Tag: First Aliyah

October 23, 2013

Settlements of the Judean Coastal Plain

As we move more and more into the modern period today’s trip was focused around a group of more modern settlements and towns that lie along the south part of the central coastal plain. In English, between Tel Aviv and Ashdod. The idea was to tell some of the stories that led to the formation of the state through looking at some of the people and groups who helped lay the groundwork for it to happen.

Our first stop was just outside Holon, at Mikve Yisrael. Founded in the mid-19th century by a Frenchman called Carl Netter, this was the beginning of Israel’s modern-day agricultural revolution, at least for the Jews. He decided that there was a need for the Jews to learn how to work the land, and opened an agricultural school to teach them how to do so. The local Jews at the time were unconvinced (for the first couple of years he only had one pupil) but over the years the school gradually grew, particularly with the large waves of immigrants from Europe who were specifically keen to work the land.

Mikve Yisrael: At the end of this avenue Herzl met with Kaiser Wilhelm II

In addition to playing this important role in early state building, the school was the site of a famous meeting between Theodore Herzl and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in 1898. Herzl came here specifically to meet the Kaiser while he was visiting the region to try and persuade him to support the Zionist cause by petitioning the Ottoman Sultan. He was somewhat unsuccessful.

We visited various old buildings around the site including the synagogue, the old winery and the machine room. The school is still functioning so we also got to encounter some of the contemporary students. And there was quite a good film about the history of the site.

We journeyed south to Rishon Letzion (First to Zion), established in 1882 and now the fourth biggest city in Israel. The 17 families who arrived here from Russia did not know much about building a settlement and suffered a lot in a struggle for finding a local water source. In the end, thanks to support from Baron de Rothschild in Paris (his first support to the Zionist immigrants) they were able to dig a deep well to the groundwater. They were so excited to have found water that the slogan ‘we found water!’ is now a part of the city symbol.

A lesson in Hebrew at Rishon Letzion

Rishon (as it is often called) has a small museum about the city history and we visited the old synagogue, the site of the well (it is very deep!) and a few old homes. The city claims to be have invented the Israeli flag and also home to the creation of the national anthem (or at least setting it to music). It is the site of the first school to be taught entirely in Hebrew, and we had the pleasure of receiving a lesson from ‘David Yudelovitch’, the school’s founder!

The old synagogue at Ness Tziona

We journeyed south to Ness Tziona, where we visited the home of the town’s founder, Reuben Lehrer. He was a wealthy Russian Jew who in 1883 traded his lands in Russia for this small and rather unappetising wasteland in the Land of Israel. After persuading 10 other families to join him (so that he had quorum for his prayers) he began to make the best of it and here were the first Jewish beekeepers in the modern period. Ness Tziona also claim to have invented the Israeli flag, so a bit of controversy there with their northern neighbours in Rishon. In addition to the original home, we were able to visit the old synagogue.

Home of Chaim Weizmann, Rechovot

Southwards we continued to Rechovot, visiting the grand home of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of the State of Israel. Weizmann’s story is very impressive; he was a scientific mastermind who became wealthy through his patents, particularly for creating acetone through a biological method and the manufacture of synthetic rubber. He was also a tireless campaigner for the Zionist cause helping secure the 1917 Balfour Declaration, lobbying the British against their immigration restrictions and working hard to help get the UN to pass the partition plan in 1947. As we wondered through his home we heard stories about his life, and finished the visit by paying our respects at his grave.

Ayalon Institute, Rechovot

Our final stop of the day was at the Ayalon Institute, located in Rehovot. I was very pleasantly surprised by the site, probably because I really like any stories to do with espionage or clandestine operations. Here, right next to a large British army base, the Hagana (the defence force for the Jews in Israel pre-state) built a large underground ammunition manufacturing facility, underneath a functioning kibbutz were most of the inhabitants were completely unaware of what was going on beneath them. In large thanks to this facility, the nascent IDF were able to have the ammunition required to fight in the War of Independence in 1948.

It was a great story of subterfuge and bravery and very interesting to descend into the underground facility. Well worth the visit!

October 8, 2013

Zichron Yaakov and Surroundings

The festival period is over and the course is now back in full swing; our first field trip of the year (not including the campus in the Galilee) was to the area around Zichron Yaakov, located in the north of the centre of the country.

Zichron Yaakov is a lovely town in a beautiful location on the southern slopes of the Carmel Mountain with fantastic views west over the Mediterranean and the coastal plain. We began the day here, learning about the founders of one of the first settlements in what was later referred to as the period of the First Aliyah. Aliyah means moving to Israel, and although there were waves of Jewish immigration over the centuries to this country, the period from 1882-1903 was deemed to be the First Aliyah as it marked the first wave of immigration where there was some sort of sense of being at the beginning of a project to create a new Jewish homeland.

Children’s graves in the Zichron Yaakov cemetery

Zichron Yaakov was founded by a group of Romanian Jews who purchased the land from local Arabs and proceeded to make a very bad job of farming it; it was not something with which they had much experience. Many also died from poor sanitary conditions and malaria, and after stopping at the Founders’ Memorial we spent some time in the cemetery where one of the sad sites was the large amount of children’s graves – many did not make it in this harsh environment.

It was a similar story in other First Aliyah settlements but fortunately these pioneers found a saviour in the form of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. This French philanthropist bankrolled the new settlements and built a bureaucratic framework to help them develop their agricultural skills and manage themselves properly (these clerks were not always loved by the residents, but they were probably needed!). We continued down the main street of the old town, noting buildings of interest, hearing tales of the town’s establishment, and learning about the subversive Nili spy ring. This small group of people, based in Zichron Yaakov, spied for the British against the occupying Ottoman Empire, at great personal risk to themselves and indeed to the rest of the Jews living in the area at the time (the Ottomans believed in collective punishment). They no doubt played an important role in the British conquest of the area in WWI, but they were not popular or supported by the Jewish establishment at the time.

Rothschild coat of arms at Ramat Hanadiv Park

Having had an introduction to Baron de Rothschild’s largesse, we ventured to the nearby Ramat Hanadiv Park to visit his mausoleum. It is a beautiful, European style park (unusual in Israel) and the western side offers lovely views down to the coast. The mausoleum is hidden away and very grand. Apparently when the Baron was interred there with his wife, a representative brought a bag of earth from every settlement that he supported to help cover the coffin. A nice touch. It seems that it is impossible to overstate his contribution to supporting the beginnings of what would become the State of Israel.

Etzel Memorial at Shuni

We continued a little down the hill to the Jabotinsky Park. Here, we stopped at the Etzel Memorial and then visited the nearby Etzel museum, learning about the group of Zionist activists who rejected the pre-state self-defence policy of Ben Gurion in favour of offensive activities against the British. These included organising the daring break out from Akko Prison and the blowing up of the mandate headquarters in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The Etzel members used to train here (the noise of firing from the nearby British army base would help cover up their training activity) hence the site of the memorial.

Theatre at Shuni

Also in the park is the Shuni theatre, a remant of what used to be a grand Roman city. The theatre is still used for music concerts and it can be great to go there for an intimate event in an ancient setting. We looked behind the stage to see the remains of a grand pool; one theory is that here were held naumachiae – Roman gladiator water battles – although the evidence is inconclusive. From the spring at shuni ran a grand aqueduct transporting water to the nearby city of Caesarea, the Roman capital and the largest port in the empire.

Inside the Roman aqueduct in Mei Kedem

We continued on the theme of water, travelling to the site of Mei Kedem where it is possible to walk through a 300m section of a later subterranean Roman aqueduct also leading to Caesarea. The aqueduct still contains water and the combination of wading and torches made for quite some fun. We also enjoyed the local fauna – watching a frog swim between my legs was a highlight! On a hot day, it was great to cool off in the spring water, and we emerged damp and happy.

Our final stop of the day took us right up to the modern period as we visited the former British internment camp at Atlit. In the 1930s, for a variety of reasons, the British decided to cap Jewish immigration into the Mandate of Palestine. Unfortunately, this coincided with the time when this immigration was needed most as Nazi persecution intensified and spread throughout Europe.

Reconstruction of a ‘maapilim’ ship at Atlit

The Jews in Israel created elaborate schemes to thwart the British and bring Jews into Israel despite the new regulations. These immigrants were called maapilim. Many made it to Israel safely but others drowned on the treacherous sea journeys to Israel in overcrowded boats. Others were caught by the British and kept in the prisoner camp at Atlit – this was a traumatic experience for those escaping Nazi persecution; one of the first things they had to do was to strip and enter the showers for disinfection. The visit to the camp includes these showers together with a mock up of a dormitory. A recent addition to the site is a boat fitted out like those that brought over the maapilim; as you go through the boat there are a series of films portraying a typical experience. It was very interesting, if rather sad.

It was on this slightly sombre note that we concluded the day. Although we were pleased to learn that in 1948 these prisoners, together with those whom the British had deported to camps in Cyprus, were welcomed into the new State of Israel.

December 11, 2012

Hula Valley

The Hula Valley is in the North of Israel; North of the Kineret (the Sea of Galilee) and on the way to the Golan Heights. While I have definitely passed through it on a few occasions, I think this was my first time actually visiting the sites in and around the valley.

View over Rosh Pina from Mitzpe Nimrod

I was familiar, however, with our first stop of the day, the First Aliyah town of Rosh Pina. Although I hadn’t been there for 10 years. We began our day at the lovely lookout point of Mitzpe Nimrod, but sadly it came with an upsetting story. Nimrod Segev was called up for reserve duty in the Second Lebanon War, and never came home. His family built the lookout in his memory, and we heard briefly from his father. It is a sad reminder of the fragility of life in this region.

Original Synagogue at Rosh Pina

We heard about the history of Rosh Pina, and learned about the First Aliyah. This was the first wave of mass immigration to Israel from the Diaspora in more recent history, beginning in 1882. These new arrivals were not the young socialist ideologues of the kibbutz movement; rather religious bourgeois families looking to make a new home in Israel. Sadly, it seems that life here was very difficult indeed. Our guide told us the stories of the inhabitants through the restored buildings of the old town and the memoires of the town’s founder, David Shuv. The former office of the Baron de Rothschild’s clerks is now a small museum with a surprisingly interesting film about life in the early days of the town. The old town itself is quaint and has a few cute little cafes; it will be nice to pop back here at some point, there are a couple of hikes in the area and a nice rustic café would be the perfect ending.

Evidence of the Afro-Syrian rift in action at the Castle of Chastellet

We moved on to the Castle of Chastellet, the ruins of a Crusader fort which was destroyed after just ten months of existence by Saladin’s forces. Our guide painted a picture of the battle and the political ramifications of this fortress next to an important crossing of the Jordan River: Jacob’s Ford. The young King of Jerusalem was pressurised into building the fort by hawkish knights in his administration; even though it broke an agreement with Saladin not to try to seize control of the Jordan’s crossings. Saladin offered twice (with increasing amounts) to pay the king not to build the fort, but construction went ahead and deconstruction followed… The history was interesting, but also of note was that this fort is built right on the line of the Afro-Syrian rift which runs up the East of Israel. The evidence of this was that you could see how half of the North and South walls of the fort had moved gradually ahead of the other half; now there is up to 2 metres’ difference, after just 1000 years. In geological terms, that’s almost light speed. Quite fascinating.

Mishmar Hayarden Memorial

After this brief interlude in Crusader times we returned to the (relatively) modern day with a stop at the memorial for the Mishmar Hayarden settlement. This was also founded in the First Aliyah period. Due to the murder of one of the residents during the Arab revolt in the later 1930s, a small group of youths affiliated to the right-wing movement Beitar arrived to help with self-defence and also to assist with the farming. Then, in 1948, the Syrian army came over the border. Once they were repelled South of the Kineret they tried moving in North, and Mishmar Hayarden was the first settlement they encountered. The 20 families who lived there were no match for the Syrian army complete with tanks and air force and the town was captured and most of its citizens taken prisoner. The Haganah (soon to be the IDF) did not try and protect the town; after the war the prisoners were released but were not given the support of many others in similar situations and were not allowed to return to their land by the Israeli government. Some have said it was because Mishmar Hayarden was associated with the Right (because of the Beitar presence) and with the vast majority of Israel (and particularly the government) on the left, they were not afforded the support they should have had. Indeed, the site remained empty until the Begin government of the late 70s (Israel’s first right-wing government) when the memorial was built out of the stones of the former buildings.

Trivia Test at Oforia

On this slightly depressing note we headed further North and finally reached our destination of the Hula Valley nature reserve. Before going into the reserve we went to the Oforia [a cunning pun on the Hebrew for bird, off, and for euphoria] exhibit, which talked about the geological formation of the Hula valley and the animals and birds within it. It was somewhat overdramatic but really rather fun, particularly the interactive trivia quiz at the end and then the 3D film about the migrating birds with moving seats.

Having enjoyed this most interactive of exhibits we entered the reserve and learned about the modern history of the Hula Lake. At the turn of the 20^th Century this area contained lakes and swampland. As one of the early grand Zionist projects, the Israelis famously drained the water away. This was to help combat malaria (although it is unclear if malaria was still an issue at this point) and to free up land for agriculture. There was also the desire to put bases there against the threat of a future Syrian invasion.

It really was a marvellous feat of human ingenuity and engineering. Sadly, it was also an ecological disaster. The Hula was home to a vast array of flora and fauna, whose habitats suddenly disappeared. And there was also a problem of underground fires starting with the bare earth suddenly exposed to the strong sun, rendering the soil unusable for agriculture and also having the small problem of fire popping up all over the place.

Catfish in the Hula Valley Reserve

So, parts of the area have been returned to their original lake and swamp condition, and we are able to enjoy them (almost) as they originally were. Having wandered around the reserve we popped slightly further North to the Agamon reserve, also a man-made lake. This is particularly good for observing birds.

Migrating Birds Land at the Agamon

Every year half a billion (!) birds migrate through Israel. This huge number is caused by the fact that Israel is a land bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, and birds like to travel over land as the thermals mean they do not need to expend as much energy in flapping their wings. It is currently migration season and we arrived at the Agamon site at dusk. There was an incredible moment when I realised that the approaching clouds on the horizon were actually vast flocks of birds; a veritable swarm who took their turn to land in our around the lake in order to spend the night there, accompanied by a veritable cacophony of squawking and screeching. It really was quite magnificent, as I stood there I was overwhelmed by the forces of nature before me. It was a perfect ending to the day; soothing, contemplative, serene.