Dead Sea Scrolls

One of the most important Dead Sea scrolls is going on display in Jerusalem this week. It has been more than four decades since it was last seen by the public. It is a 24 foot scroll with the text of the Bible's Book of Isaiah and has been in a dark, temperature-controlled room at the Israel Museum from 1967. It went on display two years earlier but curators replaced it with a facsimile after noticing new cracks in the calfskin parchment. That was when the museum decided to put the scroll back on show for three months as part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations. The manuscript is priceless and was written by a Judean scribe around 120 B.C.. It was in a long glass case last Tuesday, its neat rows of Hebrew letters distinct and legible. President Bush, visiting Israel this week for the anniversary celebration, was one of the first to view it. We visited Israel 9 years ago and saw part of the deal sea scrolls in a museum in Jerusalem and our guide was able to read the Hebrew to us from it. It is very interesting.