Tel Aviv Siyur

A tour around a city that I have spent a lot of time in, but never got an educational guide.

We started the siyur in the neighborhood the Tel Aviv started in: Nevet Tzedek.
Nevet Tzedek was the first neighborhood in Tel Aviv. I had not realized it until I got there, but I had been there with my cousins over Rosh Hashana. The siyur was very interesting. There is so much history in such a small area. Most of the streets in that neighborhood are named after influential people who started the city of Tel Aviv. People like Aharon Shulsh. The funnest part was the guides were running around dressed up and acting as if they were those famous people. It was a way of educating similar to the wax museum peulot of YJ, but much much funnier.


The neighborhood is still occupied. Matter of fact, its one of the most favorable places to live in Tel Aviv. This area of the city is very artsy, relaxed, and beautiful. It is also the cultural center of Tel Aviv with many art galleries, book stores, museums, and the Israeli Dance Center. A small house in Nevet Tsedek cost at least a million dollars, not shekel.

From the old neighborhood we walked up to Herzl street. To get there we walked on bridge that passes over what used to be the only rail line from Yafo(the main port at the time) to Jerusalem. Once at the beginning of Herzl we stopped inside of the large building called the Shalom Tower. Inside, the whole ground floor has walls cover in mosaic. The mosaic was made by Nahum Gutman. The mosaic visually describes the founding and development of Tel Aviv. Grandpa, you would be in heaven if you saw this.

From the Shalom town we took a good 20-30 minute walk to Rabin Square. We talked a brief bit about who he was and why the location was so important, but that is for the next post. This day was actually the anniversary of Rabin's murder. To see how Israelis think about it, we were given a few questions to go ask people we saw walking on the street. Questions like "Where were you when it happened?" and "Did you agree with his actions?". It was really interesting to talk to people. A few people we talked to were actually right there when the assassination took place. This Saturday is the national memorial service, I plan on attending.