Raphael Golb Describes Creating the Name 'Jonathan Seidel'- Dead Sea Scrolls

Frederick Seidel's poetry collection

"Ooga Booga" won the 2006 

Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

(click for website)

Raphael Golb testified that

he was the inspiration 

for the name 'Jonathan Seidel'

Raphael Golb gave a convincing explanation of how he created the name "Jonathan Seidel," testifying on his own behalf in the Dead Sea Scrolls trial. Raphael described, in detail, the exact creative process by which he crafted that name.

Please keep in mind while you read this, that for each of the several misdemeanors incurred against Rabbi Jonathan Seidel, the judge gave Raphael 3-month (concurrent) prison sentences in Rikers Island State Penitentiary.

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First a little background, from a previous article:

It's an article where I laid out arguments that there was "reasonable doubt" as to whether Raphael Golb made up the name "Jonathan Seidel" or not. The jury found no "reasonable doubt" and ruled guilty.

Here is the article that lays out all my arguments:
"Reasonable Doubt: Raphael Golb Did Not Know of a 'Jonathan Seidel' (click to read)

That article laid out all my arguments except for one: The one argument I present here in this post.

Raphael Golb testified on his own behalf that he made up the name "Jonathan Seidel," not knowing there was a rabbi and professor across the country in Oregon who happened to have that name, who had once given a seminar on the Dead Sea Scrolls; if I remember correctly, years ago.
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and just a little bit more recap:

It is important to note that the accusations concerning Jonathan Seidel are quite extreme. I have looked at the Grand Jury Indictment and I interpret it as follows: if Raphael Golb did use the name "Jonathan Seidel," knowing it to belong to a particular individual, Raphael faced (in the original affidavit) four counts of Identity Theft, ten counts of Criminal Impersonation (3rd degree) and four counts of Forgery. 

This is serious stuff. Especially since there is ample evidence of "reasonable doubt" as to whether Raphael Golb did or did not know of this particular Rabbi "Jonathan Seidel."

Out of of the entire list of people that Raphael Golb faced charges on, it is only this one single individual- Rabbi Jonathan Seidel- whose name (or as he says, approximation of a name) Raphael Golb says he did not use knowingly.

Please note:

The question of the name "Jonathan Seidel" was, in fact, the one and only piece of concrete "factual" evidence in the entire case where the jury had to decide (beyond a "reasonable doubt") if Raphael was lying.

(Except for the case of Rabbi Jonathan Seidel), Raphael Golb did not disagree with the prosecution's "facts"- Raphael disagreed with what they said his intentions were.

The prosecution said he lied, when Raphael Golb said his intentions were "satire," a device commonly used in debate. 

The prosecution claimed that Raphael Golb's intentions were not to satirize and parody people. They said his intentions were to get others to believe he actually was those people. The prosecution called these intentions "identity theft" and "impersonation," in the criminal sense.

That was the reason Raphael Golb pleaded "not guilty."

I discuss this further, in my post What Exactly Was Raphael Golb Convicted Of? (click to read)

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Poet Frederick Seidel,

in 2006 called

"the best

American poet writing today"

by the New York Sun

Raphael Golb testified that

he was the inspiration

for the name 'Jonathan Seidel'

photo: Mark Mahane

I begin my new argument:

Raphael Golb described, in detail, the creative process by which he crafted the name "Jonathan Seidel":

In addition to using the names of real people (approximations of names, I guess Raphael would say), it was established in court that Raphael had also invented quite a lot of names which he used as well- approximately 70 made-up names, I believe. Use of such made-up "pseudonyms" was acknowledged even by the prosecution to be a standard tactic in online debates.

I found the list of names Raphael Golb invented, on the Grand Jury Indictment, and here are a few; you see what I mean by sounding "vaguely Jewish" -they are the sort of American-sounding names that assimilated Jews typically choose: 

In addition to "Jonathan Seidel": "Josh Resknick," "Jessica Friedman," "Andrew Rosenberg," "Steve Blau," "Paul Kessler" ['Paul' was actually an American-Jewish favorite, from 'Saul']. "Jonathan" is one of those typical assimilated-Jewish name choices.

Next Raphael Golb referred to a famous poet (famous to him- and you see from my photo captions, famous to a great number of people), named "Seidel," accused of anti-semitism.** With that in mind, Raphael said because "Seidel" is a common German name (and, I assume, because the poet Seidel was believed anti-semitic), Raphael paired it with the "vaguely Jewish" name "Jonathan," because, Raphael said, he found the combination "ironic."

I took the liberty of wikipedia-ing this poet "Seidel;" and of the thirty men on wikipedia named "Seidel" (or variation), I assume this is the "Seidel" Raphael Golb was referring to

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Seidel

Since Raphael Golb said he liked to make up names that sound "vaguely Jewish," he could not possibly use the poet Seidel's actual first name: "Frederick" just doesn't work! No wonder Raphael felt he needed to make up a less Aryan-sounding first name. "Jonathan" is brilliantly assimilated Jewish-sounding (compare 'Josh' etc.).

This description of how Raphael made up the name "Jonathan Seidel," weighs heavily in my argument that there is "reasonable doubt," and that actually, Raphael Golb really did invent the name "Jonathan Seidel," as he testified he did.

Again: for all the other arguments for "reasonable doubt" in this Jonathan Seidel case, read the article link at the top, "Reasonable Doubt. . ."

Rikers Island State Penitentiary, NY
where Raphael Golb was sentenced
for each misdemeanor against 
Rabbi 'Jonathan Seidel' to 3-month
(concurrent) prison sentences

The District Attorney's office sought up to 4 years for Raphael Golb, upstate in Rikers Island State Penitentiary. In fact he was given 6 months, all charges concurrent. For the many charges against Rabbi Jonathan Seidel, he received 3 months prison for each, concurrent.

I like to compare Raphael Golb's 4-year recommended sentence to that of a man I once met who also served 4 years in the same State Penitentiary, for the rape of a woman he noticed jogging along the parkway. The rest was parole. Also he had a lifelong criminal history beginning as a juvenile.

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In addition, the jury also ruled on "reasonable doubt" as to if Raphael Golb received a "benefit," or did "harm," or "annoyed" etc. Rabbi Jonathan Seidel. But that was the case not just for Seidel but for all the other people as well. 

Again, I discussed some of these terms ("benefit" etc), in all their vagueness, in my post:
"What Exactly Was Raphael Golb Convicted Of?"

** Raphael Golb was only concerned with the fact that Seidel was accused of anti-semitism. Golb was not saying that Seidel is anti-semitic. Seidel's writing apparently "pokes" at everyone and everything; and himself a Jew, he considered the charge "preposterous."

Many find Frederick Seidel's work to have a lot of parody and self parody. I found this review of his work rather interesting. I'm not saying whether it's the best article, it's simply one I found that I like: kali-yuga.org

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.