Menachem Begin Heritage Center Museum

The Menachem Begin Heritage Center Museum in Jerusalem is dedicated to the life story of Menachem Begin.  It is set up so that visitors move from room to room as Menachem Begin's story is told through audio guide, lights and sounds (all visits must be scheduled in advance).  The Palmach museum in Tel Aviv utilizes the same technique, albeit, in my opinion, much more successfully.  That is because the Palmach museum tells a fictionalized story of several Palmach members; as a result, the lights and sounds experience and movement from room to room creates the atmosphere of a 3D movie and is quite effective in that case.  On the other hand, the Menachem Begin museum tour is structured to relay the facts about the life of an actual man.  Somehow, utilizing the multi-media technique to convey vast amounts of historical information does not work as well.  Also, because it is a guided and timed tour, the guide moves each group from room to room on a fixed schedule and often there isn't even enough time to read all the historical content or take in at all the memorabilia in each room.  Still, given the greatness of the man, it is certainly a worthwhile visit.

As an aside, last week I attended a bat mitzvah brunch held on the balcony of the museum which has incredible views of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.  It was an outstanding event from food to views.  I do believe that celebrating a girl's spiritual coming of age in the museum dedicated to the life of Menachem Begin is a fitting tribute to one of modern Israel's greatest leaders.

To arrange a visit to the Menachem Begin Heritage Center Museum call 02-565-2020