In late May when I visited Israel, I had the opportunity to visit two museums: Tel Aviv Museum and Israel Museum. Enjoyed both. This post is a review of those visits, and then some questions for readers about museum visiting.
Tel Aviv Museum
If you like 20th century art and/or you are interested in the history of the modern State of Israel, the Tel Aviv Museum has collections of artists from the pre-State era to contemporary times. When we (I went with Hannah Katsman) visited in late May, there was an exhibit of paintings by Angelica Schatz, the estranged daughter of the founder of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. She had a difficult life; she was Boris Schatz’s daughter by his first marriage, and his first wife took Angelica with her when she left Boris for another man. Her paintings were influenced by European painters of the 20th century. Angelica moved to Israel after her father’s death; she never really knew him.
A huge benefit of the Tel Aviv Museum that the Israel Museum did not have was the TA Museum has free wifi. So I was able to read about the exhibits online as we viewed them. Free wifi is a big plus for a museum.
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum is located in the center of west Jerusalem. It has more variety than the Tel Aviv Museum, and it is close to the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament building).
If you like studying prehistoric times or the times of the Tanach (the Jewish bible – stands for Torah – Neviim (Prophets) – Ketuvim (Writings)), the Israel Museum has a lot to offer. I remember seeing the bones of a woman from – how long ago? There are also exhibits of Judaica from around the world, such as the sukkah from Cochin, Southern India that was dis-assembled and re-assembled in the museum. There was a special exhibit about Herod, but as there was so much to see in the regular exhibits, we felt no need to wait online for the special exhibit. As I am using the Israel Museum website to research this post, I will add it could use some better details of regular exhibits and better navigation. It took me a while to find information about the sukkah from Cochin.
hallway inside the Israel Museum
The previous time I had been in the Israel Museum was in 1980 – the museum has grown a lot since then. What I remembered from 1980 was the sculpture garden. Unfortunately, the link on the website for the Billy Rose Art Garden gives an error. A big #Fail on this museum website! I had done some drawings in 1980 in the sculpture garden, in particular one of a woman fallen (Isha Nofelet). I can’t find anything about this sculpture in the excellent Wikimedia page on the garden. Here is one photo of part of the sculpture garden:
I would probably review the exhibits on the museum’s website the night before, to know what to expect, to make better choices and to get an idea about the details of the exhibits. When you are going to a museum with another person, each of you has your own ideas about what is worth seeing. If you know in advance you want to see or linger in a certain collection, it’s easier to say so if you have more information about the exhibits.
Tell us your experience with museums.
What is your favorite museum? Best features? Why would you recommend a museum?
The Jerusalem Chords Bridge was completed in 2008. It is part of the city’s new lightrail system, located close to the central bus station. The bridge is a modern take on the ancient David’s harp. The bridge was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.
The photo above is near the central bus station in Jerusalem, taken in May 2013. My cousin told me there will soon be a fast train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem that will stop near here – but unfortunately, it won’t go through Beit Shemesh, where my cousins live (they do have a slow train from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem that stops in Beit Shemesh). I have more photos of the light rail and section of Jerusalem near the central bus station as well as the Ben Yehudah mall. Hope to show you in an upcoming post.
Thursday Challenge is HARD (Stone, Steel, Cement, Glass, Durable, Difficult,…).
Not far from the home of my friend in Maalot Israel is a little forest. One can see flowers such as the blue globe thistle, Echinops adenocaulos – קיפודן מצוי.
Ma’alot is a city built on hill. My friend’s home has lovely views from her back deck and from the nearby forest. You can see there are lots of trees in the valleys and neighboring hills and villages on the far hills.
I have no idea what species is this big bird on a wire (a crow?). But he was bigger than the pigeons, sparrows or doves that I saw. All the birds I saw on my Israel trip were brown, gray or black – none were brightly colorful. I did look up a few birds from the Hula Valley and found some colorful ones shown.
In addition to featuring this buttercup on this Ma’alot Israel Flowers post, I saw buttercups on Mount Meron (Ranunculaceae, נורית).
I believe these large white bouquet-like flowers are Queen Anne’s Lace.
From the deck of my friend’s house, I could see sparrows, mourning doves and pigeons. I saw what may have been swallows flying above, but I wasn’t quite sure. Do you see the little sparrow in the large palm tree? I told my friend her back deck would be a lovely spot for birdwatching, and she offered for me to stay a few months to make my observations. Maybe one day I will take her up on her offer.
Here is a mourning dove hanging out on some sort of gadget. I don’t see these often in New Jersey, but I have seen them a fair amount in Israel. On my trip to Israel five years ago, I believe I incorrectly identified this bird as a pigeon (it’s a mourning dove). I’ve learned a bit about birds since then – I hope to have the opportunity to learn more.
When I was in Beit Shemesh, Israel, I saw some beautiful trees with purple blooms. I saw them again in Naharia, a northern beach town in the Galil. The jacaranda blooms above are in Naharia. Then I visited Ma’alot, and I was pleasantly surprised by yet more jacaranda blooms.
According to this Flowers in Israel post, jacaranda trees are originally from South America. Looks like the Hebrew name is סיגלון.
Derivation of the botanical name: Jacaranda, a Brazilian vernacular name. acutifolia, with pointed leaves. mimosifolia, with leaves like genus Mimosa.
The Blue Jacaranda has been cultivated in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost; established trees can however tolerate brief spells of temperatures down to around −7°C (20°F). In the USA, 30 miles east of Los Angeles where winter temps can dip to 10 degrees F (-12 C) for short several-hour periods, the mature tree survives with little or no visible damage.
This jacaranda tree (above and below) was photographed in Ma’alot, Israel. Ma’alot is about twenty minutes inland from Nahariya, Israel.
The name may be Blue Jacaranda, but I think those blooms are purple. How about you? Do you think this is some botanist’s desire to see blue in nature?
Today is a fast day on the Jewish calendar: Shiva Assur B’Tammuz (the 17th Day of the Month of Tammuz). I have been planning to post some nature notes of jacandra tree blooms and other nature in the Galil, but that will wait until next week. Above is a photo I took when I was in Jerusalem last month. The photo (near the main bus station) shows an example of the mix of architecture in Jerusalem, although if you really want to see the old, old of Jerusalem, visit my post on the City of David. Other posts on Jerusalem: Jerusalem Day and Jerusalem in Ruins.
What happened on the 17th of Tammuz? According to this Chabad article, there were five tragic events on this day, but I will mention this one:
The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av.)
I’m going to re-post my watercolor from 2011 – you can learn more about its significance on the post Fox in Ruins.
This is no ordinary cactus – it is a sabra plant. We continued our journey up beyond the village of Meron and into an area above that had caves, rocks and flowers. I photographed this large green cactus, and my friend informed me that it is a sabra. Native born Israelis are referred to as sabras, because like the plant, they are supposed to be prickly on the outside and sweet on the inside.
Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) that are armed with two kinds of spines; large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids, that easily penetrate skin and detach from the plant. Many types of prickly pears grow into dense, tangled structures.
The Hebrew word for the cactus fig is tsabar, “similar to and derived from the Arabic ‘صبار ṣubbār’.” It is reportedly also used as fencing. Have you ever eaten a sabra fruit?
As this lovely little kalanit plant was growing near the sabra, I’m sharing it as well in this post. To see more of those red poppy anemones, visit my post on my hike on the Peak Trail of Mount Meron.
The bands of cloth and plastic on this tree at Meiron seem to symbolize some kind of good luck.
Meron, Israel: or is it Meiron, Israel? In any case, for many, when you say Meron, one thinks of the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai lived way back in first century of the common era. That was the period when the Galil first became famous. The middle part of Israel, where Jerusalem is located, was no longer a safe place for rabbis and other practicing Jews due to the growing strength of the Romans. So the Galil became home to many of these rabbis. My cousin (who has lived in the Galil for about forty years) once said, quoting someone else, what is there to visit in the Galil? Caves and graves. If you visit Meron, you can find both.
Do not visit the grave of Shimon Bar Yohai on Lag B’Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer). Unless you like crowds. Of course, it was well after Lag B’Omer when my friend and I visited. The area itself wasn’t terribly crowded, but when you go inside the room with the tombs, there were quite a few people. And I’ve been told that the yeshiva in Meron closed down the week before Lag B’Omer, and security takes over the yeshiva. People camp out all over the area. But as I said, it was not Lag B’Omer, so when we decided to explore the area above the houses and buildings, we had the rocks, trees and flowers all to ourselves.
When you drive up to the village of Meron, there is lovely little shop on the right. The name of the store is something like shizeefon or little prune. And that’s what they sell! Oh, and all sorts of dried fruits and nuts, but the specialty is the prunes. I bought a nice gift to bring back to our hostess in Beit Shemesh.
Pictured above is the building that houses the grave. As it is at other religious sites in Israel, there are separate entrances for men and women. My friend suggested I prepare some change in case someone asks for money, and I gave all my change away to the first requester. It turns out there were several people here asking for money (by the way, if you go to the old city in Jerusalem, it is a good idea to have spare change available – lots of needy asking there as well. You can give U.S. money, if that’s what you happen to have). The biggest words on the sign say “In Modest Dress” – so I always bring a light cotton sweater to wear on top of my t-shirt. I wear skirts almost all the time anyway.
I didn’t take any photos inside the room with the tombs (his son Eleazer is buried here as well). I had to put away my persona as tourist and switch into religious mode – it seems what one does here is say tehillim or psalms. Others were praying Shaharit, the morning prayer.
I took photos of nature on our hike above the village, but I will save those for another post. You can visit my post of flora of Mount Meron. Meanwhile, if you have photos of Jewish subject matter on your blog, there will be an edition of JPiX, the Jewish Photo Bloggers Carnival, posted on this blog on June 30th. You can submit posts to JPiX using the form on the JPiX page.
I had fun looking out the window (and standing on the balcony) from the apartment where we stayed in Beit Shemesh, Israel. Beit Shemesh seems to be a combination of urban with rural. I heard roosters crying on my first morning in Israel – they were up at 4 am. Watching birds in Beit Shemesh is not as exciting as watching them in the Hula Valley or in Eilat, but I enjoyed the show.
The sparrows don’t look that different than our sparrows in New Jersey.
This photo of pigeons on a roof can give you a bit of an idea of how the urban buildings are right next to the rural countryside.
Oooh, I got this pigeon in flight!
I got to see this etrog on a tree in my friend’s backyard. It’s too bad I didn’t have a chance to take photos from her balcony – she lives on top of a high hill in Beit Shemesh, so you can see all around from up high.
I think this is the edge of Ramat Beit Shemesh. There are several sections to the city – it’s grown a lot in the past twenty years.
From this photo of apartment buildings, you can see what I mean by urban.
I believe this is where the roosters live, right outside Beit Shemesh in this farm.
My friend who lives in the Galil took me on the peak trail of Mount Meron in the northern part of Israel last week. I was thrilled to be greeted with these red anemones aka poppy anemone, known in Hebrew as kalanit (singular poppy). I thought they bloomed earlier, but she explained that Meron is up high, so the poppies bloom in May. What a treat! There were plenty of flora of Mount Meron in bloom.
Here is a sign for the peak trail on Mount Meron. We parked toward the top of the mountain, then we hiked around the mountain.
The views on Mount Meron are breathtaking. There was a bit of a haze, which my friend said is unusual. The skies are typically quite clear in late May.
I am guessing that these beautiful yellow flowers with insects on them are nurit (singular) in Hebrew – maybe ranunculus asiaticus in Latin. The English name might be asiatic buttercup.
Here’s how those yellow flowers were growing, in a great yellow bunch.
Thistles of various types are common in Israel; I suppose they do well in dry, hot climates.
A brown and white butterfly landed on this thistle.
This aster-like flower with light blue petals I’m guessing is a chicory flower. See: cichorium endivia
I will finish up with another view from Mount Meron. Mount Meron is known for the grave of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai. We visited the tomb site and surrounding village – that is a topic for another post.
