A new theory about Qumran.

Understanding the Qumran sect.

Kosher food only, please.

According to the ancient Jewish historian Josephus, the Essenes, an ascetic sect living in Qumran, wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. But Josephus is far from reliable.

Twenty years ago, a scholarly consensus identified the Dead Sea Scrolls with the ascetic Essene community at Qumran. Now the picture is more complicated.

A new collection of essays argues that the early rabbis succeeded by offering ordinary Jews the opportunity to be spiritual without renouncing a worldly way of life.