Afternoon in Zichron
On Tues, Naomi and I and a couple we know, the Golds, who are Americans returning to the US in a few days, drove up the coast for lunch in Zichron Yaa'kov. It was an absolutely beautiful day, warm, with a breeze and cloudless sky, like summer (in England). It's only 30 mins to Zichron, and soon we were sitting in a cafe in the old part of town eating a tasty meal out in the sunshine.
Zichron Ya'akov sits on the heights of the Carmel Range south of Haifa. It overlooks the sea and the coastal plain that is quite narrow there. It's name means "memorial to Yaakov," and Baron Edmond de Rothschild who gave the funds to found the colony named it in memory of his dear father.
Zichron Yaakov was founded in 1882, and there are several buildings that date from that period, including a synagogue that was one of the largest built in that time, in then Turkish Syria. In the first wave of immigration to Israel that lasted from 1882-1900, known as the First Aliya, thousands of Jews arrived in the Holy Land and founded colonies, mostly funded by Rothschild, such as Gedera, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Ness Ziona, Rosh Pinna, etc. These colonies were originally small farming villages, that each eventually grew into towns that formed the backbone of the Jewish State.
In Zichron Ya'akov there is a Museum of the First Aliayh that provides interesting historical background to a visit there. Things were not always rosy, especially as the new immigrants fought to begin farming in barren lands and also fought the Arabs who constantly attacked them. This lead in the early 1900's to the founding of the first Jewish Defense force, known as Haganah.
While Los Angeles was a village and Australia hardly existed, Jews were returning in numbers and re-settling the land. Although the later waves of Jews that came were mostly socilaist and irreligious, the First Aliyah was mostly made up of religious Jews from Russia, Roumania and Poland, escaping violent anti-Semitic pogroms in their lands of birth. Of course, at the same time many hundreds of thousands of Jews escaped to France, Britain and the US.
Since the Baron, known as Hanadiv, the Benefactor, gave the money for the building of these settlements, he required the immigrants to sign agreements to follow the instructions of his agents. In many villages the agents lived as middle class governors, and controlled the farming and the lives of the immigrants. After some years they rebelled, and since the Baron had the funds and supported his agents many were forced to leave the settlements. But, in a way this lead to a greater spread of settlement, because those that left were then on their own to found independent settlements or move to towns (or return to Russia).
The area where we were consists of beautifully renovated buildings that formed the first streets of the town, and they are now mainly boutiques and restaurants, very picturesque.
Nearby is the Aaronsohn House (that we didn't visit this time) that tells the story of the Nili, the group of Jews that spied for the British during WWI, and some of them were executed by the Turks. These patriots believed that once Turkish rule was removed the British would be more sympathetic to the founding of the nascent Jewish State, and this turned out to be true at first.
Anyway, apart from the history, we had a lovely time, something that we should do with all our visitors.
Zichron Ya'akov sits on the heights of the Carmel Range south of Haifa. It overlooks the sea and the coastal plain that is quite narrow there. It's name means "memorial to Yaakov," and Baron Edmond de Rothschild who gave the funds to found the colony named it in memory of his dear father.
Zichron Yaakov was founded in 1882, and there are several buildings that date from that period, including a synagogue that was one of the largest built in that time, in then Turkish Syria. In the first wave of immigration to Israel that lasted from 1882-1900, known as the First Aliya, thousands of Jews arrived in the Holy Land and founded colonies, mostly funded by Rothschild, such as Gedera, Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Ness Ziona, Rosh Pinna, etc. These colonies were originally small farming villages, that each eventually grew into towns that formed the backbone of the Jewish State.
In Zichron Ya'akov there is a Museum of the First Aliayh that provides interesting historical background to a visit there. Things were not always rosy, especially as the new immigrants fought to begin farming in barren lands and also fought the Arabs who constantly attacked them. This lead in the early 1900's to the founding of the first Jewish Defense force, known as Haganah.
While Los Angeles was a village and Australia hardly existed, Jews were returning in numbers and re-settling the land. Although the later waves of Jews that came were mostly socilaist and irreligious, the First Aliyah was mostly made up of religious Jews from Russia, Roumania and Poland, escaping violent anti-Semitic pogroms in their lands of birth. Of course, at the same time many hundreds of thousands of Jews escaped to France, Britain and the US.
Since the Baron, known as Hanadiv, the Benefactor, gave the money for the building of these settlements, he required the immigrants to sign agreements to follow the instructions of his agents. In many villages the agents lived as middle class governors, and controlled the farming and the lives of the immigrants. After some years they rebelled, and since the Baron had the funds and supported his agents many were forced to leave the settlements. But, in a way this lead to a greater spread of settlement, because those that left were then on their own to found independent settlements or move to towns (or return to Russia).
The area where we were consists of beautifully renovated buildings that formed the first streets of the town, and they are now mainly boutiques and restaurants, very picturesque.
Nearby is the Aaronsohn House (that we didn't visit this time) that tells the story of the Nili, the group of Jews that spied for the British during WWI, and some of them were executed by the Turks. These patriots believed that once Turkish rule was removed the British would be more sympathetic to the founding of the nascent Jewish State, and this turned out to be true at first.
Anyway, apart from the history, we had a lovely time, something that we should do with all our visitors.
posted by Jack Cohen at 8:34 PM
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