The harvest holiday of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai and “Bikurim” — the first fruits of the grain harvest in the Land of Israel.

In the late 1920s, the city of Haifa was becoming the locus of the region, as a port city, railway depot and center of industry. (The popular saying, still in use today: “Haifa works, Tel Aviv plays, Jerusalem prays.”)

In 1930, Haifa held its first official Bikurim celebration. Crowds gathered in the original Technion courtyard (now part of the MadaTech National Museum of Science, Technology and Space) to see an exhibit of products from nearby Kibbutz Yagur, Shemen Industries, Palestine Flour Mills and more — and to enjoy performances by a children’s choir and the Hapoel Orchestra.