TORONTO is opening a Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition in June:

Dead Sea Scrolls coming to Toronto
By SHERI SHEFA, Staff Reporter (Canadian Jewish News)
Thursday, 18 September 2008

The Dead Sea Scrolls are coming to Toronto for the first time next June for a six-month exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).

Ya’en Vered, who arrived in Toronto earlier this month to begin a three-year shlichut for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), is setting up an office here in the hope of establishing a presence in Canada by making the IAA more accessible and building bridges with the Diaspora using Israel’s ancient history.

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Vered realizes that he has a lot of work to do to make the IAA relevant to Canadians, but he is ready for the task.

“I am going to be available for every meeting in the city that people can think of. I’m going to speak at synagogues, at associations, I’m going to speak at schools. I want to create programs for schools and associations before they visit the scrolls exhibit. We would like to prepare the schools for the exhibition by letting the children know and understand what the scrolls are, and let them come in on a school visit at a reduced price supported by us.”

He added that he also hopes to organize a fundraiser next spring and is considering a novel way to generate substantial funds.

“I’m looking for somebody that will donate a big sum, and then we’ll let them have an exhibition of the scrolls in their home for a meeting with people. That is something that has never been done in the world. That is something that is mind-boggling,” he said, adding, “I’m not sure it will happen, because we need special people to look into it.”

Vered is also looking into creating a twinning project between Canadian Jewish communities and antique sites in Israel.

“We’d like to twin a synagogue here in Toronto with an ancient synagogue in Israel.”

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