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In Hebrew, the word is anu, a derivative of the word "we."
Rarely does one shed a tear going to a museum. The last time this happened to me is when I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
It was nearly another tearful moment while visiting Anu, the Museum of the Jewish People in North Tel Aviv, Israel.
The three-floor museum is a study in modern museum presentation and management.
Visitors start on the third floor and work their way down. The top level is described as a mosaic of modern Jewish identity and culture. Included on this floor are issues of communities and boundaries, folklore, music, and women trailblazers. All of it, throughout the museum, was presented with film, special effects, displays, and other fascinating eye-catching presentations.
The second floor is the journey of the Jewish history through time. The visitor first confronts an Imax type of experience with a multitude of curved screens which are matched by action movements on the floor which extends in front of the screen. Fascinating to both children and adults, Jewish history is related from biblical times to the present.
The second floor traces the journey of the Jewish people from what is essentially one genocide after another. The Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians each attempted to murder and eradicate the people of Israel. Jews sought refuge in countries around the world, with one of the first and most formidable Jewish settlements arising after the Roman murder of well over a million Jews in Israel.
The Jews fought the Romans in three successive wars, seeking their independence and freedom of worship. This the Romans would not have.
In Europe, the Jews first settled in Spain and France, where they built robust and religious communities. By the 11th Century, those magnificent centers of Jewish learning and education faced destruction from the Church. The Jews did not have it easy in Muslim Spain or a pre-Christian France, but the fundamentalism of the Crusaders was a death sentence for the Jewish communities in Western Europe.
The first organized genocide against the Jewish people in Europe actually occurred in England at the start of the First Crusade. Every Jew in London and York was murdered.
The museum traces the movement of Jews to Eastern Europe, where initially they were invited by various princes and noblemen from Poland, Russia, and the like. Those communities were poor and barely hung on, although their traditions and religious fidelity were strong.
World War II and the great Holocaust eliminated the rest of Jewry in Europe, especially in the east.
The United States was presented as a bright spot in the history of Jewish people. Jews have always been very proud of George Washington's famous letter to the Jewish congregation in Rhode Island. The congregants enthusiastically congratulated Washington on his election as first President of the United States. He responded with words still read in many Jewish congregations on Washington's birthday:
It is no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoys the exercise of their inherent natural rights.
The letter goes on to indicate that in the United States there would be no persecution and all those who live in the new United States will receive the protection to which "good citizens" are entitled. Specifically, the Jewish people were promised safety and peace.
Perhaps the most quotable writer, when it comes to the history and legacy of the Jewish people, was none other than the Russian author, Leo Tolstoy. He wrote:
The Jew is the emblem of eternity. He whom neither slaughtered nor tortured could destroy, he who neither fire nor sword nor inquisition was able to wipe off the face of the earth, he who was the first to produce the oracles of G-d, he who has been for so long the guardian of the prophecy, and who transmitted it to the rest of mankind - such a nation cannot be destroyed.
The first floor of the museum, where the self-guided tour ends, consisted of information and dioramas about synagogues throughout the world.
The museum was full of people of all descriptions. It was noticeable that there were large groups of newly inducted soldiers, especially Ethiopians. The groups were being given lectures by more senior officers about the history of the Jewish people. In the Israeli Army, inductees should know what they are fighting for.
I cannot help but wonder how our nation would be different today if we had universal mandatory public service and if our inductees began their basic training with a course on American History. We might very well have different attitudes towards our nation and the world if we educated our soldiers. What the young people do not know about American history is terrifying. At least, with respect to new inductees, we have an opportunity to teach the American story.
We could learn a lot in the United States by understanding the pride and historical significance of the message conveyed by the Anu, Museum of the Jewish People, in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Clifford A. Rieders is a board-certified trial advocate in Williamsport.