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U. of C. scholar's son charged with identity theft, harassment

Officials say 49-year-old used fake Web IDs to smear father's critics

By Jodi S. Cohen | Tribune reporter

March 7, 2009

The plot sounds like a fictional thriller: The son of a scholar of ancient religions is charged with using intricate Internet scams to discredit his father's critics.

But this is no made-up story. New York City authorities this week charged the son of University of Chicago professor Norman Golb with identity theft, criminal impersonation and harassment in connection with a campaign to smear opponents of his father's scholarly theories.

The academic subject at the center of the controversy is the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls, religiously significant documents that have provoked controversy since they were discovered six decades ago.

The Manhattan District Attorney contends that Raphael Golb, 49, used dozens of Internet aliases during a six-month period last year to sway debate about the scrolls.

In one instance, the 49-year-old attorney allegedly opened an e-mail account in the name of Lawrence Schiffman, a New York University professor and one of his father's chief critics. Then, using NYU computers, Golb allegedly posed as Schiffman and sent e-mails to Schiffman's colleagues admitting plagiarism.

Schiffman said he contacted the district attorney's office, and the investigation began.

The younger Golb "obviously went way overboard to protect the intellectual views of his father," Schiffman told the Tribune on Friday.

"I can't believe this would happen," he said. "We are supposed to be doing scholarly interchange."

New York authorities say Raphael Golb, using various aliases, also created Internet blogs that he used to accuse Schiffman of plagiarism, as well as creating e-mail accounts in the names of other Dead Sea Scrolls scholars.

Norman Golb, a professor of Jewish history and civilization at the U. of C., on Friday described his son's arrest as another twist in the ongoing, often heated debate about the ancient scrolls.

"The fact of the matter is that if I understand it, Raphael was responding to the attacks on me," Golb said from his university office. "I suppose my son felt it was important to get things straight."

He added, "This has everything to do with the politics of the scrolls."

Indeed, since their discovery six decades ago, the Dead Sea Scrolls have not only shed light on the ancient world but also ignited contemporary conflicts. Scholars view the ancient manuscripts, which include texts from the Hebrew Bible, as a missing link between Judaism and Christianity.

Norman Golb, the author of "Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: The Search for the Secret of Qumran," has played a leading role in the squabbles and is known for criticizing museum exhibits about the scrolls that do not include his views.

Golb holds a minority view that the scrolls, hidden during the time of Jesus, were a sort of library of writings by several Jewish sects that were moved to one site to protect them from Roman invaders. Most scholars believe the scrolls are the work of a single Jewish sect, the Essenes, who wrote the documents in a monastery, where they were found in the 1940s and 1950s.

Raphael Golb's attorney, Irena Milos, declined to comment Friday. In criminal court for his arraignment Friday, Golb did not enter a plea. He was released on his own recognizance.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office said the investigation is ongoing and would not comment on whether Norman Golb is under investigation.

Tribune reporter Ron Grossman contributed to this report.

jscohen@tribune.com