Haifa, חיפה

I've been wanting to write about Haifa for a while now. It seem like the forgotten Israeli city sometimes, with Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv getting all the attention. No doubt that Haifa, Israel's third largest, lacks the history and spirituality of Jerusalem and the cosmopolitan flavor of Tel-Aviv, but it's a great city in it's own respect. It's a working class city and it's got some grimy areas, but it also has long stretches of Mediterranean coast and views of northern Israel that reach to the borders of Lebanon. In fact it's the views and the beach that brought me to Haifa. So I though I'd give a photo-tour of walk I took a few days ago and let the pictures tell the story.

I, being an poor immigrant, live in a fairly grimy neighborhood on a street that recently underwent a bohemian revival. Bars/cafes, second hand books and clothes, jewelry and antiques, street art/graffiti and of course a falafelria. Oh, and a fair amount of dog, cat and bat droppings. No seriously, there's bats that shit all over the place. But, just few minutes away by foot are some really beautiful sites.

Masada St. in the Hadar area

View of the sea from Masada St.

Passing under the Baha'i gardens, one of Haifa's main attractions.

After the Baha'i area, there is a small sculpture garden.

Most of the statues seem to be either equine...

or naked...

hmm...

Perhaps clothing is just really hard to sculpt.

Nice new apt. buildings in the French Carmel area

Stella Maris church

View of down-town Haifa from the Stella Maris area

Bat Galim neighborhood - one of the first Jewish settlement in Haifa. I'll be making my way down to that small bay on the left.

Cable-car to the beach - the easy way down

The alternate route down

A touch of Greece in Israel

Some old chapel with Stella Maris in the background

Stairs to the sea...

Stairs carved into a boulder

Bat Galim promenade

About a 15min walk to the organized beach

Time for a Goldstar - on draft no less!

A nice place to watch the sun set

Heading home through Bat Galim

Street fountain in the Qiryat Eliezer neighborhood

Baha'i shrine from the German Colony

Back in Hadar

Hope you liked my tour. All told it was about a 6 mile walk. I'm definitely planing some more trips soon. One great thing about Haifa is that there are so many natural setting within the city limits. Like all of Israel, there's lots to see packed into a small place.

Walking the Bible

So, I´m leaving the Negev. But before I go I want to note one last biblical observation. Writing that comes from a culture that is both foreign and ancient is difficult to grasp. Two things help though: learning the language and living in the environment. Yet no matter what we do, the bible can still baffle us. That's why it's so satisfying when something just clicks.

A few weeks ago I spent a day at a near by Kibbutz, just a few km down the road. It was a hot day and I walked for hours in the desert wearing flip-flops. I walked quite a bit off of the path, in the sand and dirt of the Negev. When I got home and sat down, I was suddenly overcome by a powerful urge - to wash my feet. Sure they were dirty, but my feet have been dirty before. But this was different. It was a strange sensation: as if they were covered by a thin film of very fine dust and dirt. It was kind of tingly and rather irritating.

So off to the bathroom I went, and with foot in sink it hit me. Abraham, angels, Genesis 18... foot baths!

In the Tanach תנ"ך or Hebrew Bible there are eleven references to washing ones feet. I always wondered what this obsession with foot baths was. Why does Abraham, upon seeing angels/visitors, immediately offer water for feet washing? We've all gone around barefoot at one point or another, but the bible makes it seem so urgent, as if one can't relax until the feet are clean. And that's pretty much right on. After I toweled down my toes I felt like a new man.

Ever since, I've had a new understanding of all the biblical feet washing. Song of Songs 5 sums it all up: I have washed my feet— must I soil them again? Amen.

I'll miss the desert though - quietude, warm sun, cool breezes and starry nights. I'll miss walking a few minutes from my door, climbing a small hill and being in the open with a view that stretches on to the horizon.

And yet, driving back last night from Haifa, my soon to be new place of residence, I looked out the window and saw the sun just touching down on the Mediterranean Sea.

You could almost here it sizzling. On my left were the craggy foothills of Mount Carmel where Elijah confronted the prophets of Ba'al. Perhaps there will be more little insights into the book that spawned history. And if not, at least I'll enjoy the view.

FYI, no I did not take these pictures. Sorry. But I still wanted some visual representation of the locations mentioned.

For those interested go to biblegateway.com and search feet and wash together.