Elijah's cave

From Tel Aviv one day we took a day trip up to Haifa and stopped at a holy site purported to be Elijah's cave.

Elijah is one of the earliest Biblical prophets. His stories are contained in the book of Kings. SUpposedly he lived in this cave during his life. Elijah is the one who heard "the still small voice" of God, which I've always liked. Elijah is also the guy that Jews leave an empty chair for at the Passover seder dinner. Because Elijah didn't "die" in the Biblical account - he was taken up in a whirlwind, some Jews believe that he will return some day. A Christian story related to the same cave is that Jesus and his family hid out in the cave when they were fleeing Herod's massacre of the first born children.

In any case the cave was closed. We walked a short way up the hill and found an Arab family having lunch on the picnic tables in the shade. The mother of the family told us to come back on Monday when the healing powers of the cave were supposed to be strongest.