Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev inaugurated the new exhibition which tells the story of the post-’67 generation.
Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev visited Hebron to inaugurate the new Beit HaRishonim, or “The First House” at the Touching Eternity museum in Beit Hadassah. The exhibit tells the story of the pioneering generation of Hebron who reestablished the Jewish community after the city’s liberation in 1967.
Regev stated, “I am delighted and proud to inaugurate The First House which emphasizes the Jewish connection to our ancestral city and presents the story of the founding generation, who fought for the settlement, and continues to fight today. These are the pioneers who are resolute, and do not to shy away from hardships, threats of terror, to grow and expand their community.”
She added, “for me, it is a fulfillment of a vision that has emerged from the beginning of my term as Minister of Culture and Sports, to tell the story of the founders of the new settlement of Judea and Samaria, where Israel and Israelis are deeply and indelibly linked in the past, present and future.”
Omri Shalmon, Director of the Council for Conservation of Heritage Sites in Israel said that his organization gladly responded to the request to take part in the inauguration. “The displays and innovative visuals in the museum tell the story of the Jewish community throughout the ages,” he said. “It is a unique story of building a life and community in times of peace and in times of emergencies.”
Both agencies invested approximately NIS 3 million in the newly renovated museum as part of a comprehensive initiative to make historical and culture heritage sites accessible to all groups in Israeli society, with an emphasis on Judea and Samaria and periphery cities.
The new interactive high-tech displays tell the story of Hebron, the first Hebrew city, where Abraham and Sarah lived, through the reign of King David who made it Israel’s first capital city, through the occupation of the Mamelukes and Ottomans who banned Jewish access to the Tomb of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs. The influx of Spanish Inquisition refugees and the revival of the Jewish community up until the massacre of 1929 is detailed.
The modern post-Six Day War era is celebrated as Beit Hadassah, the building in which the museum is housed, became a symbol of the pioneering spirit of the new generation. The now elderly pioneers joined Regev for the unveiling of the new exhibition as youth and family members looked on.
Dating back to 1893, Beit Hadassah was one of the first Hadassah hospital clinics in the land of Israel and served both Jews and Arabs. It was the site of some of the bloodiest atrocities of the 1929 massacre. In the 1970s it became the first site the new pioneers refurbished as habitable living quarters.
Regev also took a selfie at the memorial marker for Sarah, the Biblical Matriarch in whose honor the cave of Machpela was originally purchased as described in the Book of Genesis.
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