On Sunday a group of 30 people a mix from Belmont & Stanmore Shuls went on a Pre Pesach tour of the British Museum with Michelle Sint from the LSJS.
We started be learning about the Egyptian gods and how much of their belief revolved around darkness and death as well as the animals they feared. These helped us unravel the meaning of the 10 plagues.
We then moved into the ground floor gallery where we saw the Rosetta Stone which helped to translate so many of the paintings and carvings found inside the Tombs of the Pharaoh’s before seeing some of the great statues. A particular object was the “Outstretched Arm” of one of the Statues which would have held the Mace and Decrees. A disappointing map near this showed the area the Jews would have inhabited in Lower Egypt where they built the great cities and store houses in Pithom & Rameses.
We then visited the rooms showing how they prepared for death and the things they took with them. There was an interesting Brass Mirror which we read about in last week’s Sedra but most important was the Papyrus showing the passage of an ordinary Egyptian into the afterlife. This explained that for the first time Egyptians realised that they could pray directly to God. It also depicted the weigh in with the only remaining organ (the heart) against a feather. Why is this important? We are told that Pharoah “hardened his heart” which would have made his accession to the afterlife more difficult.
A really interesting visit that will stimulate plenty of discussion around the Seder tables of the participants of the tour. LSJS do a number of these tours every year and I will make sure to join the ones before Purim.
One last point – we noticed that sadly the museum has chosen to make a political point by labelling the area that would have been Canaan as “Palestine”. If you are on Twitter or log onto the British Museum website it might be useful to register a complaint.
–Neil Sint
