Moses Wilhelm Shapira (; 1830 – March 9, 1884) was a Jerusalem antiquities dealer and purveyor of both authentic and forged Semitic antiquities, including some allegedly Biblical artifacts, the most high profile of which was the Shapira Scroll. The shame brought about by accusations that he was involved in the forging of that specific allegedly ancient biblical text and the difficult situation created by the scandal drove him to suicide in 1884.
Early life and career
Moses Shapira was born in 1830 to Polish-Jewish parents in Kamenets-Podolski, which at the time was part of Russian-annexed Poland (in modern-day Ukraine). Shapira's father emigrated to Ottoman Palestine without Moses. Later, in 1856, at the age of 25, Moses Shapira followed his father to the Holy Land. His grandfather, who accompanied him, died en route.
On the way, while in Bucharest, Moses Shapira converted to Christianity and applied for Prussian citizenship, adding Wilhelm to his name. Once in Jerusalem, he joined the community of Protestant missionaries and converts who met at Christ Church,
Antiquities dealer and alleged forger
In addition to selling souvenirs to tourists, Shapira also sold a variety of antiquities, some legitimate, and some fake, becoming the pre-eminent antiquities dealer for European collectors.
After the lucrative 1873 Moabitica 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 north of Jaffa Road, today known as Beit Ticho (Ticho House).
Manuscript affair
thumb|1883 [[Punch (magazine)|Punch cartoon of Shapira and Ginsburg]]
In 1870, Shapira sold five scrolls written on leather to Edward Yorke McCauley; these were discovered in 1884 to have been artificially aged.
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 Dead Sea. The Hebrew text hinted at a different version of Deuteronomy, including a surprising alternate commandment ("Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart: I am God, thy God"). Shapira sought to sell them to the British Museum for a million pounds, and allowed them to exhibit two of the 15 strips. The exhibition was attended by thousands.
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, a claim widely accepted in 1883 and since then. It was not until 2022 that Clermont-Ganneau's claim was tested by an examination of the Torah scrolls Shapira had sold, an examination that found the margins to be of insufficient height to supply the leather.
Following the rejection of the scroll by a large range of scholars, Punch ridiculed Shapira with a cartoon using anti-Semitic stereotypes.
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. 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 Sotheby's auction, where they were sold for 10 guineas. Although it is now known that the strips were not destroyed by fire in 1899 as had previously been suggested, the fact that their current whereabouts is unknown leaves room for speculation.
In light of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947, some scholars have called for a re-examination of the forgery charges.
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.
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.