Traveling Expo Brings Jewish History to Life

Described by its creators as a traveling Jewish children’s museum, Jewish Expo 2000 will visit the Valley just in time for Hanukkah.

The exhibit, which uses interactive technology to tell the story of the Jews, will be at the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Campus in West Hills from Monday through Dec. 12.

Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, begins at sundown Friday.

The 8,000-square-foot exhibit uses multimedia, including animation, interactive exhibits and live games and workshops, to tell the Jewish story from Creation to the present. Moments in Jewish history represented range from the miraculous parting of the Dead Sea in ancient Egypt to a secret Passover Seder in the death factory at Auschwitz.

The exhibit was conceived by followers of ultra-Orthodox Chabad-Lubavitch Judaism. Locally, the event is a project of Chabad of the Conejo, the San Fernando Valley and Marina del Rey.

Organizers hope it will draw some 20,000 visitors, said Rabbi Yisroel Levine, of Chabad of the Conejo. Many Jewish schools in the Los Angeles area already have made reservations for their students.

“About 8,000 children are booked,” Levine said.

The core exhibit of Jewish Expo 2000 has been traveling since 1993 and has been seen by some 300,000 visitors in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia.

Levine described Chabad as “an outreach organization that tries to bring Jewish awareness and Jewish identity to the community in any way possible.”

Asked if he feared that Expo 2000 might present a Disneyesque version of Judaism, Levine said he had no such worries. The Expo, he said, makes Judaism come alive.

“When the children leave the Expo, I think they’ll have a better idea of who they come from,” he said. “The kids are wide-eyed when they watch a program like this.”

Although children are the program’s primary audience, Levine predicts the exhibit will appeal to Jews of all ages and affiliations, from Reform to Orthodox.

“It’s a must for every single Jewish person to go and see the Expo,” he said.

Levine said the traveling museum has been updated over the years.

For the Southern California version, Chabad of the Conejo has added a number of Hanukkah-themed attractions.

These include a so-called Dreidel House, a structure in the shape of the toy top that is a traditional fixture of Hanukkah celebrations. Inside, he said, visitors can see how in ancient times Jews made oil from olives--oil much like the scant amount of temple oil that miraculously burned for eight nights during the first Hanukkah.

Levine said that it cost Chabad of the Conejo “tens of thousands of dollars” to bring the exhibit to the Southland.

The Agoura Hills-based organization had wanted to bring the program to Southern California ever since its first visit, in 1994, was cut short, he said.

“Right when it opened was when the Northridge quake took place, and many schools could not participate,” he said. “It was always our dream to bring it out, and 20,000 people can benefit from it.”

Hanukkah also will be marked at the West Hills facility by the lighting of an 18-foot-tall menorah, or Hanukkah candelabrum, by celebrity guests.

TV star Kelsey Grammer of “Frasier” will light the menorah Dec. 5 at 5 p.m. Others who will light Hanukkah candles at 5:45 p.m. on subsequent nights include TV personalities Laura Schlessinger and Dennis Prager, Texas Ranger Gabe Kapler and actor Art Metrano.

The Jewish Community Campus is at 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills. For tickets and other information, call (877) 439-7652.