Our guide pointed from the road to a rocky outcropping on one of the distant hills. “This hike is definitely optional,” he warned. “But it’s worth it.”

(Photo: The interior of Cave 4 at Qumran. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
A few of us brave souls followed, and for the first time in my life, I wished I had four legs.
Our guide scurried over the rocks like a lizard and stopped ahead, halfway up the hill, near the fissure in the rocks to which he had pointed. He turned and stood, arms crossed, one leg over the other, and waited for us. Finally I arrived.
“This is it,” he beamed.
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