Continuing the Tradition: Where to Learn About Israeli Cultures
Want to learn more about Israel’s many immigrant populations, their traditions, cultures, and their heritage? Find out more at these cultural centers all over Israel!
The Yemenite Heritage Center
With permanent collections donated by members of the Yemenite community in Israel and abroad, the Yemenite Heritage Center includes contributions from members of the Yemenite community all across the Middle East, including Judaica, art, textiles, and more. Explore the history of the Yemenite Jews with interactive installations and exhibitions created to bridge the gap and educate Israelis and Yemenites about their heritage.
Built in the Sha'arayim neighborhood of Rehovot, the Heritage Center is set in one of the first Yemenite neighborhoods established in pre-state Israel in 1908. Since then the Yemenite community has only grown in the suburb of Rehovot.
Beta Israel Village Project
On the outskirts of Kiryat Gat, the Hineni project worked with the Ministry of Agriculture to start an agricultural project for Ethiopian elders, where the Beta Israel communities could farm the land in Israel and connect to their cultural heritage with dignity. The farm has grown into more than an agricultural project and now connects Ethiopian descendants with their ancestral heritage in addition to introducing Israelis and tourists to a wealth of Ethiopian culture.
Video courtesy of Hineni/ Beta Israel Village.
Beta Israel Village offers tours and activities for visitors including Amharic writing, Ethiopian cooking, and mud-hut building, among others.
Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot
Located on Tel Aviv University’s campus, Beit Hatfutsot is an easy ride on the train or public bus. The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot tells the ongoing story of the Jewish people. Here, you can see a collection of scaled-down models of famous synagogues from Jewish communities from all over the world in addition to new exhibitions exploring different themes, cultures, and historical moments in Jewish history.
The Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center
The Worldwide North Africa Jewish Heritage Center is a unique center of culture based in Jerusalem. It offers the general public permanent and temporary exhibitions showing the extraordinary history and heritage of the Jewish communities of North Africa. The crown of the center is an audio-visual presentation that includes documents, movies, music, and a bibliography depicting the lives and histories of North African Jews.
The Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center
Did you know that ancient Babylonia is in the center of modern-day Iraq? The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center was established in 1973 to preserve the history of the Jewish community in Iraq and to ensure that it remains part of the future narrative of the Jewish nation. To this end, the Center fosters research, preservation, and publication of the culture and folklore of Iraqi Jewry with changing exhibitions and a large array of educational opportunities.
