The Jerusalem Papyrus and the Problem of Ancient Hebrew Forgeries

A few weeks ago—by coincidence, just after UNESCO passed two resolutions denying a Jewish connection to the Temple Mount—the Israel Antiquities Authority reported having obtained a papyrus from the 7th century BCE that mentioned Jerusalem. Shortly thereafter, other experts weighed in suggesting the writing might be a forgery, skillfully executed on genuinely ancient papyrus. Lawrence Schiffman comments on the general problem of forged documents in the history of ancient Israel:

Recently, . . . questions have been raised about the authenticity of fragments [resembling the Dead Sea Scrolls, which began to surface after 2002. Based on this controversy, one of the scholars skeptical about the Jerusalem papyrus has] argued that just as old pieces of leather writing materials had been used for the creation of forged Dead Sea Scrolls fragments, an ancient piece of papyrus had been used to forge this one. . . .

But what led to the suspicion that the post-2002 Dead Sea Scroll fragments were forged? First, for almost all ancient scrolls of which fragments are preserved, there are several fragments representing what was once a complete manuscript. For many of these suspect manuscripts, only one fragment survives. This anomaly attracted attention and raised the question of authenticity.

Second, most of these questionable texts are biblical, representing a much greater proportion of material than in the scrolls as a whole. This is best explained as a result of buyers’ greater interest in biblical material. . . .

We may never know for sure whether the Jerusalem papyrus is genuine. . . . [But] we need no reassurances that despite all the propaganda to the contrary, it is without question that Jews lived in Jerusalem and the land of Israel for over 1,000 years before the Common Era. We have a rich history and tradition, and there is an extensive archaeological record to allow us to deepen our understanding of the past. Let us not make the mistake of arguing for the validity of our entire history based upon a delivery receipt the authenticity of which cannot be proven.

Read more at Ami Magazine

More about: Ancient Israel, Archaeology, Dead Sea Scrolls, History & Ideas, Jerusalem, UNESCO

It’s Time for Haredi Jews to Become Part of Israel’s Story

Unless the Supreme Court grants an extension from a recent ruling, on Monday the Israeli government will be required to withhold state funds from all yeshivas whose students don’t enlist in the IDF. The issue of draft exemptions for Haredim was already becoming more contentious than ever last year; it grew even more urgent after the beginning of the war, as the army for the first time in decades found itself suffering from a manpower crunch. Yehoshua Pfeffer, a haredi rabbi and writer, argues that haredi opposition to army service has become entirely disconnected from its original rationale:

The old imperative of “those outside of full-time Torah study must go to the army” was all but forgotten. . . . The fact that we do not enlist, all of us, regardless of how deeply we might be immersed in the sea of Torah, brings the wrath of Israeli society upon us, gives a bad name to all of haredi society, and desecrates the Name of Heaven. It might still bring harsh decrees upon the yeshiva world. It is time for us to engage in damage limitation.

In Pfeffer’s analysis, today’s haredi leaders, by declaring that they will fight the draft tooth and nail, are violating the explicit teachings of the very rabbis who created and supported the exemptions. He finds the current attempts by haredi publications to justify the status quo not only unconvincing but insincere. At the heart of the matter, according to Pfeffer, is a lack of haredi identification with Israel as a whole, a lack of feeling that the Israeli story is also the haredi story:

Today, it is high time we changed our tune. The new response to the demand for enlistment needs to state, first and foremost to ourselves, that this is our story. On the one hand, it is crucial to maintain and even strengthen our isolation from secular values and culture. . . . On the other hand, this cultural isolationism must not create alienation from our shared story with our fellow brethren living in the Holy Land. Participation in the army is one crucial element of this belonging.

Read more at Tzarich Iyun

More about: Haredim, IDF, Israeli society