Tel Aviv

We picked up a rental car yesterday and drove from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv.  As we left Jerusalem, we stopped at the Haddassah Medical Center in Ein Kerem to view the Chagall stained glass windows in the chapel.  We had an interesting tour of these fantastic windows, then went back to the parking lot only to discover that I'd evidently left the lights on and the battery was dead.  Two hours later the Avis guy appeared to jump start us.  Fortunately a woman with fluent English, a social worker at the hospital, took us in hand, made us comfortable while we waited, and made numerous calls to Avis (in Hebrew) on our behalf.  We eventually arrived in Tel Aviv and located our hotel and checked in.

If Jerusalem is the spiritual center of Israel, Tel Aviv seems to be the secular center. While Jerusalem has sites dating back thousands of years, Tel Aviv was only established 105 years ago.  While observant Jews and Muslims are very evident in Jerusalem, based on their attire, we saw almost no outward evidence of religious belief in Tel Aviv.  The contrast between the covered hair and bodies of so many women in Jerusalem and the many rather scantily clad women in Tel Aviv was particularly striking. (Maybe all of the beaches along the Mediterranean have something to do with this?) Tel Aviv also seems to be a very late-night city.  We had a late dinner last night, and walking back to the hotel about 10:30 noticed the sidewalk tables of the many restaurants, coffee houses and bars were full and really buzzing.

 Tel Aviv is known for the number of its Bauhaus-inspired buildings.  During the 1930's. the city was growing rapidly.  At the same time, young Jewish architects who had studied with Gropius were being forced out of Germany.  Many wound up in Tel Aviv and left a legacy of their designs.  We did a short walking tour to view some of the buildings but were suprised by the disrepair of several of them.

 Ongoing violence is continuing in several parts of Israel.  Arab communities in the North declared a 24 hour general strike after police shot and killed a young demonstrator.  He was possibly shot in the back.  There is an official investigation.  On Monday two Jewish citizens were stabbed to death in what Palestinian social media is calling the "knife intifada". One victim was a woman in a West Bank community.  The other was a soldier attacked in  a railway station  in Tel Aviv.  The attacker was evidently trying to take the gun of the victim.  He escaped but was found and arrested.  Things are calm if not particularly quiet in the area where we're staying.

We're getting MSNBC on the TV here.  Only Fox channels available at our hotel in Jerusalem.  Been seeing coverage of the snow and cold weather at home.  Only 65 degees here this morning but should climb up to the high 70's.

Five of the Twelve Chagall Windows

Mosque in Old Jaffa

Ottoman-Era Cannon

Tel Aviv from Old Jaffa

Bauhaus-Inspired Building

We also spent some time in Old Jaffa.  In contrast to its much younger neighbor to the north, Tel Aviv, the old Jaffa city and port has a history dating back thousands of years.  It was a major port for the Greeks and Phoenicians, the port of arrival for the cedar wood for Solomon's temple, the place from where Jonah set out before meeting the whale, and was visited by Saints Peter and Paul and Napolean among others.