Haifa: City of steps – landscape and literature of Hadar HaCarmel

Nili Scharf Gold’s book is a special addition to the literature written to date about Haifa generally and the Hadar neighborhood in particular. The book came into being out of the author’s longing for the scenes of her childhood. It stems first and foremost from the powerful impressions the city had left on her from her birth there, and her life there until the age of 18. The magic worked on her by the city did not fade with the passing years but sparked in her the desire to get a grasp on the surroundings in which she had lived and to discover the secret of their charm. The city’s unique view, the people who built it and left their mark on it – they are those on whom Scharf Gold’s interest centers. The author sets off on a nostalgic tour from her home on Herzl Street and visits some of the main sites of the Hadar Ha-Carmel neighborhood. For her, every building embodies a life history, and constitutes a text that speaks about itself and its surroundings. Each structure is given an interpretation, teasing the importance of the place through the legacy it has left behind. Here lies the book’s special nature. Writing the history of the place gives expression to the uniqueness of the structures and an insight into their significance for the landscape. The book builds on well-known stories about Haifa, including the words of writers and poets and interviews with the people of the city. The combination of fragments of the author’s memories and the voluminous material collected produces an original text containing a blend of history and romance.