New Exhibit at Bible Lands Museum in Israel

Article: Visiting Israel in the next year? You may want to visit a new exhibit at Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum about the Jewish exile to ancient Babylonia 2,500 years ago. “By the Rivers of Babylon” shows a collection of about 100 ancient clay tablets from 6th century Mesopotamia that speaks of the lives of exiled Judeans living in the Babylonian Empire. From these, we learn all about Jewish life in that time. The Al-Yahudu tablets are part of a private collection that has never before been public. No one knows when they turned up or where they originated. They suddenly appeared in the antiquities market and were sold to a private collector, David Sofer, who has now loaned them to the Bible Lands Museum. After two years of work, the exhibit opened this past Sunday. The exhibit talks about Jewish names in that time, about the exile, and shows a model Mesopotamian village to recreate how Jews lived. The tablets even mention a Jewish town Al-Yahudu, which means “Jerusalem” and was likely a village of transplants from Judea. While some of the Jews were forced to do hard labor, others thrived, owned property, plantations and slaves, and became part of the Babylonian world. Jews lived in dozens of cities and went on with their lives. They weren't slaves like in Egypt.

Click here to see the promotional video.