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Published: August 21st 2006
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apartment building
my friend's apartment building in Ramat Gan, 6th floor balcony! Well, I have moved out of my friend's apartment, and back to my cousins house for the next 2 weeks. Its nice to be back at my cousins, but honestly, I do miss the independence of being in the apartment, and the apartment itself. Escpecially the balcony! sitting out on the 6th floor balcony every night with a beautiful view of the city doesn't compare to sitting in the computer room in my cousins basement (which happens to be the bomb shelter). Oh well, from one place to another, as I am a traveling vagabond, haha. kinda.
So, the last few days at the apartment, I did some more toring of the city. I went to 2 great old neighborhoods, Jaffa, and Neve Tzedek. First, a little historical background on them, to expain the rest of the story. The city now known as Tel Aviv has only existed since the late 1800s. Unlike many of the cities and towns in Israel that were once ancient Israelite villages or Roman towns, or whatever, Tel Aviv is a completely new city. So before Tel Aviv, the jews who lived in this area lived in Jaffa. Jaffa is just a bit south down
mosque and sea
mosque tower (not sure what its called) overlooking the sea from jaffa the beach. Today Jaffa and Tel Aviv are kidna considered part of the same city, but Tel Aviv actually grew out of Jaffa, or rather away from it. Basically, Jaffa was mostly inhabited by the local or occupying arabs or other middle eastern empire. It is about 3500 years old, not as old as Jerusalem, but really we can't all be perfect, right? haha. ok israel joke. anyway. So Jaffa was originally part of the egyptian empire, and since then came under many different rules, as this land has done so many times. So in the 1800s, as I said, the Jews who lived in this area of the country, lived in Jaffa. They had trouble finding places to live, as their arab neighbors didn't want them to live in Jaffa, so they eventually decided to try living outside the city, building a new neighborhood that was called Neve Tzedek. This was the first Jewish part of the city, on the outskirts just north of the port. (Jaffa is a port city, and Israel's main port).
The neighborhood Neve Tzedek, as built, as I said in the late 1800s as a jewish neighborhood. They built Jewish schools to learn
the new spoken language of modern hebrew, and other thigns that a city needs. (By the way, Hebrew was never a spoken language until the last 150 years or so, it was always a biblical language of writing and study). As the neighborhood began to grow, new immigrants began to settle there, and as Tel Aviv later began to develop, Neve Tzedek became a poor, crowded neighborhood nobody wanted to go to. Eventually, some artists got the idea to revive the neighborhood and have it become a little art colony neighborhood, and today is it one of the most expensive areas to live in, where many artists of all types live and work.
So, I went to Neve Tzedek. As this is now an artist neighborhood, there were lots of little galleries on the main street. The streets are very narrow, and the houses are old but painted pretty colors. There are wonderful, expensive cafes as well. The galleries had some great, unique artwork, and some beautiful jewelry, which again I wish I had money so I could buy. The neighborhood just has a great ambiance. There is also a famous dance center there that I hope to go
to another time to see some performances, and maybe even take some classes.
The next day, I went to Jaffa. The way the city is built is very reminiscent of Jerusalem. (it was probably copied in style from Jerusalem). It is even complete with Jerusalem stone to build the houses, alleys, streets and sidewalks. I forget if I mentioned, but today Jaffa is considered the Arab part of the city. The old part of the city is built right on this big hill/cliff overlooking the mediterranean sea and all of Tel Aviv, and the port. Today, most of this area is now museums, art galleries and artists homes, and restaurants. There are some ruins of an old city wall and more that was built during the Egyptian reign of the city. There is also a park in the middle of this area which has a beautiful view, and a "Wishing Bridge" which has the zodiac signs on it, and legend says that if you stand on the bridge, while looking at your zodiac sign, and the sea, your wish will come true. So I'll let you know if it actually works😉
Also in Jaffa, when you walk out
streets of old Jaffa
street/alley of old Jaffa, Israeli Flag, and art on the walls of the old city, there are several mosques, and the famous clocktower (sorry I forget the story on this). There are tons of little cheap shops of clothes and souveniers, etc, and on fridays there is a huge flea market on one of the main streets, selling pretty much anything you can imagine. It was a lot of fun.
I got back to my cousins house friday night for Shabbat. On Saturday, we had lunch at my other cousins house. On sunday, me and my cousin drove to Jerusalem for the evening, as one of her cousins on the other side of her family just had a baby. It was a nice visit, and reminded me just how beautiful Jerusalem is, and the different feeling you get compared to Tel Aviv, even if I was only there for a few hours. I"ll be returning to Jerusalem in 2 weeks for the beginning of my program, so I'm looking forward to that. (Its only an hour drive from Tel Aviv, which is nothing compared to the driving we all do in the US).
Just a bit about the Israel/Lebanon situation. While the ceasfire is still in effect, and thigns have been returning to normal here, the ceasefire is very fragile for many reasons on all sides. The inability to build a strong international force to deploy in Lebanon is a huge problem, and one that must be dealt with quickly if this ceasefire is to remain in tact. Most Israelis believe that the next war will happen very quickly, very soon. How soon I really don't know, but it doesn't seem like this is the end to the situation that has been brewing. Internally, a lot of Israelis are not happy with the way the government handled the war, and many are calling for the Prime Minister's resignation, and others. The military is getting its ass in gear, getting all the supplies it was severly lacking during this war, so that it will be prepared for the next. The problem is that if the PM were to be kicked out of office, I don't know who would replace him, and it doesn't seem like the Israeli public really has someone picked out that they trust for the job either. The other former candidates/PMs have not succeeded any more than this current government, so it is a real problem. On the plus side, a lot of people have been going back to the North for vacations, giving the economy in the North a much needed boost.
Well, I think thats certainly enough for one entry... enjoy the pictures.
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N-Dogg
non-member comment
pics
So wow, I never realized how beautiful Israel was until seeing all of the pictures you have been posting. I guess teh world is a beautiful place in general, you just have to know where to go, but Israel, or at least the places you seem to be visiting, seems to be particularly rich in this sense. Best of luck in your travels, and remember, stay safe. Famous last words: "don't worry, no bombs have been dropped here, it's safe." Tell that to people in the North and south World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon, the ultimiate safety zone.