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Exploring Binyamina and Surroundings
Binyamina and Surroundings Recommendations by Burge Bohoraim
Burge Binyamina Bohoraim, a restaurant for breakfast and light lunches, is a perfect stop during a day trip in Binyamina and its surroundings. Here are some recommended places to visit when you come to Binyamina:
Yemei Binyamina
A museum of Binyamina’s history. The house of the Chudakow family, who immigrated to Israel with the Balfour Declaration and settled in Binyamina as founding farmers. The Association for the Preservation and Restoration of the Colony’s Past restored and renovated the house, establishing a museum displaying collections of tools and agricultural equipment reflecting the colony’s agricultural character, founders’ photos, period-specific items, and historical documentation.
The house underwent extensive renovation and adaptation for visits in 2022. Visits by appointment: 054-598-8505. Duration: about an hour.
Shuni – Jabotinsky Park
The name “Shuni” in Arabic means “grain barn.” Previously, the place was called “Miyumas,” an Arabic distortion of the Roman name “Miyomas” – a site from the Roman period where a theater for water celebrations was discovered. During the Byzantine period, the place was converted to industry. In 1913, Baron Rothschild bought the place. In 1920, it served as a gathering and training place for the founders of Binyamina, and in the 1940s, it housed the Beitar nucleus that settled in “Jabotinsky’s Estate.” Later, it served as a commanders’ school for the Irgun,
The site includes an audiovisual room, an exhibition and guidance, a public park, and a KKL-JNF educational field center.
Open Sun-Thu 09:00-17:00, Fri 09:00-13:00.
Information center: 04-6389730.
Duration: about an hour and a half.
The Antilia Well and Khan Zerauniya
A structure built as a farm house, named after the Zarka stream (the Arabic name for the Taninim stream) – the blue stream. The place was built in the 1880s by the Sadek Pasha family, the most notable among the Bosnians in Caesarea, purchased by ICA at the beginning of the century, and used by the first Californian and Dutch groups until their settlement in Binyamina. PICA turned the farm into an experimental station. Nearby is the ruin of an Antilia well and a water pool for irrigating orchards, which was used as a swimming pool for the colony’s youth on Saturdays.
Duration: about half an hour.
The Unfinished Aqueduct
A Roman-period aqueduct located in the built-up area of Binyamina. The aqueduct was discovered in 1950 by Dr. Hamburger, the colony’s doctor and amateur archaeologist, and his wife, who managed the excavations. The Romans started building the aqueduct but did not finish it, probably in an attempt to change the aqueduct’s route to Caesarea. The aqueduct is about 200 meters long. The site includes a beautiful public garden, lawns, and picnic tables.
The site is open to the public.
Duration: about half an hour.
Tiferet Binyamin Synagogue
The synagogue was built with Baron Rothschild’s funds and inaugurated in 1927 in the presence of the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Abraham Kook, and the Chief Rabbi of Egypt, Rabbi Chaim Nahum. In the center of the building is a large elevated platform surrounded by six columns supporting a dome with eight decorated windows at its base. The Ark, located in a niche in the southern wall, still preserves the original wooden doors. The niche is also decorated with a half-dome. The synagogue had “sliquim” (hidden weapon caches) located in the women’s section and under the platform.
The synagogue is still active today as Binyamina’s central synagogue.
Visits by appointment through Yemei Binyamina museum team: 054-598-8505.
Duration: about half an hour.
Ein Tzur
Ein Tzur, called in Arabic “Umm al-Alaq” – the leech site, includes three sites: a spring, Roman fortress ruins, and the remains of the Khouri family’s farm house. It is a public bathhouse from the Second Temple period. Ein Tzur is a spring that flows inside a tunnel, above which is a columbarium – a round tower that served as a pigeon house. During the Byzantine period, a stone quarry operated there. In 1913, it was purchased by ICA, and after World War I, pioneers settled there, engaged in draining swamps and paving roads. Four groups settled at the site, the last of which – Betar – moved to the place as part of the Tower and Stockade settlements in 1939 and moved to Shuni in 1940.
The site is open to the public.
Duration: about an hour.
Map of the Places