Modi’in: City Of The Past And FutureWell, the preservation of archaeological sites and the educational programs do sound worthwhile.
By Harold Gellis (Five Towns Jewish Times Online, NY)
Published on Thursday, February 05, 2009 - COMMENTS (0)
Over 2,000 years ago, an unprecedented miracle took place in an ancient Jewish town in the center of Judea. In the obscure town of Modi’in, the high priest Matthias, Judah Maccabee, and a handful of followers rose up in battle against the mighty Greek empire. The Chanukah festival commemorates their ultimate victory.
After two millennia, another remarkable miracle has again taken place in Modi’in. The town of the Hasmoneans has come to life again. In the land where the Maccabees lived and fought, there is now Israel’s newest city. In the 21st century, Modi’in, the city of the past, is now the city of the future.
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[Alex] Weinreb [deputy mayor of Modi’in], an amateur archaeologist and fierce environmentalist, is dedicated to preserving Modi’in’s past as well as ensuring its ecological future. Standing on a hill among the ruins and artifacts of the Hasmonean era, he envisions the site as a future cultural and educational center. “In the planned center, students will be able to do their dissertation on Modi’in,” muses Weinreb. “One will be able to have his bar mitzvah in the same beit k’nesset where Judah Maccabee had his bar mitzvah.”
What is needed, however, for the planned center is funding. And funding is also needed for other infrastructure in Modi’in, as well; in a city where there are more births annually than in any other city in the country except B’nei Brak, there is no hospital!
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On Givat HaTeturah, a hilltop in Modi’in full of Hasmonean relics, Efraim Weiss of Pearl Skolnik describes the interconnected past and present of Modi’in: “On this hill, the Maccabees lit fires on their way to Jerusalem. On Chanukah, all the schools come up here for different activities. But they have to dress warmly because it gets quite cold here.”
A major construction project for Givat HaTeturah that would have destroyed the hilltop’s archeological treasures was thwarted by Alex Weinreb, who vigilantly works to preserve Modi’in’s ancient heritage. Givat HaTeturah is now a municipal nature site.
In the municipal building framed by the menorah, Alex Weinreb can cite an additional list of impressive accomplishments. Weinreb, the avid archaeologist, has established environmental, cultural, and historical educational programs and institutions about Modi’in and its heritage, including marking the festival of Chanukah with annual cultural events. An equally avid environmentalist, Weinreb also stood up to the phone companies and made them remove their cellular towers from the city in order to reduce cellular radiation.
But to understand the future direction of Modi’in best, one has only to look at Alex Weinreb’s slogan—“Alex Weinreb doesn’t stop at the green!”
UPDATE: Reader Shai Secunda e-mails:
Just to let you know, many archaeologists now consider a site in the southern end of the city (in the Buchman neighborhood) to be the site on ancient Modiin, and not Titura hill. This site contains the remains of a possible synagogue, but is fenced off and not yet open to the public.