Israel Museum Rushes to Protect Great Isaiah Scroll as War Erupts

As missile sirens wailed across Jerusalem and war with Iran erupted, curators at the Israel Museum raced not for shelter alone but to protect one of the Jewish people’s most sacred treasures.

Just days after the Great Isaiah Scroll was returned to public display for the first time since the 1960s, museum staff activated emergency wartime protocols to secure the 2,100-year-old manuscript inside the Shrine of the Book.

The Great Isaiah Scroll, widely regarded as the most complete and earliest known biblical manuscript ever discovered, was placed under special protective shielding as the conflict intensified.

“We knew it might happen, so we were ready,” said Hagit Maoz, curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Because of its size over seven meters long the scroll is too large to relocate easily. Instead, the museum’s technical laboratories had prepared a specialized shield in advance, stored nearby for precisely this scenario.

While other artifacts were moved to underground shelters or protected with standard safeguards, the Great Isaiah Scroll required extraordinary measures.

Staff members worked under the sound of active air raid sirens, moving quickly between protected areas to ensure the manuscript’s safety. Many left their own families at home in safe rooms, driven by a sense of duty to preserve a cornerstone of Jewish heritage.

“It was very scary,” Maoz admitted. “We all felt relieved when the scroll, and other artefacts, were safe, so we can sleep at night.”

Written around 125 BCE, the Great Isaiah Scroll predates other known biblical manuscripts by centuries. It contains all sixty-six chapters of the Book of Isaiah, written in Hebrew across seventeen sheets of vellum and arranged in fifty-four columns. Measuring 7.17 meters in length, its preservation is considered extraordinary.

Discovered in 1947 in caves near Qumran along the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, the Dead Sea Scrolls are among the earliest surviving texts of the Hebrew Bible. Their discovery transformed modern understanding of the development of the biblical canon and Second Temple Judaism.

The Great Isaiah Scroll is the crown jewel of that collection.

In 1965, during the inauguration of the Shrine of the Book, the original manuscript was briefly displayed before preservation concerns required its removal. A high-quality facsimile has stood in its place for decades. Only last week, in honor of the sixtieth anniversary of the Shrine of the Book and the Israel Museum, was the original returned to public view under carefully calibrated climate controls.

Then war intervened.

Following directives from Israel’s Home Front Command, public gatherings were restricted and the Israel Museum closed its doors until further notice. Yet behind the scenes, a different kind of defense was underway the protection of history itself.

The image is striking: as Israel’s modern defense systems intercept incoming threats, museum curators shield a manuscript written more than two millennia ago. One defends the present. The other safeguards the past.

Together, they tell the story of a people who have survived exile, destruction, and war while preserving their faith and heritage.

When the conflict subsides, the special shield will be removed, and the Great Isaiah Scroll will once again be displayed to visitors from around the world. For now, it rests protected, just as it did in the desert caves of Qumran for nearly two thousand years.

Even in times of war, Israel remains committed to protecting its ancient treasures and the enduring legacy of the Jewish people.

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