Dr Reuben Hecht (1909-1993) was born in Antwerp, Belgium, to Jacob and Ella Hecht, where his father and uncle, Herman, founded the Neptun Rhenania shipping company. In 1918, when Reuben was nine, the family moved to Basel in Switzerland.
Hecht became interested in Zionism after reading the anti-Zionist materials published by the assimilationist Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (Central Association of German Citizens of Jewish Faith) encouraging Jewish assimilation. He served as a counselor in the Zionist youth movement "Blue and White." In 1933 he worked with Ze'ev Jabotinsky at the Paris headquarters of the Revisionist Zionist movement. In 1941 he married Edith Zilzer, in Belgrade.
After the establishment of the State of Israel, Hecht won a concession to build grain storage silos in Haifa and Ashdod, founding Dagon Batei-Mamgurot Le-Israel Ltd. Active throughout his life in politics, public service and Zionist affairs, he was a principal aide to Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the Camp David peace talks.
A founding member of the University of Haifa Board of Governors, he established the Reuben Hecht Chair for the Study of Zionism and History and the Herzl Institute for Research and Study of Zionism. Perhaps his crowning achievment was when, in 1984, he established the Museum at the university, in his wife's name, to house his eclectic collections of archaeological artifacts and 19th-century paintings. For more than six decades, Hecht collected archaeological artefacts representing the ancient material culture of the Land of Israel, being particularly interested in finds from the Canaanite period to the end of the Byzantine period. He understood that archaeology was an important expression of Zionism, and that ancient artifacts were proof of the link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel.
In 1984, he was awarded the Israel Prize for Exemplary Lifetime Service to the Society and State.
About two years before his death, Hecht began planning an expansion of the Museum, but he died before he could see the realization of his intentions. However the management of the Museum has continued to expand over the years. A new wing inaugurated in 1998 houses permanent archaeological displays, which have grown to include finds from excavations conducted by the University of Haifa.
Clockwise, from top right: Cosmetic spoon in the shape of a nude swimming girl holding a duck, wood, Egyptian, 18-19 Dynasties (C14-12 BCE); Late Bronze Age anthropoid coffins from Deir al-Balah; Fragment of lintel from Bar'am Synagogue, late Roman period; view of Haifa bay and the Krayot from the Muesum
In 1999, a dedicated room of the new wing received the famous Ma'agen Michael ship, the wreck of a fifth-century BCE merchantman. Discovered in 1985, the ship was excavated and its timber immersed in preservation tanks at the University of Haifa, undergoing a seven-year process of impregnation by heated polyethylene glycol. The boat has provided researchers with insights into ancient methods of shipbuilding and the evolution of anchors.
The Art Wing of the Museum, inaugurated in 1989, presents trends in art beginning in the 19th century, emphasising Impressionism and the work of Jewish artists in the School of Paris. Though many visitors are puzzled by the juxtaposition of fine art paintings with archaeology, Hecht believed that both the art and archaeological collections were linked to his concept of Zionism. In his view, the two movements, Impressionism and Zionism, marked the end of one period and the beginning of another; both were rooted in tradition and in the past, but led toward the future.
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