Tower of David Jerusalem Museum

November ending in Jerusalem with ups and downs

Sharon A

It was another busy week of ups and downs on the Jerusalem streets.

A favorite Jerusalem, Israel, the site is the Tower of David. The changes over the years have been fascinating to watch and admire.

I am not the only fan. One family went to the trouble to build temporary protection for a wedding ceremony. It was up during the day and then down after a night.

However, years of preparation have gone into making the fortress accessible. I remember how hard those old steps were to climb and go down. The new walkways are so much easier.

Eilat Lieber explained the upcoming International Day of People with Disabilities on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd. An online conference will be hosted by the Tower of David Jerusalem Museum with free registration.

The conference aims to share knowledge gained from archeology and innovation in Jerusalem with the world. This initiative is intended to enhance mobility and also enable accessibility for those with vision and hearing impairment.

A sign is up for the Mamilla Pool Project. How many knew it was there was such a thing?

First Station is struggling with few tourists but is ready for winter by putting up weather enclosures for people to sit and eat protected from the cold.

The Menachem Begin Heritage Center auditorium was filled for Douglas Murray. He received a standing ovation, and as he entered people stood up and applauded before he uttered a word.

During a conversation with Dr. Gerald Steinberg and Olga Deutsch, his wit and timing were impressive.

The old home of the Hebrew University Library at 44 Jabotinsky Street is in a sad state.

However, the new National Library of Israel has become a popular research and busy tourist site.

The main area has its research spaces filled daily by students and scholars of all types.

The landscaped outside space, with its autumn colors, is also worth seeing.

Inside the chairs, await the hostages, with their favorite books – still after too long.

The signs are up for the opening of the new temporary exhibition on Kafka.

More on that next time. I went on the preview tour and will share.

But this is getting too long and I want to end with one more event.

A special Thanksgiving dinner was held for Lone Soldiers and Bnot Sherut at the Nefesh B’Nefesh Jerusalem Campus on Thursday night.

Hundreds of young men and women from around the world (for a good meal you did not need to be from a place that celebrates Thanksgiving) gathered to eat, meet, and enjoy themselves.

On the way home we passed two women standing on a street corner, in the dark and cold.

Their sign is “Together we will be victorious!”

That sums up a week of ups and downs and in between on the Jerusalem streets.

Jerusalem a Week of Color, Culture, and Contrasts

Sharon A

Another week in Jerusalem, Israel filled with contrasts.

This photo essay will focus on culture and color in Jerusalem, not crises.

The white autumn clouds drift in the blue skies over the Jerusalem streets.

Construction continues blocking the streets as buildings rise higher and higher.

A special movie screening was held at Jerusalem Cinema City on Monday night.

Tragic Awakening premiered in Israel with a private screening. Rabbi Raphel Shore, the director, was in the US promoting the film and his new book. However, others involved with the documentary exploring antisemitism were on hand to participate and share their ideas.

Rabbi Shalom Schwartz, one of the producers, and Rawan Osman, the star, spoke with Fleur Hassan Nahoum after the screening. Rawan’s journey from antisemite to finding Judaism is a fascinating story.

Tourism is down. This large souvenir store inside Jaffa Gate has closed.

But Mamilla Mall is often as busy as ever with no vacant stores.

The Tower of David’s new cafeteria was open and busy. But a tour of the newest exhibit was the reason to come back again to see what was new in the Tower of David Museum. Please notice the new trees.

A tour of “On the Other Side” led by Zadok Ben-David was a highlight of the week.

His two-minute video in the temporary gallery features bright flowers.

This Is – Same Place Other Times was created in January 2023.

It goes to blackened fields, but circles back around to the new growth. Almost prophetic?

In the same darkened gallery, is this astounding work, where he explores acute transitions in the natural world with butterflies. Did you notice the human form as the center of each colorful creature?

On the reverse side of this large circular piece under blue UV light – roaches. Zadok discussed the beauty of the butterfly in contrast to the creepy caterpillar.

Exploring transitions in the natural world, there is a site-specific piece of a male form in 15 poses outside.

The exhibit ends bright, colorful, and hopeful with three flowers at the new exit onto the street inside Jaffa Gate (where the old entrance was located).

When I first arrived at the Tower of David entrance, with the sun shining. I thought these figures were newly planted cypress trees. How wrong I was!

With Zadok Ben-David’s work, you have to take time and look at the details. Those were not leaves. They were human shapes. Each of the seven trees shows growth from the first sparse tree to a full one at the other end.

The exhibit goes until April.

Design Week also opened at Hansen House this year titled “The Ark.”

Hundreds of visitors filled the spaces outside for the opening event where the Mayor came to speak.

The inner courtyard had pieces of art and displays filled the buildings and campus.

In one room Bezalel students made colorful videos.

Fascinating fashions filled another room.

Entering “The Factory” felt like a scene from Willy Wonka. So much fun, I should go back. Design Week runs until September 26, 2024. Something for everyone, so much to see, this is barely a taste.

Hmm, these guys were arriving at Hansen House as we were leaving.

So fascinating is Rawan Osman, for the second time this week, I went to hear her speaking with Paul Gross at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

This is one protest site across from Cinema City.

And yellow ribbons are found on many of the Jerusalem streets.

And also the sounds of music. A new musical preview of David, the Servant King, premiered.

Talented women performed the new songs written by Shlomit Koffler Weinreb,

to a full house, all-women audience to start the week on Sunday night.

War rages on north and south, and no one forgets the hostages, or soldiers, or those in danger, or those forced out of their homes for almost a year.

But, on Thursday night to end the week, a Wine Festival attracted hundreds to First Station.

L’Chaim, to life, to life l’chaim.

In Jerusalem Preserving and Presenting the Past in New Ways

Sharon A

In a week when war raged all around, there were still good things happening in Jerusalem, Israel.

We can not predict the future, but in Jerusalem, the past is being preserved and presented in new ways.

Our week began on the Tayelet, with the Old City in view, for a special morning prayer service. Preserving the past through prayer and continuing our tradition with a boy putting on tefillin for the first time a month before his bar mitzvah.

At Yad Vashem, the David and Fela Shapell Family Collection Center opened.

Entering the lobby of the new building, one sees a video art wall created by video artist Ran Slavin, entitled “122,499 Files.” It is a unique installation, showcasing over 100,000 artifacts, artworks, photographs, and documents from Yad Vashem’s collections, many of which are too delicate and fragile to be displayed. The innovative work includes many items being viewed for the first time, explained Simmy Allen, head of International Media Affairs and Communications, who led the tour.

The building is five stories, with four of them underground.

Outside near the entrance, you can look down and marvel at the details that went into the planning.

The advanced laboratories handle all aspects of preservation, from registration to storage to conservation; both for the museum’s use and archival purposes, ensuring that each item is treated with the utmost care and made accessible for future generations.

From textiles and preserving a prison uniform

or a woman’s cherished childhood teddy bear.

There are not many oil paintings of museum quality, as during the Holocaust people used whatever they could find to write or draw on. This large painting from Krakov in 1929 was on a table. Looking at the signature, I was surprised to see my grandfather’s family name before he changed it in the US.

Every item is treated with dignity. Some of the horrors are too difficult to view.

Yad Vashem holds approximately 227.6 million pages of documentation, 2.8 million Pages of Testimony, 541,500 Holocaust-era photographs, 31,000 artifacts, and 14,000 works of art. 

One emerges from the depths of the archives into the daylight and the newly landscaped campus.

Also opening this week was the new contemporary art exhibit at the Kishle in the Tower of David called “Umbilicus,” by curators Dr. Adina Kamien and Malu Zayon. Kishle means prison in Turkish.

The Tower of David Jerusalem Museum has been undergoing extensive renovations to make the ancient fortress accessible.

This was the entrance to the Kishle ten years ago when the public could first see the vast space near Jaffa Gate, following the extensive archaeological excavation in 1999-2000 led by Dr. Amit Re’em. 

Work on a new entrance ramp to replace the rickety metal spiral staircase was visible in 2023.

Today it is an easier climb, but there are plans to make it more accessible in the future.

In my November 2014 visit to the Kishle, the graffiti of the Irgun prisoners was visible on the exposed wall. Built by the Ottoman Turks as a jail in the 1800s, it was used by the British in the 1940s to hold captured Jewish militia members.

Today the archeological markings of excavation are visible, but also pieces of contemporary art. The Red Dream (Window) by Lihi Turgeman is displayed on that wall.

The new steps are more stable and an easier climb, and worth the effort to see 2,800 years of history presented in a new way with contemporary art.

Also this week, the National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel opened its doors for Hebrew tours.

Located next to the Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem and across from the Israel Museum, the grand opening was held in October 2016.

The carefully restored artifacts were shown briefly at the time.

There were centuries of glass pieces arranged in display cases.

Construction was well underway.

Landscaping had begun. Then its doors were closed and locked for years.

The proposed library was a mere shell on my first visit in 2016.

The Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for Archaeology of Israel library

How good to see the dream of an extensive collection of all archeological works become a reality in 2023.

The trees have grown and the interior spaces are now in use. Now I’d like to see the deep underground lower levels where the most valuable pieces are safely preserved.

At Safra Square, very different memories are preserved and shared.

Veteran Jerusalemites are featured on large posters on each side of the government plaza this summer. This couple born in Ethiopia says “To arrive in Jerusalem was the fulfillment of a dream.” There are other posters with similar positive statements.

Also this summer, there is ice skating to keep cool at First Station, and music in the garden of the National Library of Israel.

The food trucks are back this year at the Tayelet, on Tuesday – Thursday evenings.

The decades-old International Arts and Music Festival will return to the Sultan’s Pool, where summer concerts have begun at night and the Jerusalem Film Festival will open this week.

So, with our thoughts and prayers for the safety of hostages and IDF soldiers, we can drink l’chaim.

Jerusalem, Israel, has much happening to preserve the good times along with its history.