Anu Museum introduces pilot program for veteran immigrants
Institution to host discussion circles in English, Russian, French and Spanish about the ongoing challenges of immigration
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
With Aliyah Day in Israel coming on the tenth day of the Jewish month of Nisan, or April 8, Anu – Museum of the Jewish People is looking ahead with a program about the struggles of immigrants in Israel.
“The process of aliyah [immigration to Israel] doesn’t end with just coming to Israel and getting your identification card,” said Oded Revivi, the new CEO of Anu, whose wife immigrated to Israel decades ago from England.
The Anu program, titled “Oleh, Oleh,” developed with the Tel Aviv municipality, Nefesh b’Nefesh and the Nadav Foundation, is meant to support all kinds of immigrants, even those who have been living in Israel for years.
Two sessions planned at the museum will allow participants to share and think about their various challenges, and will be conducted in four languages — English, Russian, French and Spanish — but not Hebrew.
The first session, on March 5, “How Do You Laugh in Hebrew,” will utilize the “And There was Laughter” exhibit at the museum, which is due to close mid-March.
A second event on March 26 is for parents and children or grandparents and grandchildren, both new and veteran immigrants. It is also in four languages and includes afternoon activities held around the museum space.
The plan is for the pilot program to be replicated and incorporated into other cities and municipalities.
“The issue of the aliyah process never seems to end,” said Revivi, adding that the experience of sending children to the army, and caring for aging parents who live abroad, are challenges “that you don’t think through at the start of your life journey.”
Another program, a series of lectures about Iranian Jews, will examine the choices of those who have remained in Iran and endeavor to live a Jewish life in a Muslim country.
The lectures, beginning in March and running through June, will look at Jewish life in Iran, where Jews still have active synagogues, schools, kosher butchers and restaurants and can even produce kosher wine, all while living under the Iranian regime.
One session will focus on Iranian cinema from the museum’s archives.
Revivi, who came on board in November 2024 and was formerly the mayor of Efrat, views it all as part of the concept of Anu, whose focus is on Israel and the Jewish Diaspora.
“Anu is more than a museum,” said Revivi, “it’s supposed to be the center for any Jew in the world. When we wake up in the morning, we try to see the challenges that Jewish people face wherever they are in the world, and create a platform, an exhibit, a program where individuals can connect to the museum.”
In the last 16 months, the Anu staff has had the October 7 attack in mind at all times.
“It’s such a mega-event in the history of the Jewish people that nearly everything we do is influenced by October 7,” said Revivi.
The museum’s “October 7” art exhibit is still on display, and even now, he said, visitors to the museum head straight to that collection.
Other parts of the museum’s permanent exhibit have become unexpectedly relevant in the last year, said Revivi, such as the section that examines Jewish dilemmas in the Diaspora — the questions of whether Jews should have emigrated or stayed and lived in European ghettos.
“It was designed to teach kids what happened to the wandering Jews, but it became relevant for kids from the north and south, evacuated from their homes,” he said. “Now we’ve adapted it to the current times, with the perspective of what happened 100 years ago.”
