Right where the blue sea meets the rock walls, and centuries of nature intersect with modern life, lies a story that is hard to believe is real. For about five decades, Nissim Kahlon, the man known in Israel as the "Caveman," has lived here. With his own hands, he carved a system of chambers, rooms, passages, and arches in the cliff. The complex grew over the years into one of the most spectacular, and controversial, human creations ever seen along the Israeli coastline. The controversy does not stem from its artistic merit, daring, or craftsmanship, but rather from everything unfolding behind bureaucratic scenes.
Kahlon has already passed the age of 80. As people who grew up in Herzliya, we decided to take a family trip to reconnect with childhood nostalgia. We contacted Kahlon and asked his permission to visit, and he agreed. When we entered the home carved into the cliff, he was sitting on a sofa next to his walker, accompanied by a full-time caregiver. He was sullen and in pain. He has undergone several surgeries intended to bring relief, but according to him, the result was the opposite. He can no longer move freely around the structure he carved out, yet he refuses to abandon his art: On the balcony overlooking the sea, he crafts colorful flowerpots studded with ceramic shards.
Now, with the threat of eviction looming over him, he is trying with what little strength he has left to reverse the decree, but it is not going easily for him. Perhaps this is partly because he does not play by politically correct rules. He hurls his truth at anyone standing before him, whether they are visitors like us, municipal inspectors, the mayor, or even a tourism minister who visited in the past.
The Sidna Ali Cliff
Anyone coming to Sidna Ali Beach for the first time just to wade in the water might not immediately notice what is hidden inside the cliff near the mosque. The beach is known for its open views and the feeling that it still retains something of the wild character of the Israeli coast, without hotels and modern development.
The "Shell House," or the "Shell Cave," as many call it, is a work of art, a private world, and a sort of museum created by an unusual man. If you will, an Israeli Gaudi, if only because of the use of unconventional materials: The mosaics, shells, stones, shapes, and spaces, and the fact that the creation grew gradually out of the imagination and hands of its creator. For decades, curious visitors, artists, architects, media figures, and hikers came to see the place and the man who created it up close. Even so, the site has fallen into a bureaucratic trap from which it is doubtful it can escape.
"If I were in Egypt, Jordan, or Europe, the government would have adopted me. Instead of giving me an award, they give me a punishment," Kahlon says. "There was a person here from Bezalel who told me they should bring the teachers from Bezalel to learn design from me. I brought the material, I built, I carved, I worked hard here. Now they are tearing my heart out."
Precisely now, as his story returns to the headlines, it appears this chapter is about to end, and not well from his perspective. In early September 2026, professionals from the Environmental Protection Ministry and inspectors from the Nature and Parks Authority arrived at the cave as part of preparations to evict Kahlon and seal the cave. According to recent reports, the eviction is scheduled for after the Tishrei holidays. At the same time, the Herzliya Municipality is attempting to find him alternative housing.
"As far as I'm concerned, let them take me out of here," he says with pain and anger. "There is a yeshiva in Netanya, let them find me living quarters nearby. I will go there. I have no strength left." So he says, but it is doubtful he truly means it, as his entire life is carved into the walls among which he sits. Then he reveals a secret about the mayor of Herzliya: "The mayor told me he used to help me carry stones up from the sea. Anyone who helped bring stones from the shoreline, that was like an entry ticket to my home. Today the mayor is in his 40s, and he wants to take me to a nursing home. I'll die just from the atmosphere there."
So how did it all begin?
The story of the Shell House begins in the late 1970s. Kahlon arrived at the Sidna Ali Beach area at a time when life there was very different from what we know today. The area was undeveloped, and the city was more modest. Kahlon arrived following a family crisis, carrying few belongings and wanting to distance himself from his previous life.
"I love the sea. I lived in Or Yehuda and they wanted to marry me off, so I ran away from home. I had a friend from the army in Herzliya. I pitched a tent on the beach, and after a few days they kicked me out. So I walked for a few days along the beach, saw the cliff, and told my friend: Here is where I am building a house! I carved for two months. I was strong. I carved at a height of eight meters and a length of 10 meters, brought down a piece of the mountain, and built the shape of a dinosaur with a tail."
Kahlon packed up the tent that served as temporary shelter in favor of the structure he had carved. He realized he wanted to stay, but things only grew more complicated. "After about a year, I received a letter with a demolition order. I said I would fight the war wisely, and I dug another room inside the mountain. I put a bed, a bottle of water, and candles. About 15 people came - Border Police, police, municipality, and inspectors. They came up from the shoreline and were stunned. I had a special building method. After an hour, they left."
In this way, Kahlon established facts on the ground inside the cliff. The work was slow, and every meter required time, effort, and perseverance. But Kahlon was in no rush. He worked for years, and each new space led to another. An opening became a passage, the passage connected to a room, the room connected to a cave, and the cave spread inside the cliff. Over time, a labyrinth of spaces formed on the site, some for living quarters and others for work and creation, all combining into an immense work. The cave was no longer just a housing solution, but a living artistic and environmental project.
"There was never a wall collapse here. All the carving has stood the test of time and nature," he emphasizes. As far as he is concerned, if they want to evict him due to fear of collapse, justice is on his side.
After an initial period in the cave, Nissim went on a one-month trip to the US that extended far longer than planned. "I went to the US for a one-month trip, and it lasted eight years. When I returned, the house on the mountain was neglected, full of holes. I slept in a tent and thought about what to do. My wife didn't want to come with me to Israel, so I divorced her and she stayed in Chicago. Sometimes I regret that I returned. I had a good life there, I played tennis, I had a car. Here everyone makes fun of you. What is this?!"
After returning to Israel, he continued from where he left off. He returned to carving and decorating the cave with shells, stones, pebbles, glass shards, ceramics, and whatever washed ashore. He integrated these materials into the walls and spaces, creating complex and colorful mosaics from them, natural material alongside discarded objects or items swept up on the beach. Everything found a place in the creation. What appeared to others as useless material became part of his home in Kahlon's hands. Perhaps this is also one of the things that made the Shell House such an intriguing place. This is not a creation made in a single day. It is always in motion, and there is no date on which one can say it was completed. Every period in Kahlon's life left another layer on it, and whoever enters the structure enters perhaps the layers of his life story as well.
Life at the site was extraordinary not only architecturally. Over the years, Kahlon tried to create an independent living environment for himself. There were periods when he raised chickens on the grounds, cultivated a vegetable garden, and even operated a café, which was closed after a short time by order of the authorities. Thus, the site gradually transformed from a private home into a more public space that outsiders began to recognize. For some visitors, the cave was an attraction, while for others, it was a work of art. For architects and artists, it was an extraordinary experiment in what happens when a person is given natural material, time, and imagination, and decides to create with almost no limitations. For Nissim, it was first and foremost his home, and for anyone looking up from the shoreline, it was the wondrous house on the cliff.
Nissim's full-time caregiver, a nice guy named Ori, guided us through the carved caves. Many of them are embedded with countless details that add color, and it is an extraordinary artistic wonder. Combined with the smell of the sea, the sound of the waves, and the gusts of wind, it is an experience for all the senses. The spaces connect via internal paths, sometimes requiring one to duck down, eventually reaching a six-meter-deep freshwater well from which water can be drawn with a bucket and drunk. Everything was sculpted by Kahlon's large hands. It is the intricate work of an artist, whose mind and body - tired from the work - are the only ones that truly know what went into it.
Between law and art
It is important to state: Laws exist in the State of Israel, and rightfully so, and it is likely Kahlon violated them when he squatted and built his home on the cliff nearly 50 years ago. Over the years, the authorities claimed that the carving and structure harm the coastal environment and that the complex cannot continue to be maintained as it is. According to them, the structure was erected without the required permits on public land, and there is a real danger of collapse. The courts also ruled against Kahlon.
Even so, destroying or sealing such a place is a real failure, the destruction of a unique, living work of art. Kahlon is elderly and in poor health. It would be better to let him live out the rest of his life at the site and recognize him now as a unique and distinct artist. It is even possible to help him turn the site into a respectable tourist site, honor him, and in the future convert the place into a real museum in memory of a different, perhaps somewhat eccentric man who did an extraordinary thing. I am certain that thousands of visitors would be happy to come, and that an arrangement can be found within the web of laws that would satisfy everyone, now and in the future.
In short: Do not destroy the Shell Cave. There are places that cannot be measured solely by law, permits, or orders. This place holds within it creation, memory, and a life story, as well as the memory of a young child who once stood on Sidna Ali Beach and looked at the wonder built inside the cliff. Turn it into a museum - everyone stands to benefit.
Where does the legal case of the 'Shell Cave' stand?
As previously reported, the Environmental Protection Ministry issued a demolition order for the illegal structure built by Kahlon due to harm to the coastal environment. The court ruled that Kahlon must vacate the premises. It further determined that the Law for the Protection of the Coastal Environment is intended to guarantee the public's right of passage and prevent takeover of beaches, and that Kahlon's actions constitute the appropriation of public land for private use.
Herzliya Mayor Yariv Fisher supported the proposal to convert the cave into a public art museum, but the court rejected the proposal for several reasons, including environmental and engineering difficulties.
As of now, the eviction is scheduled for after the holiday, but understandings may yet be reached that would allow Kahlon to remain at the site for an additional period.
Anyone wishing to visit the Shell Cave before then can join organized tours through the website.