46 | FEBRUARY 4 • 2021 

Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Dead Sea Scrolls
T

his week’s Looking Back is going 
way back, over 2,000 years ago 
or so. Well, OK, only 70 years 
or so in the William Davidson Digital 
Archive of Jewish Detroit History, but 
the topic is an ancient one.
I recently read a story about the pass-
ing of Dr. Norman Golb, the University 
of Chicago professor who uncovered 
the existence of a previ-
ously unknown Jewish 
community in Medieval 
France. He was also a 
contributor to the schol-
arship of the Dead Sea 
Scrolls. 
Reading about Golb, I 
wondered — what would 
I find about the Scrolls 
in the Davidson Archive? I was not 
disappointed. Beginning in 1952, there 
are 623 pages with a wide range of top-
ics about the scrolls, including many 
in-depth articles and reports. 
Briefly, the ancient texts known as 
the Dead Sea Scrolls are considered 
to be one of the great archeological 
finds in world history. Calling all of 
the discoveries “scrolls” might be a bit 
of a misnomer. Only a few scrolls are 
largely intact manuscripts; most are 
fragments of documents. Most import-
ant, however, the Dead Sea Scrolls are 
ancient Jewish religious texts.
The first scrolls were found in 1946-
1947 in a cave near the north shore of 
the Dead Sea by a Bedouin shepherd. 
Additional scrolls and fragments 
were found over the years. Eventually, 
by 2017, 12 sites called the Qumran 
Caves, were discovered and excavated. 
Yigal Yadin, an Israeli military hero 
and politician, was one prominent 
archeologist who led excavations at 
the Qumran Caves and played a role 
in acquiring scrolls, most of which are 
now held by the Israel Museum. 

The pages of the JN hold 
many articles and discussions 
about the authenticity of the 
scrolls. The general conclu-
sion of scholars is that the 
scrolls date from 2,000 years 
ago or more, but there are 
and were dissenters, such as 
Dr. Solomon Zeitlin, who 
claimed that the scrolls 
had “no value for Judaism or early 
Christianity” (JN, Feb. 24, 1956). 
Most scholars, such as the first Israeli 
Director of Antiquities Shmuel Yeivin, 
supported the authenticity of the 
scrolls (JN June 29, 1956). Legendary 
JN Editor Philip Slomovitz devoted a 
number of his columns to the scrolls 
and urged keeping an open mind as 
well as urging scholars to strive for 
accuracy in their research (for exam-
ple, JN Aug. 28, 1956; July 17, 1968; 
Feb. 2, 1973; and Jan. 14, 1977). 
The JN also published news about 
the latest developments in scroll schol-
arship, such as preservation methods 
and access to the scrolls. Some sto-
ries over the last 70 years are directly 
related to Jewish Detroit. For example, 
there have been many lectures and 
presentations in the community as 
well as scholarship at local universities 
regarding the Dead Sea Scrolls. 
There is a great feature article about 
a huge event in the Jan. 17, 2003, 
issue of the JN. That year, the Public 
Museum of Grand Rapids, Mich., was 
the only U.S. venue to host a travel-
ing Dead Sea Scroll exhibit from the 
Israeli Antiquities Authority. 
The story of the Dead Sea Scrolls 
is one of the world’s most fascinat-
ing sagas. As an archivist, I can only 
dream of a find like that! 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN 
Foundation archives, available for free at 
www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

had “no value for Judaism or early 

, Feb. 24, 1956). 

