ANU Jewish Museum in Tel Aviv

ANU – The Museum of the Jewish People (that was known as “Beit Hatfutsot” until its renovation and reopening in 2021) is located on the campus of Tel Aviv University.

The museum, founded in 1978, deals with Jewish people and identity and promotes multiculturalism and diversity in the Jewish people. This unique global institution tells the ongoing and extraordinary story of the Jewish People and aims to connect Jewish people to their roots and strengthen their personal and collective Jewish identity. It was the vision of Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress 1954-1977.

In 2005, the Israeli Knesset passed the Beit Hatfutsot Law that defines the museum as “the National Center for Jewish communities in Israel and around the world”.

In March 2021, after ten years of thorough planning and renovation (and more than $100M spent), the museum reopened to visitors under its updated name “ANU – The Museum of the Jewish People”. Three floors and four new wings have been added to the museum. The museum’s “new name and its new brand identity add “ANU” — Hebrew for “we”— to embrace inclusion and reflect the diversity and collective spirit of the Jewish people everywhere” said 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. The museum will serve as a beacon of Jewish identity and culture, celebrating our unique history and future.”

And it was well worth the wait. In the museum, four spectacular wings tell the story of the Jewish people, with a fascinating journey that portrays the story of the Jewish people through the generations and up to the present time. The Museum represents all parts of the Jewish people and highlights the creative works and cultural riches of a variety of communities in different periods of history. This story is about all of us and each and every one of us is part of it.

ANU – Museum of the Jewish People building exterior *(Photo by ANU Museum marketing department)*

The Museum Wings and Centers

The museum allows visitors to learn more about the Jewish experience through a number of access points. Onsite, the museum offers four wings of exhibitions, including 3 floors of new exhibition galleries, a children’s gallery, a rotating schedule of temporary exhibitions and related programs, conferences, and workshops.

The four wings in the museum are:

The Mosaic – The story begins in the present. The incredible diversity of the expressions of Jewish identity and culture enables each and every one of us to find something of ourselves here. The folklore and the arts, the language and the literature, the different denominations in Judaism, and the Jewish contribution to humanity – all these are manifestations of multifaceted Jewish identity and culture, whether individual or collective.

The Journey – This is the unique and ongoing story of the Jewish people, from ancient times up to the present. In it, you can find chapters of growth, prosperity, and cultural dialog, alongside periods of pogroms and persecutions. The journey, which extends over thousands of years, begins with the story of the Jewish migrations, examines the large centers of Jewish life as well as Jewish culture and scholarship, and ends with the rebirth of the Jewish people after the Holocaust, the establishment of the State of Israel, and a depiction of various Jewish communities in our times.

The Foundations – The ideological foundations on which Jewish existence has been built over the years – are foundations that have both a particular-Jewish dimension as well as a general-universal dimension that has bearing on human civilization as a whole. The unique foundations include the Sabbath, the covenant, the cycle of the year, and milestones in human life. The universal foundations are exemplified by the Bible and its impact on cultures around the world.

The Synagogue Wing – 21 models of synagogues from then until today, illuminate the life of the various communities over the years, along with ceremonial or original items of the synagogue or community represented by it.

The museum’s databases house searchable archives of photos, films, music, genealogy (family trees), and family names, all related to the Jews and Jewish history. Compiled over almost four decades, these databases are now fully digitized and available both onsite and online. The museum also offers formal and informal educational activities for teachers and students, at the museum or for use in schools around the world.

The museum has about 600 items related to Jewish art and creation. Among them are Stanley Kubrick’s screenplay for his film “Odyssey in Space”, the guitars of Leonard Bernstein and rocker Gene Simmons (Haim Weitz) from the rock band Kiss, the collar of American Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the typewriter of Yitzhak Bashevis Singer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the original script of the film “Givat Halfon does not answer” and the original handwriting of Naomi Shemer for the song “Lou Yehi”.