From Pittsburgh to Haifa: Steps and Energy

My roots are in the City of Pittsburgh, USA. I currently live in Haifa Israel. Both cities are known for many wonderful things. Pittsburgh was the birthplace of Heinz Ketchup, United States Steel, and of course the mighty Steelers. Haifa is the largest port city in Israel, home and world headquarters of the Bahia faith, Achmadiyya Muslims in Israel and the Technion. One of the schools founders was Albert Einstein. Haifa is also the center of Israel's energy industry. The two cities also share the traits of smog and very hilly terrain. Both have roughly 300,000 residents.

The city of Pittsburgh is located over an unruly terrain of hills, hollows, valleys and three intersecting rivers. Back in the late 19th and early 20th century, when Pittsburgh was growing as a coal and steel town, factory workers built houses in the hills rising above the flat riverbanks that were lined with factories. In order to commute to work. City officials and residents built staircases along the mountainside, originally of wood and later with concrete. Most were built in the 1940s.

Certain sections of the city are so steep and narrow that these neighborhoods are serviced by special fire trucks that are small and have a tighter than normal turning radius. Many of the streets that appear on maps are, in fact, are not streets at all but long staircases that often surprise unsuspecting visitors. Just like real streets, they have names, signs and even house numbers. I remember the days when I drove down cobblestone streets that were thoroughfares to nowhere.

There are a total of 712 public stairways and 44,645 steps in the city, accounting for 24,108 feet of vertical height and 23 miles in distance. Vertigo has been a lifetime problem for me and I often shuddered as I crossed hilly roads and the numerous bridges across the steel cities rivers and streets.

Haifa is a port city built on the side of Mount Carmel where legend has it was the home of Elijah the Prophet. His tomb is one the most venerated visited sites of Haifa. The port but meanders upward through the city Haifa to The Mercaz or center. The world center of the Bhai faith is located on the Mercaz and has its own set of steps leading downward. There is a one hour tour in Hebrew, Russian, and English for those in decent shape.

Some of the sites that hikers can see along include the Wadi Nismas, a predominantly Arab speaking community famous for great food and shopping. There is the Bet Gefin House which is an interfaith youth center. Haifa, which is known as The City of Peaceful Coexistance has a population of Jews, Christians, Muslims,Druze and of course the Bhaia center world famous for their magnificent gardens. which brings visitors from around the world. The steps also pass Hadar the oldest part of Haifa which centered the British administration when this was still Palestine. Your splendid view is dotted with Mosques, Synagogues, and Chuches many of which are hundreds of years old. Your view of the Haifa port includes dozens of freighters and passenger ships from around the world. I even saw the Queen Mary when she docked two years ago. The port will a hub for offshore future energy administration. It is expected that our next step is to become the land of oil and gas rather than milk and honey.

Kababir Home of Israel's Muslim Ahmadiyya and Peaceful Coexistence.

My greatest joy in living in the city of Haifa is the peaceful coexistence
of its citizens. The city is also beautiful. It is on the Mediterranean with a tayelet or boardwalk and active commercial port.

Haifa is a city dotted with gardens. The most prominent is at the world center of the Baha’i religion, with the tombs of the Bab (Mirza Muhammad Ali) and Abbas Efendi. The presence of the Baha’i, for so long persecuted in various Middle East countries, is evidence of the tolerant social fabric of this city. The greatest challenge facing this small and brave nation is to promote the values of peace in an area filled with strife and hatred. Haifa is the home of the Tomb of Elijah the Prophet, which is considered one of the holiest and most venerated shrines to Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze alike.

One of my favorite communities in Haifa and in Israel is Kababir.
I am fortunate to live in the Mercaz or center part of Haifa which adjoins the wonderful neighborhood.

It is the home of Israel’s Ahmadiyya Muslim community. Most of our two thousand Achmadis live in this pleasant tree lined residential area of Haifa. There are many parks, some neighborhood cafes, schools, grocery stores and the grand Mosque and school for their believers. Many Jewish, some Christian, and a few Druze citizens are living in the quaint neighborhood. There is a breathtaking view of the sea in the bottom of the sloping area.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the larger of two communities that arose from the Ahmadiyya movement founded in 1889 in India by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (1835–1908). The original movement split into two factions in 1914. (The other branch is the smaller Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement, Ahmadiyya Anjuman Ishaat-i-ahmadiat.)

The community is led by the Khalifatul Masih (“successor of the Messiah”), currently Khalifatul Masih V, who is the spiritual leader of the community and the successor to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad.

Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement, declared that he was the “Promised One” of all religions, fulfilling the eschatological prophecies found in world religions. The motto of the Ahmadiyya Community is “Love for All, Hatred for None”. They first settled in Palestine in 1925 and became part of Israel in 1948.

They built the neighborhood’s first mosque on Mount Carmel in 1931, and a larger grand mosque in the 1980s. The grand mosque has two white minarets standing 34 metres tall, which dominate the low-rise skyline of the residential neighborhoods on the ridges nearby. Mount Carmel is the burial spot of Haifa’s most famous citizen Elijah the prophet. Famous visitors to Kababir include Shimon Peres.

At the beginning, the neighborhood was managed as a commune in which every one of the founding family brothers worked in his occupation and donated its fee to a mutual account. Some of the family members joint the Turkish army, some worked in the Oil refinery in the city of Haifa. Others were involved in building the Port of Haifa.

Today the Achmadis are leaders in education, commerce, and medical care in our community. They are active in promoting dialogue and peace in Haifa. I have been blessed to join them in interfaith sports activities, choirs, community tours, and most importantly friendship. Below an Ahmadiyya Imam and Rabbi share friendship in Haifa.

Building Bridges for Peace in Haifa, Israel

I immigrated to Israel five years ago from The United States. There is no nation or place anywhere that has more spiritual significance than “The Land of Canaan”. It is the birthplace of the three major faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It is the place where King David wrote the 23rd Psalm, where Jesus of Nazareth promoted ideas and values that have changed humanity. In the Quran, the inspired scripture that Muhammad brought to the Arabs, venerates the great prophets of the Judeo-Christian tradition. It speaks of Solomon’s “great place of prayer” in Jerusalem, which the first Muslims called the City of the Temple.

Haifa is the home of the Tomb of Elijah the Prophet, which is considered one of the holiest and most venerated shrines to Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Druze alike.

Haifa is a city dotted with gardens. The most prominent is at the world center of the Baha’i religion, with the tombs of the Bab (Mirza Muhammad Ali) and Abbas Efendi, son and successor of the founder of the abor.faith, Bahá’u’lláh. The presence of the Baha’i, for so long persecuted in various Middle East countries, is evidence of the tolerant social fabric of this city. The greatest challenge facing this small and brave nation is to promote the values of peace in an area filled with strife and hatred. 

“The Golden Rule” is a common link in the three major faiths that can and will draw us together to promote Shalom and Salaam. It is happening in Haifa the city of peaceful coexistence.

I have been blessed to participate in many interfaith efforts in the past five years to promote peace through dialogue in our region. This holiday season I rejoiced to participate in several activities in Haifa to promote harmony. My favorite was an interfaith sports event hosted by the local Muslim Ahmadiyya school in the Kabbabir community in Haifa.

On Wednesday, Dec 19th, 2012, between Hanukkah and Christmas, 50 teens: Israeli Jews and Muslims got together in Games for Peace organized by a new association called GESHARIM LETIKVAH: BRIDGES FOR Hope- HEALING THE WORLD BY BRINGING HEARTS TOGETHER.

The new President of the association, Prof. Jesse Lachter emphasized on what is the motto and core value of this new NGO: ” Love Builds Bridges.”

Reform Movement Rabbi Dr. Edgar Nof started the games by reciting a Prayer for Peace. Then the teen girls played a basketball game for peace, while the teen boys pwer playing soccer. The Jewish children came from the Open School in Haifa with their teacher Ya’ir Shachar. The game referee was Manar, the principal of the Ahmadiyya Muslim School in the Kabbabir neighbor of Haifa. Previous to every game the teens shook hands, and everybody wins by promoting Peace in Israel and by bringing hearts together. Imam Muhammad Sharif declared that their slogan is “Love for all, Hatred for none”. The Ahmadiyya are a world wide movement of more than one hundred million followers dedicated to peace and universal brotherhood. Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav has gone so far as to call them “Reform Arabs.” Most of the two thousand Ahmadis in Israel live in Kabbabir where they are leaders in the business, cultural and most importantly spiritual areas of our community.

“You don’t hear about us because we don’t throw rocks at buses,” stated an Ahmadi leader,“We believe that nothing can be achieved through hatred and hostility.”

All the kids said at the end of the games that it was too short and that they want to meet again. We have planned more activities for the spring.