A Very Moving Northern Coastal Trip

Shalom from the Galilee.

This morning we drove north from Tel Aviv, along the coastal highway, to the ancient port of Caesarea, a location steeped in history from many periods. This was the capital built by King Herod the Great, a vicious dictator, who took the Judean throne in 34 BCE, under Roman rule. We toured ruins dating from Roman, Byzantine and Crusader times and saw computer reconstructions of what the city looked like in each period. Here's part of the harbor today:

King Herod was the great builder of the Land of Israel in early Roman times. At Caesarea, in addition to building a port where there was no natural harbor, he built a magnificent palace, a huge "hippodrome", where horse races were held and a theater which once held up to 8,000 people. Today it holds about 4,000 people and is used for concerts. Here are the palace and pool ruins and the hippodrome "grandstand".

Our guide, Dr. Peter Abelow, told us about two tragic events that occurred in Caesarea during Roman times. The revolt, which led to the destruction of our second Temple, in 70 CE, began in Caesarea in 66 CE, when a deadly fight broke out between secular and religious Jews in front of the synagogue. The secular Jews called in Roman help, which infuriated the religious Jews, who came to be known as the Zealots. The other event was the execution, in 135 CE, of Rabbi Akiva, who had supported the second Jewish rebellion, of 132 CE, led by Simon Bar Kochba. By that time, the hippodrome had come to be used for gladiator fights and other bloody events, so Dr. Abelow believes that Rabbi Akiva's very gruesome torture and execution took place in public, in the hippodrome. We're told that he died reciting the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4): "Hear O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One," Judaism's basic declaration of faith.

As we left Caesarea, we saw King Herod's acqueduct which brought fresh water to the port city from inland springs.

We continued north to a Druze village, where we learned about this ethnic minority within Israel. The Druze are Arabs, who are neither Muslim nor Christian. Their origins are in Egypt, where they broke away from Islam in the 11th century CE. They enjoy full citizenship in Israel and have since the earliest days of the state. They say that they have no national aspirations. Like the Jews in Israel, the Druze are divided into secular and religious groups. Our lecturer, shown below, a secular Druze woman, is studying political science at the University of Haifa.

Our next stop was the Israel Maritime Museum, in Haifa, where we toured the last remaining ship that was used for clandestine immigration of post-World War II refugees from 1946 to 48, while the British restrictions preventing their entry into the Land of Israel were still in effect. This ship was a converted World War II landing craft. On this ship, over 450 refugees were crammed into tight spaces for the trip from southern Europe to what was then British Palestine.

The highlight of our day was meeting Aryeh Malkin, an 87 year old "Bronx boy" who served in the US Army in Europe during World War II and then joined the crew of one of the clandestine immigration ships. Aryeh's ship, a Canadian "corvette" (a frigate or small destroyer) had been purchased by the Haganah and refurbished in Staten Island, before setting sail for Italy under a Panamanian flag. In Italy, this small 1,000 ton ship took on 1,250 refugees overnight and cut its mooring lines just in time to escape from the local police. The ship was intercepted by the British navy and its passengers and Haganah crew (who had blended in with the refugees) were interned at a camp in Atlit, in the land of Israel. The crew were smuggled out of the camp, one or two at a time, in the truck that delivered the bread provided daily by the Jewish Agency.

Aryeh joined with other secular Zionists, whom he had known in New York, to help found Kibbutz Ein Dor in the Galilee, where he spoke to us for an hour about his life. In Israel he met and married an Australian Jewish woman and they have 3 children and 12 grandchildren. Aryeh became an expert on cotton growing, ginning and grading, eventually serving as president of the Israel Association of Cotton Growers. He retired after 50 years of doing that work for the kibbutz and is now working on a book about his experiences. This Israeli hero made himself vulnerable to Arab attack, during the final years of British rule, by digging postholes in the middle of the night, in preparation for the building of a new kibbutz. He also fought in Israel's 1948 War of Independence and other conflicts. He impressed us with his modesty, saying that he was "just an ordinary guy" who made some right decisions. We need more "ordinary guys" like him. Here's Aryeh (on the right) with our guide, Dr. Abelow:

Our day ended at Kibbutz Lavi, a religious Zionist communal farm which is also in the hotel business, and where we'll spend the next two nights. After dinner with Jews of all denominations in the hotel dining hall, Dr. Abelow showed us a very moving documentary, produced by his son, Avi Abelow, about the human effects of Israel's disengagement from Gaza.