Tel Aviv-Yafo Tiyul

Friday, Kitat Maayan went to Tel Aviv-Yafo and learned about the creation of the city and the culture that came with it. 

First, we went to the Tel Aviv port and sat in the sun, while learning about the beginnings of Tel Aviv-Yafo. The city's name literally means "Ancient Spring", which was taken from Herzl's book called "Alt Neu Land" (Old New Land). The Jews who made Aliyah to Jaffa wanted to have a city that mixed the old, such as Hebrew, with the new, such as music and culture. The first people who made Aliyah was a group of only 66 families in 1909 and decided that they wanted to build a Hebrew city that would revolve around the culture and community of the Jews. 

The two men who influenced this new community were Ahad Haam (Asher Ginsberg), and Eliezer ben Yehudah. Eliezer was known as the Father of Modern Day Judaism, and was the man who brought back the Hebrew language by creating one new word at a time by taking stems from old Jewish books, such as the Tanakh and the Talmud. For example, when he came up with the word for ice cream, glidah, he took the stem from the Armaic word for cold. With Ahad Haam he brought back the culture of the Jewish people because they wanted a spiritual and cultural center where the Jewish people would be connected and not in the diaspora anymore. They believed that Jews could be anything, and create a place just for themselves. The people of the first wave of Aliyah lived by the following quote: "Take the land of our fathers and turn it into the land of our children", hence they should bring their land from past to present, and continue on their legacy of Tel Aviv. Ahad Haam was also the person to bring about the idea of National Religion, which was the idea that you can be Jewish without believing in God, however you won't lose your culture because you will always be Jewish. 

After we talked for a little bit about the creation and founders of Tel Aviv-Yafo, we got on the bus and drove to a park/outside gym where we met Evan for a graffiti tour of Florentine, a section of Tel Aviv. Before we started our tour, we threw out ideas of what graffiti actually is, and we said that it is art, or whatever you want it to be, but most importantly, it is a way for people to express themselves. The first piece of graffiti that we saw was just diagonally across from where we were sitting, created by Yonothan Kieslev on a Rosh Hashanah day a few years ago. Evan told us the story about how Kieslev rented a crane in order to put up his piece and was approached by the police, but because it was a holiday, the police were not able to get in touch with the town hall, which Kieslev had apparently gotten "approval" to do his art from. We saw 2 distinguishing pieces by Kieslev, one was a person floating from heart balloons who seemed to be chasing Banksy, a famous graffiti artist from New York. The other one we saw was of the cartoon of "The real Israeli", and a Palestinian refugee, pictured below. This piece really touched me because it shows how people can get over their differences and help those in need when it really matters. 

There were many other pieces of grafitti that we came across, such as pieces by Solomon, Droit (?), and unnamed artists. Solomon is  very famous graffiti artist who paints all over Israel, in the streets of Tel Aviv and even in Jerusalem and the shuk. He tags his paintings with his name and the year he painted it, as well as typically has band aids on his art, which people assume means he is in healing from something major, such as the IDF. Droit is an artist who paints in Braille, and the most popular saying that they paint is "Didn't notice, didn't see" in response to the swatstikas all over Croatia and Europe. Two of my favorite walls of graffiti were most likely created by amateurs, however I really relate to them, and I have inserted them below. The photo with the pieces "The street is your gallery" and the COEXIST image resonate with me because I believe that you should be able to express yourself, no matter who you are. 

After we ended the tour, we did an activity with the Hebrew teachers to talk about the revival of the Hebrew language and how it has to do with our culture and people. My group came up with  "אנחנו עם אחד ועברית היא השפה שלנו"

which translates to "We are one people and Hebrew is our language", which connects back to what we were talking about at the Port and what Eliezer ben Yehudah and Ahad Haam wanted. We also went and got ice cream at "La Mamma del Gelato", which to me is one of the best ice cream places in all of Tel Aviv. 

Later on, we went to the Shalom Tower to see the mosaic created by Nahoom Goutman and to also see the old and new models of Tel Aviv. On the way there, we saw the intersection of Ahad Haam St and Herzl Street, which is insanely ironic, because Ahad disagreed with Herzl's ideology. However, this represents the connect between different kinds of Jew and how everyone had to work together in order to create a new land for the Jewish people. The mosaic by Goutman had 4 different scenes which depicted the creation of Tel Aviv. The first scene displayed the Jaffa ports where the first 66 families met. The second scene showed the people traveling around and building to create the city, as well as Herzl street and the water tower. The background was yellow, which represented hope and the future of the Jewish people. The third scene showed the first street lamp, which represented the enlightenment and also to show the Jewish people new life. The last scene depicted the next generation, as well as the center of learning, and a women with her arms surrounding Tel Aviv. 

To wrap up the day we got to roam Tel Aviv from the Ahad Haam Street until a far part of Herzl street. On this tiyul, we were able to see many different people, as well as old and new parts of Tel Aviv. 

My question for you is: Would you rather live in Tel Aviv as a Jew because of the culture, ideals and art surrounding it? and do you think that the dreams of Eliezer and Haam are now fulfilled? 

P.S. What was your favorite piece of grafitti?

-Beca