Until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) mankind was reliant wholly upon fragments and copies which at best reached back to the second century in the modern epoch.   In 1948, this changed with the discovery of what appears to be ancient  manuscripts dating from the fourth through first century BC. These have  come to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.   While little of the past has been authoritatively ascertained, it is  believed that the residents of the ancient city we now call Qumran, but  then known as Damascus, was inhabited by a sect known as the Essenes.  There are, however, historians, who are willing to debate this issue,  including the issue of whether the authorship of these scrolls can be  successfully and exclusively attributed to the Essenes. Some, for  instance, believe that the Tsadoqiym – a group of Levites distinct from  the practices of the Essenes – may have occupied the area prior to the  monastic practices of this latter group, and may have had a hand in the  crafting of specific scrolls.   Regardless of the dispute, we see a “canon” of sorts appearing in the  selection of manuscripts to be preserved in the caves of Qumran – not  only safe from the Greeks and the Romans who may have sought to destroy  the relics of the prior culture entirely, but also safe from the  corruption which would soon come under the Makkabiym, the Hyrcanians,  and the Hasmoneans. In this selection we find the remnants of multiple  copies of the Cepher Chanoch and the Cepher Yovheliym – a selection  which preceded the Council of Jamnia by centuries and the Council of  Trent by nearly two millennium.    Since the discovery of the DSS, we have now seen the emergence of a religious system based upon the conclusions drawn from these artifacts  and manuscripts called Orthodox Essene Judaism.   This purpose of today’s discussion is not an endorsement of this set of beliefs, but rather an objective dig to look at what we find.  Get your shovel and pick axe. The dig is on.