What I learnt at the Jewish museum:

There are these two books. One is the ultimate book and equivalent to the bible- the Torah.

It is a giant giant scroll that is a repeated text of the five Books of Moses and has all the rules and history of Judaism. A page of the Torah is read at every synagog ritual so the whole thing is read within a year.

The second book is one that some guy decided to write as commentary on the Torah, called the Talmud. Just because the massive massive scroll could be interrupted wrong so they thought they had to clear things up a bit.

The pages have different sections where the middle is the original writings and then scholars have added more around the outside.

Jewish women bathe in a special bathhouse after they get their period, called a Mikveh. They also go there before they marry and to wash their silverware. That last part is not a joke. Ew.

Alef bet means alphabet in Hebrew. Go figure.

Hebrew is read from right to left. Hebrew is one of the oldest languages today that is still used being 5000 years old. The Hebrews alphabet consists of 22 consonants with dots about them to know when to change them to a vowel sound.

Yiddish is a mixture of Hebrew and German and became their trading language.

The Jews have had it really hard. It wasn't just Hitler hating on them.
Everyone blamed the Jews for the Black Plague in the 1300's, claiming they were sneaking into their churches and poisoning the holy water etc. Many Jews were murdered in gruesome ways because of this, including being slowly stripped of their flesh and it being fed to a dog infront of them and then mauled by said dogs. The plague killed 1 third of the people living in Europe. Nothing to do with Jews. Just an added fact for you.  :O

Levi's jeans were invented by a Jew called Levi Strauss in 1847. They were made famous because the stitching was reinforced with metal studs, originally used for horses saddles. This became amazingly popular because apparently if you didn't have good jeans back in those days, you were screwed in life in general. Don't know how but that's what the audio guide said.

A Jewish boy becomes a Bar Mitzwah and also has a Bar Mitzwah when he is 13. I know, confusing. A Bar Mitzwah is a sacred body for Judism. He reads his first page of the Torah in the synagog for the first time. Women become But Mitzwah's. Yes thats right, But.

With the Jewish calendar, the new day begins at sunset.

Jews made up a large amount of the high class people in the bourgeois era in France. When they had stopped being thrashed by society for a little bit and built up their fortunes.

Hannukah is a lamp. It is lit by candles and has eight candle holders. It is also a festival that goes for eight days. Which is probably more well known then the lamp.

Jews were never really accepted by Christians because of their religion. Even though everyone knows Jesus was a Jew. In the First World War they were dispersed across Europe but still all fought against their fellows Jews being loyal to their country, particularly in Germany. They had never really had equal right before then but because they showed their loyalty and won lots of medals and stuff, the rights began the even out. Then hitler came along. And so it began again.

The Jewish museum is amazing. We spent 5 hours there and i rushed through the last half. It's designed by the famous architect Daniel Libeskind. The whole place is very sobering upon entry, including showcasing letters written by Jews to the families while they were on the bus to Auschwitz. No-one comes back from Auschwitz. It had stories after stories of the real situations. And I'll tell you one truth, when you read the words, "then they were transported to Auschwitz", you almost certainly guarantee the next words will be, "and murdered".

Daniel Libeskind's own family was murdered in the holocaust. The man who designed the inscription and constructed it on the front of the Reichstag building was later murdered along with his whole family.

Berlin itself is an amazing city. It's got such a free spirited vibe and I think it's because of what they've been through. They really value freedom. There is so much history of heart here and you still see it everywhere.

Below is (from top to bottom):

Daniel Libeskind's Jewish museum next to the original old baroque building, which is now the entrance and connected underground.

The Torah scroll.

The Talmud. The original text in the centre then additional texts surrounding it. The small pieces of text at the top are the references to the information. Kind of like page numbers or an index.

The holocaust tower by Daniel Libeskind, at the end of the holocaust axis. Where the letters are. About death.

The memory void. Approaching this there are many misshapen hallways with a lot of nothingness and all you hear is 'clink clink clink'. Then you turn a corner to see people walking all over these distorted faces in this vertical void.

This whole experience was very sobering.