Sovev Zichron

Sovev Zichron, or Zichron Ya'akov circular route, is a hiking path that starts inside Zichron Ya'akov, a town located on Mount Carmel with magnificent views across the coastal plain to the Mediterranean Sea. Zichron Ya'akov, which means "Jacob's Memorial", was founded in 1882 through the generosity of Baron Edmund de Rothschild. Named for his father, Ya'akov, or Jacob, it is among the earliest established towns in Israel.

Sovev Zichron was apparently broken out of a 21km long bicycle path paved by the local cycling community. The roughly 3km route is a short hike, with gorgeous views of the sea, seasonal blossoms and even a small cave. It starts with a brief walk in the woods, which then opens to a wide dirt road overlooking the Kabbara Stream, a beautiful wadi (valley) full of vegetation. The path is wide and mostly flat and easy to walk.  

The weather was beautiful the day we hiked and it was to easy to forget for a moment that there is a war going on. However, not far into our route we had a reminder. Maj. Ro'i Chapel, 25, was a Nahal Brigade commander from Zichron Ya'akov, who was killed battling terrorists on 7th October 2023. This beautiful stone, above, marks the "Ro'i Lookout Point" along the route and is a wonderful way to remember a courageous young man.

We continued on the path, with beautiful views of the Kabbara Stream and the cliffs along it. We could see the Ramat Hanadiv Vulture Cage and Bustan Carmel, apparently an amazing and magical orchard for the cultivation of tropical trees. I should visit one day!

The spring blossoms were abundant, especially the gorgeous yellow Crown Daisy, a native to the Mediterranean region, and the dark blue Syrian Cornflower-Thistle. Apparently the Cornflower's deep blue colour symbolizes healthy eyes - hence it became a treatment for eye ailments. In France, the plant is called casse-lunette, or "break glasses", and is still used in French herbal medicine as a remedy for the eyes.

High above the Kabbara Stream we watched a couple of vultures from the breeding cage soar above us. The cage is part of a project to increase the vulture population in Israel which began in the Carmel in 1992. The project nurtures baby vultures in captivity under carefully monitored conditions and then releases them to the wild. The adult vultures, raised in captivity owing to injuries or other reasons, are unable to survive in the wild like their offspring. The newly laid eggs are removed and artificially hatched. Removal of an egg encourages the vultures to lay a 'reserve egg' to compensate for the one that is lost. In this way, the number of eggs laid is doubled. When the second egg is removed, a plaster model is put in its place so that the vulture can continue to nest. When the eggs finally hatch, they are returned to the parents' nest or the nest of another bird willing to accept the chick. There the babies grow untainted by human touch. And it seems that all the effort is worth it ­­- more than a quarter of the vultures in the wild in Israel are the product of Ramat Hanadiv's breeding programme.

To the west we could see the Mediterranean Sea and the agricultural areas of kibbutz Ma'agan Michael and Ma'ayan Zvi. We took a short break at some benches, seemingly used regularly by Instagrammers! There was a clear view of the Hadera power station on the skyline. Then, several bends later, we saw the cave entrance and an iron ladder that climbs to it. The view from the "Cave of the Wild Boar", or Ma'arat Hahazirim, is apparently breathtakingly spectacular. I will confess that I didn't try to find out!

Mount Carmel and the city of Haifa are full of wild boars and the cave is named after them.

Ma'arat Hahazirim

After the cave, we continued along the path until the dirt road ends - the end point of the route. We turned around and traced our steps back to the car, once again enjoying the beautiful displays of spring blossoms. Our next stop was Ramat Hanadiv, a memorial garden commemorating Baron Edmond de Rothschild and his wife, located at the southern end of Mount Carmel.

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday), Tuesday Turn About, My Corner of the World and Wild Bird Wednesday.

Israel's National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers

It's been some time since I first visited Israel's National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. It's a beautiful building and definitely something that I want to share here on my blog, but I have a personal connection to it too. My youngest son is memorialised there. And that makes it hard to write about.
Regular readers will remember that we lost our son in May 2022. He was 19 years old. We are still trying to get to the bottom of what happened to him the night he died, and the war in Israel has not helped the situation. I am writing this post because I want everyone to remember Gadi. Showing you his brick at the memorial is just one way to remember him.

Israel's National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers is located on Mount Herzl, where Israel's national military cemetery and other memorial and educational facilities are situated. It is a memorial for all servicepeople - from the army, police, Shin Bet security agency, Mossad spy agency and prison service - who gave their lives establishing and defending the State of Israel, and includes not only those killed in action, but also anybody who died in uniform. Planning and building the site took more than 10 years. Construction on the memorial began in March 2015 and the hall was finally opened to the public on the eve of Israel's Memorial Day, Yom HaZikaron, in April 2017. It is the first memorial in Israel that commemorates the memory of all Israel's fallen soldiers in one site. There are hundreds of other monuments for individuals or particular battles or military corps scattered across the country, many of which I have written about previously. 

Gadi Isaacs

19th January 2003-21st May 2022

The exterior of the hall, which is set alongside a busy street in Jerusalem, echoes the topography of the surrounding mountain landscape, while inside a tall torch-like formation of bricks, symbolizing an eternal flame, opens the hall to the sky, flooding the void with natural light. At the entrance, a video installation by Israeli artist Michal Rovner juxtaposes groups of soldiers from various periods in the history of Israel's wars, moving and running on one shared landscape before fading away.

More than 24,000 bricks wrap around the hall's walls, forming a 250-metre long "Wall of Names". Each brick is individually engraved in the same font and size with the name of a fallen soldier and the date the soldier died. Neither rank nor mention of the place or circumstance in which the soldier perished is listed. The bricks are no higher than about six feet from the floor, so that family members can reach up and touch the name. A lightbulb adjacent to each engraved brick is lit on the anniversary of the soldier's death, as per the Jewish tradition to light a candle so that the memory of lost loved one still lives on and burns bright. Every morning a memorial service is held in order to honour those who fell on that specific Hebrew date, and near the hall's upper exit, twelve pillars with screens display the pictures and more information about the men and women who died on that day.

The "Wall of Names" begins with the most recent fatality, and at the top of the spiral is a brick with the name of the Jewish guard who was killed in Jerusalem in May 1873 as part of a dispute with the Palestinians over water in the years before Israel became a state. The names - which sadly now also include two of Gadi's closest friends, Ariel and Yakir, who both fell in Gaza - are inscribed in local stone.

Visitors are led through the memorial, from the external entrance court, past the Ner Tamid (eternal flame) and a flag pole with the Israeli flag, through the main spiral ramp and ending at an upper exit, from which one can continue into the military cemetery. A computerized system enables visitors to access information, pictures, and summarized biographies of the dead via touch screens. Towards the end of the journey through the hall, visitors are invited to light a virtual candle in memory of a particular soldier.

Israel's National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers was included on the list of finalists for the prestigious Royal Institute of British Architects' 2018 international prize for world's best new building. The memorial was designed and constructed by Kimmel Eshkolot Architects, a Tel Aviv based Israeli architecture firm.

Finally, a happy update regarding the hostages. After 477 days in captivity Na'ama Levy, Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa and Liri Albag returned to Israel yesterday as part of a ceasefire deal with Hamas. Last week Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher were released. No words can describe the relief. But the price Israel has had to pay for their release is painfully high - amongst the prisoners released are mass murderers. 

But to Na'ama, Karina, Daniella and Liri - welcome home!

90 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza. Bring them home now!

* This post has been shared on The Good. The Random. The Fun., Wordless Wednesday (on Tuesday) and My Corner of the World.

Blue and White

A customer in the US, who found me through the Facebook group Israeli shops to purchase from, ordered my Shalom papercut. In the centre of the piece is the word "Shalom" in English and below that, in Hebrew. Shalom, like many Hebrew words, has more than one meaning. Shalom means peace and is also used to both greet people and to say goodbye. But it means much more than peace, hello or goodbye. Shalom is rooted in the word שלם (shaleim) which means wholeness, completion, wellness, perfection. When we are "at peace" we feel a sense of "wholeness."

My papercut is embellished with pomegranates and flowers. In the Jewish faith, pomegranates are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) because it has 613 seeds, which coincide with the 613 commandments of the Torah. Furthermore, the pomegranate represents fruitfulness. We use them in our Rosh Hashanah meals as a positive omen.

My papercut is drawn and cut entirely by hand. It can fit an American 10x8inch frame or an A4 frame (21x29.7cm) here in Israel or the UK. I backed the white papercut with a dark blue backing paper. The national colours of Israel are officially blue and white, as seen on the flag of Israel. An early Zionist poem explains that the colour white symbolises great faith; blue the appearance of the firmament.

The flag of the State of Israel was adopted on 28th October 1948, five months after the Israeli Declaration of Independence. It consists of a white background with a dark sky-blue Star of David, the widely acknowledged symbol of the Jewish people and of Judaism, in the centre. There are two horizontal blue stripes at the top and bottom. The blue stripes are intended to symbolize the stripes on a tallit, the traditional Jewish prayer shawl. The Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Tanach, or Hebrew Bible, mentions in 15:38 that the Israelites were commanded to put fringes on the corners of their garments, and to put a cord of blue border upon these fringes.

My customer was very happy to receive the papercut. "It's gorgeous." she wrote. "Thank you."

On Sunday night we will mark Yom HaZikaron, Israel's Memorial Day, the day when we remember Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. Since losing Gadi this day has become a personal day of remembrance for me and I no longer celebrate Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day, which begins the the following evening, the minute Israel's Memorial Day ends. It seems so strange to have this heavy day of mourning followed by such a joyous holiday but the message of linking these two days is clear: Israelis owe their independence - the very existence of the state - to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for it.
Since the start of the war between Israel and the terror group Hamas, 615 soldiers and police officers have been killed. Over 800 civilians have become victims of terrorism, and 132 Israeli hostages are still being held in Gaza. Yom HaZikaron feels more important than ever.

* This post has been shared on Little Things Thursday, Thinking Out Loud Thursday and Thursday Favorite Things.