Tel Aviv – From Sixty Six Families to the Jewish Metropolitan Mecca it is Today

Unfortunately, my initial experiences in Israel consisted of listening to Christmas songs on the plane (LOT Polish Airline) upon landing and the strong odor of urine at the bathroom at Ben Gurion Airport!  But otherwise, our first day in Tel Aviv was exactly what I expected – big city living amongst a Jewish population.  What I quickly came to lean about Tel Aviv, however, was far from big city life.

On the first day of our group trip, we went to Independence Hall and my education of Israel really began.  Growing up, I really knew nothing about Israel, except that I remember in the 70’s when “no land for peace” was the popular American Jewry thought.  To learn that in 1909, sixty six (66) Jewish families formally established the city of Tel Aviv was astounding to me.  Sixty six families used their resources, skills, determination and vision to form this independent Hebrew city despite all that was against them during that time because they knew it simply must happen.

We participated in a dig at the Beit Guvrin Caves earlier in the day where we witnessed evidence of life as far back as the third century BCE.  We were told that recently a 1700 year old menorah was found in the area and my son even dug up part of an animal jaw with its teeth still intact!  The idea of Jews actively living in the actual land I was on - and digging through - in biblical times brought the study of the Torah close to my heart.  The history I have been learning about from the Torah covered so many generations; but later in the day, at the Independence Hall, I was struck by the contrast of the more “recent” history of the rapid growth of Tel Aviv from 1909 forward.

My grandmother was born in 1907.  That meant that Tel Aviv, Israel’s largest metropolitan area, had gone from non-existence to a small, well thought out village, to the fast paced financial center and young and hip big city mecca that it is today during the life time of one individual.   I know that these past 104 years, just as the previous hundreds and even thousands of years were not without fights and struggles.   I am coming to appreciate how the Jewish people are forever overcoming those challenges because of a strong determination much like that of those initial sixty six families;  and I know in my heart that we will continue to overcome Israel’s current struggles and status challenges because Israel simply must be what it must be.