Quotes from the Fleas

Chief scroll editor John Strugnell has called his critics “fleas.” Here are some quotes from the fleas identified on our cover:

Geza Vermes (Oxford University): “The world is entitled to ask the authorities responsible … what they intend to do about this lamentable state of affairs. For unless drastic measures are taken at once, the greatest and most valuable of all Hebrew and Aramaic manuscript discoveries is likely to become the academic scandal par excellence of the twentieth century.”

T. H. Gaster (Columbia University): “Many of us who, stand outside the charmed circle of the ‘Scrolls team’ in Jerusalem deplore the fact that … relatively little has been made generally available to us … the prevailing policy will, by the hazards of mortality, prevent a whole generation of older scholars from making their contribution.”

Norman Golb (University of Chicago): “I’ve never had so much as a peek at those precious fragments, except for the tiny one we have here at the museum, even though I’ve been requesting permission for 20 years.”

Joseph A. Fitzmyer (Catholic University): See “Leading Dead Sea Scroll Scholar Denounces Delay,” in this issue.

Philip R. Davies (University of Sheffield): See letter, Queries & Comments, in this issue.

Robert Eisenman (California State University): See letter, Queries & Comments, in this issue.

Morton Smith (Columbia University): “I thought to speak of the scandals of the Dead Sea documents, but these proved too numerous, too familiar and too disgusting.”

“For [these materials] to be kept from other scholars and general knowledge is, I think simply outrageous.”