Fact check: Scroll in video has incoherent Hebrew lettering, not original book of Esther

Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY
·2 min read

The claim: Video shows original biblical book of Esther from 1,500 years ago

The book of Esther is a part of both the Jewish and Christian religious canons, referenced in rabbinic literature in the second century A.D and believed to have been written in the early centuries B.C.

A video spreading on social media purports to show the original version of the text – a scroll with golden lettering.

"The original book of Esther was recently discovered by a Jewish man living in Iran. It is from 1,500 years ago. It is written in pure gold," reads the caption of a March 24 Facebook post that featured the video.

The video was viewed more than a thousand times. A version of the video on YouTube has also been viewed thousands of times, and the video was also shared on Twitter.

However, the scroll in the video is not the original book of Esther, according to scholars. It is too modern and does not contain coherent text.

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USA TODAY reached out to social media users who shared the claim for comment.

Scroll contains incoherent lettering

Ronald Hendel, a professor emeritus of Hebrew Bible and Jewish studies at University of California, Berkeley, told USA TODAY the scroll in the video is not the book of Esther.

"It's written in what look like Hebrew letters, but ... they don't combine to make words," Hendel said in an email. "It looks like a forgery made for the tourist market by someone who doesn't know Hebrew."

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William Schniedewind, a professor of Hebrew Bible and Semitic languages at University of California, Los Angeles, told USA TODAY the Hebrew vowel markings in the scroll prove it cannot be the original book of Esther.

"The vowel markings on the (scroll in the video) weren’t even invented until at least the seventh century A.D." Schniedewind said in an email. That was hundreds of years after the book of Esther was written.

Our rating: False

Based on our research, we rate FALSE the claim that a video shows the original biblical book of Esther. The scroll in the video contains what appears to be random Hebrew letters that don't make words, experts say. The vowel markings in the scroll suggest it was created long after the original book of Esther was written.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Scroll with golden lettering not biblical book of Esther