Page 8 - Holyland Magazine - 2022 Edition

The sea and

all its treasures

An ancient king and a modern heroine both left their marks
on Caesarea, where touring, learning, shopping and a
Mediterranean swim make for a perfect day

By Miriam Feinberg Vamosh

A lmost two millennia ago, King Herod the way past the kibbutz floor-tile factory – the literary talent of her father, a well-known
the Great built his magnificent port
writer. The rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary
called Caesarstone, of course – along the
narrow pathways to a plain, low-slung building
spurred her discovery of Judaism and Zionism.
at Caesarea to last forever. Indeed,
its remains are monumental, even
She committed herself ardently to both and
with a glimpse of the sea.
underwater, where you can scuba-dive
to see them. But not everything memorable Hannah Senesh herself symbolizes the immigrated to Palestine in 1939.
at Caesarea is colossal. In fact, your most pathway of many European Jews in modern “Her determination knew no bounds,” Palgi
moving moments there might be at a place times, House director Adva Palgi is quick to says. “She learned Hebrew, and her poetry and
that is rather easy to miss – the Hannah point out. Born in 1921, Hannah grew up in diary entries from her years in Palestine are all in
Senesh House at Kibbutz Sdot Yam, next door an assimilated upper-class Jewish family in Hebrew. Palgi, who with some encouragement
to Caesarea National Park. A small sign points Budapest. She excelled in school, inheriting will reveal her own story to visitors, also knows
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