Ten Commandments coming to Toronto... for 80 hours
The Ten Commandments are coming to Toronto – but only for 80 hours. The Royal Ontario Museum has announced that the "best preserved" copy of Deuteronomy 5- one of the Dead Sea Scrolls - will be put on display at the museum from Saturday, October 10 to Sunday, October 18.
The museum has emphasized that it will not be displayed longer than this – because of the scroll's fragility. This display coincides with its special exhibit Dead Sea Scrolls: Words that Changed the World.
It’s an unexpected bonus for the museum. Originally the exhibit was not going to feature this particular scroll. The decision to bring the scroll over to Canada, and display it, wasn’t made by the Israel Antiquities Authority until the exhibit was underway.
This particular scroll dates from the 30 - 1 BC. It was likely written down for prayer, rather than as textual reading. This is because Deuteronomy 8 appears on it, before Deuteronomy 5 does - not something any self-respecting scribe would
The Palestinian Authority... say that Israel became the guardian of the scrolls illegally after the 1967 war
have tolerated. This means that its words were meant to be spoken, not read silently.
The exhibit itself has been a success so far says the museum. They say that more than 18,000 visitors visited in the first nine days alone - nearly 50 percent more than expected.
But, it has also sparked controversy.
The Palestinian Authority demanded, back in the spring, that the museum cancel it. They say that Israel became the guardian of the scrolls illegally after the 1967 war. At the local level, the dispute over Israel's guardianship of the scrolls has sparked a street protest of a few dozen people and a counter-protest.
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