A New Fleet of Arks

Noah's Ark as you've never seen it before

(Today, Tishrei 25, is the official day of remembrance/mourning in Israel for Oct 7th. The date is controversial, and it feels a bit strange, because that terrible day never fully ended here, and it was already “re-lived” on Oct 7th this year, and again on Simchat Torah. I suspect that in future years, Tishrei 25 will feel organically more appropriate. Meanwhile, this post is on a different topic.)

With this week being parashat Noach, I have some exciting news to share. The unique collection of models of Noah’s Ark from around the world at the Biblical Museum of Natural History has been growing! Some of the latest additions include an ark made by a tribe of South American Indians from the gum of local trees, featuring such animals as coatis and anteaters; a Russian ark with the most elaborately-designed Noah that I’ve ever seen; and a Pacific Northwest ark featuring walruses, musk oxen and orcas, with Noah and his wife as Innuit.

Additionally, we received a magnificent donation from Karen and Chayim Stern, formerly of New Jersey and now of Israel, of their collection of thirty paintings and illustrations of Noah’s Ark, mostly from Jewish artists. In some of them, the picture is composed of the entire parashat Noach written as micrography in different colored inks!

The pictures will not be going on general exhibit until the museum expands (something about which I hope to have good news soon), but we will be displaying them in a special showing this Tuesday evening, in which I’ll be giving a presentation about our Ark collection. The cost is 40 NIS (free for museum donors), and due to limited space it’s by reservation only - please email office@BiblicalNaturalHistory.org to register. If you have any friends or family in Israel that might appreciate this event, please let them know about it!