EIN GEDI NATURE RESERVE, QUMRAN AND THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

EIN GEDI NATURE RESERVE - DEAD SEA

The day after our trip to Haifa, we were invited to the Dead Sea area again with our Scottish friends, the Rogers.  This time we went to explore the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, which is located on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, on the shore of the Dead Sea - the lowest place on earth, being 429m below sea level.

The day started out beautiful and sunny, which has been typical of the weather while we have been here.

Brigid and Alex at the entrance to the Reserve - while the sun was still out.

We had grand plans to swim in the crystal clear spring water under the waterfalls.....until we started to notice the clouds coming over.  I then received a message from a friend in Tel Aviv to say that a storm was raging back home.  The Rogers explained that when it rains hard in Jerusalem the water flows down very quickly to the Dead Sea and powerful floods run through the Reserve.  From this point I was  a bit nervous to go too much further but fortunately it was only sprinkling by the time we left.  We did, however, get a little nervous when rocks starting falling ...mmmm... not a good place to be perhaps.

The wildlife in the park is amazing with Ibexs and Rock Hyrax roaming freely....

Ibexs crossing the path of the Reserve.

Rock Hyrax

The kids trying out the clean spring water.  

Dario doing his "blue steel" look.

The Israeli's may be the best at security but they sure don't put too much effort or concern into safety.  If you could see the drop down from where these kids are walking, without any barriers, you'd be horrified.

Ali and I on the trail.

The view down to the Dead Sea from the top of the reserve.

Birds flying over the reserve

A goat in a tree!  Strange sight.

QUMRAN & THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS

After lunch with the Rogers we headed 30 minutes north to Qumran to visit the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found by Bedouin shepherds in 1947.  They found seven ancient scrolls in a local cave.  A break-away Jewish sect, called the Essenes, arrived in this area towards the end of the 2nd century BC.  It is believed that John the Baptist may have been a member of the Essenes.  The members of this Jewish sect led a strictly communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty and daily immersion.  The Essenes believed that the Pharisees and the Sadducees had corrupted Jerusalem and the Temple and they moved away from Jerusalem to live a monastic life in the desert, adhering to strict dietary laws.

Between 1951 and 1956 a Fr. de Vaux and a team of archaeologists excavated the Qumran area and found additional scrolls and early structures, that supported the theory that Qumran had been the nucleus of Essene activity.  The caves, that are very difficult to reach, served the Essenes as a hiding place for their library.  The scrolls, hidden jars for nearly two thousand years and preserved as a result of the area's arid climate, included books of The Old Testament, the Apocrypha and the Essenes' own works.

The kids standing in front of the cave where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

The cave in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

A Ritual Bath used by the Essenes - over 2000 years old.

A cistern at the Qumran Essene site

A Ritual Bath found at Qumran

The Essenes were ascetics and paid great attention to ritual bathing and purity.  They lived a communal life in a settlement that was constructed to make them as self-reliant as possible.  They had assembly halls, a central dining room, in which ceremonial meals were eaten, a kitchen, ritual baths, a laundry room, a watch tower, a stable, a pottery workshop and a writing room.  The central cemetery of the sect was also located at Qumran.

On our drive back to Jaffa, via Jerusalem, we were once again reminded of the tensions that exist in this country, with the Wall that runs along the border with the West Bank or along the 1949 Armistice Line ("Green Line").  It was named the "Green Line" from the green ink used to draw the line on the map while the armistice talks were going on for the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbours: Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.  From Israel's perspective, the territories "beyond" the Green Line came to be designated as East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula.  The Sinai Peninsula was returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace treaty.  Israel captured these territories in the Six-Day War in 1967, and they are often referred to as Israeli occupied territories.

The Wall (Israeli West Bank barrier)

The Wall