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Israel - Rehovot: real Israel

by Mike Levy

Unless you are a real Israel-phile you won’t have heard of Rehovot. So this makes it the ideal GYOW place.

What was a collection of orange groves back in 1900 rapidly became one of the first Jewish towns in Palestine.

It was here in the 1930s that the country’s first scientific research body was founded and renamed later The Weizmann Institute.

That name commemorates Dr Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel, a noted scientist and one of the founding fathers of the state – it was he who persuaded Lord Balfour back in 1917 to declare Britain’s commitment to founding a homeland for the Jewish people.

Whatever your views on Israel, Zionism or the political mess in the Middle East, Rehovot is worth a second look.

At first glance, the town looks like any other rapidly expanding Israeli towns radiating out of the urban nuclear reactor that is Tel Aviv.

But take a close look along the main street – Herzl Street – and the Weizmann Institute comes easily into view with its large bold-as-brass gates (science in this country is something to shout about).

One of the world’s leading centres for pure research, the institute can claim credit for the first effective drugs to treat multiple sclerosis, MRI scanning to detect breast cancer, the amniocentesis test now widely used to diagnose problems in the developing human foetus. This is serious science.

The campus of the Weizmann reminds one of Stanford or Berkeley – lush green lawns separating well-designed low-rise research labs.

But the building that should catch your eye is the Weizmann House. Built in 1937 and open for tours, the house is a classic of Modernist architecture. It was built for Weizmann and his family and the house, now a museum, perfectly captures in aspic the life of the man up to his death in 1951.

The wonderfully geometric shapes of the house, its head-spinning circular staircase and a (now dry) swimming pool make one marvel at the inventiveness of the architect. The interior of the house is as Weizmann and his wife Vera left it in the 1950s with its ultra-modern (for 1937) kitchen complete with Israel’s first fridge (so noisy that it had to be turned off at night for fear of waking the family).

A guide takes you into Weizmann’s long library, and up to his bedroom where a curved balcony window once looked out to the hills of Jerusalem (alack now on to recently-built high rise flats).

The grounds of the institute also contain much of interest: Weizmann’s original car – a beautiful 1950 Ford Limousine (presented by US President Truman to the newly-elected first family of Israel). Here in the gardens is Weizmann’s own grave (and that of his wife) and nearby a searingly brutal Holocaust memorial sculpture.

If the Weizmann tires you out, there are some top-notch falafel bars just over the road (the best I was told was the – you guessed it – Weizmann Falafel). Not far from Rehovot is the utterly different town of Ramla.

This is one of Israel’s poorest places – where Arab and Jews from Arabic lands mingle in peaceful harmony. Well not that peaceful, the ramshackle town is a noisy reminder that you are far from Stanford here – this is the Middle East proper with some wonderful (if tending to dereliction) Ottoman-period houses, much traffic hooting along its narrow winding streets and a fantastic market (go especially on a Wednesday) where every trader has his or her own megaphone.

Take earplugs but don’t bring much money – prices here are ridiculously low. But be prepared: you won’t be able to hear yourself though at least now you have heard of Rehovot and Ramla.

In picture: The Weizmann Accelerator, a street market in Rehovot