The Biblical Museum of Natural History — Attraction in Mate Yehuda Regional Council

Due to a family mess-up we arrived a minute late for our appointed tour. There was only one parking space left in the small museum parking area, but plenty of parking space on the street (but maybe not always? Moral: arrive with good time to park, if you'rearriving by car). There's a lift at the entrance level that takes you up to the museum, but no sign to suggest that actually everything takes place upstairs (incase, like me, you wandered around the entrance level to see where to check-in for the guided tour). The entrance houses a museum shop with cuddly animal toys, as well as Rabbi Slifkin's serious natural history Torah books. The museum's guides and volunteers were friendly, humorous and helpful. The museum has a pleasant lay-out with exhibits and explanations in Hebrew and English. Some exhibits may not be touched, others are very hands-on and a few have warning about potential bites... so read the signs or keep an eye on younger illiterate children. We enjoyed the explanatory video on entry to the tour. In all, a very pleasant and educational hour was had by our...

Enriching experience, great for families with different aged curious kids. If you are a tourist this is also an opportunity to learn about the animals in the bible and through this prism gain an understanding and eat kosher locusts.

Located near ikea and mall, parking isn't an issue. This is a place where the scholarship of the founder natan slifkin comes alive and made accessible to the public, bridging between Jewish law and culture to zoology.

Besides the mounted animals and largest collection of shofarot in the world, there is a room with lots of snakes of all sizes, lizards, chickens etc to hold. This was what my kids enjoyed most, thanks to the friendly helpful staff.

You can book a guided tour in English, Hebrew or on your own and also for a lower cost just visit the petting animals section. Visit is around an hour and a half.

Code discounts are available through all credit card memberships and the like and even full price is reasonable. For 10 shekels a special museum issue of national geographic magazine is avaliable forcsale at...

My original review: "Sadly run down + dilapidated + in need of funding. I'm surprised that the Israeli government hasn't stepped in to do serious funding. They give a unique take on biblical history. What a pity. Go see it anyway." Museums' response: "Response from the owner an hour ago Shalom Harry, Unfortunately we think that you may have us confused with another museum. We are The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Bet Shemesh. We look forward to your visit soon!" I don't understand what happened here: I clearly recognise some of the photos as being what I saw in December (and Google Maps confirmed that I actually was there), but there is a whole, upscale, modern section in Google's photo collection which I never saw while I was there. Unless those are photos of improvements since December, those must be part of the museum which I missed. If I'm wrong, then this is one of those rare moments when I would be happy to be wrong and I'll certainly be back soon, B'H'! My apologies guys - I'm glad you...