The next two days in Tel Aviv we walked and took the bus everywhere. We crisscrossed the city several times. Besides the city bus, there is also the Sherut. This is a van that only stops when it has to pick a person up or drop them off – rather than at every bus stop along a route. Very comfortable, very fun and very affordable ($1.20). Even the bus is only a few dollars, which saved us from $10-$15 taxi rides across town. (FYI – one taxi driver quoted us $70 to go one-way to Jerusalem!)
The Diaspora Museum is most interesting telling the 2,500 year story of the dispersal of the Jews outside the land of Israel, beginning with the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem to events including the exile to Babylon and the expulsion from Spain in 1492. From 135 onward, for almost 2000 years, the Jews have lived as a distinctive minority among other nations. In different times and places there have been periods of persecution, but they also highlighted the times of peace, prosperity and cultural achievement. One of our favorite rooms was a replica collection of synagogues throughout the world, both those destroyed and those still functioning.
Nearby, the Eretz Israel Museum, resembling a park, is a dozen pavilions, each a museum dealing with a different aspect of Israeli archeology and culture: archeology, folklore, traditional crafts, decorative arts, cultural history and more. There was a postal history museum with stamps (we walked through quickly), a ceramics museum, a glass pavilion (including beautiful modern installations) and an excavation site. Mike loved the antique fire truck housed in its own glass pavilion.
We visited the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Opera House. We took photos of the Azreli Towers, an office complex and mall consisting of three buildings: one triangular, one circular and one square. We also walked around the Yitzhak Rabin memorial.
We ended our Tel Aviv trip with another in the evening visit to the Clock Tower Square in Jaffa with Old Jaffa on one side and the Jaffa flea market on the other. The old buildings have been renovated keeping their ornate facades. The stained glass windows in the old tower depict events in Jaffa’s history. Jaffa is one of the oldest ports in the world. The Bible says the cedars used in the construction of the Temple passed through Jaffa on their way to Jerusalem; the prophet Jonah set off from Jaffa before being swallowed by the whale; and St. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead here. The walls have been torn down by many including Napoleon. Today, Jaffa is a mosaic of Jews, Christians and Muslims.
Now for a section for Justin – the revival of Hebrew. For the last couple of thousand years, Hebrew was only used in the Bible, holy texts and in synagogues – not in conversation. (Similar to speaking Latin in Rome, today.) In the 19th century, when Jewish people began to return to Israel, they spoke different languages or dialects. Eliezer Ben Yehuda, a Lithuanian Jew born in 1858, took on the task of making this biblical language a tool that would enable all the Jewish people to communicate with each other. He updated the language while simultaneously spreading it among his peers. Today, there are approximately seven million Hebrew speakers worldwide.
Tomorrow we leave for a week in the north. Shalom.
