Beit Shean – An Outdoor Museum

Tiberias
My intention today was to drive from Hashmonean to Tiberias via Kibbutz Hefzibah, Beit Alfa and, Beit Shean. And until we turned off the main road toward Hefzibah, we were on track for that itinerary. But somehow we ended up on a scenic road that carried us towards the summit of Ha’Gilboa, the hills on the south eastern edge of the Jezreel valley. And boy it was scenic.

I really wanted to show Saul the plastics factory I worked in when I was a volunteer at Hefzibah, in the shadow of Ha’Gilboa. Instead our tour showed me the view I never saw all those mornings looking up at the hills.

We did manage to make it to Beit Shean, where we got out of the car and walked through the ruins. Saul helped me understand the ruins better. He speculated that if the Romans had built long rows of columns, they must have wanted them to support something. Yes, it never occurred to me. And then we found an artist’s depiction of how the main road appeared during Roman times. And sure enough. The columns supported a kind of roof over the sides of the road.

The experience raised the question: how valuable is a visit to a place like that without a guide? Our Western Wall tunnel tour experience, for example, was much deeper and meaningful because of what we learned from the guide. Had we just wandered through the tunnels alone we would have missed so much.

But not having the guide along allowed Saul and I have the experience of exploring the area together. We guided each other. He helped me understand the main road better. And when he asked whether there were gladiator fights at the amphitheatre, I was able to draw on my experience visiting the Roman coliseum to speculate about what might have gone on at the amphitheatre. The visit became less about the site and more about our relationship. And perhaps that human connection is what will help us remember our experience at the site better. How much of the details will I remember about the Western wall tunnels? But I will always remember I went there with Saul.

I’m a Museum professional who is also helping design a museum experience for the visitors to the new Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust. I think those of us involved in designing our new exhibits assume we are working to create relationships between visitors and information. But perhaps we should also use information to create relationships between people.