museums

One of the essential museums all visitors to Israel need to visit is Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. It’s different from other Holocaust museums, and well worth your time. Here are the details you need to know to plan your visit.

*Please note that children under 10 are not permitted to visit the museum.

Opening Dates and Times

The museum is open Sunday-Thursday from 8:30am-5:00pm. Yad Vashem closes early at 2:00pm on Fridays, and is closed entirely on Saturdays for Shabbat, plus all Jewish holidays. Keep this in mind when planning your visit.

Admission & Reservations

Admission to the museum is free to all visitors. However, advance reservations are required, whether you are visiting solo or with a group. You can use their online reservation system here.

Location

Yad Vashem is located just outside of downtown Jerusalem and is accessible by car or public transportation. Visitors can take the light rail from Jerusalem to the Mount Herzl stop, or take the Line 91 bus to Yefeh Nof stop and walk downhill to the museum.

Highlights of the Museum

The World that Was Exhibit: The first exhibit you’ll encounter is a film projected on the wall of Jewish life before the Holocaust. Everyone living today has the benefit of hindsight and knows what the Jews in the early 20th century were about to experience. But this exhibit is an important reminder that they were innocent in that they had no idea what was about to happen to them and everyone they knew.

The Progression: The next several exhibits show the slow but steady progression of Hitler’s “final solution,” and how the Jews lost their rights, homes, possessions, and dignity bit by bit. But these exhibits also highlight how life went on. Children made toys, adults made board games, music continued, people kept writing. The Jews kept living even as their families, and neighbors, were sent to concentration camps and murdered.

Return to Life: This exhibit is unique in that it’s not a part of the Holocaust that people learn about in school, or that’s written about in books. It’s the rebuilding of the survivors’ lives. This part of the museum shows the difficulty in finding lost family members, re-nourishing their bodies without killing themselves in the process, and finding a place to live when they could not return to any kind of home.

Many survivors were sent to what were called “DP (Displaced Persons) Camps,” which were just repurposed concentration camps. Finding a place for the survivors to rebuild their lives led to the creation of what is now officially considered Israel.

The Hall of Names: This is one of the most moving exhibits in the museum, because they’ve put together faces and names of 600 Jews who did not survive the Holocaust. That is only 0.01% of the 6 million who died. In this hall are also “Pages of Testimony,” in which there are biographies of each Holocaust victim.

The Exit: Yad Vashem is quite dark, solemn, and the concrete construction makes it seem very stark. That is, until you see the view of Jerusalem through the trees at the exit. It’s meant to be a glimpse of hope at the end of the gray, triangular tunnel.

For more information, visit their official website here.

Qumran National Park is on many Israel itineraries, but you may not really know what that is based on the name alone. You are more likely familiar with what it’s known for: The Dead Sea Scrolls. The first of over 1,000 well-preserved scrolls were discovered here in the 1940s. The scrolls were hand-written copies of every book of the Old Testament (with the exception of Esther) dating back well over 2,000 years. Here are a few things you know before you see the caves for yourself.

It’s in the West Bank

This isn’t really a problem, just an issue of geography. Because it’s in the West Bank, you may (or may not) be asked for your passport on your way back across the border. Just make sure you have it with you. The caves and visitor center are about 45 minutes from Jerusalem, near the Dead Sea at Kalya. Unlike other West Bank sites like Bethlehem and Jericho, you don’t need a Palestinian guide or driver to visit.

The Dead Sea Scrolls are… Not Here

It may seem odd, but you won’t find any scrolls here, unless there are some undiscovered others still hidden away. The Dead Sea Scrolls were almost perfectly preserved here, due to the dry and salty climate, but since being discovered, they have moved to a variety of museums and climate-controlled museum warehouses. You can see some of the most intact scrolls in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

The Scrolls were Found by Accident

It’s true. A couple of teenage shepherd boys from the local Ta’amira tribe were tending their goats and sheep around caves in the Qumran area. One of the boys would throw a rock into one of the caves every time he passed it, and he would hear the sound of breaking pottery, which he thought was odd.

When they went inside the cave, they found several large, clay jars. Some of them contained what we now know as the Dead Sea Scrolls. At first no one thought much of them–in fact, some of the scrolls were sold in the Wall Street Journal’s classified ads in 1954! Once people realized their significance, however, everybody and their brother started poking around the caves to see what else was there. The rest is history.

It was Once a “City of Salt” and Home to the Essenes

The site where the Qumran Caves are located was once home to a Jewish sect called the Essenes. When you visit, you’ll see the foundations of buildings, pools for bathing, and other ruined elements of an entire city. These are possibly the people who copied and hid the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the visitor center and museum onsite will give you an idea of who these people were and how they lived.

It’s the Perfect Stop on a Day Trip to the Dead Sea

Qumran is definitely a worthwhile stop on a day trip from Jerusalem, but don’t make it your only stop. On your way here, be sure to stop off at Jericho and/or Jesus’ Baptismal Site (Qasr El-Yahud). Continuing on, you could also visit Ein Gedi and go for a float in the Dead Sea.

Would you like to take a day trip to see where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered?

Your Guide to Yad Vashem: Israel’s Holocaust Museum