JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM....A Living Memorial to the Holocaust...............You don't have to be Jewish to go.
Written: May 25 '03
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: An enlightening experience. Well formatted.
Cons: Volume on tapes not loud enough
The Bottom Line: All people of all races, religions, and countries of origin should see this place and "Remember"
|
|
|
| popsrocks's Full Review: Museum of Jewish Heritage |
My business brought me downtown about a week ago. I had business at Ellis Island So I took a ferry from Castle Clinton National Historic Site in Battery Park. It stops at the Statue of Liberty and minutes later goes to Ellis Island.
GETTING THERE
The actual name and address is
Museum of Jewish Heritage
A living memorial to the Holocaust
18 First Place
Battery City Park
NY, NY 10004-1484
Hours
Sunday through Wednesday 10am till 5:45pm
Thursday 10 am till 8pm
Friday in Summer After April 11th 10am till 5pm
Saturday CLOSED!
After returning from Ellis Island I decided to take a short seven minute walk from Battery Park , through the fairly new Robert Wagner Jr. Park to the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
All three of these places overlook the open waters toward the Statue of liberty. I thought this a fitting place for a museum dedicated to a people who have been seeking their own liberty and freedom for centuries.
To get down town you may drive a car, however I do not recommend it , especially on weekdays. Lower Manhattan can be very busy and there is virtually no street parking and only limited and expensive private lots. An RV or Motor home downtown can be as rough as traveling up to the top of the switchback roads to the top of a mountain in Rocky Mountains National Park in Colorado.
If you insist on driving a car try the FDR drive coming down on the east side of Manhattan or West Street coming down the west side. Broadway cames all the way down with a few little detours but I don't recommend it. It will take much too long.
The 9,N,R,4, and 5 lines of the subway take you within easy walking distance to the museum. Buses also make their way down. If taking public transport be sure to get a metrocard for the ride back ahead of time.
Once in the Battery Park area just follow the southern tip of Manhattan west, through the parks and you are there. This is now a beautiful area to just relax and stroll.
ENTERING
You first get your tickets in a trailer next to the museum. Tickets are $7.00 for adults $5.00 for seniors and children. Then you must go through security. This is a given in many public places these days. I strongly suggest carrying as little as possible with you during the day. Some places do not even allow backpacks.
They have a coat check and also have audio tours available for $5.00. I wish I had taken one because the sound level in the building is quite low on many tapes.
The audio tour is narrated bu Meryl Streep and Itzhak Perlman.
Just a bit more information before I continue on about my experience at the museum. This fall they hope to open a whole new building, The East Wing. This will give them much more space in this rather small facility.
The new building will house classrooms, more space for meetings and shows, catering facilities,a theatre, and a memorial garden. It will be part of the existing museum and the connection will be "seamless".
After security you walk from the trailer to the Museum building. You go through smoky coloured gray doors into a quiet atmosphere of the lobby. I was greeted by a worker who gave me a pamphlet with a little bit of information of the museum.
THE MUSEUM, First Floor
He then invited me into the first room, the Entry Rotunda. This as the outside of the building was in a hexagon shape. I don't know if there is any significance to this shape. If you know please leave a comment. The room had some benches and many slides were being shown on all the surrounding walls. He noted that the museum is an "at your own pace" venue. This area with voices and sounds coming from all different directions was showing the historic background and customs of Jews worldwide.
From there you just follow your way around the first level. This floor talked and showed primarily Jewish tradition and community of one hundred years ago. It described how they lived together and how they moved around the world into other countries. There were glassed in areas with artifacts of the day. Things like Sabbath Knives, Gifts given at weddings, and pictures of Synagogues were displayed.
The museum is not really all that large. It is three stories high but not that large in area. This is a museum where you must take time to slow down and read and listen. I was there on a very quiet day. I don't know how busy it can get. We were a handful of people that afternoon.
I followed Jewish life of the 1800's, their beliefs, education systems within communities, and heard samples of Jewish music. All this is done through displays, audio tapes and archive film.
SECOND FLOOR
I then took an escalator up to the next floor. There are elevators for handicap access.
This floor was dedicated to opportunity and opposition of Jews. The museum takes you through many little alcoves where you can become immersed in a particular study.
This area showed hitler and his coming to power. It gives us history of how different countries and leaders treated the Jews. Much of this area is of the 1930s and 1940s. The story of "The war against Jews" is told.
This was the most moving experiences one could have. Listening to the words of people who actually lived through the times.
I watched as a woman who was a child at the time told the story of how her family was taken from her home. How her father was taken from her and her mother. How she was with her mother and then suddenly she was taken from her mothers hands and never saw her again.
Another woman told how as a child she was with many other children without their parents. They would ask their captors, "Where is my mother, Where is my father?" One woman told her. "Do you see the smoke rising over there?" "That's your mother and father". This grown woman was talking like a little girl and asking the question. "How could this woman be so mean, how could she be so mean?"
Other stories from men in the camps told how they slowly became "Musselman" I'm not sure of the spelling but it meant becoming skeletons. And how at some point the captors would look at them, see they were no longer fit for any kind of labor and lead them away, never to be seen again.
I remember one man saying that every night he prayed "I would go to sleep and not wake up."
There are many pictures of the atrocities too. The factories of death were there in pictures and stories.
There are stories of others who were rescuers. It told of their stories and their love of their brothers and sisters in humanity and how they risked their lives to help save Jews and others who were being slaughtered.
Continuing on that floor we see witnessing by survivors. These were people who said "We cannot indulge in endless mourning, but, we must remember."
Another man talked of being a Jew and "How we are the worlds greatest antiques!" and that he and other Jews will continue to survive.
THIRD FLOOR
There is another escalator that goes to the third floor. Also an elevator if you choose. The third floor gave more information as to what Jews have done since 1945 and the wars end. Where did they go and how they now live their traditional values. There were Torah on display that were saved from destruction during the holocaust.
I believe I heard more than once a line saying something that "Our spiritual life is not all that of our relationship with God but with how we treat our brothers and sisters in humanity."
There is a good sized gift shop on this level where they sell many many different kinds of Jewish traditional items and books.
You then come to an open area where they have different shows from time to time. There were some tables there and a book and sheets of paper with crayons where children could draw pictures of what they felt. Adults could write messages.
I am not Jewish but I believe as a human and a Christian I can feel and share some of the pain that my Jewish brethren bear.
In this open area of the third floor you are overlooking New York Harbor, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. In absorbing the meaning of that icon of peace, liberty, and freedom, I pray that someday the Jewish people and all people will have the opportunity anywhere and everywhere in the world to Live in Peace, and have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
REMEMBER
other reviews by popsrocks
New York City
The Statue of Liberty
Millenium Hilton Hotel, at ground zero
Thoughts and feelings at ground zero soon after 9/11
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
|
|
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.