MINI ISRAEL

There is a new theme park recently opened in Israel. As is the Israeli custom, it has opened even though the park is far from completed. When my wife and I visited there last month together with a group of friends from our Jerusalem synagogue, we were most impressed by the idea and execution of this theme park. Any one who has visited Amsterdam in Holland has probably visited its famous mini park, Maduradam, where all of the landmarks of that fascinating city and country are represented exactly at a scale of 1:25. The representations are accurate to the last detail and the cars move on the highways, the planes taxi to their gates at the mini-airport and the beauty of the flower markets is strikingly represented with perfect little miniature plants. An Israeli family visiting that park eight years ago hit upon the idea to create such a park in Israel as well. Eventually an arrangement was made with that Dutch park and its technology was joined to Israeli ingenuity to create Mini Israel. Of course, it was years until the plan fought its way through the Israeli bureaurocracy (Israeli officials and clerks in all government offices are trained to initially say no to every request and only the persistence of the applicant eventually wears them down and eventually will allow the plans at least to be considered) and a site approved for the park. A large piece of land (paradoxically, you need a lot of land for a mini park) was found near the Tank Museum at Latrun and dedicated for the park and work began on the park. It was and still is an enormously detailed and complex project – building such a mini park. There are over thirty five thousand miniature trees and plants that have been gathered and placed in the soil of the park. The number of human figures replicated in the park is outstanding and mind-boggling. For instance, the replica of the Teddy soccer stadium in Jerusalem shows hundreds of figures in the stands watching the game. Some of them are sitting while others are standing; a number of them are participating in a “wave” and others are arguing vehemently with one another over the merits of the respective teams. All of these many figures are hand produced and painted by a full time staff of artists, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who work behind transparent glass in the park’s main building and they may be observed at work and their work are as fascinating as the mini park itself.

                        As one can imagine, a mini park that is supposed to represent the Holy Land contains many replicas of houses of prayer and religious institutions. There is a wonderful replica of the Western Wall, complete with swaying tallit-bedecked worshippers. The Jerusalem Great Synagogue and the beautiful Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv are also represented. There are numerous Christian buildings, churches and monasteries, in the park. The park is built for tourists and hopes to attract a sizable amount of Christian tourism to it. There are also representations of Moslem mosques, notably the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque of Jerusalem. The Tomb of Rachel and the Cave of the Patriarchs are also exhibited in perfect detail. The Shrine of the Book that houses the Dead Sea scrolls, the Knesset building which houses the most cantankerous legislators in the world and the Supreme Court building which hosts sometimes the height of judicial arrogance, are all on display in their miniature architectural beauty. In fact, I was able to appreciate the architectural beauty of these buildings much more at the mini park than I had ever been able to do when seeing them in real life in their massive form.

                        Close to thirty thousand people visited the park when it opened (somewhat illegally) on Chol Hamoed Succot 5763. The park was then closed for two months and has since reopened. As I mentioned earlier, the park is not yet complete and probably will not have all of its exhibits and the accompanying sound and light effects in place for another four to six months. But even now, in its work-in-progress form, it is a fascinating place to visit. One can easily spend days there appreciating the enormous variety of weather, foliage, cultures and buildings that make up our wonderful little country. When completed, the park will have facilities to handle as many as ten thousand visitors per day. As is the case in many such places of interest and entertainment, the grandparents have as much if not more fun visiting the place than do the grandchildren they brought along. I think that Mini-Israel is a wonderful place to visit for all those who find themselves fortunate enough to be in the Land of Israel.