Qumran Caves - Written in stone
By: AVIVA BAR-AM
Photo : SHMUEL BAR-AM

It took an errant goat and an impatient herder to find the scrolls hidden for 2,000 years in Qumran...

On November 28, 1947, archeologist Eliezer Lipa Sukenik heard that a shoemaker turned antiquities dealer was selling some old scrolls found near the Dead Sea. But there were overwhelming problems. For not only did Sukenik have no way of knowing if the scrolls were authentic, but they were located in Bethlehem. Sukenik decided to ask his son Yigael (Yadin), a commander of the Hagana, if he thought it was safe to travel to the the Arab town.
Yadin warned his dad that the situation was volatile: the United Nations was due to vote on partition, and nobody knew what would happen if the resolution was passed. But Sukenik didn't listen and not only reached Bethlehem but managed to purchase three of the seven scrolls that had been discovered to date.
The following day, the United Nations voted to create a Jewish state in Palestine. Within hours the War of Independence began with the Arab massacre of seven Jews traveling by bus to Jerusalem. Arabs outside of Palestine reacted with rage as well. When Syria's Aleppo Synagogue went up in flames it took with it the oldest existing biblical text in the world. Called the Aleppo Codex, it was written in the Land of Israel at the beginning of the 10th century and was considered the most accurate biblical text in the world. Incredibly, in a strange but symbolic quirk of fate, one of the scrolls that Sukenik recovered for the Jewish People - just as the state was voted into being - was also directly from the Bible. Over 2,000 years old, it was a scroll of the prophet Isaiah!
The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls begins in the year 68, with the Romans tearing through Judea and destroying everything and everyone in their path. An isolated community of 200 Jewish souls, and located below the cliffs on the northwestern shores of the Dead Sea, reaches a desperate decision. Aware that it is a long shot, they resolve to hide the fruit of two centuries of hard labor, hoping to return someday and to pick up where they've left off. Wrapping hundreds of fragile scrolls in linen they place them gently inside clay jars and hide them in caves near their homes at Qumran.
Almost 2,000 years later, in the spring of 1947, a shepherd boy taking his flock to Bethlehem passed by the caves. One of his goats had wandered off and no sooner had he thrown a rock into the nearest opening to flush it out than he heard a crash: the stone had smashed an ancient jar. Since that time 950 scrolls - and the ancient settlement itself, inhabited by the Essene sect - have come to light.
To get a fascinating glimpse into the past, and for a fairly close look at some of the caves in which the scrolls were found, take a trip to Qumran National Park. You will find it along Highway 90, six kilometers south of Kalia Junction (the Lido). (Note: Much of the park is accessible to wheelchairs.)
Once there, you will be able to walk a wooden bridge that passes above the sect's sophisticated water system to glance into rooms that were exposed to the public only in the early 21st century. And after you finish looking at ruins, head for the hills and a challenging hike.
Begin your tour of Qumran at the Video Center, whose multi-screens offer a dizzying bird's-eye view of the cave-ridden cliffs and crags that fill the Judean Desert. You will be stunned by the immensity, the silence, and the desolation of the brown, stony hills among which the Essenes made their home. Then watch the 'Essenes' as they go about their everyday life.
As you leave the Video Center for the excavations you will pass through a tiny museum with artifacts found at the site. Our favorite exhibit provides the sounds of water, moving footsteps and discarded garments - so that you can actually visualize an Essene descending into a ritual pool.
The Second Temple period was not the first era which saw Jewish settlement at Qumran. Indeed, there were Jews here during the Israelite and First Temple period as well, abandoning the site only during the Babylonian conquest. But the Essenes of second-century BCE Qumran were birds of a different feather. An especially spiritually oriented group, with rigid rules, they belonged to one of the largest contemporary Jewish sects in Judea.
From the Dead Sea Scrolls they wrote during the Second Temple period we learn that they lived communal lives and followed a special calendar based on the course of the sun with only 364 days. After working all day long, the Essenes studied and prayed much of the night. On Shabbat they recited special hymns as a substitute for the sacrifices offered in the Temple.
Most were celibate and practiced an ascetic, contemplative life while waiting for the Messiah to lead them to everlasting glory. Members of the sect ate together, prayed together exactly in the manner prescribed in the Bible, and bathed often to purify their bodies and wash away their sins. So similar were many of their beliefs to those of Christians today that some researchers find the origins of Christianity within the Essene creed.
When you bathe a lot you need tons of water - not so easy to find in the Judean Desert. To this end, and well before Roman aqueducts came into fashion, the Essenes built an elaborate water system leading from Nahal Qumran and the waterfall on the cliffs to their ritual pools and reservoirs. True, the falls are dry most of the year. But during heavy rains the flow is tremendous.
Follow the water channel that picked up flowing waters from the hills and see where it deposited them in a series of pools. Interestingly, while Hellenistic and Roman-era reservoirs are square, one of the pools here is round. Experts speculate that the pool - typical of the Bronze (Israelite) era, was either used by much earlier Jewish settlers or was shaped out of geological necessity by the later residents. There were also some public rooms, not houses: the Essenes probably made their homes in hillside caves.
The tower jutting out from the rest of the park was used for defense or observation, while the Scriptorium was the most important feature in the complex. During excavations archeologists found dry inkwells and pieces from a number of strangely shaped tables in this room. Apparently the Essene scribes worked standing up at the tables, which were placed close to each other so that parchments could be spread out, examined and sewn together.
Some of the scrolls that were discovered are copies of the Bible. Until they came to light, the oldest Bible in the world was the Aleppo Codex (parts of which have since been recovered). To the astonishment of the experts, that Codex was almost word for word the same holy texts as those written by the Essenes in the Second Temple period!
Note ritual baths, water cisterns and pools, with plaster still clinging to the sides - and the long meeting hall where this little 'kibbutz' took its meals. Lots of pottery and a kiln were found in the next room, which was apparently a workshop. The group prayed in the big, open plaza.
As you continue, you will see a work surface on which the Essenes made date honey. Indeed, over 100,000 date pits were found at the site.
Now, if you are not doing the hike, walk over to the covered benches and look right to see the entrance to Cave 4A (hikers will see the cave during their walk). Forty thousand scroll fragments, including 125 biblical texts, were found in Caves 4 and 4A. Just outside the excavations, heading north, a trail leads up into the cliffs. Wearing good walking shoes, follow the trail (marked in green). You will be walking right next to the aqueduct that brought water to Qumran. The first three scrolls were discovered in caves slightly to the north of the cliffs toward which you are headed.
Nahal Qumran flows below you, a lovely wadi with gorges and little pools that in this season are filled with water. You should see at least a few Tristram's grackles on the rocks: coal-black starlings that live here in the desert. Tristram's grackles have tiny orange slashes on their wings; listen to their very rich and varied call as they speak to one another.
Climb up the rocks (still following the trail), and when you reach a large, vaguely flat area you will find that it stands near a pool below a dry waterfall (one that flows only during winter floods). Sit here for a minute, for the site offers a great view of the Dead Sea and the national park. Then look below at the left cliff above the Qumran Riverbed to see Cave No. 4, where more than half of the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered.
The green-marked trail continues on many kilometers to the east. You can return to the park - or, if you have strong arm muscles and hiking shoes that allow sure footing - climb up and behind the waterfall, hugging the rocks so that you don't fall into the pool. Afterwards, look right to find the Qumran aqueduct, for that is where you want to be next. Climb up the rocks for a few moments until you reach it.
You must go frog-footed through the first tunnel that covers the aqueduct and then continue bent over in a second. When you finally emerge, you will be high on the cliffs. Rest, again, looking up and to the west to two openings in one of the caves.
One of the exciting discoveries from this area is called the Copper Scroll. Discovered in a cave nearby and written on copper and tin, it lists buried treasures and where they can be found. The description beautifully matches the cave at which you are looking. It reads: 'In the Pillar Cave with the two openings that face east...' It's easy to understand why former Baptist priest Vendyl Jones, who claims to be the inspiration for the Indiana Jones series of movies, has spent years excavating here in his search for what could possibly be the Temple Treasures.
Look around you to find green markers, leading you back to the trail where you began your walk.
As you drive south from Qumran to Ein Gedi or Masada, you will pass the Ein Fash'ha Nature Reserve. Pay attention to a sign on a rock across from the reserve - the PEF Rock (Palestine Exploration Fund). In the early 20th century, the PEF used this rock to measure the water level of the Dead Sea. You can still view the red mark, showing the water level a century ago.

Qumran is open from 8 to 4 Saturday to Thursday and 8 to 3 on Friday. Last entrance is an hour before closing.