The Jewish Diaspora Museum

If you want to experience Jewish history at its finest, make sure your Jewish Israel tour takes time to explore the Jewish Diaspora's Nahum Goldmann Museum, which covers Jewish history from the exile 2600 years ago after the destruction of the First Temple to today. The Jewish Diaspora Museum has six "gates" or themes that serve to give enlighten its visitors about Jewish culture and history. The six "gates are Family, Community, Faith, Culture, Jewish people among the nations and the return to Israel. The displays are not chronological and the majority of artifacts are not priceless pieces like most museums, however, they are replicas that accurately and effectively delve into Jewish life across time-the Gate of Family features Jewish faces across the globe, the Gate of Community shows models of community institutions worldwide, the Gate of Faith has models of 18 synagogues, the Gate of Culture provides an overview of art, education and languages, etc. One particular section you may enjoy in the Jewish Diaspora Museum while on a Jewish Israel tour is the "Among the Nations" section, which focuses on the ties between Jews and the religions of other cultures. The Return to Zion, another interesting section, explains Zionism and how it affects Jewish families. A more sobering feature, a memorial column stands along the stairs that go from level to level, which highlights some of the darker parts of Jewish history. If you would like a more chronological timeline for reference, the Chronosphere provides a theater presentation that goes through Jewish history from beginning to end. Visitors can end their stopping by the Jewish Genealogy Center where they can look up their family names, learn their places of origin and receive a print-out as a souvenir.