Two months from today, the $100 million renovation of the Israel Museum is slated to be completed and the doors of the new galleries opened to the public.  From Art Daily:

The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, inaugurates its renewed 20-acre campus, featuring new galleries, orientation facilities, and public spaces, on July 26, 2010. The multi-year expansion and renewal project was designed to enhance visitor experience of the Museum’s art, archeology, architecture, and surrounding landscape, in complement to the original architecture and design of the campus. Led by James Carpenter Design Associates of New York and Efrat-Kowalsky Architects of Tel Aviv, the $100-million project also includes the comprehensive renovation and reconfiguration of the Museum’s three collection wings and the reinstallation of its outstanding encyclopedic collections. […] The Israel Museum has seen tremendous growth since the 1965 opening of its original landmark campus, designed by Alfred Mansfeld and Dora Gad as a modernist reference to Jerusalem’s Mediterranean hilltop villages. The Museum’s architectural footprint has increased ten-fold since its opening, and its collections have grown significantly throughout its history, particularly in the past ten years. The project, which broke ground in June 2007, encompasses 80,000 square feet of new construction and 200,000 square feet of renovated and expanded gallery space within the Museum’s existing 500,000-square-foot architectural envelope. The $100-million capital campaign supporting the Museum’s campus renewal, completed in December 2009, is the largest collective philanthropic initiative ever undertaken for a single cultural institution in the State of Israel. The Museum is also nearing completion of an endowment campaign, and has raised nearly $60 million toward its $75-million goal, which will bring the institutional endowment to a total of $150 million, comprising the largest endowment for any cultural institution in the country.

Tomorrow, May 27, the museum will honor International Museum Day, and admission to the museum is free to individuals.  Details (in Hebrew) are here.

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Damascus Gate and Old City, mat06658 Damascus Gate, early 1900s

This photo, taken by the American Colony photographers in approximately 1910, shows Damascus Gate on the northern side of the Old City of Jerusalem.  At the time, the Ottoman authorities were building new shops lining the street outside the gate.  These structures were removed in later years.

Notice also on the skyline of the Old City that the domes of the Hurvah and Tiferet Israel synagogues are visible.  These were both destroyed in the 1948 war.  The most prominent tower belongs to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, dedicated in 1898.  The domes on the right side belong to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The recent photo below shows the area in the early morning before traffic picked up.

Damascus Gate, tb010310679

Damascus Gate, January 2010
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Celebration begins tonight of the Feast of Shavuot.  Translated in English as “Weeks” and it gets its name from the fact that it begins seven weeks after Passover (Lev 23:15).  Shavuot is one of the three great pilgrimage feasts (Deut 16:16), but unlike the week-long celebrations of Passover and Tabernacles, this one is observed for one day only.  Modern celebration of Shavuot consists of all-night study of the Scriptures, especially Ruth, and consuming dairy products.  Arutz-7 reports:

Jewish men and women in Israel will join their brethren around the world to learn all night Tuesday, although in Israel the holiday is observed for only one day. Many will also be eating dairy foods and putting greenery in their homes and synagogues, all in the name of observing the Shavuot holiday.
The practice of learning all night is a custom, rather than a commandment, and is the expression of one’s desire to draw closer to G-d. It also is carried out to counter the behavior of the Jews who slept at Mount Sinai instead of waiting for the giving of the Torah. By staying up the entire night and studying, their descendants strive to rectify the slight caused to the honor of the Torah.
[…]
As always, prayers and learning are being held through the night at the Western Wall (the Kotel). Jerusalem hotels are packed to capacity as tourists who remember past years, and those who have been told of its beauty, wait with anticipation for the event. Right before dawn, one can see tens of thousands making their way to the Wall for early morning prayer service.

The full article is here, and more information about this holiday is available at JewFAQ.org and Wikipedia.

Shortly after Jesus’ resurrection, the disciples were gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Shavuot, also known as Pentecost.  It was at this time that the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in many languages.  Jews from all over the world were there to hear them because they were obedient to go up to Jerusalem for the feast.  You can read more about this event in Acts 2.

Acts 2:5-12 (NIV) “Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?””

Crowds at Western Wall on Shavuot, tb060900804

Crowds at Western Wall on Shavuot
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The “Jesus Trail” is the subject of an article in last month’s issue of Christianity Today.  The author and his photographer son (the pictures in the print magazine are great) walked the trail and talked politics and religion with the people they encountered.  The “Jesus Trail” runs from Nazareth to Capernaum.

Photographs of Jerusalem in the early 1900s from the collection of Hannah and Efaim Degani are described and displayed in this YnetNews article.

The wife of the founder of the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem is profiled in this Jerusalem Post article.  Batya Borowski reflects on the museum, her husband, and her early years in Mandatory Palestine.

Israel is minting gold 20 NIS coins depicting the symbol of Jerusalem.  The one-ounce coins are for sale for approximately $1,467.

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From the Jerusalem Post:

Jerusalem has been named one of the world’s top 10 travel destinations for culture and sightseeing.Old City western walls, tb051908285 The TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice award for Jerusalem, the only city in the Middle East and Africa to receive the honor, was announced Wednesday. TripAdvisor lists several sites in Jerusalem as must-see for travelers, including the Western Wall, Temple Mount, Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and the City of David. […] Other destinations on the top 10 list include London, New York City, Paris, Rome and Washington, D.C. Also, Florence and Venice, in Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; and Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The full story is here.

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Tom Powers has written and posted photos on a new excavation in the Hinnom Valley, just north of “Artists’ Lane.”  The salvage dig is being carried out in advance of the construction of a park to honor former Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kollek.  The hole is deep and there appears to be a lot of architecture, but the workers were less than happy to be the subject of the paparazzi and quickly chased Tom away. 

It’ll be interesting to learn what they find.  Historically this area has always been outside the walls of Jerusalem.  Somewhere in the Hinnom Valley lies ancient Topheth, where the kings of Judah made sacrifices to foreign gods (2 Kgs 23:10; Isa 30:33; Jer 7:31-32; Jer 19:6-14).  I’ve always pictured that being further to the south.  When more becomes available, I’ll note it here.

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