Lavra Netofa is a Melkite hermitage on a mountain top above the village of Hararit in Galilee. An old-looking stone structure, built from local stones, most of it constructed underground, serves as a chapel. The hermitage was founded in 1967 by two monks, the Dutch Father Jacob Willebrands and the American Father Toma Farelly, who answered the call to live among the Palestinian Christian community, and to serve as a bridge between them and their Jewish neighbors. The hermitage on Mt. Netofa was meant as a retreat for Christian monks and worshippers. While preparing the land, they found a deep ancient water hole from the Byzantine era and decided to clear it and make it an underground chapel. They dug up other water holes for the purpose of collecting rain water for their use.