Qumran, its secret caves and unique manuscripts.

Qumran. The most ancient biblical manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls, were found here.

The Essenes are an ancient people who lived here. It is believed that these are Jews who fled from Jerusalem, who were distinguished by high religiosity, bordering on fanaticism. What modern scientists know about this people:

they made everything they needed on their own and diligently avoided any communication with merchants;
adhered to the rules of celibacy, but children were accepted into their sect;
wore the same clothes until its threads spread from time to time;
a clean white dress of a special cut was worn only once a day for a meal;
-actively worked and shared their income with the authorities, and they already distributed them among the poor and the poor;
they got up at dawn and after prayer they immediately went to "labor feats";
We spent a lot of time reading the Bible.

The Essenes were hermits, but this did not prevent them from regularly breaking the established rules. For example, it is known for sure that one part of the city was reserved for those men and women who lived together, although without marriage. But as soon as a woman became pregnant, she was abandoned, demonstrating the intention to live with her only by the need to continue her kind.

If any serious violations occurred, then such a member of the community was simply expelled outside Khirbat Qumran, and he died of hunger, because they were given an oath not to eat food outside their home.

Some scholars say that the Essenes were pious, alien to worldly pleasures and were contemplators of the environment. Others believe that this people was quite cruel towards each other and "strangers".

There is an opinion that the Dead Sea Scrolls were written by the Essenes, but this is not known for certain.

WAZE / GOOGLE MAPS : Qumran kibbutz kalya