The town of Afula in Northern Israel was founded in this date in 1925. It is located on the presumed site of the tower ("Ophel") mentioned in the Biblical account of an Aramean general's visit to the Prophet Elisha (II Kings 5:24).
Afula's central location in the Jezreel Valley makes it the market center of the region; it is often referred to as "the Capital of the Valley."
Because of the town's proximity to Judea and Samaria, it has repeatedly been a target of terrorist attacks following the Oslo "peace process" and during the second Intifada.
In today's "Nasi" reading (see "Nasi of the Day" in Nissan 1), we read of the gift bought by the nasi of the tribe of Gad, Elyasaf ben De'uel, for the inauguration of the Mishkan.
When the spies that Moses sent returned from their reconnaissance of the Land of Canaan, they included in their report these words:
“We felt like ants before them,
and so we were in their eyes.”
Because they felt like ants in their own eyes,
therefore, others saw them as ants as well.