Cultural Zionsim Tiyul:  Tel Aviv

by Shay Orentlicher,       10th grade,        Indianapolis

Amidst the layers of graffiti on the walls of Tel Aviv, there is a quote repeated in several places that says, “אם אשכחך ירושלים, זה בגלל ת״א.” This translates to “If I forget thee, Oh  Jerusalem, it’s because of you, Tel Aviv". This play on the Biblical verse about remembering Jerusalem is a concise summary of Tel Aviv’s role in Israel: the cultural center has shifted from Jerusalem and its ancient Biblical roots to the magnetic appeal of the modern Tel Aviv. But how did a city founded in the early 20^th century manage to supersede the importance of Jerusalem in the eyes of so many Israelis? The answer to this lies in the reason it was created: cultural Zionism.

"If I Forget Thee Oh Jerusalem, It's Because of you, Tel Aviv"

When we went to Tel Aviv for our tiyul, the city’s energy was all around us. What’s unique about Tel Aviv is that it is an undeniably Jewish city. There’s Hebrew everywhere, and the cultural references are often Biblical in nature. As it turns out, this was the goal of the founders. Tel Aviv is the product of cultural Zionism, which wanted to tackle the problem of assimilation by creating a center of Jewish culture in the land of Israel. Led by people like Ahad Ha’Am (Asher Ginsberg) and Hebrew language pioneer Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the cultural Zionist movement placed a heavy focus on the revival of the Hebrew language. In Tel Aviv, they wanted to create a modern Hebrew-speaking Jewish city. People caught speaking Yiddish, Ladino, or other languages by the “Hebrew police” were given cards that said “עברי דבר עברית,” or “Jews speak Hebrew.” The Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, the country’s first Hebrew high school, was established in Tel Aviv. Through creating a city where Hebrew was the spoken language, the founders of Tel Aviv succeeded in creating a city with a distinct Jewish culture.

street art in south Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood

As someone who visited Tel Aviv decades after its creation, it’s difficult for me to look at the Hebrew road signs and hear the people around me speaking in Hebrew to grasp how truly impressive the act of reviving the Hebrew language was. For 2000 years, Hebrew was a language used solely for prayer and Torah study. Through the determination of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and the creation of institutions like the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, the language was revived. It took so much work, and it paid off. When I walked around Tel Aviv, the language I heard was Hebrew. The music people played was sung in Hebrew, the graffiti was written in Hebrew, and the restaurant menus were in Hebrew. Going to Tel Aviv is the easiest way to see the success of cultural Zionism: all around us was evidence that a Jewish culture had emerged. It was the perfect amalgamation of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Mizrachi, and uniquely Israeli aspects of culture blending together to make a Jewish city.

street art on a school in sotu Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv is one of my favorite places in the world and learning about how it became the cultural center of Israel on our tiyul deepened my appreciation of it and helped me understand part of the reason why I love it so much. I love being in a place where the tiniest aspect of its culture is undeniably Jewish. Tel Aviv now is very different from the city with the Hebrew police that it once was inthe 1920s, but that just shows how successful the founders were. The culture has evolved with the times and remained exceptionally Jewish. It’s a beautiful experience to see the fruits of the labor of the cultural Zionists while having a nice day in the city.