Dead Sea Scrolls

In Israel, we went to or near the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by Bedouins back in 1947 on the eve of the establishment of Israel. Yesterday, yahoo had an item about the Dead Sea Scrolls and the odd behaviored, very strict sect of Jews called the Essenes who wrote them close to 2000 years ago. Because of my trip, I could picture the caves, the Bedouins wandering the mountainous desert lands, the huge pottery jugs holding the time capsules, and even the Essenes since we got such a good education about them. Traveling is wonderful. Interesting to me was that they were written on parchment, on the skin of kosher animals, and in Hebrew, the same language as used today, unchanged. I thought about how much the English language has changed since its earliest time. This picture may not show an actual cave in Kumran (Qumran) where they were found, but it is nearby and one of many of the caves in the area.