Yesterday I took my family to The Biblical Museum of Natural History.

The museum is in the Bet Shemesh [Northern] Industrial Zone and is a gem.

The entire family (we were a group of about 25 family members from under 3 years of age until mid-60s) enjoyed the visit to the museum.

The museum was founded and is operated by Rabbi Natan Slifkin. While some might worry about the old cherem on some of his works, they can rest assured that he has kept all controversial materials out of his museum in order to keep the museum in the consensus, and so that everybody can enjoy and learn..

The tour starts with a presentation by Rabbi Slifkin in which he talks about some of the issues the museum deals with, the types of animals and displays, some of the biblical discussions of animals, and the like, and ends with a video of Rabbi Slifkin "in the wild" with the king of the animal kingdom.

From there the tour moves on to the room with all the displays. On display is a variety of taxidermied animals alongside live animals and pieces of animals, as well as his famous display of exotic shofars. He has some items on display that is just mind-boggling how he got those items, at all, and specifically to Israel.

Rabbi Slifkin leads the tour through the displays, stopping at each item and explaining its history, its relevance in the Tanakh and often some discussion around it, such as analysis of the name, how the animal came to Israel or how it was indigenous to Israel but no longer is, debates over names of animals on the Torah and what they might refer to, and the like. Some of the displays can be held by the people, such as snakes and reptiles, as well as some others. The tour is both exciting and fascinating.

At the end, they have a small petting zoo of rabbits and guinea pigs and chicks outside that the kids can play with for a while.

Everybody had a great time.

Not only should you include a visit to the Biblical Museum of Natural History on your touring itinerary, but schools should make this site a regular visit on their annual schedule of educational sites.

Here are some pictures from our visit: