After another delicious breakfast, we headed to the Hebrew University to visit the biological chemistry building where Dr. Victoria Kruskal taught in the 1960’s. While in Tel Aviv, we will see the home she built in the 1930’s.
Then we headed to the Israel Museum, which gives an excellent grounding in the region’s history in its huge archaeological wing and has another equally impressive wing concentrating on Jewish art and life. The fine arts wing has a collection of international and Israeli art, the museum’s grounds feature an art garden, and there’s a dedicated building showcasing the museum’s prize exhibit, the Dead Sea Scrolls.
First, we viewed the model that shows what Jerusalem looked like 100 BCE-100 AD.
The first scrolls were found in 1947 and date back to 132-35 CE. The Jewish art/life wing exhibits four complete synagogues brought from various locations and reconstructed. Also worth seeing is the painted Deller family sukkah (wooden dwelling erected during the harvest festival of Sukkot), which dates from the 19th century.
Our next stop was the Mahane Yehuda Market. All walks of local life converge at this bustling market. Crammed with fresh fruit, olives, nuts, vegetables and just about anything else grown in the local soil. At night, it is a restaurant and bar hub where locals and tourists hang out.