By Dorothea Shefer-Vanson
MEVASSERET ZION, Israel — Once a year, to mark my birthday, my daughter takes me out for the day. This is quite extraordinary, since Dana is a very busy professional who has her own orthodontic clinic and is essentially incommunicado to the outside world for most of the week. We manage to talk on the phone at a set time most weekends, and she and her family join us for occasional birthday celebrations, but that is all.
So while we are not able to engage in the frequent mother-daughter contact which is typical of many families in Israel, we do our best to keep in touch. Accordingly, we set a day well ahead in our diaries, for while I am free most of the time, for her this meant rearranging her schedule, reassigning the tasks in the clinic, and then driving up to Mevasseret Zion to collect me for our annual ‘mother-daughter day out.’
“I’ve booked a tour for us at the Museum of Tolerance,” she informed me to my joy, and after negotiating the traffic to downtown Jerusalem we found ourselves in the imposing new building housing the museum. Many years ago Teddy Kollek, then mayor of Jerusalem, was inspired by the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles to initiate the construction of a similar one in Jerusalem. The process of raising the funds and obtaining planning permission was long and arduous, architects came and went, and court-cases hindered progress for several years, but eventually the prime site was made available and in March 2023 the imposing new museum, each of its spacious stories bathed in clear Jerusalem light, opened its doors.
The museum seeks to promote dialogue within and between different populations by promoting interaction and debate. Its educational programs are aimed at bringing people from different backgrounds together and enabling cultural interaction between groups.
The exhibits on display are mostly photographic and it is advisable to take a guided tour in order to fully appreciate the significance of each display. Thus, the one entitled ‘From Darkness to Light,’ which is supplemented by interactive AI functions, contrasts the horrors of the attack on Israel by Hamas on 7th October 2023 with the cooperative efforts of all elements of Israel’s population to rebuild and repair what has been lost.
Another exhibition displays photographs by the international photography agency ‘Magnum’ documenting unique aspects of the establishment of the State of Israel. An exhibition entitled ‘Love in the Shadow of War’ displays touching photographs and texts in Hebrew, English and Arabic documenting individual stories of love during wartime. All in all, the combined effect of the various exhibitions is one that inspires hope and confidence in Israel’s resilience and mankind’s future.
After lunch in a nearby restaurant we ended our day with a personal guided tour.of the imposing new building of the nearby Bezalel Academy of Art and Design given by my son Eitan (and Dana’s brother), who works there.
I returned home full of gratitude and admiration for my daughter’s initiative and ability to make our day out a combination of information and enjoyment, as well as by her ability to navigate Jerusalem’s daunting traffic jams.
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Dorothea Shefer-Vanson is an author and freelance writer based in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, Israel.