The book of Genesis starts with the words "In the beginning." As ancient Jewish scribes read these traditions, however, they found an entirely new beginning--a departure point for retelling, rewriting, and reimagining these tales from their past for new audiences. So how and why did they do this? In this episode of Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Shorts, Dr. Andrew Perrin explores the Aramaic Dead Sea Scroll text known as the "Words of Qahat." While we hear about the name of Qahat in Genesis and beyond, he never utters a word in the Hebrew Scriptures. At least one scribe changed all that by developing a life and times tale about this forgotten patriarch presented "pseudonymously" in Qahat's own voice.

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