Aliyah 112: Palmach Museum

Multi-room group tour

Requiring pre-registration by email or phone, there are group tours though a multimedia presentation looking sometimes like the E.T. ride at Universal studios, with the ‘moving through rooms’ style of the Torah exhibit at the Bible Museum of Washington, D.C. and the Friends of Zion Museum of Jerusalem (each with audio/visual of the UN partition vote for a Jewish and Arab state). The Bible Museum and Friends of Zion Museum had more variation in style and medium. I like to format as things stay fresh, immersive, and what would otherwise be, in this case, 90% watching a movie, becomes more exciting while being very educational with greater recall of what was learned while using different surroundings, lighting, and movement.

This Tel Aviv museum, through scenes of a movie with modern actors being a group of volunteers for the Palmach, tells the story of the Palmach which I knew basically nothing about. The Palmach was originally a Jewish military group organized by the British in Israel to defend from the Nazis coming through North Africa. The Nazis, thank G_d, were stopped before they reached Israel, though the British then disbanded the Palmach … who then went underground and continued to train and recruit. Eventually, the Palmach were folded into the Israeli Defense Force under Ben Gurion during Israels war for independence.

The storytelling is excellent covering hiding amongst the trees, training in the desert with strict discipline, and eventually fighting the British and then Arab legions. A subplot includes the Palmach (be judicious with targets) vs Lehi (blow up everything up that stands in your way). Another subplot is something of a love story reminiscent of the movie, Defiance about a Jewish group hiding in the woods of Poland to avoid, and fight, Nazis. (Defiance is an excellent movie and the story is story – though the movie didn’t know how to end it. The leader ended up living in New York and thought nothing of what he did – it’s just something you do in the situation.)

For English Speakers

There are Hebrew and English tours – which I don’t quite understand because the entire movie was in Hebrew, as were the guides telling us to move to the next room and where to sit (which I understood, though I guess one could figure it out by context). For English, they give you a little flip phone thing that you hold next to your ear to hear – which is usually an explanation rather than word for word dialogue. As you move to a new room, the little flip phone automatically starts playing so there’s nothing you have to do.

Who are these women?

Of note, in our large group were all women except me. Of the women, most wore black, clean, straight uniforms with insignias on long sleeves and pants or long skirts. To match, the women all had black very straightened hair – it’s the style in Israel for which I have no complaint. About half of them wore long skirts and had their hair covered. They were quite upbeat and a bit chatty. Too shy to ask who they were (there weren’t opportunities to speak, and my Hebrew isn’t good enough to start a hushed conversation) I snapped a picture of one of their insignias a looked it up later.

Israeli prison service. They work for the prison service.

Who ever heard of outwardly religious women working in a prison? Who ever heard of prison guards wearing beautiful uniforms … or being so beautiful? In Israel, there are a lot more no tension opportunities for religious people. This might not be the opportunity you are looking for, though it is an example as is the Haredi man giving art lessons in the art museum. It’s a fully Jewish society rather than defiance, hiding in the woods trying to be seen and not seen at once.

While I asked AI to identify the insignia which it did correctly, I also asked my Hebrew tutor as I’m sure she’d have more information. Apparently, she taught in the Israeli prison in Ramla 30 years ago – they provide all sorts of service for rehabilitation and there, “everyone” is suddenly religious … because they get more perks such as Fridays off, a quieter and cleaner wing, less work time and more time for praying and learning, and a supportive social network.

Driving Home

What should have been about a 35-minute drive back took more than an hour and a half. My wife was also in Tel Aviv and left later – took her almost three hours to get home, the first half hour trying to exit the parking lot. Apparently, on Thursdays in the summer there are sometimes huge concerts that clog the roads and on top of this, people were blocking roads. Israel: where the whole country travels at the same time.