Jerusalem, Israel The Israel Museum is the national museum of the State of Israel and the greatest Jewish Museum in the world. A sprawling world-class complex, no other museum in the entire Middle East with the possible exception of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo boasts so large or diverse a collection as the Israel Museum. Designed to capture the immense, grandiose history … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2014
MUSEUMS OF TEL AVIV
Tel Aviv, Israel The city of Tel Aviv is the cultural capital of Israel and, with the possible exception of New York City, Judaism in general. Tel Aviv is the heart of everything secular in Israel, from commerce to recreation to sports to the performing arts. Boasting more than sixty museums, Tel Aviv has among the highest number of museums per capita in the world, … [Read more...]
NATIONAL LIBRARY
St. Petersburg, Russia Tucked away in the massive collection of the National Library of Russia in St. Petersburg is an unassuming book of priceless importance to the Jewish community: the Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete copy of the Hebrew Bible in the world. The Leningrad Codex, which achieved its status after portions of the Aleppo Codex were lost in the mid-20th … [Read more...]
EL GHRIBA SYNAGOGUE & TORAH
Djerba, Tunisia The extremely ancient Jewish community of Tunisia is one of the oldest Israelite colonies outside of the Eastern Mediterranean region. In fact, other than the Israelites of Palestine, Egypt and Mesopotamia, it may be the world’s oldest Jewish community. If this is indeed the case, than it would also be among the oldest continuous Jewish population in the … [Read more...]
OLYMPIC MASSACRE MEMORIAL
Munich, Germany Twenty-seven years after the downfall of Adolf Hitler and the end of the Holocaust, the Jews of Israel made a symbolic return to Germany in the form of the Israeli Olympic team. This act not only represented the courage and resilience of the Jewish spirit, it also represented the first tentative moments of reconciliation between the Jews and Germans. … [Read more...]
MODERN JERUSALEM
Jerusalem, Israel Modern Jerusalem is a sprawling metropolis with three-quarters of a million people, dwarfing the city built in ancient times. Jerusalem is also the epicenter of two millenia of religious tension and conflict between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In the nineteen centuries since the end of the Great Revolt, Jerusalem has changed hands more than a dozen … [Read more...]
MOUNT HERZL NATIONAL CEMETERY
Jerusalem, Israel Named for Theodor Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, Mount Herzl is the location of Jerusalem’s memorial district. It is home to the national and military cemeteries, as well as to the Yad Vashem, the Israeli national Holocaust memorial. Many of modern Israel’s leaders and heroes are buried here, as well as heroes and victims of the Holocaust. … [Read more...]
DEGANIA ALEF KIBBUTZ
Degania Alef, Israel The settlement of Dagania Alef near the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee was the first of one of modern Israel’s great institutions: the Kibbutz. Founded in the early 20th century by Jewish settlers who wished to work the land as farmers, it became famous as a successful commune which was later emulated by many similar communities around Israel. … [Read more...]
OLD TEL AVIV & THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE
Tel Aviv, Israel The city of Tel Aviv, an outgrowth of the ancient port of Jaffa, is the modern-day financial and diplomatic capital of Israel. Home of the nation’s busiest airport, it is the world’s gateway to Israel, and the first city most pilgrims see when visiting the Holy Land. Despite its size and importance, Tel Aviv is barely a century old. However, it boasts … [Read more...]
BRITISH LIBRARY & THE BALFOUR DECLARATION
London, England In 1917, at the height of World War I, the worldwide Zionist movement picked up momentum when the British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, issued one of the most controversial documents of the 20th century: the Balfour Declaration. Actually composed by Alfred Milner, a member of the British war cabinet, the Balfour Declaration formally acknowledged … [Read more...]
