Israel: $6 million gift to Bet Hatfutsot

It's nice when the birthday boy gives a present to a museum.

Leonid Nevzlin, chair of the International Board of governors of Bet Hatfutsot (Museum of the Diaspora), gave a $6 million donation, through his NADAV Fund, to the museum in honor of his 50th birthday and was announced Wednesday evening, September 23, at his birthday party at the museum.

At the event, Nevzlin said:

“The new museum will be one of the principal tools available to us for ensuring the future of the Jewish People and its prosperity. I believe that visitors at the museum will not only be moved emotionally, but it will also teach them about their Jewish roots, and succeed in connecting them with the collective story of the Jewish People.”

The gift will go towards establishing the ‘Museum of the Jewish People’ in Beit Hatfutsot - the first museum in the world to tell the story of the Jewish people.

Nevzlin has provided several previous donations which helped save the institution during a severe budget crisis a few years ago.

The Museum of the Jewish People will cost some $24 million and is planned to open to local and international visitors in 2012. The 16,000 sq. m. museum will house a new permanent three-story exhibit of 4,200 sq. m., in the Nahum Goldmann building on the Tel Aviv University campus.

The gift marked the launch of an international fundraising campaign which will begin in the next few days with the goal of funding the museum.