Hidden Jewels in
Moscow: Jewish Museum and Tolerance
Centre
Cost:
200 roubles (For full-time university students, ISIC card
holders, school children, parents with many children and retirees)
Free (For children below the age of 7, disabled persons,
war veterans, military servicemen, orphans)
400 roubles (For everyone else)
SGD1 ~ 47 roubles
Jewish Museum and
Tolerance Centre
Experience
For very much the same reason for not visiting the other
Hidden Jewels in this Blog Series, the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre is
not the primary reason one would go to Moscow. However, if one did have the
time and is perhaps in need of a unique and worthwhile experience, the Jewish
Museum is one place that would not disappoint for spending a whole 2 hours in.
Gulag History Museum
Closure
I came here in the summer of 2018. To be honest, this museum
was not the museum I had planned to visit for that day; I had planned to visit
the Gulag History Museum. Thus, after
class had ended around 2.30pm, I headed back to my dormitory near Prospect Mira
to put away my books and stuff and then took a long trip eastward to the Gulag
History Museum. Unfortunately, that museum was apparently closed - and closed
for quite a while too! -and it was only when I talked to a security guard in
the building that I found out it was closed. I found it strange that there was
no notice of the museum’s closure made available online but, in any case, my
plan for the afternoon had been derailed.
As I sat and pondered as to what I should do next, I quickly
looked at my list of places to visit and checked which is the nearest place I could go to because some places of attractions would close early at around 8 or 9pm and at that time, it was already around 4pm. It turns out, the Jewish Museum is the
nearest place I could go, only a 20 minutes bus ride further eastwards from
where I was.
Journey to the Jewish
Museum
Thus, I took a trolley bus, ‘7’, which took me about 20
minutes where I dropped off a short 5 mins walk away from the Jewish Museum.
When I got off the trolley bus, I found myself surrounded by buildings which
looked like factory warehouses with several shops littered around. As I got
nearer to the museum, I also notice that the neighbourhood is kind of like a
Jewish neighbourhood as you start to see people in Jewish yamada caps and
certain shops also displayed Hebrew words and sold Jewish cultural goods. About
a 5 minutes walk later, I turned a corner and came to this huge complex which
looked like a refurbished high-end factory with the Russian word for Jewish
Museum and Tolerance Centre prominently displayed on the façade of the
building (Do try to remember how these Russian words looks like, as it will greatly help you in
identifying and locating the museum!).
I entered the compound and walked into this sort of like a mini park with a shelter in it, I think it was a café or it could be an outdoor performance
area. As it was during the World Cup, a huge projector screen had been propped
up and I could see about 4-5 people seated there, presumably waiting for a
match that was starting later in that evening. I walked past it, past a carpark
and entered the building.
The Museum
Each exhibit is unique and different from the next one and
the amazing thing is that each exhibit is interactive in their own unique ways.
In one of the exhibit, I could take part in a Jewish dinner ceremony, where I
moved objects around the dining table while being seated and this triggered
some motion sensors that activated a video clip or audio clip explaining some
of the Jewish customs related to dining. In another exhibit, I could enter
a small replica of a synagogue and flip through a big digital Torah to uncover
the history of the early Jewish people. In another, I could digitally dress up as a blacksmith or a rabbi and have my photo taken, which I could later then
purchase at the museum gift shop at the end. In others, I could walk into the homes
of prisoners and Jewish homes and have a look around a convincing mock-up to
understand the lives of this group of people. Technology was greatly embedded
in each of the exhibits and this gave an interesting and fun take to the traditional
history museums. Another welcoming treat I find in this museum was the
availability of English translations for almost all the exhibits, which is rarely
the case in the other museums I have visited in Russia.
What sets this Jewish Museum apart from other Jewish Museums
elsewhere are the exhibits that told about the history of the Soviet Union as
well as the lives and treatments towards the Jewish people in Soviet Russia. It
seems that while the Jewish people are active participants of Soviet history,
they were also treated unfavourably during certain periods of time that
resulted in some earlier diasporas from Russia for example.
Worth it Experience: 4-D ride
The exhibit and experience which I thought made the ticket
itself worth was the 4-D ride I got to take located very early on in the museum
map tour. The ‘exhibit’ is a small round domed theatre located around the
middle of the museum where one is able to enter during the given showtimes.
When it is showtime, I gave my ticket to an usher who scanned my ticket and
gave me a pair of 3D glasses and then I walked into the dark theatre room for the
show to begin. The chairs could move like a theme park ride and as it is a 4D
effects show, air pressure machines and water sprays sprayed at me corresponding
to the clip I was watching. The experience went for about 10-15 minutes I
think, and it was about the creation of the world to an earlier part of Jewish
history. I remember there was the story of Moses and I think Noah too because
there were scenes of locusts where I was puffed with pressurized air and then sprayed
with water while being accompanied by huge rocking movements. I just remember
thinking to myself how incredible the ride is and how worth-it it the ticket
price feels like, just for this ride because I have been to similar rides in
Canada for example but it costs a lot more and did not come with a museum pass!
Time
Some of my favorite exhibit that I managed to experience was an exhibit about the Great Patriotic War (otherwise referred to as World War II to other parts of the World) where it gave me a background of the war efforts of the Soviets in repelling the German invasion of their homeland. The Soviets of course played a crucial and often understated role in ensuring Hitler did not reign supreme over Europe. In this exhibit, you can view a couple of interviews of war veterans that talked about the conditions of the war, the lack of preparation of the Soviet army, the nationalistic feeling of defending one's homeland and also an interesting insight of how Soviet Jews were able to conduct some of their Jewish customs amid the chaos of the war.
Museum Shop
A museum employee checked up on me and informed me that the
museum was closing. Hence, I made my way back towards the entrance, slightly
forlorn that I missed quite a bit of exhibits that looked just as amazing as
the ones I have visited has been. On my way out, I passed the museum shop which
was still open and tended by one female staff at the counter. Wanting to have a
remembrance sake from my visit here, I bought a passport holder of Yuri
Gagarin, the first man in space, a ‘Super Jew’ badge (which costs a whooping
400 roubles) and 2 pictures of me, one dressed as a Rabbi and another dressed
as a Blacksmith. Thanking the lady, I left the museum feeling grateful for the
opportunity to have been here.
