Thursday, July 02, 2009

A REPORT on the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum is in the Globe and Mail. One of many more to come, I dare say. Excerpt:
The questions of who wrote the scrolls and why are still being hotly debated, and this exhibition tends to theories rather than conclusions. The eight scrolls on show (for the first half of a six-month run) include a section of the Book of Daniel never publicly displayed before; a section of Genesis telling the story of how Joseph is wrongfully accused of rape by Potiphar's wife; and an apocalyptic text known as the Book of War, a blessing that was intended to be recited over the surviving Jews at the end of time. A second set of scrolls, including parts of Deuteronomy never displayed before, will go on show at the midpoint of the exhibition's run to minimize light exposure. Also, a fragment showing the Ten Commandments will be on display from Oct. 10 to 18.

All the fragments are displayed with full translations and ample information about their content, date and material. Beside a fragment of the Book of Psalms, hidden speakers play a contemporary recording of a female voice singing psalms in Hebrew to remind visitors these texts are sung in synagogues to this day.
Background here.