Location

Where is it?

Modi'in lies in the rolling, rocky foothills of the Judean Mountains, about halfway between the coastal plain to the west and the mountainous Jerusalem region to the east. To the north are the rocky mountains of Samaria and just south are the fertile Shfela lowlands.

Luki Towers and the watertower at sunset

Travelling along the highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the hills of the Modi'in area are the first hills which offer a panoramic view of the Israeli coastline. This, in combination with Modi'in's commanding position over one of the main mountain roads to Jerusalem, may be the source of the name Modi'in (sometimes written Modi'im), which in Hebrew means "informers" (or, in modern Hebrew, "information"). Modi'in may once have been a lookout post of great strategic significance in defending the populated internal mountains from coastal invaders.

Climatically, Modi'in is also in many ways halfway between Jerusalem's dry, cooler summers and the humid, hotter coastal weather of Tel Aviv. At about 300 meters (900 feet) above sea level, Modi'in is less than half as high as Jerusalem, but still enjoys a hint of its mountain weather. Still, with neither the height of Jerusalem nor the sea breezes of the coast, Modi'in is often hotter than Tel Aviv in the summer, though much less humid. In winter, Modi'in's weather is more or less an average of that of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, not as cold as the former or as mild as the latter.

Still having trouble locating Modi'in on your map? That's probably because the modern town is so new that it doesn't appear on most maps. The first residents moved in during the summer of 1996, and the town is now home to about 60,000 people. Split the distance between Tel Aviv-Yafo and Jerusalem, and you'll be pretty close, just southeast of Lod or north of Bet Shemesh.

Links to my Modi'in nature pages

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