{"id":18345,"date":"2021-04-01T16:34:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/?p=18345"},"modified":"2021-04-01T16:34:45","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T20:34:45","slug":"museum-of-the-jewish-people-what-is-israels-latest-tourist-attraction-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrainianjewishencounter.org\/en\/museum-of-the-jewish-people-what-is-israels-latest-tourist-attraction-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Museum of the Jewish People: What is Israel\u2019s latest tourist attraction about?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Opened in the spring of 2021 after a large-scale renewal that lasted for ten years, the former Museum of the Diaspora got a new name, a new concept, and a totally updated exhibition. I spent time there recently and assessed the creators\u2019 original view of the history and modernity of the Jewish people, including the history of Ukrainian Jews.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Museum of the Diaspora at Beit Hatfutsot opened in May 1978 on the campus of Tel Aviv University on the initiative of Nahum Goldmann, founder and president of the World Jewish Congress, who sought to create a monument of the Jewish Diaspora. The monument was indeed a success, but it was in fact a dry and \u201cmummified\u201d collection of mock-ups and evidence of a bygone world.<\/p>\n

The very creation of such a museum in the first Zionist city in the world was an extraordinary event because, for many decades, the ideology of Zionism was based on repudiating the Diaspora and breaking with it. At the time, there was a prevailing notion in Israel about the need \u201cto create a new Jew\u2014an Israeli, who should rid himself of Diaspora complexes and the memory of past humiliation.\u201d An understanding of the importance of the Diaspora and the rich heritage of Jewish communities in various countries was late in coming.<\/p>\n

The team that modernized this museum took one step farther. They created a Museum of the Jewish People, uniting the motifs of Israel and the Diaspora into a single whole. This is precisely why the short name of the new museum is \u201cANU,\u201d which means \u201cwe\u201d in Hebrew.<\/p>\n

The \u201cANU\/We\u201d concept encompasses the entire Jewish people as such, a global ethnoreligious corporation alone in its diversity, with its \u201chome office\u201d in Israel and \u201cbranches\u201d all over the planet\u2014in the past, present, and future.<\/p>\n

The new team behind the creation of ANU began to be formed in 2004, when Leonid Nevzlin, an anti-Putin billionaire who left Russia after the arrest of his business partner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, moved to Israel. The then prime minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, advised Nevzlin to help revive the moribund Museum of the Diaspora.<\/p>\n

Through his NADAV Foundation, Nevzlin invested thirty million (US) dollars into modernizing the museum. A total of one hundred million (US) dollars was raised over a period of ten years from various sources, including private donors and state budgets. With an exhibition area of seven thousand square meters, ANU is one of the largest Jewish museums in the world.<\/p>\n

Irina Nevzlin, the businessman\u2019s daughter and wife of Israel\u2019s current Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein, who was born in Chernivtsi, heads the Board of Directors of ANU Museum. During our meeting, Irina said that in the last few years she has dedicated her life to one thing: renovating the museum. She has put all her strength and energy\u2014and her soul\u2014into this gigantic project.<\/p>\n

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Irina Nevzlin and Roman Kogan. Director, RSJ Outreach and Engagement, NADAV Foundation. Photo: Giya Geldman - BARD PRoductions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exhibition in the new museum begins at the top, not the bottom. Visitors do not follow the traditional path from the distant past to the current era. On the contrary: the first thing that visitors see is the third floor, which shows the Jewish people in the present time.<\/p>\n

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The exhibits, stands, and departments on the third floor seem to say: \u201cToday we are the way we are; we are not like each other, and we live differently, but we are one people despite all of our mosaic-like nature, and we have made a huge contribution all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jews in literature, music, theater, film, painting, and science\u2014all these themes are presented colorfully, fascinatingly, and interactively.<\/p>\n

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The most cutting-edge digital technologies are utilized. Every object and stand conducts a conversation with visitors, allowing them to learn more with just one click.<\/p>\n

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The electronic Jewish kitchen, for example, enchanted my wife, who kneaded dough and added various ingredients by moving her hands on the screen.<\/p>\n