Nostalgia Sunday – Haifa’s Golden Age

November 21, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: coexistence, education, Entertainment, General, History and Culture, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Profiles, Travel, War 

Haifa is one of Israel’s great unsung cities. Modesty being a Haifan trait, it rarely trumpets the fact that it is the largest city in northern Israel, the third-largest city in the country, has a mixed population of Jews and Arabs and is home to the Bahai World Center. Not to mention that it houses Technion – Israel Institute of Technology which, among its many, many claims to fame, begat Israel’s first high-tech park.

But it was under British rule that Haifa experienced its Golden Age, according to a exhibition now running at the Haifa City Museum. According to the curator’s notes: “This exhibition attempts to document the city’s development, from its occupation by the British on September 23rd 1918 until November 29th 1947 – the day on which the United Nations Assembly voted against the British Mandate and for the establishment of two independent states, Jewish and Arab, according to a partition plan. Two forces were involved in this process, the British and the citizens of Haifa, who created the city as it is still known to us today.”

The exhibition has two focal points: Haifa as an expression of the Empire’s vision of modernity and order, and the unique relations between the Jewish and Arab populations. “During the period of the British Mandate, Eretz Israel [pre-State Israel] underwent impressive changes, in the midst of which the city of Haifa achieved unique and remarkable status. This was due, in part, both to its strategic location and to the special relationship existing among its inhabitants.”

“From the beginning of the 20th century Haifa, its surroundings, and the bay area were a planning objective for the British. The city’s importance derived, even more than its local connotations, from its centrality to the general order in the Middle East. The British Empire saw itself as representing the pinnacle of these positive aspirations – the realization of progress. Accordingly, throughout the period of the Mandate, the British intention was to consolidate the infrastructure of Eretz Israel and of Haifa in particular.”

“Thus the first circle of the exhibition is an attempt to reconstruct the linear pattern of the Mandate regarding the city’s development. This part of the exhibition shows focal events and key figures connected with how the British viewed Haifa and its surroundings, its social groups and their lifestyles.”

“The second circle of the exhibition deals with the relationship between Jewish and Arab. During the British Mandate, a unique economical, social and political phenomenon arose in Haifa. Diverse population groups lived together, subject to a single authority, in an atmosphere of mutual acceptance, endowing the city with a cosmopolitan and multicultural outlook.”

More about the history of Haifa during the British Mandate is available on the municipal tourism board site – along with an archive of old photos and postcards.

The Haifa City Museum is located in the former Templar school and community center buildings in the city’s German Colony and features temporary exhibitions devoted to the history of Haifa. Museum hours are posted online and guided tours are available.

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Changing views

November 21, 2010 by · 1 Comment
Filed under: education, Environment, General, Immigrant Moments, Israeliness, Life 

What’s great about hanging out with kids, toddlers in my case, is how they look at the world and get you to do the same. Since I spend a lot of time with twin two-year-old boys, there’s a lot of talk about trucks, cars, the moon, the sun, the stars and the sky, and, animals. That’s not to say that there isn’t interest in other subjects, but those tend to be the main topics.

So much so, that when I’m on my own, in the car, let’s say, and spot a really spectacular tractor-trailer, cement mixer or front-end loader, I remark on it to myself and experience a certain amount of disappointment that the boys aren’t around to see it for themselves.

Or take this morning, when we were reading Eric Carle’s The Mixed-Up Chameleon, about a chameleon who is suffering from a lack of self-confidence and decides to take on the physical characteristics of a host of zoo animals before realizing that it’s worth just being himself.

Anyway. Wouldn’t you know it, but just after we finished reading it, a Mediterranean gecko or possibly a Lebanon lizard — as one local naturalist, Leiah Elbaum, describes it — snuck by us, possibly in pursuit of the moth that had been flitting around the house last night. The boys and I took after it, running around the living room in search of it along the seams and edges of the floor and walls, but no luck after that first glimpse.

Still, there was an element of instant education and gratification. And while it wasn’t exactly a chameleon, it was close enough. Particularly as it was easily blending into the stone-colored tiles of our floors.

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Finding friends on the trail

November 20, 2010 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, Environment, General, Israeliness, Life, Travel 

I really like going hiking on Shabbat at one of the multitude of wonderful nature sites within a short car ride of Jerusalem. It’s not so much for the sites, the beauty, the communion with nature, but rubbing shoulders with the Israelis who choose to do the same thing.

Unfortunately, the religiously observant among us are unable to join the pack on Shabbat, usually cramming their outdoor excursions into hol hamoed Pessah or Succot. That leaves secular, or somewhat traditional, Israeli backpackers on the trails on Shabbat.

There’s something about these hearty, trailblazing Israeli who decides to get out in the sun for the day instead of sitting around the house glued to mobile devices or cable TV that warms the cockles of my heart.

And it turns out that, for the most part, they’re really nice – not loud, pick up after themselves, respectful of their surroundings. It’s as if the shuk didn’t exist in this country!

Today, we were hiking Nahal Arugot at Ein Gedi, and stopped at one of the many pools on the way for some shade, swim and water. Among the others at the oasis was a group of eight or nine couples in their 50s who apparently go hiking together regularly. Sitting nearby was a young family with one or two small children, about three or four years old.

One of the veteran hikers called out, “Is there a little girl named Tali Hagar here?” And it just so turned out that one of the small children called out, “That’s me!”

“Then if you close your eyes, you’ll get something that you’re missing,” the man replied. Tali’s parents looked quizically at him, while Tali closed her eyes, and the man produced a hat out of his pocket. “Is this yours?”

The hat she had evidently lost near the beginning of the trail was now back on her head, and the parents effusively thanked the manand they got to talking. Turns out the group of veterans were actually veterans – former IDF career officers living in Kochav Yair who regularly go out together on Israeli trails.

The two new groups of friends bade each other farewell, and set out on their respective routes. In the gorgeous surroundings of Shabbat in Ein Gedi, everyone’s just a little kinder and friendlier.

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Foto Friday – Stamp Exhibit

November 19, 2010 by · Comments Off
Filed under: Art, design, education, Entertainment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, News, Travel 

Stamp collecting in Israel gets a big boost this coming week. The 2010 International Stamp Exhibition will take place from November 21 to 25 at the International Convention Center Jerusalem (better known as Binyanei Ha’ooma).

Sponsored in part by the Israel Philatelic Federation and the Israel Postal Company, the show will present 7,000 pages of stamp displays and tens of thousands of philately items, 100 rare stamp collections and unique objects. In addition the wide variety of stamps, other valuable postal items will be displayed, with the participation of collectors from the US, the UK and China.

The Israel Postal Company’s Stamp Service has issued special new items for the exhibit, including an exceptional sheet of 15 stamps in which every stamp is slightly different from the next in order to illustrate animated motion.

Other new items are based on Jerusalem landscapes, including stamp jointly issued by Israel and the Vatican in honor of Pope Benedict’s recent visit: The Garden of Gethsemene.

Visitors will have the opportunity to be photographed and order a sheet of “My Stamps” with their photograph next to an Israeli flag on a stamp. Here’s the sample:

There will also be stamp workshops and stamp trading for children. Entrance is free.

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The real Harry Potter in Israel

November 18, 2010 by · 3 Comments
Filed under: Entertainment, News 

Israel's Harry Potter is buried in Ramle

The second to last Harry Potter movie opens tonight in Israel. My daughter and 20 of her friends bought tickets earlier in the week to ensure they’d have seats. But there’s no need to pay $10 for a screening. Just head to the central Israeli town of Ramle to visit the grave of Harry Potter – a British soldier killed in 1939.

The Ramle military cemetery has become a “popular attraction,” says The Jerusalem Post with tour guides making a stop when in the general area, which is not far from Ben Gurion Airport. Ramle’s main draws are a number of archaelogical ruins.

“There is no connection with the Harry Potter we know from literature, but the name sells, the name is marketable,” Ron Peled a tour guide who said he has brought dozens of groups to the grave, told The Post.

I don’t know if I’d rush to Ramle for the chance to stand next to a grave with the name Harry Potter inscribed on it, but in London, there are popular Harry Potter tours including a stop at the train station where platform 9 ¾ is located (in the book, not in real life, of course).

Private Harry Potter was born near Birmingham, England, and joined the British military in 1938. He arrived to British mandate Palestine later that year, but was killed in battle a year later when he was 18, just like his namesake in the final Harry Potter books.

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