The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming to Toronto for the first time next June for a six-month exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Dead Sea Scroll. [photos courtesy Israel Antiquities Authority]

Ya’en Vered, who arrived in Toronto earlier this month to begin a three-year shlichut for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), is setting up an office here in the hope of establishing a presence in Canada by making the IAA more accessible and building bridges with the Diaspora using Israel’s ancient history.

The IAA, which, until 1990, was the Israeli government’s Department of Antiquities, is the leading professional body for the study of archeology in Israel. It handles antiquity sites, antiquity treasures, excavation, preservation, and conservation.

Qumran pottery from the 1st century

Vered said he has many ideas to arouse the interests of Canadians, but perhaps the most exciting development is the upcoming exhibit that will bring the Dead Sea Scrolls to the ROM for the first time.

Although the IAA announced last month that it is working on a five-year project to post images of the scrolls on the Internet to make them more accessible to scientists and the general public, the unique opportunity to see them in person is sure to draw crowds when they go on display in June.

The ancient Hebrew scrolls were discovered by a Bedouin boy in 1947, buried in a cave in Qumran in the Judean Desert. Since then, scientists and historians have been eager to learn what the scrolls reveal about the history of the Second Temple period.

Vered, who was in Canada twice before as the emissary for the Jewish National Fund after ending his 24-year military career in the Israeli army in 1981, has a master’s degree in history and is excited at the idea of educating the public about IAA findings that he said are very important to understanding our ancestry.

“The scrolls are written evidence that shows that the Bible had the same writing [text] about 2,100 to 2,200 years ago. There are some deviations, but mainly, it is the same thing,” Vered said.

“In most of the scrolls, the writing is in Hebrew letters, in square Hebrew letters that we use today,” he said, adding there is evidence that the Jews of that time had a system similar to the one used by modern Jews to write HaShem Hameforash, or God’s name.

He said the letters yud hey vav hey were written in ancient letters rather than Hebrew ones, in much the same way as Jews in eastern Europe used Yiddish.

“One of our scholars who works for the authority found, I would say, a direct link between the way our ancestors referred to the messiah and the way the Christians refer to the messiah… It turns out that the resurrection was not something that was invented by the Christians, but it is another link that put together the old religion with the new religion,” Vered said.

But, he added, there are many exciting findings that the IAA is working on beyond the scrolls.

“In Jerusalem, on Har Zion, we found the southern wall of the old City of David.”

Earlier this month, remains of the wall of the city from the time of the Second Temple that was destroyed during the Great Revolt of 66 CE, as well as remains of a city wall that was built on top of it in the Byzantine period, were uncovered in an excavation in Har Zion.

He said these findings are consistent with recorded history from that time.

Vered realizes that he has a lot of work to do to make the IAA relevant to Canadians, but he is ready for the task.

“I am going to be available for every meeting in the city that people can think of. I’m going to speak at synagogues, at associations, I’m going to speak at schools. I want to create programs for schools and associations before they visit the scrolls exhibit. We would like to prepare the schools for the exhibition by letting the children know and understand what the scrolls are, and let them come in on a school visit at a reduced price supported by us.”

He added that he also hopes to organize a fundraiser next spring and is considering a novel way to generate substantial funds.

“I’m looking for somebody that will  donate a big sum, and then we’ll let them have an exhibition of the scrolls in their home for a meeting with people. That is something that has never been done in the world. That is something that is mind-boggling,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure it will happen, because we need special people to look into it.”

Vered is also looking into creating a twinning project between Canadian Jewish communities and antique sites in Israel.

“We’d like to twin a synagogue here in Toronto with an ancient synagogue in Israel.”

He said in the same way that Jewish communities travel to shtetls in Poland to explore their heritage, he hopes the twinning concept will encourage Canadians to visit Israel’s ancient sites and even raise funds in an effort to maintain them.

“That is the way we are keeping our own identity. Without any question, Christians are looking at the sites in the same way. They look at how their ancestors lived.”

Although Vered has been in Toronto for only a short time, Canadians are already showing their support and becoming actively involved.

“We have now a board in Toronto, and we have supporters in Calgary, supporters in Vancouver, Montreal. We are looking to enlarge the base of support. We are looking to reach more and more people,” he said.

“The most important thing we can do is reach the young people and to let them have the feeling, the wish to see, the wish to know.”

For more information about the IAA, visit www.antiquities.org.il.