Lethargic Man (anag.)

There are certain texts which function almost as macguffins to the cultures which produced them: Everyone is aware of them and holds them to be a central text in the foundational period of their culture, but few have actually read them. "Beowulf" is an example for the English (is there something similar for the Germans?); I would say that the Dead Sea Scrolls constitute one for the Jews.

Having attended a number of Limmud sessions on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but not actually read any of the scroll contents myself apart from brief quotations, when an acquaintance gave away part of her library prior to emigrating, I took her copy of The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition, ed. Florentino García Martínez and Eibert J.C. Tigchelaar (thanks, Shani!), which contains all of the non-Biblical material in the scrolls, presented along with English translation but no commentary.