International Museum Day 2019 - Free Museums on Lag Baomer!

Lag Ba'Omer, May 23, 2019, is International Museum Day in Israel, and many museums around Israel open to the public for free!


The museums on this list are usually quite pricey for a family to visit, so getting in for free is a great way to learn, experience, and see new things, but I will warn you now - get there early or risk having the doors closed due to overcrowding!

I have tried to list phone numbers and opening hours as accurately as possible. However, I cannot take responsibility for any errors, so please call the museums you plan to visit to verify this information before you go.

I have tried, wherever possible, to link to websites in English. There were some museums/historical sites that only had Hebrew websites, though. My apologies in advance.

The list below represents many hours of work translating and researching, and I request that if you want to share this information, you link to this blog post. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Here's the list (the list in Hebrew is available here)

Please note: Generally, free admission will not apply to large groups.

North

The Open Museum in Tefen open 9am - 4pm 04-9109609

The Chaim Shturman House - at Kibbutz Ein Harud, open 9am - 3pm 04-6486337 | 04-6486328

Bar David Museum for Jewish Art and Judaica - Kibbutz Baram, 04-6988295 open 10am - 4pm

Ein-Dor Museum of Archaeology, Kibbutz Ein-Dor, open 10am -3pm 04-6770333

The National Maritime Museum, open 10am - 7pm 04-8536622

Wilfrid Israel Museum, Kibbutz HaZorea, 04-9899566 open 9am - 2pm 

Watchman's House Museum - Kfar Giladi 04-6941565 open 8am - 4pm

The Haifa Museum of Art 04-9115997 open 10am - 7pm - some exhibits close earlier

The Herman Struk Museum 04-6359962 open 10am - 9pm

The Haifa City Museum, 04-9115888 open 10am - 7pm

The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art,  04-8383554 open 10am - 7pm

Mane Katz Museum, Haifa 04-9119372 open 10am - 7pm

The National Maritime Museum, Haifa, 04-8536622, open 10am - 7pm

The Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum in Haifa - 04-8536249, open 10am - 4pm

MadaTech, open 10am -5pm, 04-8614444



Center

HaGedudim Museum, Moshav Avichail 09-8822212 open 8:30am - 4pm

The Khan Museum, Hadera, 04-6322330 open 10 am - 2 pm

Museum of Archaeology and Glass, Kibbutz Nachsholim, 04-6390950, open 9am - 2pm

The Kfar Saba Museum, 09-7640868 open 9 am - 7pm

Ramat Hasharon Geological Museum , open 10 am - 1 pm

Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv 03-6415244 open 10am - 8pm

Rishon L'Tzion Museum,  03-9598862, 03-9598890 open 9am - 2pm

Museum and Archives of the History of Holon 03-5050425 open 10am - 1pm
The Hosmasa Museum - Holon - 03-5050425 open 10am - 1pm

Ilana Goor Museum, 03-683-7676, ext. 20, 10am - 4pm

The Petach Tikvah Museum of Art 03-9286300 open 4pm - 8pm

Nahum Gutman Museum of Art, Tel Aviv 03-5161970 open 10am - 4pm

Yemenite Heritage Center, Rehovot, 073-3946150 open 9 am - 5 pm

Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv 03-6077020 open 10am - 9pm pre-registration required at: https://tickets.tamuseum.org.il/calendar/2019-05-23

Agam Museum, Rishon, 03-555-5900 open 10 am - 7 pm

The Hagana Museum - 03-560-8624 open 8am - 4pm

Palmach Museum, 03-5459800 By reservation only

Etzel Museum, Tel Aviv 03-5284001 open 8am - 4pm

The Etzel 1948 Museum, Tel Aviv 03-5177180 , 03-5172044 open 8am - 4:30pm

Toldot Tzahal Museum, Tel Aviv 03-5172913 open 8am - 4pm 

The Lechi Museum 03-6820288 open 8am - 4pm

The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History,  073-3802000 open 10am - 6pm

Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv, 037457808, 10am - 4pm

Jerusalem

Museum of Italian Jewish Art, 02-6241610, noon - 7pm

Bloomfield Science Museum, Jerusalem 02-6544888 open 10am - 6pm

The Old Yishuv Court Museum, 02-6276319, 052-4002478 open 10am - 5pm

Museum on the Seam, 02-6281278 open 10am - 5 pm

The Bible Lands Museum, Jerusalem 02-5611066 open 9:30am - 5:30pm

The Museum for Islamic Art in Jerusalem 02-5661291/2 open 10am - 7pm

The Underground Prisoners Museum in Jerusalem 02-6233166 ' open 9am - 5pm

Tower of David Museum 02-6265333 open 9am - 4pm 11am & 1:30pm guided tours in English  (2 different topics)

The Israel Museum 02-6708811 open 10am - 5pm


South 

The Museum of Philistine Culture 08-6224799 open 9am - 4pm

Yad Mordechai, 08-6720559  open 9am - 5 pm 

The Negev Museum of Art, Beer Sheva 08-6993531 open 10am - 4pm

The Museum of Islamic and Near Eastern Culture 08-6993535 open 10am - 4pm



Let me know where you decide to go! I'd love to hear which museum you chose, and what you thought of it!

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Orlah Update - Iyar 5779

Here's the latest Orlah update, so you can shop for fruit in Israel with confidence!

This post is a follow up to the Kashrut for New Olim post. If you haven't seen it yet, please check it out -- there's important information there! 

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES in Israel - Specific Kashrut Issues

Unlike in other parts of the world, in Israel, fruits and vegetables are NOT automatically "kosher" - here we need to make sure that they are not "orlah" fruits (harvested during a tree's first 3 yrs, with other rules applying to year 4) and that trumot and ma'asrot have been taken (from both fruits and vegetables). Without these basics, these fruits and vegetables are NOT acceptable in a kosher kitchen!

If you shop at a market that doesn't have an ishur kashrut (kosher certification) on their produce, you'll need to investigate these issues further, if you are interested in adhering to the halachot of the Land of Israel OR if you regularly host people who assume the food in your home is kosher! I must say that it's important to familiarize yourself with these special halachot, as they are part of keeping kosher in Israel! (If you say you keep Kosher in Israel, everyone assumes that you have taken care of these issues; and if you don't, then you may be unwittingly putting someone in a situation they don't want to be in!) 

It's definitely possible to take trumot and maasrot on your own (I do it often), so vegetables are easiest to buy without a teudah, as that is all you need to do (and very often, it would be without a bracha). Some of the fruits on the market may be ok to purchase even from a non-certified establishment and just take trumot and maasrot, because of the extremely low percentage of orlah fruits being sold, but those lists change frequently, so you'll constantly need to stay up-to-date.

Other fruits can be a problem, because of orlah (from the first 3 years after the tree was planted). I try very hard to post a monthly update here on my site with a list of the fruits where the percentage of orlah fruits on the open market is greater than 0.5%. These fruits should only be bought from a reputable source that does not sell orlah fruits (i.e. a place with a teudah). This orlah issue is a serious issue for kosher consumers:

ORLAH Update for Iyar 5779

Fruits to AVOID buying without a teudah:

• Avocado - Haas and Reid varieties
• Blueberries
• Peach (Omer, White)
• Grapefruit (White)
• Olives for curing
• Olives for oil (Barnea)
• Lemon
• Apricot (large red. Ra'anana)
• Nectarine (Red, White, Gali-Binyamina, Snow -red speckled, Yellow)
• Grapes - SBS 125+, oval green grapes, red, dark red, Big Pearl green varieties
• Pitaya
• Papaya
• Prickly Pear (Sabra Fruit)
• Plum - large yellow, green-yellow
• Oranges - Choice Valencia
• Starfruit
• Passionfruit
• Almonds
• Figs

Please be sure to speak with your personal Halachic Authority about purchasing fruit in Israel without a teudah. Not everyone holds by the 0.5% threshold, and there are differences of opinion about certain fruits and whether they are subject to Orlah. This information is just for informational purposes and is not a halachic psak! Even if you follow a psak that relies on the 0.5% threshold, you still must take trumot and maasrot on all produce grown in Israel (or be sure it has been taken), in order to fulfill your halachic obligations.

Also, be aware that this list does NOT apply to fruit grown by an individual. If your friend has a fruit tree, you'll need to find out how old it is! 

I hope you find this helpful! Please follow or like my Facebook page and don't miss out on updates and other posts!