ANU – Museum of the Jewish People

Anu – Museum of the Jewish People is located in Tel Aviv, at the centre of the Tel Aviv University campus in Ramat Aviv. The Hebrew word Anu, or אנו, means 'we, us'. The museum, the largest Jewish museum in the world, was formerly known as Beit Hatfutsot (Museum of the Jewish Diaspora) and was the brainchild of Dr. Nahum Goldmann, founder and first president of the World Jewish Congress. Plans for a complete overhaul of Beit Hatfutsot began in 2007 and the museum underwent a decade-long, $100 million expansion. It reopened to the public as Anu in March 2021. Mister Handmade in Israel and I visited in April of this year.

Anu tells the ongoing story of the Jewish people, celebrating and exploring the experiences, accomplishments and spirit of the Jewish community from biblical times to the present day. The museum offers three floors of new exhibition galleries, a children's gallery and a rotating schedule of temporary exhibitions. 

The museum has some amazing displays, some of which are interactive. Our visit began on the third floor, which is named "A Mosaic - Modern Jewish Identity and Culture" and is devoted to exploring Jewish contributions to contemporary culture. Artifacts include a 1982 model of E.T. in the hall dedicated to Jewish contributions to Hollywood, the guitar Leonard Cohen played at his final concert in Israel in 2009, and a lace collar worn by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Digital interactive touch screens invite visitors to prepare the ingredients for Yemenite Jachnun and the Ethiopian flatbread Injera, among others recipes. The only thing missing was the smell of food cooking!

On the floor below, titled "The Journey - The Jewish Story Through Time", we learnt the story of the Jewish people from antiquity to the present day. This story recounts periods of growth, prosperity and flourishing cultural dialogue, but also times of pogroms and persecution. I found the poem above, in the section about the Holocaust, particularly moving.

The first floor, titled "Foundations - a Common Core, a Universal Message" presents the foundations of Judaism, including Jewish practice, beliefs and traditions, and the Bible and its influence on world culture. In May 2023 the Codex Sassoon 1053 was purchased on behalf of the American Friends of Anu for $38.1 million, making it one of the most expensive manuscripts ever sold. It is the oldest most complete Bible, containing all 24 books of the Tanakh, and is now displayed permanently on the "Foundations" floor of the museum. It is not every day that we get to see a book that is over 1,100 years old!

The world-renowned collection of Anu's synagogue models is displayed in the Synagogue Hall. The exhibition showcases 21 scale models of synagogues past and present from around the world, while a set of films invites visitors into different communities' Shabbat worship.

Another exhibition promotes Jewish humour. Mister Handmade in Israel spent, ahem, quite some time watching episodes of Seinfeld in the replica of Jerry's living room!

We ended our visit to the museum at the temporary exhibition "October Seventh". The exhibition curates works by 25 artists whose creative activity reflects the atrocious times Israeli society is facing since 7th October. Some of them are living artists, some deceased - either murdered on 7th October or fallen during the ongoing war. Others are residents (or former residents) of the southern areas, who suffered the loss of their loved ones, their homes, or whose families were affected by the horrors of the massacre.

In the days following the Hamas attacks of 7th October, Anu reacted immediately, inviting evacuees from the north and south into its Tel Aviv location, offering workshops and a space to just hang out. Then, when Orit Shaham-Gover, the museum's chief curator, was contacted by a relative of then-hostage Raz Ben Ami about her artwork (Ben Ami was released at the end of November while her husband, Ohad, remains a captive), she took a drive to get Ben Ami's works. Along with art by Inbar Heiman, known in the international graffiti artist community as Pink, who was murdered in Hamas captivity, and several others, she created an installation in the museum's lobby.

Anyone who walked through the doors of the museum saw those artists' works but Shaham-Gover felt it wasn't enough, and the exhibit, "October Seventh", was born. It will remain in place at Anu until at least 7th October this year.

The exhibition includes pieces by artists who experienced the 7th October attacks from both near and far, before and after 7th October. There is a work by Haim Maor about Kibbutz Be'eri resident and curator Sophie Berzon Mackie, as she sent out frantic messages about the terrorists in the kibbutz, which he later gathered into a kind of collage that focuses on her stress.

Leeor Shtainer mourns her two nieces killed at the Nova music festival, while directly across is the diary of Keren Shpilsher, who drew daily what she was watching on the screens and has filled six diaries so far.
There are drawings by Jonathan Chazor, a young soldier killed in Gaza. Perhaps the most painful is a lifelike picture of a dog that he drew on a school blackboard while fighting in Gaza. On another wall is the red-stained works by Ziva Jelin, Be'eri resident and artist, whose works were torn up by shrapnel during the Hamas onslaught.

There is also the vivid, striking video work of photographer Roee Idan, below, killed in one of the horrifying terrorist attacks of that morning near his home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza. His images were among some of the first that captured the attacks on that morning, as he photographed Hamas attackers flying through the air on motorized paragliders before being killed.

A playlist of songs to accompany the exhibit could be heard in the background, with works by Matti Caspi, Eviatar Banai, Idan Amedi, Shlomo Artzi and many others. Their tunes offer a different meaning and form of consolation after the attacks of 7th October.

Finally, a reel of photos played silently, showing soldiers fighting in the kibbutzim, the many funerals and burials, the rallies for the hostages and the faces of their family members.
"October Seventh" is a snapshot of how artists are responding to 7th October. It was a meaningful way to end our visit to Anu – Museum of the Jewish People.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Tuesday Turn About Link Party and My Corner of the World.

Flowers

We did very little during the Passover holiday. There isn't much to celebrate at the moment and anyway it was extremely hot for some of the days of Hol Hamoed, the five days between the first day of Passover and the last day. I had however booked tickets for "Flowers" in Tel Aviv, which was advertised as the largest flower exhibition in Israel. We went to a wonderful flower show in Haifa back in 2012 and I was intrigued to see how this new show would compare. It was cool inside the Expo Tel Aviv complex, where the exhibition took place, though unfortunately we were far from the only visitors! It seems that every Israeli thought to escape the warm weather too and let's just say it was rather crowded.

The "Flowers" displays were created using over two million flowers. Many of these were rare species not native to Israel and were specially imported for the event, along with flowers that were grown in Israel, including in the Gaza Envelope.

Each hall in the exhibition had a different theme. The first hall was the Tropical Hall. It featured floral monkeys, a huge yellow, red and white snake which towered above the crowds, and a peacock with a four metre long tail that stretched out on the floor like a colourful fan. The peacock was made up of a variety of flowers including scabious and lisianthus. Other animals included butterflies, a lion, a zebra and more. 

Next was the Hall of the Planets, which included the sun, the moon and the earth. The earth was woven with beautiful blue lobelia flowers, while the crescent shaped moon was designed using petunia and lobelia. The sun was created in yellow and orange, using bidens, marigolds and chrysanthemum. 

The Hall of Legends covered the world of fairy tales. Alice in Wonderland's tea party table, below, included beautiful tiered cakes and cupcakes sculpted with more than 4,500 flowers such as carnations, Belvedere rose, alstroemeria, Craspedia, orchids and more.

The Yellow Ribbon is a symbol of hope and solidarity, expressing support for bringing home the hostages. More than 250 hostages were taken captive by Hamas following the 7th October terrorist attack. Since the hostage deal between Israel-Hamas in November 2023, 125 remain in captivity.

I wasn't a fan of the next exhibit, the magical Swan Lake. Ten swans covered with 5,000 chrysanthemum and white alstroemeria, which were grown especially for the exhibition, swam on a huge lake. Unfortunately they looked more like little fat ducks than swans to me! I have not included a photo.

The finale of the exhibition was a giant chessboard. The game pieces included a green knight decorated in pink at the base and with a mane made of amaranth flowers. The queen had a green base with 3 rings shaped like crowns, above, all made of alstroemeria flowers, scabiosa and orchid branches. The height of the chess pieces ranged from 2 to 2.5 metres.

How did the exhibition compare to the one we had seen in Haifa all those years ago? There were way too many people inside the buildings, making it impossible to see the flowers properly. While some of the displays were impressive, it was hard to enjoy them while jostling with the crowds. More attention should have been paid to entry times and the number of entrants should have been limited. In addition signage was poor. I would have liked to have read more about the flowers and the meaning of each piece, though frankly I could barely see the signs that were there anyway!

But, the flowers were beautiful, and that's what mattered. With everything going on in Israel today, it was nice to escape into the cool halls for a couple of hours to enjoy the beauty of the displays.

* This post has been shared on Sundays on Silverado, The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), My Corner of the World and Floral Friday Fotos.

Bring Them Home Now!

These are certainly not the prettiest photos I will ever share on my blog. They aren't of birds or flowers, ancient ruins or even my work. After a long break, I have started to share my art here once again, but it was bothering me that Israel is at war and I haven't mentioned it nearly enough.

Since losing Gadi, I have not gone back to my usual hiking or visiting art galleries but, in recent weeks, I did make time to visit Kikar Hatufim (Hostage Square) and "Nova 6.29", an exhibition which recreates the Nova music festival site, in Tel Aviv. I hope those of you who are more used to visiting this blog to read about my paper art will indulge me and take a few minutes to learn about these important installations.

On Saturday 7th October Hamas began a coordinated surprise offensive on Israel. The attack began in the early morning with a barrage of at least 3,000 rockets launched from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. One of the rockets reached the city that I live in. In parallel, some 2,500 Palestinian terrorists breached the Gaza-Israel barrier and massacred civilians in neighbouring Israeli communities. At least 1,200 Israelis were massacred, including residents of eight kibbutzim in southern Israel. That number includes 364 young people at the Nova music festival. In addition roughly 240 unarmed civilian hostages and captured Israeli soldiers were taken to the Gaza Strip, including women, young children, Holocaust survivors and babies. This was the largest sustained slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

Since that horrific day, the square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art has been transformed into Kikar Hatufim (Hostage Square). In the square there are pop-up art installations, posters, signs and messages left by visitors. Numerous tents commemorating each of the kibbutz communities destroyed on 7th October are manned by families of the kidnapped who are holding 24/7 vigils.
The yellow brick road, above, is made up of handwritten messages intended to lead the hostages home. The empty Shabbat table (top photo), is an installation that has been replicated in communities around the world. The long, empty table with place settings and yellow decorations, symbolizes the hostages that have been held in captivity in Gaza since Israel was attacked by Hamas. Posters with the names, ages and photos of the hostages are also displayed on the table.

Gatherings take place every night at Kikar Hatufim. It has become a space for meditation, reflection, song and prayer.

The "Nova 6.29" exhibition at the Tel Aviv Expo is named for the exact hour on 7th October when rockets began falling on the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re'im. More than 3,000 people were at the festival that began on Friday night 6th October and was meant to last into the afternoon of 7th October. As rockets began falling early that morning, the partygoers were still dancing, and at first didn't realize that hundreds of Hamas terrorists, who arrived on gliders and mopeds, were launching an assault. The attackers shot and killed some 364 people and assaulted and abducted dozens more.

The exhibition includes hundreds of items retrieved from the site of the festival, from stage props and sets, to personal items brought by partygoers that weekend. Visitors navigate their way through scattered tents and sleeping bags, rolled-up yoga mats, water bottles and camping chairs lying on their sides. In the background, trance music plays on the neon dance floor and oversize video screens show the faces of the DJs and dancers, as well as screenshots of WhatsApp messages sent as people began realizing that an assault was taking place and hurried to alert their families.

Other artifacts on display are the bar adorned with untouched bottles and a row of yellow bullet-riddled toilet cubicles, below. Hamas terrorists aimed their guns at any space where someone may have been hiding. Skeletons of burned out cars are testament to the attempted flight of hundreds of people who were mown down by the terrorists.

Toward the end of the exhibition is perhaps the most harrowing and painful section, "Lost and Found," with rows of shoes and sunglasses, hats and deodorants, hair clips and house keys, most destined never to be reunited with their owners. Families of victims and abductees are invited to help identify and reclaim personal belongings.
As visitors take their leave, a long, rolling screen shows portraits of all the 364 partygoers who were gunned down that day, as the song, "Shomer Yisrael" ("Guardian of Israel"), plays in a loop.

"Nova 6.29" gives us a sense of the horror that occurred on 7th October and at the same time, honours the victims and helps the survivors grieve. The world needs to see it.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Travel Tuesday and My Corner of the World.