April 14, 2025 • 6 mins
Amy talks with Dr. Uziel talking about the Ten Commandments at the Ronald Reagan Library.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now, let's say good morning to the head of
the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
It's doctor Joel Uziel. Good morning, doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Thank you so much for calling us. We understand you're
calling us from Israel this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, that's right, it's not morning for me. It's late afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Perfect. Well, it sounds like you're right next door. So
the Dead Sea scroll Exhibit is happening now at the
Reagan Presidential Library. I got to go and check it out.
Was really interesting. So if you haven't been, now is
the time to go. If you've already been, you might
want to go again because the scrolls of the Ten
Commandments are now on display. Tell us about the Dead
(00:47):
Sea Scrolls, the Ten Commandments and why we get to
see them.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That's exactly right. Now is the time to go, even
if you've been there already, Because the Dead Sea Sculls
Exhibition is at the Reagan for nine months. Every three
months we switch out the scrolls with a new set
of scrolls that we bring over. Because the Dead Sea Scrolls,
which are a unique set of documents that date back
(01:15):
two thousand years to the period of Second Temple period,
Judaism and the period of the rise of early Christianity,
and they were preserved in the dry desert climate. But
in order to conserve them, we only display them for
three months and then they come back to Israel to
our storerooms and rest for five years. However, this week
(01:38):
we put a special scroll on display and it's only
going to be there for two weeks, and that's the
Ten Commandment scroll. Now, I'll just say the Dead Sea
scrolls on the whole include the earliest copies of the
Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, that have been found to date,
and they date back some two thousand years. Commandments roll
(02:01):
is the earliest copy of the Ten Commandments that we have,
which includes all the commandments. And what's interesting is that
the Hebrew Bible actually presents the Ten Comandments twice, one
time in the book of that Exodus and one time
in the Bookcoon's Deuteronomy. And this version of the Ten
Comandments actually is a sort of combination of the two,
(02:23):
bringing some aspects from each because they're not exactly the same.
And I'll just give one example, for example, the commandment
to keep the Sabbath. Different reasons for keeping the Sabbath
are given into two different versions in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Yeah,
so one says that the reason for keeping the Sabbath
(02:44):
is because God created the world in six days and
on the seventh day he rested. And the other reason
is for the exodus for the Jews leaving Egypt after
their slavery there. And this version actually brings both reasons
for keeping the Sabbath, and so it's a very unique
document and scholars believe it was probably used to read
(03:07):
the tech tench Commandments in a public let's say, display
or reading in front of the community.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Wow, that I'd never heard that there was, that there
was two Like that? Tell us because you're speaking, you're
talking about a two thousand year old document. I mean,
when we go to Washington, DC, you can see the
you can see the Constitution. It's only a couple hundred
years old, and it's very faded and very fragile. So
(03:39):
I mean, how are these even together?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, the amazing thing is that the very very dry
climate of the Judean desert actually helped preserve the documents
that are written on leather, and so they survived two
thousand years in the desert and in their initial discovery,
(04:04):
they actually weren't treated correctly because the knowledge for conservation
wasn't there, and so some damage was caused in the
early years of their discovery. But over the past thirty
five years, the Israel Antiquities Authority has been using the
strictest methods of conservation, which include keeping them at very
(04:25):
strict temperatures and humidity and also limiting their exposure to light.
And in this way they're actually quite visible, and so
you can actually see the actual document and if you
read Hebrew, you can actually read it, which is amazing
because it's the same script that is still being used
to this day in modern Israel. And if you have
(04:49):
some difficulty seeing it, we actually we actually have the
display next to the actual scroll has an infrared image
of it which uses infrared for photographics technology to make
the text much much clearer.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That is so cool. And I did go to the
Reagan Library and like I said, we talked about it
on our out and about segment, if you'll remember, and
it was interesting that everything is very very low light.
And I remember that from when we went to Washington,
d C. Too, Like they had the first American flag
and it's displayed in very low lights because the light
really denigrates the quality of the document.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yes, that's exactly it. In order to make sure we
don't let the documents fade. The lighting is very very low,
but it's still enough that everything is very clear and visible,
and so you can really see that everything firsthand. And again,
this is a unique opportunity because the school will be
(05:51):
there just for two weeks and then it's coming back
home and it won't be back in the US for
a very long time.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
All right, Doctor Joe Uzield, head of the Dead Sea
Squirrels Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, thank you so
much for the information. This is just just fascinating. So
it's going to be the next two weeks and it's
at the Reagan Library and you can go to Reaganlibrary
dot com and get your tickets because I would imagine
it's going to be crowded. Thank you, doctor Joe.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Take care. Oh that was a little familiar of me
to call him doctor Joe, and I think that's okay.
We got to know him amazing. Yeah, that is so cool.
If you haven't been seriously again, the next two weeks
and then the swirls are going to be there for
the next few months, so you have time. But for
the Ten Commandments, that's probably once in a lifetime
Right now, let's say good morning to the head of
the Dead Sea Scrolls Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority.
It's doctor Joel Uziel. Good morning, doctor.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Thank you so much for calling us. We understand you're
calling us from Israel this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Yeah, that's right, it's not morning for me. It's late afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
Perfect. Well, it sounds like you're right next door. So
the Dead Sea scroll Exhibit is happening now at the
Reagan Presidential Library. I got to go and check it out.
Was really interesting. So if you haven't been, now is
the time to go. If you've already been, you might
want to go again because the scrolls of the Ten
Commandments are now on display. Tell us about the Dead
(00:47):
Sea Scrolls, the Ten Commandments and why we get to
see them.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
That's exactly right. Now is the time to go, even
if you've been there already, Because the Dead Sea Sculls
Exhibition is at the Reagan for nine months. Every three
months we switch out the scrolls with a new set
of scrolls that we bring over. Because the Dead Sea Scrolls,
which are a unique set of documents that date back
(01:15):
two thousand years to the period of Second Temple period,
Judaism and the period of the rise of early Christianity,
and they were preserved in the dry desert climate. But
in order to conserve them, we only display them for
three months and then they come back to Israel to
our storerooms and rest for five years. However, this week
(01:38):
we put a special scroll on display and it's only
going to be there for two weeks, and that's the
Ten Commandment scroll. Now, I'll just say the Dead Sea
scrolls on the whole include the earliest copies of the
Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, that have been found to date,
and they date back some two thousand years. Commandments roll
(02:01):
is the earliest copy of the Ten Commandments that we have,
which includes all the commandments. And what's interesting is that
the Hebrew Bible actually presents the Ten Comandments twice, one
time in the book of that Exodus and one time
in the Bookcoon's Deuteronomy. And this version of the Ten
Comandments actually is a sort of combination of the two,
(02:23):
bringing some aspects from each because they're not exactly the same.
And I'll just give one example, for example, the commandment
to keep the Sabbath. Different reasons for keeping the Sabbath
are given into two different versions in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Yeah,
so one says that the reason for keeping the Sabbath
(02:44):
is because God created the world in six days and
on the seventh day he rested. And the other reason
is for the exodus for the Jews leaving Egypt after
their slavery there. And this version actually brings both reasons
for keeping the Sabbath, and so it's a very unique
document and scholars believe it was probably used to read
(03:07):
the tech tench Commandments in a public let's say, display
or reading in front of the community.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Wow, that I'd never heard that there was, that there
was two Like that? Tell us because you're speaking, you're
talking about a two thousand year old document. I mean,
when we go to Washington, DC, you can see the
you can see the Constitution. It's only a couple hundred
years old, and it's very faded and very fragile. So
(03:39):
I mean, how are these even together?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Well, the amazing thing is that the very very dry
climate of the Judean desert actually helped preserve the documents
that are written on leather, and so they survived two
thousand years in the desert and in their initial discovery,
(04:04):
they actually weren't treated correctly because the knowledge for conservation
wasn't there, and so some damage was caused in the
early years of their discovery. But over the past thirty
five years, the Israel Antiquities Authority has been using the
strictest methods of conservation, which include keeping them at very
(04:25):
strict temperatures and humidity and also limiting their exposure to light.
And in this way they're actually quite visible, and so
you can actually see the actual document and if you
read Hebrew, you can actually read it, which is amazing
because it's the same script that is still being used
to this day in modern Israel. And if you have
(04:49):
some difficulty seeing it, we actually we actually have the
display next to the actual scroll has an infrared image
of it which uses infrared for photographics technology to make
the text much much clearer.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
That is so cool. And I did go to the
Reagan Library and like I said, we talked about it
on our out and about segment, if you'll remember, and
it was interesting that everything is very very low light.
And I remember that from when we went to Washington,
d C. Too, Like they had the first American flag
and it's displayed in very low lights because the light
really denigrates the quality of the document.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yes, that's exactly it. In order to make sure we
don't let the documents fade. The lighting is very very low,
but it's still enough that everything is very clear and visible,
and so you can really see that everything firsthand. And again,
this is a unique opportunity because the school will be
(05:51):
there just for two weeks and then it's coming back
home and it won't be back in the US for
a very long time.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
All right, Doctor Joe Uzield, head of the Dead Sea
Squirrels Unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, thank you so
much for the information. This is just just fascinating. So
it's going to be the next two weeks and it's
at the Reagan Library and you can go to Reaganlibrary
dot com and get your tickets because I would imagine
it's going to be crowded. Thank you, doctor Joe.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Thank you, thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Take care. Oh that was a little familiar of me
to call him doctor Joe, and I think that's okay.
We got to know him amazing. Yeah, that is so cool.
If you haven't been seriously again, the next two weeks
and then the swirls are going to be there for
the next few months, so you have time. But for
the Ten Commandments, that's probably once in a lifetime
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