PEQI'IN

Peqi'in evokes feelings of awe in the hearts of secular as well as religious Jews because it is the only place in the Holy Land that has had continuous Jewish settlement from the days of the Second Temple, and because the noted scholar, Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, lived here for many years.

Today there are only a few Jews, members of the Zinati family, living among the Druze and Moslem villagers. In 1972 a band of students from Jerusalem set up a yeshiva in Peqi'in, with the aim of re-establishing the Jewish community and restoring the old synagogue.

The synagogue is believed to date from the 2nd century CE. Although it was restored in 1873, stone carvings of the Holy Ark, a menora, shofar, lulav and etrog dating from the first synagogue are embedded in the walls. Parts of an ancient Scroll of the Law kept in the Ark are said to be 1,200 years old.

The stone houses have overhanging balconies fashioned with wrought iron and vines creeping along pole supports on the flat-topped roofs. Narrow streets lead to the synagogue and, further on, to the enclosed spring. This is where the 1st-century CE rabbinical sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai, and his son, Eleazar, are said to have got their water supply when hiding from the Romans for thirteen years in a cave above the village.

Rabbi Shimon Bar-Yochai is believed to have written the Zohar (The Splendour), the treasured book of the Kabbalists, while living in the cave. To reach it, return to the entrance to the village and take the road forking left up the hill. Once you are past the village you arrive at some steps near a stone, with Hebrew writing noting that this is a holy site. The cave is on the left, near the top of the steps.

Rabbi Bar-Yochai's memory is so revered by the pious that on the festival of Lag Ba'Omer tens of thousands of pilgrims converge on his tomb in Meron.

Return to Road No. 89 and drive in the direction of Nahariyya, very shortly arriving at Ma'alot. This settlement is linked to the Arab village of Tarshiha, a little further along the road, and was used as the headquarters of Arab gangs until it was captured by Israelis in 1948. Schoolchildren were taken hostage and killed here by Palestinian terrorists in 1974.

Take the right fork on reaching Tarshiha and drive a few kilometres until you reach Kfar Vradim, where there is the Tefen Museum of Industry, Art and Nature. Soon afterwards you are at Mi'ilya. The Arabs living in this village are all of the Greek Orthodox faith and a number of their houses are built within and on the ruins of the Crusader castle, Castellum Regis (The King's Castle). Note how the two corner towers on the north side of the ruins stand at their original height.

Castellum Regis was captured by Sultan Beibars in 1265.

Return towards Tarshiha, driving up the right-hand fork (Road No. 8833) just after passing the police station. Pass En Yaaqov and brace yourself for another spectacular view. Ahead is the Mediterranean Sea and the Zebulun Valley that you drove through earlier. To the left is the Carmel mountain range and closer, on your left, is the silhouette of Castle Judin.

The road passes Ga'aton and soon branches left to Kibbutz Yehiam and the remains of the Crusader citadel.

Castle Judin, now known as Metzudat Yehiam, was built by the Order of Templars in the 12th century. Later it passed into the hands of the Teutonic Knights it was destroyed in 1265 by Sultan Beibars, in preparation for his attack on Montfort Castle, a few kilometres northwest of Mi'ilya. Unlike many of the other Crusader forts that fell to the Moslems, this one was reoccupied and partially rebuilt in the 18th century by Sheikh Tahar al-Amr. This National Parks site is open daily, April - Sept. 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., Oct. - March 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. It closes one hour earlier on Fridays and holidays. Entrance fee.

Return to the main road (No. 89) and soon arrive at the point where it crosses Road No. 70. Kibbutz Kabri is on your immediate right. It was founded in 1949 by farmers who had been compelled to abandon their settlement at Bet HaArava, north of the Dead Sea, during the War of Independence. There is the Nativ Hashayara memorial here (one kilometre to the southeast) to 46 members of the Haganah convoy who were killed in an ambush while on their way to relieve Kibbutz Yehiam in 1948.

You have two choices for the remainder of the route back to Haifa. You may continue straight for 5 km., turning left (Road No. 4) at Nahariyya for the coastal drive through Akko. Or, and we recommend this route, you may turn left (Road No. 70) at this point for some more of that refreshing Galilee landscape.

Assuming you have turned left, pass the Netiv Hashayara memorial and a picnic area also on your left. Pass Sheikh Daud and Sheikh Danoun, then Amqa, a village abandoned by the Arabs in 1948 which still has ancient columns in some of the houses.

Bet HaEmeq, a kibbutz established by Hungarian and Slovakian survivors of the Holocaust, is close by.

The road winds through one of the largest olive groves in the Galilee. The groves continue through the large Arab villages, Kafr Yassif, and farther on Kafr Jadeida, culminating in a stunning view of the Zebulun Valley with its steam-roller-flat fields. As you dip down a hill, the Carmel looms beyond the kilometres of sunflower fields.

The road meets up with Road No. 85 going left to Zefat and right to Akko. Drive 8 km. to Akko and from there swing south to Haifa along the same highway (No. 4) you travelled at the start of this route.