The Phoenix Jewish news., 1958-05-09
BY LUcIAN MEYsELs

NEW YORK-When DR.. Yigaei
Yadin. the Hebrew Universily :
brilliant general-turned-s e u OF :
purchased for Israel the last four
If the seven original Dead sea
Scrolls from the Syrian Metropon-
tan Of Jerusalem, he knew he was
taking a calculated risk. or me
four scrolls three had already peen
onened and their contents scruu-
rized. and no further surprises
were to be expected from tnem'
The last scroll, however, was IN
so bad q state of deterioration tnas
the leading experts OF Europe ana
America SHE'D away from tne re-
snonsibility of unrolling 1t least
the whole scroll disintegrate. The
Metropolitan carried the scroll
with him on his tour of Europe
and the q. s. trying to tind a
purchaser, which certainly ala no
thing to improve its conditlon.
ONLY THE outermost column
was removed and found to contain
parts of the story of Lamech, the
father of Noah, and hence the ex-
perts jumped to the mistaken con-
clusion that the scroll contained
the apocryphal Book of Lamech, a
work lost to posterity and known
onlv from references in other apoc-
ryphal books.
We now know that the seventh
scroll contains an important apoc-
rvphon on the Book of Genesis.
Perhaps it was his military back
ground which taught DR.. Yadin to
take a calculated gamble on the
Seventh Scroll" Yadin knew
that if anyone could unroll the
scroll, he had the man to do it
Professor James Biberkraut, a not
ed artist in his own right and well
known restorer of paintings who
had made his home in Jerusalem
after the NaZis came to power IN
his native Germany.
WHEN DIR. YADIN'S father, the
late Professor Eliezer Sukenik,
head of the Hebrew University's
Department of Archaeology, bought
the first three of the seven scrolls
only a few weeks after they had
been accidentally discovered in the
Qumran caves by Bedouin shep-
herd boy, ne Immediately took
them to his friend BiberETaut to
have them unrolled.
Professor Biberkraut, a wiZened
little man with a friendly smile
and mop of white hair, usually
hidden under a Partisan style be-
ret, had been accustomed to re-
store paintings from Durer to Van
Gogh, and Sukenik's proposal-irl-
cidentally made at the height OF
the fighting in PaleStine-came as
complete surprise to him.
NEVERTHELESS he threw him
self into the job with enthusiasm
if only because it was an assign
ment no restorer had ever done
before. Aided by his wife, pro-
fessional photographer, Biberkraut
was able to unroll the three scrolls
quicker and better than anyone
COulQ nave HOpCO oAAO .AiAoOC ~
possible for Sukenik to examine
the scrolls and come to his signi-
ficant conclusions concerning their
age and contents many months
ahead of the other scholars work
ing on the other scrolls.
The opening of the seventh scroll.
however, dwarfed the difficulties
which Biberkraut had had to over
come in the unrolling of the first
three. Entire sections had simply
been chewed off by the ravages of
time and the elements. The entire
parchment was stuck together,
turning the scroll into something
resembling solid cylinder. In
places, the ink had disappeared
altogether, while elsewhere it had
corroded the parchment, leaving
jagged holes in place of the in
scriptions.
TO SAVE THE scroll, or at least