Roman Kogan biography

Roman Kogan tells about the new appearance of the museum, its "Petersburg" part, about the possibilities of visiting the museum online. In March, the Museum of the Jewish people, a former Museum of Diaspora, re-opened in Tel Aviv. The new name of the museum is “Anu”, which is translated from Hebrew. At that time, it was a very unusual, progressive museum, it used, for example, computer, media technologies - then it was new.

And in the first 20 years he was very popular - immediately after the opening in it stood the longest queues. And then, at the turn of the millennia, the museum was in a crisis situation. Interest in him decreased, he became unprofitable, the question arose of his closure. The museum was on duty at night in his building, fearing that the museum would close the "quiet". But this was avoided.

The new leadership of the board of directors was appointed - Irina Nevzlina, the museum general director - Dan Tadmore, the main curator - Dr. Orit Shaham Gover, developed a new concept. The opening of the new museum was scheduled for a year, but for all understandable reasons was lingered. And it can already be said that the museum is in great interest - although now there are almost no foreign tourists in Israel.

With the resumption of international trips, of course, an influx and foreign visitors are expected. What has changed? The division between Israel and the diaspora has disappeared - the museum is now devoted to the history and culture of the whole people. This is a museum about “us”, a museum that Jews as a nation are themselves. Much attention is paid to the fact that the history of every Jewish community, each region, and ethnic group is reflected.

Changed, and very seriously, accents. A little less attention is paid to the tragic episodes of Jewish history, more to Jewish achievements, a contribution to world civilization. The history of Jews is not only the destruction of the temple, pogroms, the Holocaust. This is a reason for pride, and not just for sorrow. The old and new expositions are now in the museum more than before, genuine exhibits.

Where did they come from?

A lot was bought at auctions - these are family relics, for example, a lot was transferred as a gift. On the third floor of the museum - an exposition dedicated to modern Jewish culture and identity from it begins to visit the museum. Various aspects of culture are represented there: theater, dance art, cinema, music, folklore, literature, as well as art-a large collection of creativity of Jewish artists of the XX-XXI centuries.

It was specifically for the museum collected and purchased by Leonid and Tatyana by nobose. And on the ground floor there are models of synagogues of different countries. They are inherited from the "old" museum. At first it was not clear that it made sense to save from the old exposition. At this moment, they called from the Jerusalem Museum of Israel, the main museum of the country, and asked what our plans for these layouts were.

And then a decision was made: if these layouts are interested in the Israeli Museum, then it is worth saving them with us. Of course, they demanded restoration. But now, if possible, genuine things from this synagogue are presented next to each layout. For example, we have a menorah of the main Warsaw synagogue burned by the Nazis. At one time, the rabbi sold it to Sweden to support the community.

And nearby- audio and video materials about the modern life of various synagogues, including the Choral synagogue of Moscow. We talk, for example, about the differences between the Ashkenazi and Sephard rituals. Thus, we use old exhibits in a new way and combined with new multimedia exhibits. Large databases are inherited from the former museum, including genealogical as well as biographical, musical base, photo materials base and much more.

All this continues to develop. Everyone can use these computer databases directly from home. This is a separate project related to the rest of the work of the museum, but autonomous. And what about Petersburg? The history of the Russian Jewish community is represented in the new exposition quite widely. In the 19th century, Jews strove from towns to the capital's cities. In the Russian Empire, such a city was Petersburg.

There lived such entrepreneurs and philanthropists as the Polyakov, Ginzburgs, both representatives of the intelligentsia and retired soldiers lived. In the later Soviet times, Leningrad became one of the centers of the underground Jewish Renaissance. We also talk about this in our exposition. The museum tells about artists, whose life and work are connected with the city on the Neva: about Antokolsky, Bakst, etc.

For example, on the 3rd floor you can see the costume of the Dyagelian "Russian seasons" made by Bakstst from the ballet. Can you see the expositions online? Nowadays, when, due to the pandemic, the borders for a while became impassable, and, on the other hand, distance technologies have developed, this issue is natural. And the answer: Yes, of course. The museum has online excursions that can be ordered.

The museum cooperates with dozens of guides, each of which leads thematic excursions on the exposition. There are special educational programs.One of them, the “History of my family” - for Jewish schools. Under the leadership of the teacher, schoolchildren from different countries explore the history of their family, and the best works are exhibited as part of the annual exhibition in the museum itself.

Another project is a competition of thematic photo works “Jewish lens”. Of course, the young people, including from Russia, from St. Petersburg, participate in this. Prior to this, I was a press attach for the deputy of the Israeli parliament of the Knesset Roman Bronfman; The representative of the Department of Education of the Jewish Agency is drying in St. Petersburg, the North-West of the Russian Federation and the Baltic countries; For 10 years he was the general director of the International Organization Limud-FSU in the year, we opened and began to regularly conduct educational festivals of the St.

Petersburg Limood. Now my duties also include interaction with the museum - after all, this is one of the main projects of our fund, its pride. And I'm glad that I was able to tell a little about this project. Valery Shubinsky talked.