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The Shrine of the Book Museum in Jerusalem was built in 1965, designed by American architects Frederick Kiesler and Armand Bartos, and inspired by the shape of the pottery jars and their covers where the scrolls were stored. (Israel Museum, Jerusalem)
Examining the digitized images of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were recently released in collaborative partnership between the Israel Museum and the creative technology geniuses of Google, I felt my zest for history exploding.
While I was working in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley—where to be a “Googler” is everyone’s dream—the 2,000-year-old manuscripts, presented in glorious high-resolution, prompted me to enthusiastically accept an invitation of the Israel Ministry of Tourism for an adventure trip to Israel.
Among other fascinating attractions, the itinerary included what for me was an important visit to the Israel Museum’s iconic Shrine of the Book, the home of the renowned Dead Sea Scrolls, where I could view the original manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible and other ancient texts.
Eliyahu Honig, former associate vice-president and now member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University, explained in an email interview the importance of the scrolls.
“The scrolls throw important light on the Old Testament’s texts,” he wrote. “Both the fragments of nearly every book of the Bible and the full text of the Great Isaiah Scroll are almost identical with the … texts, which we use today and which were transmitted from generation to generation by mouth or in script for nearly 2,000 years.”
Some scrolls, for example, “The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness,” give insight into the life and the conflicts of that period, Honig wrote.
Origin of the Scrolls
Ancient manuscripts were stored in pottery jars in caves on the northeast shores of the Dead Sea. The discovery shed new light on Judaism toward the end of the second temple, which was destroyed in A.D. 70, and the beginning of Christianity. (Franklin Institute, Philadelphia)
The scrolls “were hidden in a cave near the Dead Sea and survived in the very dry conditions there until discovered by a shepherd,” Honig wrote, adding that they were later acquired by professors Eleazer Sukenik and Benjamin Mazar of the Hebrew University, who realized their importance in 1948.
Later, professor Yigael Yadin, Sukenik’s son, continued the research and discovered additional scrolls in the area. “Hundreds of scholars from all over the world have been studying the scrolls and piecing the fragments together, making them available for the whole world to see,” Honig wrote.
Scholars are not completely certain about who authored the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the texts got to the caves in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. Honig and many other scholars believe that the scrolls were written by the Essenes.
Father Roland de Vaux, who excavated Qumran in the 1950s, came to the conclusion that the site was inhabited by a religious group called the Essenes, who wrote the scrolls and stored them in caves.
The Essenes lived a communal ascetic life, which included ritual bathing, and were known for “always being dressed in white,” according to the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. They abstained from worldly pleasure and had mystic beliefs such as the belief in afterlife and the arrival of a Messiah. They were led by a priest they called the “Teacher of Righteousness.”
Among the finds de Vaux made were water pools, which he believed were used for ritual bathing, as well as multiple inkwells found in a room that became known as the “scriptorium.” Based on his excavations, scholars have estimated the population of the site was as high as 200.
Some scientists believe, however, that the manuscripts were written in Jerusalem or elsewhere in the area and were deposited in the caves by refugees fleeing the Roman army after Jerusalem was conquered in A.D. 70.
The discovery of 200 pieces of high-quality linen textiles, some bleached white, in the caves where the scrolls where found, however, again hints at the Essenes as writers, according to a recent study conducted by Orit Shamir, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Naama Sukenik, a graduate student of Bar-Ilan University.
Google’s Mission
Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful,” according to its website. Obviously, with the availability of the digitized copies of the scrolls, scholars throughout the world will conduct more research and may discover new historical facts and confirmations.
Web viewers can scroll through the digitized Great Isaiah Scroll, zoom into the Hebrew text, see a text box with the chapter and the verse of the passage, and get an English translation by clicking on the text. (Israel Museum, Jerusalem)
In addition, Google’s digitized online version offers people like me who are more of a high-touch than a high-tech person, a possibility to read the scrolls with the comfort of magnified letters. Turning me from a passive to a more interactive reader, they led me to browse, for example, the Great Isaiah Scroll, the best-known of the Dead Sea Scrolls, by chapter and verse.
You can also click directly on the Hebrew text and get an English translation, or you can post your personal comment if you get inspired, and like a virtuoso pianist, express your own interpretation.
Wouldn’t the fact that Google introduced digital copies of these treasures diminish the number of visitors coming to Jerusalem to see them?
Honig answered my question: “I don’t think this will have fewer visitors to Israel—the opposite will be true. People will flock to see the originals at the Shrine of the Book at Israel Museum.”
At least in my case, he was right. I was absolutely mesmerized as our tour group of five journalists from the United States and Canada entered the dimly lighted Shrine of the Book Museum.
It shed new light about both Judaism toward the end of the second temple and the beginning of Christianity.
—Ofir Jacobson
Ofir Jacobson, our tour guide, referred to the discovery of the scrolls as “probably the most important archaeological discovery of the 20th century.” “It shed new light about both Judaism toward the end of the second temple and the beginning of Christianity.”
Although I have never been inside a jar, “going in a circle” gets a new meaning as you enter the circularly shaped architectural design of the Shrine of the Book Museum. Just as life’s learning cycle never ends, the journey of exploring the scrolls in this cocoon-like indoor structure seems not to come to a close.
Is there a beginning, an end? The stroll around the exhibited scrolls, presented in the dim-light interior with bright spotlights on the original scrolls—rotated every three to four months in order to prevent too much exposure to light—gives an opportunity to view the treasured antiquities on a repeated basis.
It is virtually impossible to comprehend the magnitude of this exhibit just by a one-time glance. Back home, Google’s virtual version allows me to grasp more of this remarkable collection.
See the Dead Sea Scrolls: here
Currently the exhibit Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Biblical Times is on view at Discovery Times Square in New York City through April 15. The exhibit will then travel to Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute for a five-month run from May 12 through Oct. 14.
Lina Broydo is a travel and arts writer and resides in Los Altos Hills, Calif.
