A great musical moment in Tel Aviv: Some 30 singers from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, mingling with the crowd in the Friday morning Food Market at Dizengoff Centre, all at once started singing The Anvil Chorus  from Verdi’s Il Travatore.

Revisit some highlights of the celebration of Tel Aviv’s 100th anniversary 1909-2009.  This video shows the many and varied images of the wonderful city of Tel Aviv.

The Namal - the old port of Tel Aviv - has undergone a makeover in the last years, which makes it a great place to be.  On the waters edge promenade, you can attend Ella Yoga with instructors of the high calibre of Orian Hillel,  who recently returned to Israel after several years teaching in Sydney. 

After yoga, choose from the variety of cafes, each with a great view of the Mediterranean.  Attracted by the association with the Nimrod Fortress in the Golan,  the Nimrod cafe beckoned to us.  The food was excellent as was the Limonana (lemon and mint drink). 

The poignancy of the restaurant’s name is illustrated in the menu booklet, which contains a dedication to Nimrod Segev who was killed in action on the Second Lebanon War.  In a letter written by the late Nimrod to his wife on the day that he was called to reserve duties, Nimrod tells her how strange he felt taking the kids to the kindergarten in the morning, and warring on the evening of the very same day…. Nimrod stated that “I am a high-tech engineer from Ramat Gan that took his children to the kindergarten in the morning and combats the enemy in the evening of the same day, but, nevertheless, I do it willingly in order to maintain my peace of mind”.

After Nimrod was tragically killed, his wife Iris and brother Ehud established the Cafe Nimrod named in his memory.  To illustrate the  extent of the loss of someone like Nimrod, his brother Ehud is a multitalented person with a strong link to his brother.   Ehud is both a singer and a mentalist with flair.

Mazaltov to Aviva, her State Zionist Council team and the many others who helped put on a great celebration for Israel’s 61st anniversary at Randwick Racecourse.

The theme was Tel Aviv’s 100th year and the place was jumping. Although this year’s event was held on a weeknight compared to last years Sunday, it was still a bumper crowd in the thousands with plenty of Ruach.

Everything I saw was great, but here is a personal run through of a few favourites

Mama Mae’ah - by “Sons of Doctors” Bjorn and Benny were there in spirit to celebrate Mae-ah (100) years of Tel Aviv; Temple Emmanuel Senior Klezmer Band - great Klezmer riffs; Alevai - Moriah singers - top quality, professional; Erev Shel Shoshanim - the didgeridoo fitted in well - can’t remember which school - they were great; “Bo-Regas” - a combined Melbourne-Sydney allstar Habonim band - Yesh Li and YoYa are always crowd pleasers, plus a good medley of Israeli tunes; the Israeli dancers - did they take a break in 3 hours?; the photography exhibition - “playing chess in the Dead Sea”; all the community organisations and stands - the greeting cards from Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation, included tragic and inspiring individual stories of the artists; the white fairy floss - some ended on Herzl’s beard; and the Chicken Burger from Passion8.

Please feel free to write in with any of your favourites or comments on the night!

Meanwhile, here is the 100th anniversary sign from Rabin Square from earlier this month …

and a dawn video recording at Massada from a while ago.. David Broza and friends (including Shawn Colvin and Jackson Browne) singing Yihyeh Tov - “It will be good” .

One hundred years after Jewish families met to establish the new city of Tel Aviv, descendants of those 66 families paid homage to their forebears in a  ceremony honoring the centennial of the city’s birth.

As reported in Haaretz, the Tel Aviv municipality invited the 3,300 descendants and their loved ones to the old Jaffa train station to recreate the memorable photograph that has become part of Zionist lore.

The event featured a short play, a speech by Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, and a panoramic photograph taken by renowned photojournalist Ziv Koren intended to recreate the original portrait of a century ago. 

The complete Haaretz article is shown here.

The Tel Aviv centennial is the theme of this years Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations.

Tel Aviv, whose 100th anniversary serves as the principal theme for Israel’s 61st Independence Day celebrations, including in Sydney, is a unique, dynamic city. 

Eating out is one of the pleasures with a wide variety of restaurants.  Daniel Rogov takes us on a wide-ranging tour of food and wine in Israel, including choice recipes and anecdotes (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar, the vegetarian fan of berries; Mark Twain eating in the Holy Land).  He adds a possible recipe for Manna - timely although of uncertain historical accuracy, since the recipe on the  link uses Matza.  This website from Daniel Rogov, the renowned Israeli food and wine critic, is well worth a lookaround.

Pictured is Dr Shakshuka, located next to one of the Flea Market alleys. They mostly serve Shakshuka, which is a casserole of tomatoes, peppers and eggs, served with white bread.  The Tel Aviv food experience is included in this review by Michael Z. Wise.

As he notes“It’s in the back of your mind that you live in a war zone,” Uchovsky tells me as we settle in on the terrace of Cantina, an Italian restaurant on vibrant Rothschild Boulevard. “But look around. Many people want to live apolitically and have a modern, Western life, as if this is London or Paris”.

A popular restaurant next to the Tel Aviv beach is the Herbert Samuel, presumably not named because of its herbs, but its link to the first British High Commissioner of Palestine , whose appointment made him the first Jew to govern in the Land of Israel in 2,000 years.  The restaurant is headed by Yonatan Roshfeld “prince of the Israeli haute-cuisine”.

Children are also well catered for in Tel Aviv, which thrives on outdoor activities and parks.

There are said to be 2 origins for the word Tel Aviv - a city whose 100th anniversary is the theme for this years Yom Haatzmaut.

Firstly, in Ezekiel 3:15, it is said “Then I came to them of the captivity, at Tel Aviv, that dwelt by the river Chebar” as written here and in Hebrew.

Secondly, Nahum Sokolow, who translated Herzl’s “Altneuland” (Old new land) into Hebrew, made the title of the Hebrew translation of the book Tel Aviv - with the word “Tel” symbolising old and ancient; and “Aviv” the season of spring, symbolising newness. In Altneuland (1902), Herzl pictured the future Jewish state as a socialist utopia, envisaging a new society that in a cooperative manner utilized science and technology to develop the land. He included detailed ideas about how he saw the future state’s political structure, immigration, diplomatic relations, social laws and relations between religion and the state. In Altneuland, Herzl foresaw the Jewish state as a pluralist, advanced society, a “light unto the nations”. The book had a great impact on the Jews at the time and became a symbol of the Zionist vision in the Land of Israel. It concludes with the famous words “If you will it, it is no dream” (legend or fairytale).

“Altneuland” is included in a fascinating article on Hebrew science fiction and fantasy from the Bible to the 90s and a follow-up article of Hebrew science fiction for the 21st century. Not surprisingly, Israel has a resonance for futuristic books.

The architecture of Tel Aviv, the White City, is renowned with its own museum and discussed in this expansive site.

The White City refers to a collection of 4,000 Bauhaus style buildings built in Tel Aviv from the 1930s by German Jewish architects. Tel Aviv has the largest number of buildings in this style of any city in the world. UNESCO proclaimed Tel Aviv’s White City a World Cultural Heritage site, as “an outstanding example of new town planning and architecture in the early 20th century.” The citation recognized the unique adaptation of modern international architectural trends to the cultural, climatic, and local traditions of the city.

British urban planner Patrick Geddes, who had previously worked on town-planning in New Delhi, was commissioned by Tel Aviv’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, to draw up a master plan for the new city. Geddes worked from 1925 to 1927 on the plan, which was accepted in full by the council. Patrick Geddes laid out the streets and decided on block size and utilisation. But he did not prescribe an architectural style for the buildings in the new city. But by 1933, many Jewish architects of the Bauhaus school in Germany, like Arieh Sharon, which was closed down on the orders of the Nazis, fled to the British Mandate of Palestine. The residential and public buildings were designed by these Bauhaus-trained architects, who took advantage of the absence of established architectural conventions to put the Bauhaus principles into practice. The Bauhaus style, with its emphasis on functionality and inexpensive building materials, was perceived as ideal in Tel Aviv. (from Wickipedia)

There are so many fascinating places in Tel Aviv, and we each have our favourites, often from our most recent visit. Two that come to mind are Ben Gurion’s House, and the Hagana Museum on Sderot Rothschild. Here you can go on a Virtual tour of Tel Aviv, and link more specifically to some of the museums through here.

As Israel approaches its 61st Yom Haatzmaut, a year that celebrates the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv, it is an eye opener to see the remarkable range of programs, innovations and discoveries happening in Israel, and also Israeli collaborations throughout the world.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website is well worth a look through, including the segment on beyond politics (which has a highlight on Tel Aviv) and a focus on international cooperation and development through Mashav

Speaking of 61 brings to mind the classic Bob Dylan album Highway 61 revisited .  Bob Dylan had many and varied connections with Israel and Judaism, or as one put it, Tangled up in Jews This site includes the well known photo of Dylan with Teffilin at the Western Wall.

Bob Dylan’s and other top concerts that happened in Israel over the years are included on this site.  The site also refers to a great performance by Dire Straits at the Sultan’s Pool in Jerusalem in April 1985.  For those (of us) who were there, it was a magical night that appropriately included “Twisting by the Pool”.

Here is a brief film clip from the Jerusalem concert with the song Ride across the river, preceded by an interview with Mark Knopfler…

… and then conclude with Walk of Life for Israel at 61.

In the next few weeks, we hope to highlight different aspects of Tel Aviv - starting with the unofficial religion - Football. The world game figures prominently in Tel Aviv’s history and culture, with a scene below from a recent Maccabi Tel Aviv - Hapoel Tel Aviv derby. More action can be found on the websites of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv

Over the years, Australian Maccabiah representatives have also had the pleasure of competing at Tel Aviv’s Bloomfield stadium.

The origins of football in Tel Aviv are interesting: in 1906 a group of boys between the age 14-16 were called to the Meir Dizengoff house, where they founded the first Israeli football team. They were called, “Maccabi Harishon LeZion”. Their first match ended with a victory against a ship of French sailors 3:0. After the city of Tel-Aviv founded in 1909, the club changed its name to “Maccabi Tel-Aviv.”

In 1928 the Palestine Football Association was founded after Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Hapoel Tel Aviv, and several British teams, representatives of the British Mandate, decided to create the first league. That same year, the first Derby of Tel-Aviv was played and Maccabi won 3:0. Maccabi Tel Aviv won their first State Cup in 1929 after beating a club called Maccabi Hashmonay. Maccabi added a second State Cup after beating the 48th Platoon of the British Army, 2:1. The third State Cup came in 1933 after Maccabi beat Hapoel Tel-Aviv in the final 1:0.

Irrespective of whether a Tel Aviv team or the national team is playing, football is big in Tel Aviv. For the World Cup, cafes are packed and games are screened on the Tel Aviv beach on giant screens.

The Israeli national team has just missed out on qualifying on several occasions.. and has had memorable tussles with Australia in the past. The high point for Israel thus far been its 1970 World Cup appearance in Mexico. Although Israel didn’t progress to the next round, the team did well, drawing twice (Sweden and Italy) and had a narrow loss to Uruguay. A Mexican friend of mine recalled the excitement when the national team appeared at a local Jewish school in Mexico City.

Among the highlights of the cup - including the Brazilian magic - was the powerful goal from outside the box by Mordechai Shpigler. It is shown here.   The Israel national football team has participated in three different groupings: Asia, Oceania, before finally settling for Europe as a full member of UEFA. The changing FIFA groupings by Israel were understood to have helped Australia makes its successful case to move from Oceania to the Asian grouping.

Some world cup history. In 1928, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) was founded during the British mandate period. The original committee of 15 were predominantly Jewish Maccabi representatives, with one Arab member. The PFA was accepted as a full member to FIFA one year later in 1929, and a national team was created which participated in the World Cup qualifications (participated in 1934, 1938). The pre-game anthems were Hatikvah and God Save the Queen.

The first world cup qualifier was in Cairo in 1934 with a 1-7 loss to Egypt. The team’s first goal ever was scored by Avraham Nudelmann. Their coach was Shimon Ratner, who had immigrated to Palestine after a playing career in Austria with Hakoah Wien. Upon creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the Israel Football Association (IFA) became the official association of the new state. The Israel national team’s first game as an independent state was on September 26, 1948, against the USA (result: 1-3 in favor of the USA).

In 1998, after Oslo and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) was recognised by FIFA. Both the Israel FA and the present Palestine FA officially recognise the 1934 and 1938 qualifying games as part of their history. Hopefully the world game will promote peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and indeed all its neighbours.

Initial result from 1934

Egypt - Palestine 7-1 World Cup Qualifiers (Sub-Group 5)
(Cairo – British Army Ground - 16.03.1934)

Palestine: Willi Berger; Avraham Reznik (Capt.), Pinhas Fiedler, Zalman Friedmann, Gdalyahu Fuchs, Yohanan Sukenik, Amnon Harlap, Peri Kraus, Paul Kastenbaum, Haim Reich, Avraham Nudelmann. Attendance: 13,000. The return game, also won by Egypt, was played in Jaffa – Tamarim Field.

Back to the present, With several of its national stars playing club competition in England and elsewhere in Europe - including Yossi Benayoun, starring for Liverpool, Israel has its best chance since 1970 to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Key upcoming games are against Greece on March 28 and April 1. See the Israel FA site for more information.

For the details on the initial football history, thanks to Yaniv; also more can be seen here.