Washington DC Jewish lawyer, scholar manque and irrepressible gadfly Hershel Shanks publishes two 'must read' journals in the area of scholarship -- the 'Biblical Archaology Review' and the "Bible Review'. The BAR has been in the forefront of the debate (some might say: Has created the debate!) over the two sensational archaological finds of the last few years -- the 'James ossuary' and the 'Jehoash inscription'.
Reading the BAR (especially) over the last year or so has been like following a thriller. The latest issue contains a string of stunning accusations -- that the forger of the Jesus ossuary, an Egyptian jeweler working in Israel, confessed to his girlfriend while drunk; that 'one third' of the inscriptions in the Israel Museum are faked (including the inscription on the ivory pomegranate, regarded as the only artifact surviving from the Bet Hamikdash).
I am always struck when reading these two great magazines at the almost total absence of Orthodox Jewish scholars from the field. Why aren't we interested in archaeology???
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