August 1

Carmel

Then the MBI-ers drove down to Haifa to explore one of Israel's most unique cities. Haifa,
Israel's third largest city is built into the Carmel Mountain on the Northern part of the coast.
Haifa is well known as being a multi-ethnic city where Arabs and Jews have lived and worked
together for years. To begin the siyur (tour) the chanichim gathered on a promenade above the
Bahai Gardens. The Gardens are holy center for the Bahai religion. This is where people of the
Bahai faith come to complete their pilgrimage. From this promenade you can see the gardens
as well as the whole downtown area of Haifa.

Here the MBIers learned a bit about the history of Haifa and the demographics of the city.
Then they ventured down into the city and saw first-hand the different elements of Haifa.
Throughout the tour they witnessed examples of the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian presences in
Haifa. For part of the tour, they visited the neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas. Because Haifa is on a
mountain there are neighborhoods located in different natural formations. A wadi is a dried up
river bed and this is evident when walking in this particular neighborhood. You have to descend
into it and it is very narrow. The buildings are also small and close together. During the walk
through the neighborhood the chanichim discussed the architecture of Wadi Nisnas as well as
the layout of the city as a whole. Another interesting aspect of Wadi Nisnas is that every year
local artists are asked to create murals and art installations to be featured in the neighborhood
as part of a coexistence project. This is meant to bring beauty to the city as well as Arab and
Jewish artists together. The trip to Haifa was meant to showcase Haifa as a multi-ethnic town
and to learn a bit about what some of the interactions that causes.