The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (BLMJ), founded by Elie and Batya Borowski, is a registered association in Israel.
By PEGGY CIDOR
The Bible Lands Museum Jerusalem (BLMJ), founded by Elie and Batya Borowski, is a registered association in Israel. The museum has American, British and German friends. It relies principally on private donations and foundations for funding but also gets support from the museums department of the Culture Ministry and the Education Ministry. Most of the funding comes from the endowments established by the Borowskis for the protection of the museum.The Borowskis built the museum and donated Elie Borowski’s pricelessprivate collection of ancient Near Eastern artifacts. The museum isalso a center for culture and education. According to Elie Borowski’soriginal vision, its purpose was to establish “a universal culturalinstitution for people of all faiths.” As such, the educationdepartment of the museum has developed special study programs in whichJewish and Arab (Muslim and Christian) students in the city learntogether about their shared biblical roots.The museum has more than 100,000 visitors a year, in addition tothousands of children from kindergarten through high school. The BLMJalso has concerts and special programs for students’ summer vacation.Batya Borowski is the museum’s founder and chairperson of the board.