Tour the Jewish World while you stay safe and cozy at home
Ellen writes:
Have your winter travel plans or wishes been thwarted yet again? While you stay safe, stir-crazy and healthy indoors, I invite you to visit some awesome Jewish places virtually. I’m sure there are many, many more, but this is a good jumping-off point.
I’ve tried to estimate how much time you can expect to spend on a given site. Much will depend on where your interests lie; feel free to let us know if the estimates are wildly unrealistic. Watch for my estimates at the end of each entry.
You could spend all day here An hour or two, give or take Less than an hour
JEWISH ARTS AND CULTURE
Google Arts and Culture (https://artsandculture.google.com/explore)
This is an amazing collection for anything Arts and Culture. For Jewish sites, search for Jewish or Jews or Israel. There’s so much to see here that it defies being broken down. Suffice it to say under “Jewish”, there are 18 Museum views, 10,336 individual items, 204 stories (which are online exhibits), 31 collections, and 1 Theme (the Holocaust). You could definitely while away a full day - or weeks - here.
JEWISH COMMUNITIES AROUND THE WORLD – PAST AND PRESENT
The Jewish Virtual Library (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/virtual-jewish-history-tours) offers what they call “Virtual Jewish History Tours”. These are really for those who like to read. There are detailed histories of many Jewish communities. Many articles end with links to current Jewish organizations in the country. Begin with the World Map or select a continent and explore from there. You could spend days here.
In its own words, JewishGen KehilaLinks (https://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/) (formerly "ShtetLinks") “is a project facilitating web pages commemorating the places where Jews have lived. KehilaLinks provides the opportunity for anyone with an interest in a place to create web pages about that community. These web pages may contain information, pictures, databases, and links to other sources providing data about that place.”
There are an almost overwhelming number of communities to visit or learn about. Because it’s crowd-sourced, the depth of detail and the number or quality of images vary. You could spend days here.
Jewish Heritage Europe (https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/) is a comprehensive site for all of Jewish Europe. Each individual country has links to museums, memorials and cultural institutions, where you may also find links to virtual tours or to museum exhibits. You could spend days here.
I stumbled on the Jewish Catacombs of Italy (https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2019/10/17/italy-more-on-the-jewish-catacombs/) through the Jewish Heritage Europe site, and I was so blown away that I’m giving it its own listing. The catacombs date from the 4th Century. Even if you don’t want to spend time looking around the whole heritage site, you don’t want to miss this. Don’t forget to use full screen view. Less than an hour, and worth every minute.
Unione delle Comunita Ebraiche Italiane (Union of Italian Jewish Communities) (http://ucei.it/virtual-tour/) offers a directory of a number of Jewish virtual tours of museums, synagogues, and cemeteries in 11 communities in Italy. Plan on spending an hour or two, but don’t be surprised if you take more time.
Past, Present and memory: rediscovering Jewish Lviv (https://lia.lvivcenter.org/en/storymaps/jewish-lviv/) is set up as a virtual walking tour. A map indicates stops on the way, and at each stop there are images and text, and sometimes video as well. It’s not the fanciest site, but it’s definitely interesting. You’ll probably spent less than an hour; more if you have a particular interest in Lviv.
The Moroccan Jewish story in 360 (https://einatmorocco.wixsite.com/morocco360) is exactly that – and so much more. Breathtaking 360 tours of Jewish places in Morocco. As with any 360-degree photos or tours, make sure to use full screen mode for the best effect! You’ll probably spend an hour or two here.
JEWISH MUSEUMS
Some of these exhibits are rich with pictures of their collections; some are text-heavy, and some are immersive tours of their facilities or specific exhibits. For the 360 degree or virtual tours, make sure you tour in full screen mode to get the most out of the experience. Because they're museums; you'll probably want to linger; plan on giving them an hour or two at least. Also, remember to check the Google Arts and Culture museum exhibits (https://artsandculture.google.com/explore)
The Museum of Jewish Montreal (http://imjm.ca/#home) offers virtual tours. Click on Virtual Tours, then choose the tour you’re interested in. The tours are actually audio files with photographs. There are also virtual exhibits; some links are broken and they are text-rich.
The Jewish Museum of New York (https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/highlights) offers pictures of many of their artifacts, with commentary. Click on “Explore the Collection, or simply click on the pictures on their home page.
The Jewish Museum of Florida (http://jmof.fiu.edu/) has several virtual tours of their previous exhibits. Click on the exhibit you’d like to see under their “previous exhibits” heading, and you’ll find a 360 tour toward the bottom of the page..
The Israel Museum in Jerusalem has some virtual exibits through their “In the Palm of your Hand” link, but I found it difficult to navigate. Their virtual tour is at the Google site: https://artsandculture.google.com/streetview/the-israel-museum-jerusalem/.
We’d love to hear whether you explored these sites, and what you thought! Meanwhile, enjoy your tours, and stay safe and cozy!