BAHA'I GARDENS, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel







In early spring, two years after my pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Báb, I got a call at three o’clock in the morning  from Fariborz Sahba, the project manager and architect engaged in the design of the terraces that scale Mt. Carmel today.  He asked me if I was interested in applying for employment at the Baha’i World Center as a landscape designer of the terraces. A few days later I flew to West Palm Beach, Florida,  and interviewed for the position.  I only wanted the job if qualified, however, and prayed that the right thing would happen.

At the time, the project on Mt. Carmel was in the conceptual stage.  Here is a model, which was on display in the Mansion at Bahji, if I recall correctly.

As it turned out, when I was attending the Commemoration of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah on the 29th of May at the Bosch Baha'i School in the Santa Cruz mountains, I mentioned to an acquaintance--who, unbeknownst to me was a landscape architect in Monterey--about my conversation and interview and the opportunity to participate in the design of the terraces. 

Needless to say, I didn't get the job, but six months later, while attending the Baha'i World Congress in New York city, who do I run into in the cavernous Jacob Javits Convention Center but my friend Dennis.  He told me that after our conversation during the early hours in Santa Cruz, he called Mr. Sahba, and was granted an interview in Haifa.  Not only did he get the job, but his wife and children went with him, and he was only in the U.S. for the Congress.  He told me that he was hoping he'd run into me among the 10,000 evening attendees so that he could thank me, which made me incredibly happy.

♦

One feature I was happy to see was the bridge across Hatzionut Avenue, just above the Shrine of the Báb.  At the time of my pilgrimage, pilgrims had to dash across the avenue to visit the archive building, the Seat of the UHJ, and the monuments along a "far-flung arc".  Besides the danger, the noise from the traffic could be heard at the Shrine.

This is the bridge across Hatzionut today.  

Looking toward Akka from above the Shrine in 1990.

Today