minced no words in defending his academic reputation against defenders of Manhattan lawyer Raphael Golb.

Golb -- the son of another noted Hebrew scholar, Norman Golb -- is on trial for creating fake Internet personas to wage cyber war against his dad’s academic rivals, who clash on theories about the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Defense lawyers claim Schiffman, who prosecutors said was Golb’s top victim, is an academic fraud and needed to be called out by any means necessary.

"I’ve never plagiarized Norman Golb!" an agitated Schiffman screamed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

The defense spent most of its cross-examination of Schiffman, trying to hammer him for a seemingly minute error he made in citing Norman Golb‘s research.

The NYU scholar once wrote Golb believed the Dead Sea Scrolls came from a single library of work in Jerusalem -- when in fact the defendant’s dad theorizes the writings came from several literary institutions.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Carol Berkman continually chastised the defense for this line of questioning and repeatedly called it "irrelevant."

"I made one error, if you call it plagiarism … forget it, no chance!" Schiffman yelled.

[...]

I doubt very much that Larry was "screaming." He does have a booming voice that carries. Incidentally, I recall making the same error about Golb's position in a post for one of my online Dead Sea Scrolls courses in 2001. One of the list members politely corrected me and no one accused me of plagiarism.

Background here.