Anu – Museum of the Jewish People

About

Anu – Museum of the Jewish People (stylized ANU), formerly the Nahum Goldmann Museum of the Jewish Diaspora, is located in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the center of the Tel Aviv University campus opposite Ramat Aviv. The Hebrew Anu אנו means 'we, us'. Anu – Museum of the Jewish People is an institution telling the ongoing story of the Jewish people. Re-opened to the public on March 10, 2021, the museum presents the history and cultural development of the Jewish people from antiquity to the present. The museum presents exhibitions addressing Jewish culture, religion, and history. The $100 million expanded museum, which replaces Beit Hatfutsot – The Museum of the Jewish People (Hebrew: בית התפוצות, "The Diaspora House" or "Beit Hatfutsot"), was designed and built over 10 years. It was funded by the State of Israel, the Nadav Foundation, and private philanthropy. As a first step in the renewal process, the museum added a new wing in 2016 with rotating temporary exhibitions, the Alfred H. Moses and Family Synagogue Hall featuring synagogue scale models, and Heroes – Trailblazers of the Jewish People, a children's interactive exhibition. The museum's new name and "its new brand identity adds 'ANU' – Hebrew for 'we' – to embrace inclusion and reflect the diversity and collective spirit of the Jewish people everywhere", according to Museum Board Chair Irina Nevzlin. "It is a privilege to realize the transformation of this institution, which now becomes the largest and most comprehensive Jewish museum in the world."

In 1959, Nahum Goldmann, the founder and president of the World Jewish Congress, proposed a museum that would serve as an educational and cultural center for world Jewry about the experiences of the people of the Jewish diaspora over the preceding thousands of years, including how families lived, how holidays were celebrated and interactions with the world at large. The institute in Israel was named in honor of Goldmann. Abba Kovner, one of the founders of the museum, proposed the original concept of the museum's permanent core exhibition. It was based on a thematic principle, representing Jewish history and continuity, according to six themes, or "gates" that portray central aspects of Jewish life: family, community, faith, culture, existence and return. Among the founders of the museum, Jeshajahu Weinberg served as the museum's first director from 1978 to 1984; Meyer Weisgal was its first president. ANU – Museum of the Jewish People opened on May 15, 1978, under the name "Museum of the Jewish Diaspora". Its exhibitions were based on reconstructions and sets, using modern audiovisual and state-of-the-art computer technology to explore topics and themes throughout the museum. This methodology reflected contemporary museological approaches emphasizing narrative presentation. Its designers deliberately chose not to follow the tradition that museums exist first in order to acquire, care for and display objects from the past. Government budget cuts and a decline in Israeli tourism triggered a budget crisis at the museum. A number of public representatives devoted themselves to saving the museum, among them Shlomo Lahat, former mayor of Tel Aviv, and Ariel Sharon, former prime minister. In 2005, the Israeli Knesset passed the Beit Hatfutsot Law that defines Beit Hatfutsot as "the National Center for Jewish Communities in Israel and around the world". A recovery plan was enacted with two partners: the Israeli government and donor Leonid Nevzlin (NADAV Foundation), with a grant from the Claims Conference.

The museum includes several exhibition wings and digital resources. Onsite, the museum offers four wings of exhibitions, including three floors of new exhibition galleries, a children's gallery, and a rotating schedule of temporary exhibitions and related programs as well as conferences and workshops. The museum's databases house searchable archives of photos, films, music, genealogy, and family names, all related to the Jews and their history. Compiled over almost four decades, these databases are fully digitized and available both onsite and online. The museum also offers formal and informal educational activities for teachers and students, both at the museum and for use in classrooms around the world. The three new galleries opened in March 2021, tripling the exhibition space to 72,000 square feet (6,700 m2), and were part of a $100 million effort to tell the story of 4,000 years of Jewish history under the name "Anu" (Hebrew: אנו), a Hebrew language word meaning "we".

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.