Aliyah Blog 97: Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls)

Barely Relevant Information

Says this video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2Fb-SJ9v0M – I’m the type of person who likes experiences over group activities. Rather than being the type who feels some sort of connection to guys running on a field, I like to explore and perceive everything. While I won’t be writing about the score of the latest game, you do get to read about places where information about what it’s like to visit are lacking.

Qumran, the Good Samaritan

Qumran is one such place – it’s near the North end of the Dead Sea and I’ve driven past many times – as well as the stores along the way, open to the street, with camels and The Good Samaritan stop-off between Jericho and Jerusalem.

First sights

Up a driveway on a hill, park in a spot that says “for buses only” and walk past a sign that says “entry only if pre-registered” and go to the cashier who – I’m not sure I needed to go there to walk on the trails. (I have membership to Israeli parks so it’s free entry anyway.) For the first time, someone thought I was using someone else’s ID because I had to see what my Israeli ID number was … Israelis use it so often that anyone else has theirs memorized. I’m starting to memorize it so putting my limited ability to memorize things to repeating Hebrew words over and over in my head. (Latest words, being here 1.5 yrs: tasks, concentration, must, look at this, listen to this …)

The trail

First, there’s ruins with the dining room, description of the found long table, mikveh (Jewish ruins seem to all have those), and QR codes that bring you to audio with very helpful descriptions making the experience much, much better.

One trail direction takes you to a self-guided zipline. The other to a new “cave trail” to see all the caves where the dead sea scrolls were found. The trail itself isn’t one you go on for a good hike … it’s lateral to the mountain, generally flat, with a very tricky spot where water eroded the downhill stretch. To your left are mountains with caves everywhere.

It was January, about 68 degrees outside, and at 11am I’m sweating rather much with the sun overhead. The Essenes, the group of break-away Jews of about 100 to 200 who lived as monks in the desert copying Torah scrolls, really wanted to be away from civilization. Sounds similar to later Christian monks – only 8 km away is a Christian monastery dating to the 400s CE. One day I want to visit, though it was more than an hour’s drive away given that you must drive around the mountains.

What it must have been like to live here

I really got the sense of what it was like to live here and why no one found their second temple era scrolls (which closely or exactly match books the Bible / apocrypha that we have today) until 1947. It’s rocky with ravines caused by the downpours of water that occur occasionally in the winter and there’s just no reason why most anyone would walk across that and then climb up to a hole in a mountain with nothing in it. In January, I’m sweating just walking here during the day despite being room temperature, with no cover from the sun and no nearby natural water source. There are plenty of places like that in the desert, blocked by mountains, and guess what? They have no people and probably never did.

In the particular cave found in 1947, the ancient Jews covered it with rocks and only because a goat went in and a (human) kid threw rocks after it to coax it out – hearing shattering pottery (oops) – were the first scrolls found. Thankfully he sold it to a collector rather than thinking nothing of it, or worse.

Makes me wonder how many more ancient things of wonder have not been found, or worse, destroyed because it was believed to be of no value. Mark Twain writes about his visit to Israel that despite finding no religious meaning in Christian ruins, he was incensed by his tour group taking pieces off to bring home as souvenirs. Only in 1880s to archeology become “professional” under Augustus Pitt Rivers (fun trivia fact).

Taking the paved trail back

Once reaching the nearby Jewish town of Kalya (founded in 1929 to harvest potassium, destroyed by Jordan in 1948, and repopulated after 1967), rather than continue the trail or go back the way I came, I chose to walk along the road on a well paved path called Route 90. Passing a small fenced in cemetery with few graves (no one seems to be dying to get in) – and finally reaching a tree (with artificial irrigation pipes), it was quite nice in the shade.

Heading back up the hill to the visitor’s center, I bought a customary ices or ice cream and was checked out by an Arab cashier who told me about his peace trips to New Jersey where he and a Jewish guy talk about making peace in Israel. In this area, the Jews and Arabs generally get along – Arab didn’t kills Jews here in the 20s and 30s – it’s just too hot for any of that – and Jews in the area hired Arab workers.

The Gift Shop

Finally, a decent gift shop in Israel. Large – a lot of Christian stuff – and … it’s all in English. Fancy that. There’s a large restaurant on site run by Arabs and doesn’t seem to be kosher which is actually a rarity in these sorts of places.

The Good Samaritan

The story of the Good Samaritan in the Christian bible is … anti-Jewish. A man was robbed, a Cohen walked by and didn’t help, a Levi walked by and didn’t help … yet the Samaritan did. This allegedly happened halfway between Jerusalem and Jericho so there’s now a tourist site there with entry fee (part of the parks system). Good move to get Christian tourists, though I walked out of movie and I rarely, rarely do that. It’s stories like this which led to thousands of years of antisemitism (the word itself being antisemitic for reasons not worth going into here).

On the other hand, there’s a nice collection of mosaic tiles – similar in style and content to others of the eras – from ancient churches around the country and a large one from a synagogue in Aza (Gaza) from which Constantine caused the Jews to be expelled from after he accepted Christianity as the state religion in the 300s. Sigh.

Shops along the road on the way back

Having driven past these as well many a time, I finally went there … some camels hanging around followed by a row of stores with open fronts facing towards the road with a parallel dirt road in front of them. Expecting to find some unique hand carved things and locally made Bedouin something-something. Nah. Just it’s mostly just the same stuff you find around Israel in general.

All in all, I see why Qumran is more of a drive-by place on your way to swim in the Dead Sea, climb Masada, or hike Ein Gedi, though I certainly enjoyed exploring understanding more of the land and its history – I am, after all, the type of person that enjoys that and who doesn’t understand by people scream at a television when “their team” fumbles the ball. You can read this diary entry to get a sense of Qumran today.