Shani, 13, listened intently to the raucous shouts of the marketplace vendors, and felt the jostle of the crowd. She wished to purchase some fruit, but she could not see. Gingerly, she stretched out her hand to search for any familiar fruit shape. In an instant, her hand recoiled in horror: She had accidentally placed her hand in a garbage bin, and touched moldy, rotting fruit!

Shani isn't blind, but she and countless others in Israel have experienced living in darkness. In "Dialogue in the dark," a special exhibit in the Children's Museum of Holon, participants spend almost two hours in a place that is pitch black; the world of a blind person. Without seeing anything, visitors experience seven different environments in the dark, including a beach, cafe, park, and a busy intersection.

The Shechori family from Ra'anana, Israel--Anat, Zvika, and their two teenage daughters Efrat and Noa--visited the exhibit with a group of friends and family Because it can be frightening, only children older than 10 may visit.

"I was in shock," said 15-year-old Efrat Shechori."I was paralyzed. I was afraid to move. I was terrified that I would bump into something."

But she and the rest of the group were soon calmed by the gentle voice of their tour guide Devora, an expert in the world of darkness. Devora herself is blind, and she expertly helped the Shechoris navigate their way through the world she lives in every day.

"The sense of sight is the strongest," Devora explained to them. "Usually you go through life using sight as 80 percent of your experience. Only 20 percent of your world is touch, sound, smell, and taste. When sight is taken away, everything changes."

In the museum, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. And the people who are usually led around by others--the blind--are the ones who confidently guide the visitors. Taken out of their familiar world of sight, most people are lost. Settings that seem familiar become alien, strange, and hard to figure out.

"I discovered that people without sight can manage pretty well, but it certainly isn't an easy life," said Noa, who is 17. "You always try to identify with people and have sympathy for their situations, but I have a new appreciation and respect for the blind after going through this exhibit. They feel things and notice details that go right past people who can see."

The popular exhibit is the brainchild of a German journalist named Andreas Heinecke, who helped launch the first "Dialogue in the Dark" project more than ten years ago. Since then, the exhibit has been presented in nearly 20 countries across Europe, Asia, and America, and experienced by millions of people.

People from around the globe have discovered how the exhibit opens their eyes and minds to the worlds of people whose experiences are different in other ways-not only the blind. Inspired by their reactions and the exhibit's success, Heinecke is planning new exhibitions that will help visitors enter the world of the deaf or the physically disabled.

The girls' mother, Anat, observed that time passed differently in the dark. "We were there for nearly two hours, but it felt like 20 minutes. And it was strange to guess people's ages from their voices. Devora sounded like a young woman--she told us to guess how old she was--and it turned out that she was in her 50s."

"It was an unusual, amazing experience that I think everyone should go through," Efrat said." It changed my whole way of thinking. When you see blind people on the street, you might assume that their abilities are limited.

But when you experience what they live through every day, and you see how they function despite how hard it is, then you learn how external impressions can be so wrong."

"It was a very educational and very powerful experience," agreed Anat. "It stays with you for a long time.

Israeli Dogs with Vision
Hundreds of blind Israelis now lead more independent lives thanks to guide dogs trained at the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, located near Tel Aviv. “A guide dog means absolute independence for me,” says one dog owner. “It changed my life completely, raising my self-esteem and self-respect.”

The center, which opened in 1991, breeds Labrador and golden retriever puppies. When the pups are 1-year old, they begin a five-month training period, learning to stop at every curb and avoid obstacles on sidewalks. Dogs that pass this instruction are paired with a blind person, who comes to the center for three weeks of intensive preparation with the dog.

Braille Baba
Each month, BabagaNewz is paistakingly translated by the Jewish Braille Institute (JBI International) in New York so that Jewish blind kids canread and enjoy the stories. The conversion process for each issue can take up tp four hours, and the completed magazine in Braille is nearly twice the length of the original.

Making BabagaNewz available in Braille is just one way of demonstrating kvod habriyot, human dignity, by allowing all kids to have the opportunity to have fun reading articles like the one you're reading now. Solomon Krishef, age 10, especially appreciates receiving BabagaNewz in Braille: Now he and his sighted twin brother can read the magazine together.

For more information about JBI International, contact 800-433-1531.