A brief day (Israel, Day 2)
Dec. 26th, 2008 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuToday at breakfast the kids started singing a Chanukah song, Sevivon Sov. They sang full-throated, until they got to the part which is different in Israel and the Diaspora. Video is in my Picasa album.
Then we went to the Israel Museum. The main exhibit halls are closed for extensive renovations, but there were a few key sights that were open and we wanted to see. As it turns out, on Chanukah, kids admission is free.
The kids were very excited by the large-scale model of Jerusalem in Second Temple times. (This is the model that used to be at the Holyland Hotel.)
City of David
Second Temple complex
Herod's Palace (remember the foundations from yesterday?)
Foreground: Heather and the kids. Midground, left: The model. Near background, right: The Shrine of the Book. Far background: The Knesset building
Heather and I were very excited by the Shrine of the Book. After I explained it to Tani, he also really got into it. We discussed who the Essenes were, and why these scroll fragments are so precious. I was also in awe when I went downstairs and was in the presence of the Aleppo Codex. Not a replica, not a facsimile, but the actual surviving pages of this most important book. (No photography was allowed in the Shrine of the Book.)
The sculpture garden was intriguing. A lot of modern sculpture leaves me checking that my wallet is still there, but some of the pieces there were very interesting.
The famous "Ahavah" sculpture by Robert Indiana, who also made "Love")
This sculpture itself didn't do much for me, but the geometry of the sculpture, the crane, and the building caught my eye.
This sculpture made me think of a fallen tree.
The entrance to an occulus called "Space that Sees", dug into the hill.
This one by Henry Moore reminded us of "Bronze Bunnies"
A Calder mobile
An Agam sculpture. It was like a mutant Chanukiyah. I loved it.
The kid-friendly building. Also, a found first-sound change.
The final exhibit that we saw, which also didn't allow photography, was a display of key documents from Israel's history. They had the Declaration of Independence, the armistice agreements that ended the War of Independence, the original of the 1977 peace treaty with Egypt, and, in a sadder vein, the page from Ilan Ramon's diary that had the Kiddush and the bloodstained copy of Shir Lashalom that was in Rabin's pocket when he was assassinated.
So I guess my takeaway from the morning is that it is very meaningful for me to be in the presence of actual documents of historical significance.
We then drove around Jerusalem's pre-Shabbat traffic jam, looking for a place to park so we could grab lunch. We eventually found a pizza place; the other patrons made me feel like we were in Brooklyn. Oh, well, it was food. I still want felafel.
And then we drove back to Efrat, and now we're getting ready for Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom, all!
Then we went to the Israel Museum. The main exhibit halls are closed for extensive renovations, but there were a few key sights that were open and we wanted to see. As it turns out, on Chanukah, kids admission is free.
The kids were very excited by the large-scale model of Jerusalem in Second Temple times. (This is the model that used to be at the Holyland Hotel.)
City of David
Second Temple complex
Herod's Palace (remember the foundations from yesterday?)
Foreground: Heather and the kids. Midground, left: The model. Near background, right: The Shrine of the Book. Far background: The Knesset building
Heather and I were very excited by the Shrine of the Book. After I explained it to Tani, he also really got into it. We discussed who the Essenes were, and why these scroll fragments are so precious. I was also in awe when I went downstairs and was in the presence of the Aleppo Codex. Not a replica, not a facsimile, but the actual surviving pages of this most important book. (No photography was allowed in the Shrine of the Book.)
The sculpture garden was intriguing. A lot of modern sculpture leaves me checking that my wallet is still there, but some of the pieces there were very interesting.
The famous "Ahavah" sculpture by Robert Indiana, who also made "Love")
This sculpture itself didn't do much for me, but the geometry of the sculpture, the crane, and the building caught my eye.
This sculpture made me think of a fallen tree.
The entrance to an occulus called "Space that Sees", dug into the hill.
This one by Henry Moore reminded us of "Bronze Bunnies"
A Calder mobile
An Agam sculpture. It was like a mutant Chanukiyah. I loved it.
The kid-friendly building. Also, a found first-sound change.
The final exhibit that we saw, which also didn't allow photography, was a display of key documents from Israel's history. They had the Declaration of Independence, the armistice agreements that ended the War of Independence, the original of the 1977 peace treaty with Egypt, and, in a sadder vein, the page from Ilan Ramon's diary that had the Kiddush and the bloodstained copy of Shir Lashalom that was in Rabin's pocket when he was assassinated.
So I guess my takeaway from the morning is that it is very meaningful for me to be in the presence of actual documents of historical significance.
We then drove around Jerusalem's pre-Shabbat traffic jam, looking for a place to park so we could grab lunch. We eventually found a pizza place; the other patrons made me feel like we were in Brooklyn. Oh, well, it was food. I still want felafel.
And then we drove back to Efrat, and now we're getting ready for Shabbat.
Shabbat Shalom, all!
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Date: 2008-12-28 05:37 am (UTC)