By KATHERINE PETERSEN
The South Peninsula Hebrew Day School in Sunnyvale will host the Jerusalem Experience Museum exhibit for its only Northern California stop on a national tour.
The exhibit, a multimedia odyssey of Jewish history, celebrates Jerusalem's 3,000th birthday. Displays include maps and hands-on activity centers that transport viewers through the city's three millennia from biblical times to the present.
Rabbi Shmuel Kay, the school's headmaster, said the campus is large enough to accommodate the museum. He said he is excited to host the exhibit because Jerusalem's history is important to his school.
"We're a Jewish school with a large Israeli population, so it's extra special to have it here. Many Israeli families and Jewish people use our school as their link to Judaism," he said.
He said more than 500 people attended the school's memorial services for Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in November.
The museum's multimedia approach offers children a more fun way to learn about Jerusalem's past.
"When children grow up with a Sesame Street mentality, it's very important to have something unique like a multimedia presentation because that's what they like," Kay said. "It's more fun than learning from a textbook. This will bring the history to life for children and visitors."
The museum has six main exhibits, through which one can learn why Jerusalem is central to Jewish life. The first exhibit covers "Creation Through Joshua." The next exhibit, "First Temple," tells the stories of David and Solomon and describes the rituals performed in the Temple itself.
"Exile and Return" follows the Jewish people's exile from Israel after the Babylonian destruction of the Temple and their return 50 years later. "Second Temple" portrays the period from Ptolemy's winning control of Jerusalem through the Maccabean revolt and destruction of the Temple by the Romans.
"Jerusalem of the Heart, Soul and Mind" details the period from the Byzantine through 1917, emphasizing that Jerusalem continued despite destruction of the Temple. "Jerusalem 1917-Today" depicts the impact of the Holocaust, the founding of the state of Israel, the war of 1967 and the contemporary city.
The museum's final exhibit is an audiovisual presentation of the Western Wall. Visitors are invited to take time for reflection and write notes or prayers and place them in the cracks of the faux wall; these notes will be taken to Jerusalem and placed in the cracks of the actual Kotel.
Admission to the museum will be $3 for adults, $2 for ages 5-17, $9 for families. Organization group tours cost $1.50 per person, and reservations are required. Call Mary Lou Orr at 738-3060 to reserve tour times.
The exhibit runs Jan. 15-18 at the school's campus, 1030 Astoria Drive, Sunnyvale. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Thursday.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 10, 1996
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.