Tel Aviv, Israel 06/30/06

Tel Aviv, Israel lies on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with a population of 375,000. It was founded in 1909 at first as a new neighborhood as an answer to the poor living conditions of Yafo. Tel Aviv means Hill of Spring. The official name is Tel Aviv-Yafo. Yafo in the Bible is Joppa, where Peter had a vision before talking to the gentiles. Tel Aviv-Yafo is part of the larger metropolitan area which comprises a number of separate municipalities with around 2.5 million Jews. There are three big universities, a large number of high-tech companies, several art museums, exhibition halls and performance centers, as well as beautiful beaches. It temporarily served as the capital of Israel. When Jerusalem was proclaimed the capital, the embassies stayed in the Tel Aviv. This was their political way for countries to remain neutral on the Arab-Israeli conflict in their claim for Jerusalem.

When I lived in Israel, I hardly went to Tel Aviv. The few times we were there was to go to the embassies and to run some other errands. We did go to the Tel Aviv beach once, but the Herzlia beaches were our preference. I stayed in a small hotel called Gordon Inn. I have had the opportunity to drive and walk around these beautiful streets during the day and night. Dizengoff street is one of the more popular streets. I enjoyed the beach, regardless of my incident with the jellyfish. The jellyfish are here for the first two weeks of July. Tel Aviv is not a very religious city. Although there is a difference in Shabbat, many minor businesses remain open.