Lee & Pearl went to Israel — Part Three

Pearl here, again. Please enjoy this third and final installment of the travelogue for our recent trip to Israel! If you missed either of our previous posts...

CLICK HERE to catch up on Part One of Lee & Pearl's adventures in Israel

CLICK HERE to catch up on Part Two of Lee & Pearl's adventures in Israel

Back to Jerusalem!

The day after our drive up the coast, we headed back to Jerusalem to visit the Israel Museum on the modern, western side of the city.

Here's some hard-earned travel advice: in an unfamiliar location, always double-check your navigation app.

We followed Siri's directions from the train station to the museum and got wildly lost as she directed us to a residential neighborhood far from the actual museum.

As a result, we did get to explore areas of Jerusalem that we would not otherwise have seen — including the Mahane Yehuda Market, the big food market in Jerusalem. You may remember from our first installment how much we LOVE food markets. Though we only got a few quick glimpses into the stalls of this famous market, it looked well worth a full-day stroll on a future visit.

Halva Kingdom in particular is going to merit further consideration.

We first tasted halva as children when our cousins came to visit us from their new Israeli home, and we've loved it ever since. If you've never had it, imagine sesame seed peanut butter cups — and then imagine the machine pressing the fresh seeds right there in the middle of this shop.

Revived with snacks from the market, we finally corrected our path and made it to the Israel Museum one hour before closing. We spent that limited time in the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed and displayed.

Discovered in a cave in the Judean Desert by a Bedouin shepherd in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls offer insights on both religious and secular life in Israel between the 2nd century BC and 2nd century CE — a period that saw the development of numerous Jewish sects such as the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes, the beginnings of Christianity, and after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans, the earliest origins of modern rabbinic Judaism.

With only a few minutes left after visiting the scrolls, we toured the adjacent Jerusalem Second Temple Model that displays the city as it might have been during that period, at the height of its glory, shortly before the disastrous revolt against the Romans.

As we hurried back to the exit, we caught glimpses of further galleries and exhibits and realized that this is a world class art museum full of cultural and archeological treasures.

We decided to set aside a second day for a return visit!

On our very last day in Israel, we made it back to Jerusalem for an in-depth visit to the Israel Museum!

We started our tour of this sprawling museum in the art galleries, where the works on display range from medieval to modern masterpieces.

Here is a charming 14th century French Gothic Madonna.

As we can't see under her mantle, we have to guess at the construction of her dress. But it appears to be an earlier tunic-cut style, before the design innovations that led to the fitted gowns that would appear later in the 14th century — as immortalized in our Pattern 3001: A Late Medieval Lady's Wardrobe, which is available for both 18 inch American Girl® and 16 inch A Girl for All Time® dolls.

Moving forward, here's an early 17th century village scene by Pieter Brueghel.

Above is the early 19th century Portrait of Helen Currie Lamont (ca. 1821) by Scottish painter Sir Henry Raeburn (Lee's Scottish husband's favorite artist!) — and below is the late 19th century Portrait of Mme Paulin (ca. late 1880s) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir.

The late 19th and early 20th century Impressionists and Post-Impressionists are particularly well represented in the museum galleries.

Above is Country House by a River (circa 1890) by Paul Cézanne and below is a truly stunning oil study for a now-lost masterwork, Medicine (1894) by Gustav Klimt.

These two remarkable Henri Matisse portraits of women hint at the painter's variety of styles and moods. Above is Girl with a Persian Cap (ca. 1915-16) and below is Two Girls in Nice (1921), which is one of Pearl's favorite paintings.

And of course, we couldn't leave without smiling at this rather whimsical Picasso — the Reclining Nude from 1964.

The Israel Museum also boasts rotating exhibits and an impressive permanent collection of specifically Jewish and/or Israeli works, such as the exhibit we viewed of Holocaust survivor and War of Independence veteran Avigdor Arikha's vividly remembered drawings, illustrations and woodcuts.

After leaving the art wings, we turned toward the deeply moving exhibits in the Jewish Art and Life Wing, which contains cultural and archeological artifacts from many centuries of Jewish life in the Middle East and throughout the diaspora.

Of course, we started in the galleries devoted to Jewish costumes and jewelry through the ages, including this poignant collection of bridal headdresses and other ornaments from the once-vibrant Jewish communities that existed across Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Asia — from Morocco to Uzbekistan.

Who wouldn't be thrilled to wear this early 20th century Jewish woman's necklace from Tahala, Morocco? The colors of the silver, coral and enamel are stunning together.

Moving on, we entered galleries containing objects of historical Jewish life, including many pieces used for worship.

Here's an entire gallery devoted to chanukiyas (Chanuka candleholders) from an enormous range of regions and eras!

Of course this made us think of our own exploration into traditional judaica, when we created this faux stamped metal, circa 1900 Eastern European chanukiya craft printable and tutorial for Rebecca Rubin™ and her family.

CLICK HERE to visit our Chanukah menorah (chanukiyah) craft tutorial with links to the FREE printable template and YouTube video guide.

One of the most moving set of galleries in the Jewish Life wing is called the Synagogue Route.

Walking along this route, you can explore four historical synagogue interiors representing unique Jewish diaspora cultures across three continents: a 16th century intricately carved and painted synagogue from the town of Cochin in southern India, a circa 1700 Italian Baroque synagogue from Vittorio Veneto in northern Italy (above), a vibrantly-painted 18th century wooden synagogue from Horb in Southern Germany (below) — and most remarkable of all, a starkly beautiful 18th century Spanish- Portuguese New World synagogue from Suriname in South America.

We couldn't resist one final gallery that displayed medieval illuminated manuscripts — in Hebrew!

Here are several pages from the famous Birds' Head Haggadah, which was crafted in Southern Germany around 1300 and features a cast of bird-faced figures engaging in Passover preparations and rituals. Apparently the practice of drawing bird and other animal heads on otherwise human figures was not uncommon in 13th and 14th century Ashkenazi (northern European Jewish) manuscripts — but no one knows why.

The Israel Museum also displays extensive collections of archeological artifacts and antiquities that bring to life the Holy Land's position at the cross-roads of culture and humanity for millennia.

This ultra-modern, pyrex-looking clear glass plate was the treasured possession of a Roman-era housewife who lived in Ein Gedi nearly 2000 years ago.

These remarkable sarcophagi come from a Bronze Age civilization that inhabited Deir al-Balah in Gaza back in 1300 BC.

And most extraordinary of all, this totally wearable bone-and-shell necklace comes from the Stone Age Natufian culture that inhabited the region 12,000–15,000 years ago.

Who else would happily wear this tomorrow?

We're going to leave you now with a few last images from our trip of all the glorious COLORS of Israel — the plants (the desert really blooms here), the markets, the textiles, the people and of course, the foods.

Enjoy!

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