Moses Wilhelm Shapira was born in 1830 to Polish-Jewish parents in Kamenets-Podolski; which at the time was part of Russian-annexed Poland (in modern-day Ukraine). Shapira's father emigrated to Ottoman Palestine and in 1856; at the age of 25; Moses Shapira followed.

On the way; while in Bucharest; Moses Shapira converted to Christianity and applied for German citizenship. Once in Jerusalem; he joined the community of Anglican missionaries and converts and in 1861 opened a store in the Street of the Christians; today's Christian Quarter Road. He sold the usual religious souvenirs enjoyed by pilgrims; as well as ancient pots he acquired from Arab farmers.

In 1883 Shapira presented what is now known as the Shapira Strips; a supposedly ancient scroll written on leather strips which he claimed had been found near the Dead Sea. The Hebrew text hinted at a different version of Deuteronomy; including a surprising eleventh commandment. Shapira sought to sell them to the British Museum for a million pounds; and allowed them to exhibit two of the 15 strips. The exhibition was attended by thousands.

After close examination; French scholar Clermont-Ganneau declared them to be forgeries. Soon afterward British biblical scholar Christian David Ginsburg came to the same conclusion. Later Clermont-Ganneau showed that the leather of the Deuteronomy scroll was quite possibly cut from the margin of a genuine Yemenite scroll that Shapira had previously sold to the Museum.

Shapira fled London in despair; his name ruined and all of his hopes crashed. Six months later; on March 9; 1884 he shot himself in Hotel Bloemendaal in Rotterdam. Pictures From History