[msb-alumni] Michael Drosnin, 74, Who Claimed to Find Secret Clues Encoded in the Bible Died on June 9, 2020
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 27 Jun 2020 14:47:53 -0400
BlankMichael Drosnin, 74, Who Claimed to Find Secret Clues Encoded in the
Bible. By
Steven Kurutz.
His best-selling 'Bible Code' books claimed that historical and future events
were
encoded in the Old Testament, although he couldn't explain how or why. As a
Hebrew
school student, Michael Drosnin was asked to write down what he had learned. He
responded, "That I don't have to believe in God or anything in the Bible."
Mr. Drosnin would amend that position, somewhat, after writing "The Bible
Code,"
which claimed that references to historical and contemporary events were
secretly
encoded in the Old Testament. The book became an international best seller and
sparked wonder, debate, criticism and two sequels. Mr. Drosnin died on June 9
at his
home in Manhattan. He was 74. His niece Wende Gozan Brown said the cause was
heart
disease.
"The Bible Code" opens with a stunning moment: The author, having discovered a
biblical passage suggesting that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel would
be
assassinated, hops on a plane in 1994 to deliver a letter of warning. The
message
doesn't alter the course of events -- Mr. Rabin was shot and killed a year
later --
but, as Mr. Drosnin writes, it was 'dramatic confirmation' of the Bible code.
That may sound like an Indiana Jones plot, but "The Bible Code" had its roots
in
science. In the early 1990s, the Israeli mathematician Eliyahu Rips and his
colleagues performed an experiment in which they laid out the 304,805 letters
of the
Torah like a giant crossword puzzle and then performed a 'skip-code' computer
search.
They discovered uncanny combinations.
"Kennedy" appeared near the word "Dallas." Hitler's name, written upside down,
appeared 20 rows from "Nazi," written backward. And so on.
The findings were published in 1994 in the journal Statistical Science. Mr.
Drosnin
based his book on that research, adding discoveries of his own.
Many critics found the book unscientific, arbitrary and curiously weighted
toward
people and events relevant to an American living in the 20th century. Skeptics
demonstrated that "Moby-Dick," or a phone book for that matter, would reveal
intriguing word groupings if one went looking for them. Mr. Rips himself
denounced
Mr. Drosnin's interpretation of his work.
But "The Bible Code," published in 1997, captured the portentous mood of the
years
before the new millennium. Its promise of ancient prophecy revealed through
modern
computing was ripe for a culture awakening to the possibilities of the internet
and
digital technology. And it offered religious and nonreligious readers alike an
intriguing worldview -- and a good yarn. The book reached No. 3 on The New York
Times's nonfiction best-seller list. The movie rights were sold to Warner Bros.
(although the film was never produced), and Mr. Drosnin made the talk-show
rounds,
appearing with Oprah Winfrey and Charlie Rose.
Similar books like "Cracking the Bible Code," by Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, and
"Cosmic
Codes," by Chuck Missler, started a publishing boomlet.
Mr. Drosnin offered more revelations in "The Bible Code II" (2002), another
best
seller, in which he claimed the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center had been
predicted and warned that the world might have only three years left to avoid
Armageddon.
Then came "The Bible Code III" (2010), but by that time the novelty had worn
off; it
did not make the best-seller list.
Still, Mr. Drosnin had a high batting average as an author. Of his four books,
three
were best sellers, including the first, "Citizen Hughes" (1985), a portrait of
the
reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes as revealed through stolen office memos.
Michael Alan Drosnin was born on Jan. 31, 1946, in Brooklyn and remained a
lifelong
New Yorker. His father, Edward, was an accountant. His mother, Evelyn (Freed)
Drosnin, was a homemaker who helped with her husband's books and later worked
in
another accounting office for many years. As a student at Columbia University
in the
1960s, Mr. Drosnin became editor of the Spectator, the student newspaper, and
decided
to pursue journalism over law, the other career he had considered. The
profession fit
his personality.
"Material things were of no importance to him," said Barbara Drosnin, his
sister.
"Uncovering the truth was the means and the end."
Mr. Drosnin held staff positions at The Washington Post and The Wall Street
Journal
before becoming a freelance investigative reporter. In 1975, he earned praise
for an
article in New Times magazine exposing the federal government's lack of action
regarding the dangers of aerosol sprays to the ozone layer.
The Howard Hughes book was another reporting scoop: Mr. Drosnin discovered the
identity of one of the burglars who had broken into the Hollywood offices of
Mr.
Hughes's company in 1974 and obtained the stolen memos from that mystery
person. They
showed Mr. Hughes trying to buy influence with politicians, including
Presidents
Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon.
Family and friends said the success of his books had not changed Mr. Drosnin.
He
lived in the same fifth-floor walk-up in SoHo for decades. He remained
idealistic,
opinionated and devoted to his family. His marriage to Nona Cleland ended in
divorce.
In addition to his sister and his niece Ms. Brown, Mr. Drosnin's survivors
include
another niece, Julie Gozan.
Though his "Bible Code" series attracted religious followers (as well as a
certain
fringe element), he didn't embrace such readers or make a connection with them.
He
remained the atheist he had been in Hebrew school, firmly believing in the
hidden
messages but unable to explain how or why they appeared.
Nevertheless, for Mr. Drosnin, "the Bible code" was almost a religious
observation,"
Kenneth David Burrows, his former lawyer, said. "By spreading the word, I think
Michael would say he had done something of great good."
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