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Anybody seen the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit sponsored by the Israel Antiquities Authority that is currently traveling the museum circuit?

I saw it. It was arranged for a limited number of museums, and one of those cancelled (supposedly due to terrorist threats; I won't record here what I really think happened) so the local museum (Grand Rapids Michigan) picked it up. The exhibition would be worth seeing if one is also going to see the rest of a major museum. IOW, it was kind of a dud. There were a dozen or so scroll fragments (literally fragments; it's fortunate that any of them survived) with a description of each one. That could easy be seen in 30 minutes, if that much time would be needed.

There were also various items (of course, attributed to the Essenes), like broken sandals, pottery, hair I think... it was nice to see the exhibition, but had I known how unimpressed I was going to be, I'd have paid the $15 to see it once, instead of joining the museum for the discount under the mistaken idea that I'd want to see it a number of times. Oh well. Had a craniorectosis attack.

I've been to the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem.

I can see why many were disappointed in the 'Scrolls on Tour'. In Israel, the Scrolls are part of an 'atmosphere', beginning with the architecture of the building (shaped like the top of the jar), the cave-like corridor leading to the scrolls, etc. By the time you SEE the Scrolls, the significance is in your mind, not necessarily in your eye.

They rotate the Scrolls to keep them from deteriorating under the intense lights. Some pieces are larger and better than others...some are just fragments, very dark and obviously damaged.

I have some books I purchased there and brought home to my Dad. I'll hunt them up and post the titles sometime next week. Send me Freepmail if you're interested in a Ping.