Third Time's the Charm

In 2005, we had Qumran on the schedule but we didn't make it there.  In 2007 we had Qumran on the schedule but we didn't make it there.  We finally made it today.

What is Qumran?  Qumran is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.  The site has been excavated and the ruins tell us about the life of the Yachad community, who composed the scrolls and hid them away for nearly 2000 years.

The Yachad community was a monastic group of Jews who had fled to the desert to escape the corruption of Jerusalem and lead a life of simplicity and ritual purity.  According to the scrolls and corroborated by the archaeology, the community was highly structured, with men entering the ritual bath twice a day, eating communal meals in silence, and building the infrastrucure required for life under these difficult conditions.

After hearing the story of the people who wrote the scrolls, who lived there from approximately 10 BCE to 70 CE, Muki recounted for us the story of the discovery of the scrolls, which were found by chance in 1947.  How lucky we are that the scrolls were discovered...and that we finally made it to the site of the discovery.