2006-01-26—Dead Sea Scrolls |
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San Diego's exhibition of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 2007 |
As the visitors wearing audio head sets listen to a recorded narration, they will pass through an atrium near the Natural History Museum's north entrance. In that the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the surface of planet Earth, the atrium has the creative minds of the Natural History Museum's staff whirling. Why not use the drop of the atrium to dramatically illustrate the topography of the region, giving people the sense of looking down from the hills of Judea to the Dead Sea? Although Dead Sea Scrolls have been exhibited at the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C., and in such venues as Houston, Mobile, and
Charlotte, and will be seen in Seattle prior to the San Diego show, Levitt Kohn
says this is not a "traveling exhibition" in the sense of the same
exhibits going from place to place. Levitt Kohn earned her doctorate at UCSD, which has a Judaic
Studies Department that is world renown. One of her professors, David Noel
Freedman, not only is the editor of the Anchor Bible commentaries, but was one
of the first scholars to translate Dead Sea Scrolls written in Paleo-Hebrew.
The hundreds of scrolls discovered since 1948 in eleven Qumran caves are
also written in a more modern Hebrew, in Aramaic and in Greek. The oldest
were written approximately 250 BCE and the most recent dates approximately to 68
CE—a short time before the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Levitt Kohn, who now is an associate professor of Hebrew Bible
and Judaism at San Diego State University, said that Freedman and other scholars
in Southern California are being called upon to help devise materials for
the exhibition, including a section discussing various theories about the people
who left the Scrolls in the caves and what was going on in their time. She said after the Jews were permitted in 539 BCE to return from the Babylonian Exile, many religious ideas were developed simultaneously—some seemingly forerunners of modern Judaism, others forerunners of Christianity. For example, she said, some scrolls found at Qumran discussed concepts of prayer, teachers to point people in the right direction, as well as rituals that have their counterparts in modern Judaism. Other scrolls discuss concepts like an apocalyptic war of good versus evil foreshadowing ideas that would be discussed in Christianity's Book of Revelations. Among the scrolls found at Qumran were every book of the Hebrew Bible except the Book of Esther, which deals with events that took place in Persia, Levitt Kohn said. None of the scrolls mention either Jesus or John the Baptist, although the latest scrolls were written approximately the same time as tradition says they lived. Levitt Kohn said that today's Hebrew Bible is remarkably
consistent with the wording of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "There is a
tremendous amount of continuity between the biblical text that we find in Qumran
and what you would find if you were to open up your Chumash. There are
some minor differences. Whenever you talk about scribes copying texts they
are going to make mistakes, drop a word, add a word, skip a word. Every once in
a while there also will be some sort of editorial change; the scribe trying to
make something clearer. But overall there is a tremendous amount of
continuity." She said that to her knowledge, very few of the textual changes from the Dead Sea Scrolls to the modern-day Torah had theological significance—all were what today in the world of printing and computers we call "typos." Before seeing the scrolls, museum visitors also will have the opportunity to view a film discussing the science that was used to determine their age and to restore those that had suffered from weathering or mishandling. Such modern-day science as DNA comparisons help scholars understand which scroll fragments made from the skins of goats and ibexes belonged together. Today, nearly 18 months before the exhibition, Levitt Kohn still does not know which Dead Sea Scrolls will be shown in San Diego, only that there will be a different 12 shown over each three-month cycle. However, she said, she put together a wish list which the Israel Antiquities Department is evaluating. Among the wish list are seven biblical Dead Sea Scrolls. She added that not all the scrolls are religious texts; some deal with secular matters pertaining to day-to-day life in the area. Although once someone sees the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves, anything else might be anti-climactic, Levitt Kohn said there may still be some wonderful things to see in the anterooms of the exhibition. For example, she said, the museum is trying to obtain from various sources exhibits that exemplify how the Bible was passed down through the ages. She hopes to obtain on loan from other museums and archives some Torah scrolls as well as some illuminated manuscripts and early printed Bibles. To handle the expected crowds, Levitt Kohn said the museum plans to issue tickets bearing starting times. Once inside visitors may stay as long as they like, but Levitt Kohn said in the museum world one talks about "strollers" and "streakers." The former go through an exhibit carefully, reading all the materials, and looking at the exhibits. The "streakers" tend to zip through everything, just to get an overview. "If you are a streaker, you could be in and out within an hour probably, depending on whether you see the film," she said. Strollers, in contrast, could spend the entire day there. Extended museum hours are probable. To protect the Dead Sea Scrolls from light pollution, photography will be strictly prohibited. There will be plenty of security on hand to enforce that rule, so please leave your camera at home. The Natural History Museum plans to print a catalogue for the exhibit, so you will be able to take home very good souvenirs The museum also plans to have internationally-recognized authorities on the Dead Sea Scrolls giving a different lecture each week over a period of 22 weeks. A Kindergarten through 12th grade curriculum is being developed for schools who want to incorporate the Dead Sea Scrolls into their studies. Levitt Kohn said she expects to be teaching a course at San Diego State during the exhibition on the Dead Sea Scrolls, in addition to her curatorial duties. She said she imagined other academic institutions might decide to offer similar courses. As it turns out, ten thousand delegates will be attending a combined meeting in November 2007 of the Society of Biblical Literature and the American Academy of Religion. There may be times during the exhibition when San Diego feels like a religious world capital!
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