Strange how a study of certain religious sects can become the main interest in someones life for so long. The discovery of Dead Sea Scrolls, whose authors were apparently the socalled "Essenes", has generated many new insights into different areas of the study of ancient Judaism, and will undoubtedly continue to do so. Before, during & after the Six Day War in the springtime of 1967 I found myself drawn to Qumran. First time I crossed the border was via Mandelbaumgate in order to be able to visit what was left in ruins. The most fantastic experience proved to be completely alone among leftovers of almost 2000 years "monotheism"? In the following years I tried to read about it as much as I could: the puzzles & labyrinths seem to start to fit together better than ever before including all those 'arrests', 'imprisonments', 'deportations' a.s.o.! Body, mind & circumstances jumped into holes of 3000/4000 years {& more} of history and human experiences ... It is particularly worth noting that the discovery of these Scrolls provides us with the earliest known examples of this ancient sectarian literature, and therein lies their import, as research tools into the social and religious underpinnings of the sects. The material that has been published thus far does not provide us with a comprehensive picture of the spiritual evolution of the sect, but with every new publication we are able to piece together a fuller picture of the religious ferment within the sect. The publication of all the scrolls in Hebrew & many other languages is now widely available, sheds new light on the spiritual dilemmas of the sect, and it seems to me that we can now hazard a preliminary reconstruction of the spiritual development of the Qumran community. Most studies assumed that these sectarian writings found in the Qumran caves were produced by a 'single' group. It seemed evident that they belong to the library of the community whose remains have been excavated, and that these texts all refer to select groups, outside of which there was no salvation. It can also give us a taste of what went on in those times and places and proved to be of such great influence during following ages all over the world among almost all peoples of the earth. Facts & fictions seem to belong together during our whole life: that is how we create all else ... I can't imagine my life without all of these more or less well known stories about our origines & follow ups ...