Abstract

Abstract Wilhelm Moses Shapira’s infamous Deuteronomy fragments have long been deemed forgeries, with Shapira himself serving as the obvious suspect. I provide new evidence that Shapira did not forge the fragments and was himself convinced of their authenticity. Indeed, the evidence for forgery is illusory. In a companion monograph, I show that the Shapira fragments are not only authentic ancient artifacts but are unprecedented in their significance: They preserve a pre-canonical antecedent of the Book of Deuteronomy.

Highlights

  • In this article, I offer new evidence and arguments against the prevailing theory that Wilhelm Moses Shapira forged his infamous Deuteronomy fragments.[1]I begin by providing historical background on Shapira and his manuscripts

  • Zeitlin wrote the following regarding the parallels between the Dead Sea Scrolls and Shapira’s manuscripts: Professor Burrows seems to have forgotten the affair of Shapira, who produced a manuscript of the Book of Deuteronomy, written on parchment in archaic Hebrew script

  • For more than a century, there has been a robust consensus that the Shapira manuscripts are fraudulent and that Shapira was involved in their forgery

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Summary

Introduction

I offer new evidence and arguments against the prevailing theory that Wilhelm Moses Shapira forged his infamous Deuteronomy fragments.[1]. I begin by providing historical background on Shapira and his manuscripts. I discuss the negative evaluation of the manuscripts in 1883, review existing objections to the arguments for forgery, and offer new objections of my own. I address more recent paleographic arguments against the authenticity of the manuscripts and show that they rest on dubious evidence and are methodologically problematic. I conclude with a summary of the outcomes of my philological analysis of the text contained in the Shapira manuscripts, which I call »The Valediction of Moses«: Far from being derivative of Deuteronomy, this text is, Deuteronomy’s ancient forebear

Idan Dershowitz
The Discovery Story
Paleography
The Shapira Papers
Conclusion

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