by David Jonas Bardin
Tel Aviv is a Mediterranean city which my wife Livia and I rarely visited when we lived in Jerusalem 40 years ago, and only briefly since then, in the course of multi-venue tours. We remedied that in August, when we spent a week’s vacation there, staying a block away from Tel Aviv’s sea-front promenade – the Tayelet – at a modern, family-style hotel with a balcony view of the sea.
We watched the sun set from the Tayelet or adjacent restaurants where we dined – usually outdoors in a sea breeze once the blazing sun sank low.
Livia, who grew up in San Francisco, can’t get enough of the sea. We strolled south and north on the Tayelet, sharing broad, patterned paving with bikers, joggers, and walkers of diverse age, physical condition, size, shape, speech, ethnicity, and dress (for land, sand, or sea). We saw parents and children, other groups, individuals. Most were secular, some religious. They were talking, playing, singing and dancing. Tel Aviv’s Tayelet promenade is not to be missed.
My brother Hillel Bardin and his wife Anita, who live in Jerusalem, introduced us to the redeveloped Namal Tel Aviv (“Port of Tel Aviv”) farther north. There, the promenade turns into a boardwalk of curving planks – imitating sand dunes on which Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 as a northern suburb of Jaffa. Here we dined where the promenade narrowed and the beach gave way to boulders pounded by surf.
We so liked the Namal that we returned early next morning, before the crowds, enjoying sunlit surf and the carousel.
It reminded me of family connections to Palestine seafaring. My father, Shlomo Bardin, founded the Haifa Nautical School (which became Israel’s Merchant Marine Academy) in 1938. My mother, Ruth Jonas Bardin, designed the Palestine Maritime League’s logo – shaping its 3-letter acronym in Hebrew (ח-י-ל) to resemble an ancient ship – in 1937.
Tel Aviv’s port – the Namal – was built in the 1930s after a Palestinian Arab uprising and general strike demanding an end to immigration of Jewish refugees from Europe closed the Port of Jaffa. It operated commercially until the 1960s and was recently developed as a recreation, shopping, nightlife venue.
As a boy in the 1940s, I had heard about the building of that port, but had not seen it. Seeing its revival with my brother was a high point of our trip.
We also enjoyed serene islands in the midst of Tel Aviv’s bustling commercial, cultural, financial, governmental, recreational and tourism areas. I especially liked (and photographed) Bialik Street and nearby Meir Park.
Bialik House exterior (center, with palm trees in front). In the background is TA City Museum on Kikar Bialik (Bialik Square).
The author takes a vacation selfie inside Bialik House, home of Palestinian Jewish National Poet Chaim Nachman Bialik, built 1925.
Bialik Café (corner Bialik and Allenby Streets).
Avenue of trees at Gan Meir, a park named after Tel Aviv’s first mayor, Meir Dizengoff.
Well inland, we visited restored Sarona, originally a western suburb of Jaffa established by German Knights Templars in 1870s.
Tel Avivians proved helpful and friendly – not just hospitality professionals but also strangers, like a lady at an ATM outside a bank closed for the day and a man using a laundromat.
Four times during our Tel Aviv stay we heard “Code Red” sirens (which sounded like WWII sirens of my boyhood). We joined others in shelters. “Iron Dome” is an amazing military interception technology designed to protect Israel from most rocket attacks intended to kill people and destroy structures. Its success allowed us to enjoy our vacation despite attempts by Hamas to disrupt it. Communities to the south, nearer Gaza, were attacked many times more often and sustained some hits. We felt safe in Tel Aviv.
David Diskin says
Really liked your post. Thanks for sharing your story.
Jerome Chapman says
A beautiful write-up, with beautiful photos, of a beautiful city. One amazing thing about Tel Aviv and Israel, in general, is that it has so much to offer on multiple levels. David has captured this sense well in his photo essay. Thanks, David. You makie us want to pack our bags and go to Israel again for another delightful and enriching experience.
janet waxman says
What a treat! I enjoyed your commentary and pics through and through. I’ll pass it on.
Good Shabbos,
Janet
Barbara Gelman says
David, your adventures sound like my explorations of Tel Aviv forty-six years ago, when I took a month off work and stayed on Rehov Yochanan HaSandlar as a base to travel. The memories and achievements of your parents truly raised the trip to a high level!
David Bardin says
Our walks took us close to that street, named after a teacher who lived two millennia ago. See http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johanan_HaSandlar.
Edward Cowan says
David Bardin’s deeply rooted appreciation of Israel comes through clearly in this vivid, explicit sketch of present-day Tel Aviv. In addition to evocative prose, he takes excellent photos. I am proud to call him a Columbia ’54 classmate.
Edward White says
Thank you David. You .are a good photographer Cheers and God bless, Ed
Bob McDiarmid says
Wonderfully evocative piece, together with pictures to remind us all of why we liked Tel Aviv when we were last there (in my case probably over 30 years ago). And thanks for sharing your mother’s brilliant design of a logo for the Palestine Maritime League!
Mark Rosen says
Thanks David for sharing your Tel Aviv trip, history and photos. You spent your summer vacation well. Mark
Joyce Stern says
David–thank you for sharing this moving experience. We are linked to the land –and its sea–forever.
Joyce
Rachel Hartig says
David,
Thank you so much for forwarding the beautiful essay and photos. It sounded like a wonderful homecoming for you and your family. At the same time, you captured all that was new in and to the area,achieving a touching mix of old and modern.
Best regards,
Rachel
margery elfin says
David,
I thought those photos of Tel Aviv were great. Sounds like a very good trip And as safe as Washington DC.
You are a renaissance man as I have discovered with your maritime background and your Shabbat art work.
Thanks for those weekly reminders of faith.
Marge
Danielle says
Dear David
I work for the Jewish Maritime League of South Africa, one of the last known branches of the League, est in 1938. (as the Palestine Maritime League)
I am so interested in researching all their history, and would be so appreciative if you could share some of your family history.
David Jonas Bardin says
Will do.