Exhibit well-received
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LOS ANGELES — With a museum-quality Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit on display, the Los Angeles California Temple Visitors Center hosted Donald W. Parry in a weekend lecture series.
Dr. Parry is an associate professor of Hebrew language and literature at BYU, and one of only eight Americans on the Dead Sea Scroll translation team of 65 scholars. He spoke at a VIP open house and reception, gave an in-depth fireside discussion of the LDS perspective on the Dead Sea Scrolls to an overflow crowd of 350 and, in an exclusive presentation, gave a seminar to 50 members of the American Jewish Committee of Los Angeles.
"Dr. Parry was well received in all three settings," said Elder Norman N. White, the director of the visitors center. "He spoke to LDS and non-LDS with ease, impressing everyone with his knowledge and expertise."
At the VIP open house, Justin Levi, director of media relations for the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, presented Elder White with a proclamation from Ambassador Yuval Rotem, Consul General of Israel, welcoming the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit to Los Angeles. The proclamation praised the Visitors Center for the "public example of your (the LDS) appreciation of Jewish culture."
Other notables at the open house included Dr. John Ahmaranian, political editor of the Beirut Times. Several people from the Los Angeles Inter-religious Council and a local school principal also attended.
The exhibit includes facsimiles of the scrolls and models of the urns that contained the scrolls when they were found at Qumran near the west bank of the Dead Sea. It also has other artifacts from the era including clay oil lamps. The exhibit will close in Los Angeles on March 31.
