Only In Tel Aviv

Shalom from the land of milk and honey. I arrived in Tel Aviv just 3 weeks ago and already I feel at home. While I have been in Israel so many times before, it always shocks me that such a tiny country holds such an amazing diversity in culture. The country blends Zionists, ultra-orthodox black hatters, secular Israeli Jews, modern orthodox Jews, Ethiopians, Russians, Moroccans, and the list goes on. Tel Aviv is such a modern and high-tech city in a lot of ways, unique in form and culture; there is a lot more to this place than Judaism and religion. Only in Tel Aviv do days turn into nights, and nights into days. Only in Tel Aviv did my evening start with watching Ultra Orthodox, Hassidic Jews dancing the night away on the boardwalk in front of the beach, wearing the religious garments like Tzitzit and the whole nine yards, all within a 5-minute walk from countless clubs that stay open ‘til the wee hours of the morning. Only in Tel Aviv would I befriend a soldier, and share a cab with him on Sunday on his way to the train station to get back to his base in Haifa…in full uniform, holding a massive gun, in other words, the ultimate escort. It always bewilders me that every average Joe that I meet here is either in the army, will join the army, or has already finished service.

There is nothing like Tel Aviv in the summer: going out every night, meeting Jews from all over the world from different backgrounds and upbringings, going to Ulpan (my intensive 5-hour Hebrew class) every morning, going to the beach every afternoon; I am truly living the dream. I am so lucky to be having this wonderful experience, having already made friends that I can imagine will last a lifetime. And with all the hussle and bussle that comes with the excitement and non-stop buzz of city life, Friday night arrives, and everything (besides the few clubs and select restaurants in the center of the city, of course) completely shuts down. Supermarkets, buses, the Shuk, shops, malls, and restaurants all close for 24 hours to observe Shabbat. The beauty that lies in the silence and calm of Ramat Aviv (10 minutes outside the city where I am living for the semester) on a Saturday morning could make any American, especially this one, question the crazy pace of US culture.