Thousands of years ago a series of underground shocks created a gap between the layers of the rocks in the northern part of Israel by the seashore. Rainwater and seawater have penetrated into these gaps and have created beautiful tunnels and caves called grottoes       (נְקָרוֹת).

Throughout the history this point of the coastal road served as a passage point for trade caravans and armies between Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Egypt, and Africa.

During the First World War the British paved this road and wiped out the traces of the ancient route. Later on, during the Second World War, in the times of the
British Mandate in Israel, the British dug a tunnel inside the mountain for the Cairo-Istanbul railway to facilitate the movement of supplies from Egypt to the north. When the British withdrew in 1948 the War of Independence began. Israeli forces took over Rosh Hanikra (רֹ×�ש×� הַנִּקְרָה) and the Palmach (פלמ”×—) blew up the railway bridges in the grottoes to prevent the Lebanese army from invading from that direction. Nowadays the Tunnel is blocked but the remains of the rails are still there. The gate of the western border is also located at the same spot separating Israel from Lebanon.

In April 2008 the Cohen family stepped into the shortest and steepest cable-car     (רַכֶּבֶל) in the world to watch the most magnificent primordial view of seawater shattering into the rocks and the beautiful elephant leg created by this endless rendezvous of water and rocks. After the excitement of this 2-minute drive, we stepped out of the cable-car, watched a movie about the Grottoes inside the old railroad tunnel, and headed to the Grottoes of Rosh Hanikra. Although I visited this place many times during my life, each time I find the sight breathtaking. The sunlight coming from the outside and the darkness coming from inside create a unique coloring and reflections of light. The turquoise pools are very dynamic with endless waves hitting the narrow tunnels and creating an audio-visual experience of flickering drops and relaxing music of waves.

After visiting the 200-meter tunnels, we stepped outside blinded by the bright sunlight and the mesmerizing sight of the Mediterranean. We took a walk on the beach and came across the body of an unfortunate sea turtle that was thrown by the waves to the shore. During the summertime, the more fortunate female turtles come to lay their eggs on the beach. On a full moon night, the baby-turtles hatch and run for their lives to the water. This was quite an adventure that integrated history, geology, nature and technology - a wonderful trip for the whole family.

Let us go back for a little while to the shortest and steepest cable-car in the world to learn about an interesting method of creating new words in Modern Hebrew.

רַכֶּבֶל  (rakevel) is a word that was created by the Academy of the Hebrew Language as a combination of the words רַכֶּבֶת and כֶּבֶל . רַכֶּבֶת means train and כֶּבֶל means cable, so רַכֶּבֶל is a train that moves on a cable.







There are some other words utilizing this method, for example:

מִגְדָּל (tower) + �וֹר (light) = מִגְדַּלּוֹר (lighthouse)

רֶמֶז (clue, hint) + �וֹר (light) = רַמְזוֹר (traffic light)

מִדְרָכָה (sidewalk) + רְחוֹב (street) = מִדְרְחוֹב (pedestrian-only street)

קֶרֶן (horn) + �ַף (nose) = קַרְנַף (rhinoceros)

כֶּסֶף  (money)+ �וֹטוֹמָט (Automat) = כַּסְפּוֹמָט (ATM machine)

Let’s meet again next week with some more Israeli stories and Hebrew insights.

ש�ִירָה

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