Virtual museum recreates Jewish enclaves in Iran and Morocco
Universal Israelite Alliance, an Israel-based Jewish educational organization, shows the width and breadth of its institutions across several centuries
Jessica Steinberg, The Times of Israel's culture and lifestyles editor, covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center
Photos of a schoolyard in Iran, a 1950s Hanukkah gathering in Morocco, and a school uniform are part of a virtual, online museum created by the Universal Israelite Alliance, an Israel-based Jewish educational organization formerly founded in Paris.
The virtual museum, which opens from the Alliance website, offers a glimpse at what Jewish communities looked like decades earlier in North Africa, the Balkans, Asia and the Mediterranean.
One of the histories told is that of the Alliance schools in Tehran, the first of which opened in 1889, and had some 400 students. There were a total of seven Alliance schools in Tehran, with 1,800 students enrolled, and 27 Alliance schools across Iran.
Some of the schools continued to function until the 1978 Iranian Revolution.
The virtual tour includes videos, portraits, and personal accounts of Jews born and raised in locations such as Damascus and Tehran, telling of Jewish traditions and histories from communities that no longer exist.
“The museum is a national treasure of culture and tradition and a live bridge between generations,” said curator of the exhibit and Universal Israelite Alliance deputy CEO Chani Memram. “Visiting the museum takes us on a journey of getting to know the people and their stories.”
The Universal Israelite Alliance was founded in 1860 to safeguard human rights for Jews worldwide.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Alliance established French-language Jewish schools throughout the Mediterranean, Iran and the former Ottoman Empire.
Photos, stories, paperwork and other items from the schools were collected, scanned, and placed on the virtual platform that allows for interactive tours of the Alliance museum.
The tours, which include sound, are offered in Hebrew, French and Spanish.
Anyone who studied at an Alliance school or has relatives who studied at one of the educational institutions is invited to send in photos and paperwork to expand the collection.
