Digging In: I Have to Say, This Is Pretty Fun!

It is hard to believe a whole year has passed since I became editor of BAR, and what a fun year it has been! Every day, I wake up excited to be part of this magazine, always searching for new and interesting content or thinking through new ways to make BAR more engaging and accessible. It is an incredibly creative and rewarding experience that fosters not only a tremendous pride in the magazine but also a firm commitment to ensuring BAR remains enjoyable for its readers.

I hope that creative passion comes through in the fun and exciting Summer 2022 issue. Of course, this year marks the 75th anniversary of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and we begin our coverage of this momentous event with Charlotte Hempel’s article “Ezra and the Dead Sea Scrolls,” in which she explores the virtual absence of one of early Judaism’s most important figures, Ezra, from the scrolls found at Qumran. In “Moses and the Monks of Nebo,” by archaeologist Debra Foran, we jump ahead several centuries to discover the fascinating Byzantine churches and monasteries that commemorate the mountain in Moab from which Moses viewed the Promised Land right before his death.