Avi Feiler and the Port of Jaffa

Shortly after Naomi and I arrived in Israel, we contacted Avi Feiler who invited us over for visit. In a few minutes we were on our way to the old port of Jaffa just south of Tel Aviv. Avi greeted us warmly in the parking lot and took us through a narrow walkway between the old houses of Jaffa. We arrived at his door. It's a small door and we had to duck our heads to enter.

Inside, Avi introduced us to his friends: a crocodile farmer from Eliat and a retired seaman. We chatted for a bit and then Avi gave us a tour of his home. Looking out his window, we could see over the Jaffa harbour. Avi pointed to the rock where Andromeda sat. He told us stories of the past, of the early days 4,600 years ago when Jaffa was one of the first ports in the world. He brought us nearer to modern times and spoke of Napoleon, who 206 years ago, entered the harbour and bombarded Jaffa.

"I found several of Napoleon's canonballs in my home when we did renovations," Avi said as he picked up several of these canonballs to show us. One large one had a hole in it. "This was used to put gunpowder in, in the hope that it would explode when it hit the walls of the buildings. This one didn't." The cannonball, about 10 centimeters in diameter, was heavy and intact as I lifted it up.

Avi moved on to talk about the times when Jaffa served as the port of Jerusalem many centuries ago as well as more recently when it served as a major port in 1948 with the arrival of many Jews coming to Israel after the Second World War.

All around his home we gazed in wonder at Avi's artwork. He is a painter and on an easel in front of the big window overlooking the harbour was a piece he was still working on. It's a ship going out to sea and the detail in the waves is amazing. Golden reflections on the water move about as we moved in front of the painting.

Avi explained how he does it. Layers and layers of paint and glazes are applied, and at the right point, small flecks of gold leaf. They glittered and moved as we moved in front of the painting. It's almost magical.

Naomi and I then joined Avi and his friends for tea. We talked for a long time, then Naomi and I went for a walk along the shore of the Mediterranean on our way back to our hotel.

An absolutely wonderful introduction to Israel. The top photo shows Naomi walking along Jaffa harbour. In the bottom photo, Naomi is with Avi Feiler in his studio.