Qumran

Monday provided several touring and educational opportunities as well as a great opportunity to relax and have a "vacation."

First, I'll talk about some of the touring we did, and then to the fun in a later post.

Our first stop was Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947. Qumran is located about 40 minutes west of Jerusalem, driving back into the desert past Jericho and turning south at the Dead Sea.

An ancient religious community that had separated itself from the main Jewish religious establishment settled there long ago. Some say that John the Baptist may have even been a member.

This group recorded many of the scriptures and their own community "rules" on scrolls. When they faced the advance of enemies, the group hid the scrolls in ancient jars in the caves nearby.

Some Bedouin goat herders accidently stumbled across one of the jars in 1947 while searching for a lost goat.

The area features excavated ruins, hiking trails and a short film explaining how this sect lived.