Prof. Solomon Zeitlin of The Dropsie College, noted orientalist, today reiterated “for the last time” that the recently discovered scrolls of Isaiah and the Commentary of Habakkuk “have no value whatsoever.”
The scrolls, which were discovered near the Dead Sea more than two years ago by an Arab shepherd, had been termed by British and American orientalists as the greatest find in biblical history. Photostats of their text, enabling scholars to check the readings themselves, and thus obtain a true test of verification, were recently published by the American Schools of Oriental Research.
It is on the basis of a thorough study of these photostats that Prof. Zeitlin said here today: “No new evidence has been brought out to substantiate the sensational discovery.’ No one has refuted my (earlier) charges. I have endeavored to show that there was no discovery. The Isaiah Scroll and the Habakkuk Commentary have no value whatsoever.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
