At the new Jewish Museum one can feast on the panorama of Jewish history in a single spectacular, permanent exhibition, subtly conceived and brilliantly executed. It opens with a replica of an ancient agrarian calendar found in 1908 at Gezer, northwest of Jerusalem in the Shefela region. Written in good biblical Hebrew, the calendar seems to date from the 10th century B.C.E., coinciding with the reign of Solomon, when Gezer became part of the expanding monarchy of Israel. The calendar may not be anything more than a mnemonic ditty for children, and yet it is a cultural artifact of rich significance. The Gezer calendar marks time by the work of the field.
Human life is governed by the rhythm of nature.
A time for planting and a time for uprooting the planted. The calendar acknowledges a sense of dependence on the earth's bounty. The quest for dominion has not yet ruptured the intimacy between land and human life. But it is more than just a mere listing. The conceptual grid in which the calendar is placed is the world of nature and not history.