on the success of the toronto rom dead sea scrolls exhibit

4Q271 - A fragment of the Damascus Document

the jewish tribune is reporting that the dead sea scrolls exhibition in toronto is doing quite well. i wish i could say as much for the jewish tribune, who not only misspelled two of the three names of exhibit curator risa levitt kohn (they said ‘Resa Levitt Cohen‘), but also underrepresented the number of visitors to the museum by, oh, about 200,000 people.

Since the June 27 opening of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, more than 160,000 visitors have gone to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) to view the display, which is “about ideas and values as much as artifacts and ideology,” said William Thorsell, the ROM’s CEO.

the problem is (and it is a good problem to have) that the attendance is much closer to 400,000 than the 160,00 that the jewish tribune reported. the attendance is even more impressive in the light of the numerous attempts by anti-israel and pro-palestinian protest groups to drive visitors away from the museum.

congratulations to the royal ontario museum in toronto on a successful exhibition. many congratulations to curator risa levitt kohn on her patience and persistence in bringing not one, but two successful dead sea scrolls exhibitions to north america (despite the nonsense ;-).