Immortalized
by popular Israeli singer, Yehoram Gaon, Elef Nishikot Lach Ahuvati - One
Thousand Kisses for You My Beloved - is the poem which Avshalom
Fineberg wrote to Sara Aharonson in the early 1900s.

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Dining room in Aharonson House
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Their tragic romance is intertwined with the struggle of the Jews in
pre-State Israel. NILI, the underground organization that the
Aharonsons and Fineberg created to oust the rule of the Ottoman Empire
and replace it with the protection of the British Empire, is an
acronym for the words ``Netzah Yisrael Lo Yishakar - the Might of
Israel Will Not Fail''.

In the small agricultural community of Zikhron
Yaakov, an hour south
of Haifa, amongst the vineyards financed by the Baron de Rothschild,
NILI activists led a spy ring which passed intelligence about the
movements of the Turks to the British army via carrier pigeon. One
fateful day the carrier pigeon was caught and the ring was unmasked.
Sara Aharonson was captured in her home but to the anger of the Turks,
she managed to take her own life before they could hang her.

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Photos of the Aharonson Family on the salon walls
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Sara's lover, Abshalom died a tragic death in the Sinai desert while
on his way to Egypt on a sectret mission. His body was only discovered
after 1967. His grave was marked in the desert by a date tree which
grew from the dates he had with him on his journey before Beduion in
the area killed him. To the day it was discovered, the local Beduoin
called it the Jew Date Tree.

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Hiding place or slik where Sara's gun was hidden.
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A scientist, Aharon Aharonson is credited with discovering Mother
Wheat, the wheat from which cultivated wheat is grown all over the
world today. He established the Jewish Agricultural Experiment Station
where enormous strides were made in farming without the use of
fertilizer.

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Aharon Aharonson traveled extensively as seen in the souvenirs in his home.
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By Deborah Rosenbloom and Judith Isaacson
Photos by J. Isaacson |