If I Were Raphael Golb- The "Weird" EMails, Dead Sea Scrolls

Raphael Golb, with
his lawyer Ron Kuby (left)

Personal meditation exercise:


WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WERE RAPHAEL GOLB?

I just don't understand where these "identity theft" and "criminal impersonation" and "forgery" charges all come from.

Now, if I were Raphael Golb and I wanted people to pay attention to something important I wanted to say about somebody- such as- to point out that they plagiarized, or they prevented my father from his task for 40 years, or they ignored these abuses for 50 years- I think my intention would be to get my point across.

What a colossal waste of my time, if all I wanted, was to get people to believe I actually was that person-
-all for the sake of a mere- but so glorious!- ten minutes!


That  is, the ten minutes it takes between reading the email, until making the phone call to the man's office, to verify the email.

What on earth good would that do my father?

Rikers Island State Penitentiary, NY

where Raphael Golb,
the son of an academic rival,
could be sentenced to 4 years. . .

. . .for certain emails that he sent

perhaps hoping 

to "obtain a benefit"

or perhaps hoping to "annoy,"

by parodying a professor;

And email accounts he opened

-including many he never used;

And for a name he invented;

And for perhaps hoping

the professor might not get $650.

[But which the professor got.]

"WEIRD" E-MAILS

Witness for the prosecution Dean Stimoson verified that Schiffman's colleagues found the emails "weird." Dr. Schiffman said that colleagues were asking him what was going on.

So, if Raphael Golb's intention was for people to think he really was Dr Lawrence Schiffman, he did a terrible job of it.

Raphael Golb said he purposely made the emails "weird" ("purposely outlandish" was the phrase Raphael used often in his testimony), to be sure they were recognized as fake.

Raphael Golb said his intention was an ironical "satire"- using the tool of a deadpan "parody" of Schiffman- to get people to read his plagiarism accusations, and get them to talk about them.

Dr. Lawrence Schiffman
accused of plagiarism
by Raphael Golb

That's why Raphael Golb put the link inside those emails, directing readers to the website on which Raphael makes his plagiarism accusations of Dr. Lawrence Schiffman.

If this was his real intention, he was 100% successful.

The District Attorney's office sought up to 4 years for Raphael Golb, upstate in Reikers Island State Penitentiary. And in fact after the sentencing, rather than let Raphael wait for the Appeals office to open in 2 hours, it was ruled that Raphael should be shackled immediately and sent upstate on the very next bus to Rikers Island State Penitentiary. I wonder what horrendous crimes they thought Raphael Golb might have committed in those 2 hours. 

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I am an English teacher. All my information and interpretations come from what I witnessed at the trial and read online. I took notes at the trial as best I could, and have looked for as much online as I can; but I do not always understand the nuances in law, or scholarship. If you see errors, please drop me a line.