It's hard to think of Noah's Ark in the context of art. The concept connects us immediately to the biblical story, to the marital entry of the animals that survived the flood, and to the survival of the human race through Noah and his family. But now the world-famous box is also coming to the museum. "The Art of the Ark" is a new exhibition that has now opened at the Biblical Museum of Natural History on Har Tov, near Beit Shemesh. It will be devoted entirely to Noah's Arks and their different representations around the world.
Noah's Ark Italian, Photo: Emanuel Nogler
Over the course of a year and a half, the director of the Biblical Museum of Natural History, Rabbi Dr. Nathan Slipkin, collected more than 100 representations of Noah's Ark, models, photographs and Judaica from 16 different countries. Now the general public will be able to be exposed to the finds in both parts of the exhibition: in the first part, "Boxes Around the World", a wide variety of boxes will be presented, with each box representing the local folk culture and wildlife that characterizes that area. The second part of the exhibition, called "The Beauty of the Ark", will present many artistic models, from tiny tin figures to huge boxes with dozens of hand-carved animals.
"I've been crazy about animals all my life, since I was a little boy, and 25 years ago I started researching animals in the Bible, writing books about it, giving lectures about it. 9 years ago I opened the Biblical Museum of Natural History, which had nothing to do with Noah's Ark," Slipkin says. "The story of Noah is generally perceived by people as a nice story for children, and my museum is also for adults. That's why I didn't even think about getting into this topic. But two years ago, I realized that there must be at least one model of Noah's Ark in a museum that defines itself as a biblical museum, and I started searching online for a model that maybe someone had built and could buy.
Boxes from all over the world, photo: Davy Crockett
"And then I discovered that there was really art around it, very beautiful artistic models. I also saw that according to the animals that appear on the boxes, you can see where in the world it was created, and this is the main issue, that every place in the world has its own animals. In Australia, for example, kangaroos and koalas, in Alaska polar bears and seals, and among Jews it is biblical animals such as lion, tiger, eagle and deer.
"When we were in the Diaspora, we forgot about the animals of the Bible, because Noah's Ark reached all cultures in Western countries. The Americans call the deer a deer, an eagle eagle, and in the museum I want to teach about the connection with the Land of Israel through the animals of the Torah."
Different representations of Noah's Arks. Photo: Danbury Mint
For example?
"For example, in Noah's Ark from Africa you will see an elephant, a lion and a warthog, in Noah's Ark from South America llamas, in China pandas, the Asian wild bull and a tiger, in Europe the golden eagle and a European ibex."
A story that spread all over the world, photo: Hallock
Why is this story so spread around the world? What is it about him that people fell so in love with?
"I think it has to do with appreciating the wonders of nature. Noah's Ark has so many animals, all concentrated in one place, and it helps to appreciate the diversity of the animal world. There is also the matter of mutual responsibility, where everyone lives together in harmony and one man takes care of everyone. God wanted to destroy the world, leaving only Noah and his family and the animals, and the question arises as to why He left the animals. After all, he could have recreated them. But the thing is, the world was destroyed because the people sinned, and God wanted the new world after the flood to be built on grace, for Noah to guard and take care of all the animals, because when you guard and care for animals, you learn what grace is."
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