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About 20 centuries ago, hundreds of documents from a written library of scrolls were carefully placed into clay jars and deposited for safe-keeping into many of the western caves of Israel’s Dead Sea region. The area is called the Qumran. 

Between 1947 and 1956, the scrolls’ discovery has captured the attention of numerous academics, religious leaders, and biblical researchers emerging from all walks of life.  It took about forty years, with completion in the 1990s, to finally decipher, translate, and publish the ancient documents. Consequently, the scrolls were made widely available for anyone interested in studying these ancient documents. 

Analysis of the scrolls by many world-renowned researchers and translators provides us with some unique insights into the Qumran Community and their disputes with the Jerusalem Second Temple Period Pharisees, Scribes, and Priests over a lot of calendar issues. 

I will be presenting you with an interview that I did with Dr. Rachel Elior to help us better understand the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Qumran Community, and why the documents are such an important discovery.  Professor Elior comes to us with special thanks to the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. Professor Elior was the John, and Golda Cohen Professor of Jewish Philosophy and Mystical Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. 

Since the early 1970s, Professor Elior’s academic positions have included visiting lecturer at University College London; Princeton University; Chicago University; and Research fellow at Oxford. Professor Elior has also earned many literary excellence awards from a large cadre of well-respected Universities and study centers worldwide. Dr. Elior’s books, awards, and writings are quite extensive. 

Join me on this podcast to welcome Professor Dr. Rachel Elior of the Hebrew University Jerusalem.

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