An tiq u ities Au t hor ity

From left to right: A gold coin featuring the likeness of Roman emperor Tacitus; a coin bearing a lily from the time of King Yehonaton; a coin featur-
ing an etrog; and a lead coin from Rome with the name of Pope Alexander Ill from the time of the Crusaders

Completing The Circle

Davidson Center opens its first major archaeological exhibition.

Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor

R

Is rae l An t iq u it ies Au t ho r ity

are ancient coins uncovered at
the foot of the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem as well as a 2,000-
year-old sarcophagus lid with the inscrip-
tion Ben HaCohen HaGadol (son of the
high priest) were shown to the public
for the first time Nov. 11 at the Davidson
Center in the Jerusalem Archaeological
Garden.
The exhibition was organized by the
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the
East Jerusalem Development Company,
and is the first of many changing archaeo-
logical exhibitions to be presented at the
Davidson Center, which was established by
the late philanthropist and businessman
William Davidson and his wife, Karen,
who lives in Bloomfield Hills.
"The Davidson Center has focused on
its virtual reconstruction and multimedia
presentations; now it has completed the
circle with this first major exhibition in
the Karen Davidson Galleries:' said Jacob
Fisch, spokesman for the Friends of the
IAA in New York. This added capability
will allow archaeological exhibitions to be
shown at the Davidson Center rather than
at Israel's other museums.
Karen Davidson attended
the opening with her brother,
Bill Weidman of Birmingham,
and her youngest daughter,
Emily Reaser of Denver.
"I always have such respect
for the process of selection
by the curators; it would be
easy to go overboard in the
display of the coins and have
the display be a distraction:'
she said.
"The Israeli Antiquities
Authority has such a superb
eye for this. They simply

24

November 26 - 2009

attached a half-round glass shell to the
ancient excavated walls to show the light-
ed display, and it's fantastic."
Among the many artifacts are 2,000-
year-old coins minted during the Jews'
rebellion against the Roman army that
led up to the destruction of the Second
Temple in 70 C.E. The fierceness of the
flames can be seen in the coins, some of
which are badly burned or melted.
Davidson said she could sense the
destruction that caused the coins to burn
and bubble. She also was struck by how
very, very thin many of the coins were and
by how bright the gold appeared in others.
Other coins in the exhibition had come
from Persia, North Africa and Europe.
These foreign coins attest to the centrality
of Jerusalem for all people who
visited it thousands of years ago
while leaving behind a "souvenir"
in the area.
The exhibition also points out
the difference between the Jewish
coins and the rest of the coins.
While pagan coins depicted spe-
cific rulers, Jewish coins abstained
from portraying images because
of the commandment against
creating graven images. For that
reason, a variety of inanimate

symbols, such as a wreath, scepter and
helmet, appear on many Jewish coins.
The sarcophagus lid fragment dates
from 30 to 70 C.E., a period when many
high priests served the temple so it is
impossible to know the identity of the son
in the inscription.
"Bill was very, very interested in Jewish
history and archaeology:' Davidson said.
"Bill had no clue what the Davidson
Center was to become. He was excited by
it. Could any of us ever know how spe-
cial it is? You have to schedule a year in
advance to get to go there; it's one of most
popular sites in Israel."
The exhibitions were made possible by
the William Davidson Foundation and
Estanne Fawer.

Above: Karen Davidson with Prof.

Haim Harari, board chairman of

the Davidson Institute of Science

Education at the Weizmann

Institute in Rehovot.

Left: Bill Weidman of Birmingham

with his niece Emily Reaser of

Denver and her mother, Karen

Davidson of Bloomfield Hills.

Detroiters Dorothy and Byron Gerson,
Ralph and Mathew Gerson, Marcia and
Eugene Applebaum, Doreen Hermelin
and her late husband, David, and Gary
Shiffman were major contributors to the
Jerusalem Archaeological Garden.

Israeli Innovation
Davidson and her family also attended a
special session at the Davidson Institute
of Science Education on the campus of the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot.
"This is a place of high expectations:'
she told members of the Weizmann inter-
national board who came in for the event.
The Davidson Institute was established by
her husband in 2001.
Prof. Haim Harari, Davidson Institute
board chair, characterized Bill Davidson
as someone who truly understood the
value of science education. Today, after
nearly a decade in operation, the Davidson
Institute is the umbrella organization for
the Weizmann Institute's science enrich-
ment and community outreach activities.
To demonstrate the power of science
enrichment, a panel spanning the spec-
trum of Davidson Institute participants
— both gifted and (formerly) under-
achieving high school students, teachers
and members of the public — conveyed
through their own experiences the impact
of Davidson Institute programs on their
lives.
"Bill was so proud of everything at the
Weizmann there's such an appreciation
in Israel for innovation," she said, adding
that she was impressed by the panelists,
especially the at-risk students who found
themselves through science.
After the presentations, she and other
guests visited sample classes and labs
and strolled through an exhibition of pro-
grams and student projects set up in the
Karen Davidson Garden on the intimate
Davidson Institute campus. El