March 30

The newly opened Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem resembles a bridge or a dove with outstretched wings, representing its founders’ vision of promoting unity, dignity and respect among Jews and people of all faiths.

Conceived as the Israeli counterpart of the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles developed by the LA-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, the 150,000-square-foot glass-and-stone museum ironically sparked controversies from the time ground was broken in April 2004.

The project hit snags including the discovery of a 1,000-year-old Muslim cemetery under the building site, which had been a parking lot. Ensuing protests, plan changes, a Supreme Court case and the reinterring of remains led to lengthy delays and a final price tag more than double the original estimate.

Renowned architect Frank Gehry, whose (also controversial) design was approved in 2002, pulled out of the project eight years later. The current building was designed by Israeli architects Bracha and Michael Chyutin, who also later left the project.

Even now, the finished museum isn’t quite up to full speed. It opened with two temporary exhibitions (more on that below), but the permanent multimedia exhibition on the theme of tolerance won’t be ready for at least another year.

Nevertheless, this magnificent structure already has plenty to offer the public.

Stairway to tolerance

Inside the main entrance, four open walls fill the space with the unique golden light of Jerusalem; after dark, a skylight shines colored beams into the night.

In the center, a crisscrossed staircase spanning the museum’s four floors is intended to convey “engagement, listening to one another, and immersing ourselves in others’ perspectives.”

The amphitheater with a window into a Roman aqueduct underneath. Photo courtesy of MOTJ

The main wing has a 400-seat movie theater, while the outdoor 1,000-seat amphitheater offers a peek at the Second Temple-era aqueduct unearthed at its base; this discovery alone set back the construction timetable by seven years while the Israel Antiquities Authority completed excavations.

There’s a children’s museum with a 150-seat theater, classrooms, and dressing rooms for performers. There’s a Social Lab for exhibitions addressing tolerance, a two-story worship space/library, and of course a café and gift shop, plus underground parking.

The two exhibitions on display, tentatively until mid-summer, are “06:29 – From Darkness to Light” and “Documenting Israel: 75 Years of Vision.”

Darkness to Light

On the day of my visit, the museum was buzzing with guests taking guided 90-minute tours, available in Hebrew, English and French (book ahead on the website).

A special gallery talk for high school students was also taking place.

Noam Ben-David, a survivor of the Supernova party near the Gaza border on October 7, 2023,where 364 people were massacred – including her boyfriend – hundreds wounded and 40 kidnapped, came in on crutches to speak to the students before they toured the exhibition “06:29 From Darkness to Light.”

Some of the 35 holograms of Oct. 7 survivors whose testimonies can be heard in the Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem. Photo by Abigail K. Leichman

She is one of 35 female survivors of the Hamas attacks presented as life-sized holographs in the exhibit, named for the time (6:29am) at which sirens began warning of attacks that Saturday. Visitors put on earphones and choose which testimonies to hear.

The space contains posted information in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Visitors can step into concrete bomb shelters simulating those that many hid inside, and see piercing documentary films by Noam Shalev and Kobi Sitt, and photographs by Ziv Koren.

One object in “06:29 From Darkness to Light” at Jerusalem’s Museum of Tolerance is this note from the pocket of a Hamas terrorist after October 7. It translates: “You must sharpen the blades of your swords and be pure in your intentions before Allah. Know that the enemy is a disease that has no cure, except beheading and uprooting the hearts and livers. Attack them!” Photo by Abigail K. Leichman

“This is the first major exhibit that honors the horrific crimes of October 7 and the great unity that came forward after it,” said Museum Chairman Larry Mizel at the opening in May 2024, adding that the exhibit can “push back against ignorance and win the hearts of the misinformed.”

What’s particularly poignant is that exhibition curator Malchi Shem Tov – also chief curator for the coming permanent exhibition — is the father of Omer Shem Tov, 22, who returned from 505 days of captivity in Gaza on February 22. The previous week, a bipartisan delegation of US senators had toured this powerful exhibition.

Before departing the hall, visitors are given glow markers and sticky notes to write messages to survivors and post them on designated walls. I saw notes written in a variety of languages.

Visitors have filled the walls with messages to Oct. 7 survivors and hostages. Photo by Abigail K. Leichman

120 faces

Installed throughout two floors of the museum, the “Documenting Israel: 75 Years of Vision” exhibition displays 120 historic photographs from a dozen Magnum photo agency professionals from before the establishment of the state to the modern era.

Some of the 120 photos depicted in “Documenting Israel: 75 Years of Vision” at the Museum of Tolerance, Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of MOTJ

Among the photographers featured in the exhibition are Robert Capa and David “Chim” Seymour, who documented the events and personalities in Israel between 1947 and 1956. There are also never-before-seen photos by Inge Morath, one of the first female members of Magnum.

The faces in these photos clearly depict the diversity of Israel’s residents in terms of culture, origin and religion.

In addition to exhibitions, the Museum of Tolerance hosts public events, such as live performances, national ceremonies, dialogues, documentary film screenings and family craft workshops.

For more information about the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem, click here; email info@motj.org.il; or call +972-73-394-6614.