Thursday, October 23, 2008

Dead Sea Scrolls Rock!

The Dead Sea Scroll Exhibit, currently in Raleigh, NC, at the NC Museum of Science (showing until Dec. 28th), is excellent. It shows and explains both the discovery of the Scrolls, alongside the explanation of the Essene community in Qumran, and then, at the end, the Scroll fragments themselves. Found in 1947, the Scrolls were once brought to Duke University, shown in the Chapel, and Duke decided not to purchase the Scrolls. Instead, for $275,000, the Scrolls were bought for Israel, which is where I saw some of the Scrolls at the Shrine of the Book.

What was powerful was one expert who said, "now that we disturbed them, we have to preserve them."

Having recently been in Israel on pilgrimage, having taken a bus down to Masada near the Qumran area, and having been to the Shrine of the Book, dedicated to preserving the Scrolls, I marvel at the Scrolls discovery and the very pilgrimage of the scrolls themselves.

Salaam and shalom!

Buen Camino!

B

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