Moses Wilhelm Shapira
Moses Wilhelm Shapira | |
---|---|
Kamenets-Podolski, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) | |
Died | March 9, 1884 Hotel Willemsbrug in Rotterdam, Netherlands | (aged 53–54)
Citizenship | Russian Prussian |
Occupation | Antiquities dealer |
Known for | His role in the possibly forged or authentic manuscripts of the biblical book of Deuteronomy known as Shapira Scroll |
Children | 2, including Myriam Harry |
Moses Wilhelm Shapira (
Early life and career
Moses Shapira was born in 1830 to
On the way, while in
Antiquities dealer and alleged forger
In addition to selling souvenirs to tourists, Shapira also sold a variety of antiquities, some of it legitimate, and some of it fake, becoming the pre-eminent antiquities dealer for European collectors.[6]
Shapira attempted to sell a fake "coffin of Samson" in London, but it was exposed by Adolf Neubauer after he realized the epitaph had misspelled the name as "Sampson."[9][10]
After one lucrative deal in which he sold 1,700 fake figurines to a Berlin museum, Shapira was able to move outside the old city walls of Jerusalem with his family into an elegant villa on what is today Rav Kook Street, today known as Beit Ticho (Ticho House).[5]
Moabite forgeries
Shapira became interested in biblical artifacts after the appearance of the so-called Moabite Stone, also known as the Mesha Stele. He witnessed the huge interest around it and may have had a hand in negotiating on behalf of the German representatives. France eventually got the fragments of the original stone, leaving the British and the Germans rather frustrated.
The
Since German archaeologists had not gained possession of the Moabite Stone, they rushed to buy the Shapira Collection ahead of their rivals. Berlin's
Still various people, including Charles Clermont-Ganneau, had their doubts. Clermont-Ganneau suspected Salim al-Kari, questioned him and in time found the man who supplied him with clay, a stonemason who worked for him, and other accomplices. He published his findings in the Athenaeum newspaper in London and declared all "Moabitica" to be forgeries, a conclusion with which even the German scholars eventually concurred (cf. Emil Friedrich Kautzsch and Albert Socin, Die Echtheit der moabitischen Altertümer geprüft, 1876).[citation needed] Shapira defended his collection vigorously until his rivals presented more evidence against them. He placed the entire blame on Salim al-Kari, convinced almost everyone that he was just an innocent victim, and continued to do a considerable trade especially in genuine old Hebrew manuscripts from Yemen.[11]
Manuscript affair
In 1870, Shapira sold five scrolls written on leather to Edward Yorke McCauley; these were discovered in 1884 to have been artificially aged.[12][13]
In 1883, Shapira presented what is now known as the Shapira Strips, a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the
However, Clermont-Ganneau also attended the exhibition; Shapira had denied him access to the other 13 strips. After close examination, Clermont-Ganneau declared them to be forgeries. Soon afterward British biblical scholar Christian David Ginsburg came to the same conclusion. Later Clermont-Ganneau showed that the leather of the Deuteronomy scroll was quite possibly cut from the margin of a genuine Yemenite scroll that Shapira had previously sold to the Museum.
Following the rejection of the scroll by a large range of scholars, Punch ridiculed Shapira with a cartoon using anti-Semitic stereotypes.[14][15][16]
Shapira fled London in despair, his name ruined and all of his hopes crushed. Having spent some time in a hotel in Bloemendaal (Netherlands), in hotel Adler in Rotterdam, he shot himself in Hotel Willemsbrug in Rotterdam on March 9, 1884.[17] He was buried in the poor men's part of the Crooswijk cemetery.
The Shapira Strips disappeared and then reappeared a couple of years later in a
In light of the discovery of the
Heritage
Shapira "Moabitica" fakes still exist in museums and private collections around the world but are rarely displayed. By now they have become desirable collectibles in their own right.
The exact location of Shapira's shop on Christian Quarter Road in Jerusalem has now been identified.[27]
Personal life
Shapira was married to Rosette Jöckel and had two daughters with her; Maria Rosette Shapira (pen name: Myriam Harry) and Augusta Louisa Wilhelmina Shapira.[8]
In literature
Shapira's life is the subject of the novel Ke-heres Ha-nishbar (As a Broken Vessel - Keter, Jerusalem, 1984) by Shulamit Lapid, translated into German as Er begab sich in die Hand des Herrn.
References
- ^ Allegro, John Marco (1965). The Shapira affair. Doubleday.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-104615-0.
- ^ Press 2023.
- ^ https://scholar.harvard.edu/sites/scholar.harvard.edu/files/dershowitz/files/the-valediction-of-moses-open-access.pdf
- ^ Times of Israel. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
- ^ a b c "Chanan Tigay's Search for Answers About an Ancient Set of (Possibly Fake) Scrolls". Tablet Magazine. 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
- ^ Singer, Isidore; Jacobs, Joseph (1905). "SHAPIRA, M. W.". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 232–233.
- ^ a b "Harry, Myriam (1869–1958) | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
- ^ "Sacramento Daily Union 10 October 1883 — California Digital Newspaper Collection". cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
- ^ "FRIDAY EVENING". Berrows Worcester Journal. September 1, 1883.
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 803.
- OCLC 7969.
- ^ Macdowell, Mississippi Fred (2010-02-23). "A 19th century Protestant Semitics professor's Goral ha-gra (bibliomancy); also, uncovering a Shapira fraudulent Hebrew manuscript". On the Main Line. Archived from the original on 2011-10-18. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
- JSTOR 1453329.
- ^ "Mr. Sharp-Eye-Ra (cartoon)". Punch. September 1883. Archived from the original on 2014-12-19. Retrieved 2014-12-06.
- ^ Press, Michael (July 1214). ""The Lying Pen of the Scribes": A Nineteenth-Century Dead Sea Scroll". The Appendix. 2 (3). Retrieved 2014-12-08.
- ^ Newspaper "Het Vaderland", March 12, 1884.
- ^ James R. Davila (2013-11-03). "The Shapira forgeries raise their moldering heads again". Retrieved 2014-12-06.
- ^ "Dead Sea Scroll Traced to Jew Who Committed Suicide 70 Years Ago - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". www.jta.org. 1956-08-14. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
- ^ ייבין, שמואל (1956-04-20). "המגילות הגנוזות". הארץ (in Hebrew). p. 9.
- ^ J. L. Teicher "The Genuineness of the Shapira Manuscripts," Times Literary Supplement, 22 March 1957.
- OCLC 543413.
- ^ Jefferson, Helen (1968). "The Shapira Manuscript and the Qumran Scrolls". Revue de Qumrân. 6 (3): 391–399.
- S2CID 165114970.
- S2CID 232162477.
- ISBN 978-3-16-160644-1.
- ^ Guil, Shlomo (June 2012). "In the Footsteps of the Concealed Shop". Et Mol. 223. Online reference https://www.academia.edu/2127379/In_Search_of_the_Shop_of_Moses_Wilhelm_Shapira_the_Leading_Figure_of_the_19TH_Century_Archaeological_Enigma
- Press, Michael (2023). "The Career of Moses Shapira, Bookseller and Antiquarian". Palestine Exploration Quarterly. 155 (3): 230–253. ISSN 0031-0328.
Further reading
- E. F. Kautzsch and A. Socin, Die Echtheit der moabitischen Altertümer geprüft (1876)
- "Faking it" - Radio piece on Shapira produced by Israel story podcast for Tablet Magazine , 18 August 2014.
- Nichols, Ross K. (2021). The Moses Scroll: Reopening the Most Controversial Case in the History of Biblical Scholarship, Horeb Press, St. Francisville, LA. ISBN 978-1-7366134-0-5.
- Tigay, Chanan, The Lost Book of Moses (2016) ISBN 0062206419
- Sabo, Yoram (2014). Shapira & I. A documentary film. In the footsteps of Shapira and his scroll.
- Sabo, Yoram (2018). The Scroll Merchant, In Search Of Moses Wilhelm Shapira's Lost Jewish Treasure. (Hebrew) Hakibbutz Hameuchad.