Museum of Memories

Posting pictures, like the ones in this post, cause me to wonder if I really should have two (three including Eye of the Storm) active blogs. I took a lot of pictures the other day in the Israel Museum and uploading a few to photobucket. Now is the time to blog about them and the visit, but on which blog? A dilemma for sure. I also have yesterday's Women's Prayer Meeting at Tel Shiloh to blog about, so that and its pictures will go on Shiloh Musings, and the Israel Museum will be here.

Before I write about the specifics of the visit and the museum, I'm going to mention a different type of dilemma. While I walked through the crowds in the Youth Wing, I noticed a young mother in a wheel chair. Immediately I recognized her. I had seen a documentary about her on TV. She discovered that she was suffering from a condition, ALS-Lou Gehrig's (or something similar,) soon after her wedding. Even though she was soon restricted to a wheel chair, she and her husband decided to have children. The doctors were terrified, since they had no idea if she'd survive or not. B"H she did, and I know it was her in the Museum with her kids, smiling in her state of the art electric wheel chair. I debated walking over and saying:

"I saw the program about you on TV; actually, I saw it twice."

But I didn't. I smiled and looked her straight in the eyes when I passed. She was there to be a "regular mother," and I felt that her kids didn't need to see her as a "celebrity." No "avoidance" which many handicapped find upsetting. Her story is quite amazing. She's amazing for sure and not stupid, not at all. I trust she got my silent message:

"I know who you are, but I'm not going to disturb your time with your family."

On my way to the museum I passed a protest tent, davka, the Handicapped Protest.




They're complaining that they aren't given enough government money to live with dignity and the expensive technology which would help them. This woman is lucky. She is from a high income family, but I remember that she, too, complained that the government kept trying to take away certain benefits. Once she began working, they wanted her to pay for the care and technology she needs from her own money, even though no normal income could cover the expenses. Government policy encourages unemployment of the handicapped, rather than helping them get out and work.

Before we moved to Shiloh, 27 years ago, I used to go to the Israel Museum a lot with our daughters. The older ones took lots of classes there, and we went to all sorts of Youth Wing events, concerts and children's theater. Even after moving to Shiloh, we kept up family membership and went there during school vacations. But recently, the past twenty years, I've rarely gone there. Now, one of my daughters, who took classes as a young child, works there, and I met her for lunch. Taking advantage, I entered my old refuge.


There's lots of construction going on. The main building of the Israel Museum is closed, but what remains to see is more than I remember from thirty-five years ago. The Youth Wing is active and busy, with an exhibit about "how people lived here in the 1950's."




Some of the things on display were still in everyday use in the 1970's. I used them.








For decades, there was a model of Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period in the Holyland Hotel. It's now on display at the museum.






There's also the excellent exhibit Orphaned Art: Looted Art from the Holocaust, which is closing soon. I enjoyed Real Time: Art in Israel 1998–2008 less. It was too much "performance" and not enough "art."

On the whole, I still love that Museum.