olls at Qumran and deposited them in the caves of the neighboring hills. Others question this explanation, claiming that the site was no monastery but rather a Roman fortress or a winter residence. Some also believe that the Qumran site has little if anything to do with the scrolls and the evidence available does not support a definitive answer. 13 A lapse in the use of the site is linked to evidence of a huge earthquake. Qumran was abandoned about the time of the Roman invasion of 68 A.D.,14 two years before the collapse of Jewish self-government in Judea and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The scrolls are believed to have been brought from Jerusalem the Judean wilderness for safekeeping when Jerusalem was threatened by Roman armies. This was the time that Qumran was a judean military fortress which was destroyed in a battle with the Romans Since their discovery, the Dead Sea Scrolls have been the subject of great scholarly and public interest. For scholars they represent an invaluable source for exploring the nature of post- biblical times and probing the sources of two of the world's great religions. For the public, they are artifacts of great significance, mystery, and drama. 15 The Dead Sea Scrolls give us a better view of a crucial period in the history of Judaism. Judaism was divided into numerous religious sects and political parties. With the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD., all that came to an end. Only the Judaism of the Pharisees; the most powerful Jewish sect--Rabbinic Judaism--survived. Qumran literature shows a Judaism in the midst of change from the religion of Israel as described in the Bible to the Judaism of the rabbis as explained in the Talmud, which tells the rules that Jews live by.16 Scholars have emphasized similarities between the beliefs and practices shown in the Qumran material and those of early Christians.17 These similarities include rituals of baptism, communal meals, and proper...
