Warning – for those seeking a getaway for future weekends or during the coming holidays and traveling north of Haifa – be aware to bring an old fashioned map.
Our weekend began after leaving Jerusalem, driving along highway 6 north, intensely distracted in discourse, causing us to pass our intended lunch stop at Zichron Ya'acov. At that stage, Waze, our GPS driving directory, was still effective but informed us we would have to backtrack 30 km., so we decided to lunch in Acre by the sea and absorb some Crusader history.
My two companions – and their puppy Max – agreed we would experiment at Mina, a well-appointed restaurant, on the edge of the old city walls of Acre, overlooking the sea. It was midday, and we chose their house salads menu, with freshly baked bread from the taboon, and cold mint lemonade.
A burst of colorful, fresh salads smothered the table – with hoummous, eggplant, Fattoush, leafy local salads spiced with herbs – tasting of mint, coriander, basil, grains and seeds – dressed in fresh lemon juice and olive oil, and their specialty: “the million dollar salad,” was a fusion of culinary satisfaction! The lunch extended into the early afternoon, as each dish was wiped clean of its content.
The continuation of our journey to the village of Clil, in the western Galilee, should have been relatively straight forward. The drive normally would extend for another half hour. However, this is where our troubles began. The Israel Air Force had jammed the GPS assistance to confound missiles entering Israel from Lebanon. Unfamiliar with the intended location, we entered highway 85, and Waze disappeared from the screen of my phone. I had misplaced my physical map, and since my navigator obstinately refused to wear his glasses – the situation deteriorated after we missed a turn – Waze started to misdirect us towards Beirut!
ONE MOMENT we were traveling down a scenic mountainside of Kfar Vradim – and then Waze redirected us back up the mountain and then down again through the same terrain overflowing with wild spring flowers in bloom – a palette of shades of gold and green forest. I think we traversed the same scenery several times before we randomly entered a series of bustling villages, having names I was familiar with from the local crime pages of the newspaper – with mixed populations of Druze, Christian, and Muslims – Tel Makr, Julis, Yarka, Abu Senan. They were celebrating Easter and Ramadan, and some were preparing for Lands Day demonstrations.
They are bustling commercial centers, and Israeli flags proudly stand alongside the Druze national flag, lining the streets – endowing a strong sense of patriotism during these difficult times. Asking for directions, locals helpfully volunteered information, which only further confused the situation. I do not recommend taking local shortcuts to achieve an intended destination – in deference to the three Wise Men of Chelm.
Eventually, after approaching a two-hour diversion and tensions in the car running high, we contacted our host – who assisted us to complete the final arrival to our guesthouse. Entering the village, we decided a well-deserved visit to the local winery was in order.
The Clil guesthouse was a warm, rustic, friendly and comfortable farmhouse, surrounded by dense olive groves, and carob and other fruit trees. We organized ourselves before Shabbat with the availability of the basic kitchen facilities although we had brought a well prepared feast with us – so on no account was there going to be the likelihood of a shortage of food.
Blessed with the beginning of balmy spring weather, we settled in to explore the beautiful surroundings of olive groves, pathways separating distant farmhouses, listening to bird life merrily chirping, with a short walk to the village center. The explosion of an anti-missile rocket interception briefly disturbed the pastoral silence as Friday passed into Shabbat. The night was sanctified with excellent food, wine that helped expunge part of our collective driving memory, and meditative guitar music.
EVERYTHING WOULD have gone smoothly – the evening was drawing to a close in this idyllic atmosphere – when one of my companions discovered his telephone which also contained numerous credit cards was missing. Of course, there were mutual accusations of misplaced carelessness and excessive drinking – whose responsibility – reverberating in the surrounding pitch blackness of the forest and heavy undergrowth.
Fortunately, two other guests enjoy acute hearing and without machetes were able to slash their way through the undergrowth and eventually locate the missing telephone some 100 meters from the source of its disappearance. We suspected the neighbor’s Labrador – who initially presented as extremely friendly and ingratiating.
We were later informed this dog has a streak of kleptomania, and another early morning walk revealed a string of clothes leading down to the neighbor’s house, cast upon the gravel trail, with our friend the Labrador sitting and smiling affably in the middle of the road. I am sure pet deviancy has been documented.
For Sunday morning, I had coordinated a visit to Orot Rabin, the Hadera Power Station. I joined a group of fifth-grade kibbutz school children at the visitor’s center and we were presented a fast paced, interactive visual display outlining the discovery and importance of electricity, and alternate sources of renewable energy and the need for self-reliance – especially relevant during a period of wartime conflict and the necessary contingencies to ensure its supply whilst under potential threat.
Although the students had been well prepared with information provided by their teacher, their attention level waned nevertheless – until the presentation focused on cyberattacks directed against Israel’s main energy source. Claims were made that there are over five million cyberattacks annually, aimed at immobilizing Israel’s military and civilian infrastructures that are reliant on forms of energy.
A fast paced video drama of a cyberattack and Israel’s response regained the students’ attention to focus and encourage their future vocational interest.
AFTER THE presentation, we alighted on the school bus for an interesting tour of the Electric Company power station facility, accompanied with a good commentary explaining the production of electricity using coal, as well as the currently predominant conversion to exploiting natural gas, with the large Leviathan platform providing a backdrop in the nearby sea.
An interesting side story is the visitation of schools of small, pregnant, female sharks that come to bask in the warm recycled water outlet of the power station from May to November, when there is a good availability of fish for food – nearby to where Nahal Hadera empties into the sea.
Visitors can carefully wade around the shoals of hammerhead sharks – but under the control of the National Parks Authority and at their own risk! Registration is required to visit the Orot Rabin Power Station, which is open for group and family visits during the intermediate days of Passover and during other times of the year.
The Nili spy ring of World War I
IT HAS BEEN a few years since I last visited Aaronson House – the Nili Museum – in nearby Zichron Ya'acov, and I was graciously allowed to join a small tour of the recently renovated premises. “Nili” is an acronym for “Netzach Israel Lo Yishaker” – “the Eternal One of Israel will not lie” (Samuel I, 15:29).
The Aaronson saga and the heroic bravery of its characters played a pivotal role in assisting the British Army to overthrow control of the Turkish Empire in Palestine, leading to the formulation and implementation of the Balfour Declaration and being the eventual harbinger of the creation of a Jewish State. Not since the story of Moses sending the spies to scout out the Promised Land had such a significant story of intrigue and subversion been played by Jewish spies to further the dream of a Jewish homeland.
A Jewish spy organization was founded during World War I – dominantly led by Aaron Aaronson, who had established himself as an internationally acclaimed agrarian. His authority allowed him to travel freely within Turkish-held Palestine, and clandestinely collect vital information relating to Turkish troop/train movements and supplies – and more vitally important, to the British Commonwealth troops.
Aaronson documented sources of water that would allow a crossing of the Sinai Desert leading to the famous victory in the Battle of Beersheba with the charge of the Australian Lighthorse, in October 1917. The success of this battle paved the way for General Allenby to enter and receive the surrender of Jerusalem one month later, and successfully complete the Palestine Campaign, coinciding with his entry into Damascus a year later.
The NILI spy ring operated from this historic home. It is a story of passion, idealism and sacrifice, set against an unrequited romantic relationship – Avshalom Feinberg and Rivka Aaronson. Its characters were heroes – in some cases ending in tragedy, as for Sara Aaronson and Naaman Belkind.
THE BACKGROUND time period was World War I during the brutal Turkish oppression in Palestine, which began with Black Friday when Jews were deported en masse to Cairo: a period of locust plague, starvation, and forced conscription. British warships waited offshore to receive the relayed messages from a designated weather station; sometimes the rendezvous involved rowing out through stormy seas. The British command needed to be significantly impressed and convinced to accept and act upon this crucial information provided by this voluntary spy ring.
Further elements of intrigue enter the story when some members of NILI disappear in the Sinai Desert, later found to have been murdered by Bedouin, and eventually an unusual circuitous boat voyage to Cairo by Aaron Aaronson to finally persuade the British authorities for their planned invasion of Turkish Palestine.
The existence and the eventual exposure of the spy ring placed the Jewish community of Zichron Ya'acov under grave threat – especially in light of the Armenian genocide that occurred during the same period under Turkish rule. A later political ramification was the failure of the established State of Israel to recognize the contribution of NILI in the early years of the state; it was only in 1981 that official recognition was acknowledged by the government.
Unfortunately, in 1920, Aaronson, a potential great leader, was flying over the English Channel, invited to participate in the Treaty of Versailles to represent the Jewish community in Palestine, when his plane went down into the sea, never to be recovered. Posthumously, after her capture, torture and suicide, a letter was discovered written by Sara Aaronson which she had been able to conceal during her last moments, outlining the dream of a future Jewish state.
A visit to the Aaronson House in Zichron Ya'acov is well recommended, along with a stroll through the historical, colorful streets that have an abundance of galleries, restaurants, wineries and coffee shops.
THE AFTERNOON concluded in an interview with Assi, the Marketing Manager of a HaTayesset – “The Squadron” – located in Glilot. It is a unique experience in developing personal and organizational performance – using the interior flight command of F-16 and even a F-35 cockpits. Former air force flight instructors present challenging flight and navigational teamwork exercises – without the aim of receiving a full pilot’s license – to integrate team, leadership and organizational skills.
Using upgraded models of performance feedback and debriefing based upon methodology used in the air force – the group can focus on individual and group improvement “to come to know the best version of yourself.” The program can extend from 2-6 hours and to several sessions depending on organizational requests.
Personally, the highlight for me was to sit in the cockpit of an F-16, handling the control levers for speed and altitude, facing a large, high-resolution screen, whilst maneuvering the craft at maximum speed, as we flew over the familiar ground topography of Israel – Jerusalem, Judean Hills, Dead Sea, up the Jordan River Valley and across the Golan Heights – to conduct a daring raid on an Iraqi nuclear reactor!
The writer is a licensed Israeli tour guide – Israeljourneys@gmail.com