[MUSIC PLAYING]
 OK, so metal engraving
isn't my strong suit.
But there is a point to this.
This is a copper scroll.
And this, with any luck, is the
first character in the Hebrew
word for gold, zahar.
And yep, I'm starting
all the way over
to the right because
in Hebrew, we read
and write from right to left.
So why the lesson in
2000-year-old Hebrew?
And why the replica
copper scroll?
Because this is the
story of one of the most
extraordinary documents
ever found, a document
whose author wanted it to last.
Think about it like this.
About 2000 years
ago, someone feared
their world was about
to go up in flames
and wanted the words on
this scroll to survive.
Jerusalem, home to the Israel
Museum's Shrine of the Book,
an extraordinary
collection of nearly
1,000 ancient manuscripts,
First discovered in 1947
by a tribe of Bedouins exploring
caves overlooking the Dead Sea.
These are the oldest
biblical texts ever found.
We now know them as
the Dead Sea Scrolls.
[SPEAKING HEBREW]
Archaeologist Danny Herman
has been studying the scrolls
for nearly two decades.
DANNY HERMAN: The
Dead Sea Scrolls
are by far the most
important discovery
ever made in this land.
These are the oldest copies of
the Old Testament that we have.
They were written somewhere
between the second century
BC and the first century CE.
ADAM MASTRELLI (VOICEOVER):
The Dead Sea Scrolls
pre-date every other
manuscript of the Hebrew Bible
by 1,000 years.
They provide us with a unique
insight into a way of life
before and during
the time of Jesus.
 Codes of behavior, hymns,
prayers, a whole library,
2,000 years old.
It's an amazing-- it's
truly an amazing discovery.
