When the US-Israel war with the Iranian regime began on February 28, sending Israelis to their safe rooms and bomb shelters under a hail of Iranian missile fire, museums immediately closed their doors in accordance with the IDF’s Home Front Command’s prohibition against most gatherings.

Within several days, however, some of the smaller museums opened their doors for the prescribed gatherings of 50 people, if their buildings had appropriate safe spaces for visitors to take shelter if needed.

“Once it was clear that this wasn’t going to be just a day or two, we thought about what people need, what can we do?” said Risa Levitt, executive director of Jerusalem’s Bible Lands Museum.

Levitt and her staff had already been conducting some of their own research about cultural institutions and how visits to museums could reduce stress and help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumas.

“I said, ‘Let’s open as a faith space,'” said Levitt, who moved to Israel in January 2023 from San Diego, where she served as a professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism at San Diego State University, as well as director of the Jewish Studies program.

The Bible Lands Museum, with two bomb shelters in its basement and a robust family program regularly held on Saturdays, was already accustomed to entertaining children and their parents.

“We figured we could invite up to 50 people in to do something, to just get out of the house in a relaxed atmosphere, for something to do with the kids,” said Levitt. “We were confident we could take care of people should something happen.”

They quickly sold out two rounds of 50 tickets for morning and afternoon gatherings, placing bracelets on each visitor to keep track of how many guests were admitted and to ensure they left after the allotted two hours.

“Sure enough, once in the morning round and once in the afternoon round, we marched them all to the shelters [during a siren] and then let them back into the........

© The Times of Israel