CAIFA (Arab. Hajfā). - A city situated at the southern extremity of the bay of S. Giovanni d'Acri, at the foot of Mount Carmel; capital of the northern district of Palestine, it has developed greatly in recent years thanks to the new port, the largest in the Levant, inaugurated in 1933, and to the influx of Zionists.
It is the industrial and commercial centre of Palestine (soap, cement, tobacco) and the terminus of the Iraq oil pipeline. Its 110,000 inhabitants are half Israelites and half Muslims, Christians, Druzes, and 150 Bábists. The Christians, predominantly Greek Catholics, number more than 10,000. There are numerous Catholic institutions (nurseries, schools, hospitals, boarding houses); the Greek-Catholic bishop of Galilee resides there. The city, not mentioned in the Bible, appears in the fourth century B.C. under the name of 'Hōz, at the extremity of a district area beginning at the Ladder of Tyre, identified with Tell Abū Ḥawām, 2 km south-east of the railway station. Having declined after the destruction of Tyre, it was re-established at the place called Hajfā el-'Atiqah. The Crusaders stormed it in 1100 with the aid of the Venetian fleet. Plundered by Saladin in 1191, it remained without historical importance until the eighteenth century, when in 1760 the emir Dāhir el-'Omar transferred it to its present site, building there a castle with defensive walls. Near the sea and around the castle the present old city was formed, with its narrow streets, yet full of traffic in the crowded bazaar. The new part lies to the north-west, with a garden city, and to the south-east, with the industrial quarter; the greatest development is on the slopes of Carmel, with broad avenues, large houses, and new government buildings.
Donato Baldi
CAIFA. - More accurately Joseph Caiaphas, high priest, son-in-law of Annas (v.) or Ananos. The surname Caiaphas is of uncertain origin and meaning, and is explained as "interpreter." The name of his father is also unknown. Appointed high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus in the year 18 A.D., he held the office for 18 years, until 36 A.D., which was extraordinary at the time. This lengthy tenure is explained by the baseness of his soul and his servility toward the Romans. Indeed, nothing is recorded in Flavius Josephus regarding any activity of Caiaphas for the religious interests of his people before the Roman procurators. Like nearly all the high priests of his time, he was a Sadducee and a man without a sense of justice or religion. He was deposed by Vitellius, the legate of Syria. Of him, we know only what is reported in the few accounts of Flavius Josephus and the Evangelists. During the pontificate of Caiaphas, St. John the Baptist began his ministry (Lk. 3:2). After Lazarus was raised, Caiaphas advised the Sanhedrin to kill Jesus (Jn. 11:47-54; 18:14). Noting, in the account of this episode, that Caiaphas "was the high priest of that year," the Fourth Gospel does not mean to say that the office of high priest lasted only one year, since the appointments and depositions of high priests were well known, and Flavius Josephus recounts those of Caiaphas in detail (Antiq. Iud., II, 2; XVIII, 4, 3), but gives the term ἐκείνου an emphatic sense ("in this fateful year") or the broad sense of "at that time." Shortly before the Passover feast in which Jesus died, the Sanhedrists gathered in Caiaphas' house to deliberate on how Jesus could be put to death (Mt. 26:3; Mk. 14:1, 2; Lk. 22:2), and decided not to kill him during Passover. In the same house of Caiaphas, Jesus, after his arrest, appeared before him as president of the Sanhedrin. And since the testimonies of the witnesses did not coincide, Caiaphas adjured Jesus to say whether he was the Messiah and the Son of God. When Jesus answered affirmatively, Caiaphas, to show that he considered the statement blasphemy, tore his garments and cried: "He has blasphemed! What further need have we of witnesses?" (Mt. 26:57-65; Mk. 14:53-64). Thus, Jesus was condemned to death by the Sanhedrin and then handed over to Pilate, to whom he was led from Caiaphas' house (Jn. 18:28). When, after the healing of a lame man, Peter and John proclaimed Jesus to the people, they were brought before the Sanhedrin, of which Caiaphas was also a member (Acts 4:6), though no longer in the president's seat, which was occupied by Annas.