From the moment you walk into the “Dead Sea Scrolls” exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), you begin to anticipate the amazing piece of history you are about to witness.
    You come to realize, as the many signs around the museum will tell you, that these are “words that changed the world.” As the walls of the exhibit will also remind you, these scrolls are the oldest existing record of Jewish, Christian and Islamic biblical patriarchs.
    Although the advertisements surrounding this exhibit seem almost too commercialized for something so historically important, they do a good job of publicizing this limited-time-only addition that has been gracing the museum since June.
    People from various walks of life can be seen meticulously taking in the exhibit, as though they must read every word placed on the walls and investigate every artifact on display. It appears that no one is in a rush as people walk through the large exhibit encompassing the scrolls.
   You may be content to merely steal a glance at the parchment that has shown the world so much, but this exhibit does as lot more than that.
    Using artifacts, video presentations and many simple-to-understand written summaries, the exhibit brings us back to the time of the Second Temple and the beginnings of Judaism and Christianity. Whether or not you already know most of the relevant history, this exhibit will teach you something you didn’t already know or, at least, provide you with the  opportunity to revisit the history once again.
    The artifacts on display come from Qumran, Jerusalem and Sephorris, as well as other parts of Judea and the Galilee, including Jewish and Roman pieces from this period.
    The project is split into two installations.
    The second, currently on display, includes eight parts of the scrolls’ total 17 sections. The fragments that were found are part of the famous “Song of Moses” that can be seen in the book of Deuteronomy, with one containing the speech Moses gave as a goodbye to the Israelites before he died.
    Most of the scrolls on display contain poems and prayers. You may recognize these familiar stories from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament that trace these religions
back to their roots.
   These traditions, written in the scripture, are also recognized in Islam. The scrolls hold the earliest accounts for all three of these Abrahamic faiths, a testament to their importance in the history of human culture.
    This exhibit is an amazing opportunity to view fragments of the beautifully written Dead Sea Scrolls that have had such a profound effect on human history.

- With files from www.rom.on.ca