As befits
Israel’s capital city, Jerusalem is home to a great variety of museums, large
and small. Going into Google, we found a
list of 33, some of which we hadn’t even heard. We already have the unknown
ones in mind for visits later in the year and, if they are of sufficient
interest, as subjects for future articles.
THE BIBLE LANDS MUSEUM
The Bible
Lands Museum, which is across the road from the well-known, recently modernized
and re-built Israel Museum, is at present celebrating its 20th
anniversary by displaying a magnificent exhibition entitled Pure Gold. This
amazing exhibition shows what an important part gold plays in the history of
the Jewish people, in the Bible it is mentioned more than any other metal, in
fact 385 times. The Hebrew language
contains many phrases and expressions for the word gold which are used
to express abundance, goodness, quality and beauty. There are a large and
varied number of exquisite objects in this exhibition, including some of the
oldest golden objects in the world. Much of the jewellery, mostly from Greece
and Rome are designs that women would happily wear today, although maybe not
some of the earrings which look as if their weight might do serious damage to
ones’ ear lobes. There are Estrucan
fibulae (pins), belt buckles worn by soldiers in ancient China, delicate golden
wreaths dedicated to pagan gods and goddesses, straps made of miniscule golden
threads and several examples of a sophisticated type of gold-work called granulation.
Of particular interest to us was an
amulet that once belonged to a young Jewish woman called Klara who lived about
1,400 years ago and when about to give birth, felt the need of a good luck
charm. The amulet consists of a spell inscribed inside a band of thin gold
which she would have rolled up and worn next to her body. We hoped, as we looked at it, that it ensured
her an easy labour and the birth of a healthy baby. This exhibition warrants more than one visit
as watching all the fascinating videos dotted around the exhibition, which
explain different methods of making and fashioning gold could take several
hours.
A WORLD APART NEXT DOOR
On the
other side of the road, in the Israel Museum, is a completely different kind of
exhibition, with the above title, followed by the explanation, A glimpse into the life of Hasidic Jews. Through
photographs, films, music and exhibits of clothing and ritual objects it
highlights a Hasidic culture that few of us know about. The Exhibition endeavours to give the visitor
a glimpse into this rich social and spiritual, but, to us bizarre, way of life,
which revolves around its spiritual leader, the Rebbe. The rather sad
impression that we were left with was that the men had much the better time of
it in this environment, always seen at various weddings and celebrations,
drinking, singing and dancing, while their wives were shown, drably dressed and
huddled together, watching the proceedings from a distance. Our hearts went out to the young, heavily
veiled bride, shown in one film, who was being led blindly round and round a
dance floor on a ribbon (reminiscent of a dog on a lead) by her famous rebbe
father, in front of hundreds of watching Hasidic men. It is indeed strange to think that in
Jerusalem, we exist side by side with this branch of Judaism and yet know so
little about it. This exhibition aims to
enlighten the public but it still left us with our minds full of questions.
