While in Tel Aviv, I visited The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. If you read my first post in Israel about the women I met in Israel and why they impressed me so much, it will make sense to why the visit to this museum is a fitting close to my time with Vibe Israel (the not-for-profit company I was travelling with on this tour). During my time in Israel, I discovered that its people and their lives are extremely diverse, however there is a strong undercurrent of resilience, industriousness, frankness and innovation. Along the same vein, the visit to The Museum of the Jewish People is a celebration of an undercurrent culture of resilience and purpose that I find fascinating.
I spent most of my time at the permanent exhibit, Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People. The exhibit displays the unique and ongoing 4,000 year-old story of the Jewish people – past, present and future. It celebrates a myriad of 144 Jewish heroes, including scientist, Albert Einstein, film director, Steven Spielberg, actress and singer, Barbra Streisand, courageous Anne Frank, and thinker, Sigmund Freud. There are also a variety of not-so-well-known individuals featured. These heroes inspire individuals to face weaknesses bravely, dare to think differently and work hard. The message is you don’t have to be a celebrity to be a hero, anyone can. In an interview with Haaretz, the museum Chief Curator Orit Shaham Gover explained,
We chose lots of people who used their brains, because we wanted children to understand that to be a hero you don’t need be a celebrity, but you do need to work hard.
The displays are extremely interactive and fun. The one I am in below celebrates the fighter pilot of World War II Lydia Litvjak, the first of two female fighter pilots who earned the title of fighter ace.
Athlete Esther Roth-Shahamorov was a BOSS on the track, and Amy here just smashed her attempt in the hurtle simulator.
As you can see, the exhibits are designed to be hands-on with puzzles, games, displays and quizzes. Great for kids.
Mark Spitz is a nine-time Olympic champion swimmer and Lynn is giving it her best shot.
It’s Albert!
A visit to the The Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv is well worth it. It celebrates the extensive 4,000 year history of Jewish people in a fun and engaging way. I think most of all, the museum celebrates all humans can be if they are willing to be brave, work hard and think outside of the box. These are messages for everyone.
I’ve included my Insta Stories clips in a very short video below:
Links
Read more about the museum here: The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
Read more about the permanent exhibit here: Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People
The 144 featured heroes
Athletes
- Mark Spitz
- Esther Roth-Shahamorov
- Agnes Keleti
- Max Baer
- Sandy Koufax
- Emanuel Lasker
- Judit Polgar
- Tal Brody
- Victor Perez
- Harold Abrahams
- Red Auerbach
Scientists
- Simcha Blass
- Ada Yonath
- Albert Einstein
- Lise Meitner
- Rosalind Franklin
- Serg Haroche
- Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
- Baruj Benacerraf
- Lev Landau
- Richard Feynman
- Niels Bohr
- John von Neumann
- Eldad Ha-Dani
- Gregory Pincus
- Jonas Salk
Cultural icons
- Moshe Safdie
- Enrico Macias
- Alber Elbaz
- Albert Memmi
- Patrick Modiano
- Claude Lelouch
- Gad Elmaleh
- Woody Allen
- Bob Dylan
- Barbra Streisand
- Frank Gehry
- Daniel Libeskind
- Ralph Lauren
- Diane Von Furstenberg
- Donna Karan
- Michael Kors
- Steven Spielberg
- Stan Lee
- Joel Coen
- Ethan Coen
- Jerry Seinfeld
- Gustav Mahler
- Ofra Haza
- Felix Mendelssohn
- Arik Einstein
- Shoshana Damari
- George Gershwin
- Saleh and Daoud Al-Kawity
- Habiba Msika
- Amedeo Modigliani
- Roy Lichtenstein
- Chaim Soutine
- Mark Rothko
- Jacob Abraham Camille Pissarro
- Marc Chagall
- Ibn Gabirol
- Shmuel Yosef Agnon
- Chaim Nachman Bialik
- Franz Kafka
- Shalom Aleichem
- Clarice Lispector
- Jacqueline Shohet Hahanoff
- Leah Goldberg
- Tristan Tzara
- Heinrich Heine
- Isaac Babel
- Gertrude Stein
- Nadine Gordimer
- Elias Canetti
- Yaqub Sanu
- Layla Murad
- Louis B. Mayer
- Esther Victoria Abraham
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Nora Ephron
- Dana International
- Erez Biton
- Souad Zaki
Thinkers
- Karl Marx
- Sigmund Freud
- Maimonides
- Ayn Rand
- Moses Mendelssohn
- Hannah Arendt
- Jacques Derrida
- Claude Levi-Strauss
- Martin Buber
- Joseph Caro
Revolutionaries
- Baruch Spinoza
- Theodor Herzl
- Baal Shem Tov
- Rosa Luxemburg
- Betty Friedan
- Leon Trotsky
- Ze’ev Jabotinsky
- Louis Brandeis
- Yitzhak Sadeh
- Eliezer Ben Yehuda
- Ovadia Yosef
Leaders
- Moses
- Judas Maccabeus
- King David
- David Ben-Gurion
- Shmuel Hanagid
- Joshua ben Nun
- Benjamin Disraeli
- Helen Suzman
- Yehudah Hanasi
- Henrietta Szold
Courageous Individuals
- Lydia Litvyak
- Sarah Aaronsohn
- Joseph Trumpeldor
- Samson
- Moshe Marzouk
- Shmuel Azar
- Alfred Dreyfus
- Leopold Trepper
- Nathan Elbaz
- Eli Cohen
- Jacob Antebi
- Mickey Marcus
- Bracha Fuld
- Hannah Szenes
- Anne Frank
Economics and business entrepreneurs
- Mayer Amschel Rothschild
- Sergey Brin
- Larry Page
- David Sassoon
- Dona Gracia Nasi
- Helena Rubinstein
- Mark Zuckerberg
- Levi Strauss
- Daniel Kahneman
- Marcus Goldman
- Gil Shwed
- Paul Julius Reuter
- Larry Ellison
- Milton Friedman
I was invited to Israel by not-for-profit organisation, Vibe Israel to share my experiences of the country. All opinions and story ideas are my own. Images by Sharni Sadicario. Read more posts from Israel here.
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