The port of Jaffa dates back thousands of years, and it served as the escape route in the biblical story of Jonah and the whale as Jonah tried to evade God’s command for him to preach repentance to the inhabitants of Ninveh. For millennia Jaffa was the traditional entry point to the Land of Israel and the holy city of Jerusalem. Today one can visit the hilltop overlooking the Sea and note evidence of Greek, Roman, Arab and European civilizations before walking the town’s alleys and visiting its artist colony.
Coastal Plain and Lowlands
Old Jaffa
Acre
The Al-Jazzar Mosque, centerpiece of Old Acre, is the second holiest Moslem site in Israel.
Traditionally Acre was the important town in Israel’s north. It was a critical life-line to Europe for the Crusaders in the Middle Ages. Recently discovered Crusader remains are a highlight of the trip to Acre where we’ll explore secret passages, the Knight’s Halls, the Arab market and the port area.
Bahai Gardens Overlook (Haifa)
The overlook view is a revelation: Haifa’s German Colony, it’s busy downtown and expanding port in the foreground. In the middle distance dozens of container ships sit, anchored in the bay awaiting to import and export goods. And in the distance, the hills of Galilee sloping down to the Mediterranean Sea at Rosh Hanikra, the border with Lebanon, and on a clear day, the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon and Mount Hermon, 105 kilometers to the northeast.
The gardens below you are a marvel as well, 18 levels of lavish manicured grass, plants, trees and flowers. The centerpiece of Haifa and object of pilgrimage for the Bahai faithful, the gardens contain a golden domed mausoleum, the Shrine of the Bab, the second holiest place on Earth for the Bahai. Tourists are allowed into the upper two levels of the garden, and there are entrances midway down the slope and at the bottom of the hill, at the top of the German Colony.
The Muhraka
“Elijah approached the people and said, ‘How long will you not decide between two choices? If the Lord is the true God, follow him, but if Baal is the true God, follow him!'”
1 Kings 18:21
Genesis records the first known monotheist in history, the Patriarch Abraham. He dwelt here when the land was called Canaan. A thousand years later the land came to be named after Abraham’s grandson Israel. At this time the prophet Elijah was sent to warn Abraham’s descendants to be true to the one God of Israel.
Abraham was a pastoralist, shepherding his flocks and herds across the land in search of good pasture. But his descendants, a couple hundred years removed from slavery in Egypt and the trek through the Wilderness of Sinai had settled down to work the land. Observation of their pagan neighbors sacrificing to the local deity named Baal began to give the Israelites ideas. Farming was hard work and there were never any guarantees. Sudden storms in the Spring, droughts, heat waves could all destroy a season’s crop. So why not take out an insurance policy in the form of a sacrifice to your neighbor’s God? Perhaps it could help? How could it hurt matters? It was into this ambiguous, muddled scenario that Elijah the Prophet approached the assembled Israelites with absolute and complete faith in the idea of the one God, the God of Israel. We understand by this story that even 1000 years after the idea of monotheism is introduced into history not all of the people’s of the Earth are convinced of the existence of only one God, serving a small nation apart.
Zichron Yaacov
Just ten minutes from the coastal highway, the streets of Zichron Yaacov retain the feel of an earlier time, when cars did not dominate the landscape. The main street has been turned into a midrichov, or a pedestrian.way Situated in the Heights of Menashe and only 30 munutes from Haifa, residents of Zichron have enviable views towards the coast, and the sea beyond. The town is also one of the best preserved examples from the era that we refer to as the first Aliyah, i.e. the ascent to the land of Israel, which began in 1882. This was the beginning of the modern Zionist movement, the Jewish people’s return to their ancient homeland.
Homes, trees and cobblestone streets combine to preserve the feel of that era. The name Zichron means “in memory of” and ”Yaacov “means “of Jacob”. But who is this Yaacov? He is the father of Edward, Rothschild who took a strong interest in the communities of the first Aliyah and is virtually single-handedly responsible, through his financial intercession, in saving those communities from abandonment. Zichron has two museums which compete for your time and they are both worthy. One is the Museum of the First Aliya, located just a minute’s walk off of the midrichov. The other is the Aaronson House, a museum dedicated to an early Zionist visiionary, the brilliant and tragically short-lived Aaron Aaronson.
Caesarea
Spend any time in Israel and you’ll come to appreciate Herod the Great. In his time he was feared and hated but to this day he remains unparalleled in the realm of building grandiose projects. And Herod’s projects set the background scene when Jesus of Nazareth began to spread his message of Love. Caesarea ranks among Herod’s greatest achievements. A mere dozen years from conception to completion, Caesarea was the realization of Herod’s dream to provide the Roman provence of Judea with a deep water port that would open the country to international trade. Caesarea became the catalyst to improving the local Judean economy, and it was a city based on the Roman model. As the New Testament narrates the interplay between the Jesus’ disciple Peter and the Roman Centurion Cornelius, the city played a critical role in the developing notion that the teachings of Jesus were not meant for a provincial Jewish audience alone, but instead destined to be shared with all of humanity (Acts 10).