Today was a strange day for me. I did not join the group for the morning activities because I had to go to Western Union. I walked over from the hotel traversing an busy, slightly rundown area. On the way home I walked along the sea, walking in the sand and taking pictures of swimmers, surfers, and even fishermen. I then joined the rest of group at Suzanna's restaurant, the same place Bonnie and I ate our first evening here. The group had gone to Independence Hall and a meeting with Aguda, the oldest gay group in Telaviv. I am hoping someone else will talk about his/her experience and I adding this information as a place holder.
After lunch we walked around Neve Tzedak which I talked about in the first post. Here is some additional information.
Neve Tzedek was established in 1887, 22 years before the 1909 founding of the City of Tel Aviv, by a group of Jewish families seeking to move outside of over-crowded Jaffa. Soon, additional small developments grew up around Neve Tzedek and were incorporated into the contemporary boundaries of the neighborhood.
The residents preferred to construct their new neighborhoods with low-rise buildings along narrow streets. These homes frequently incorporated design elements from the Jugendstil/Art Noveau and later Bauhaus Art movements and featured contemporary luxuries such as private bathrooms.
At the beginning of the 1900s, many artists and writers made Neve Tzedek their residence. Most notably, future Nobel prize laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon, as well as Hebrew artist Nachum Gutman, used Neve Tzedek as both a home and a sanctuary for art. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Rabbi of Neve Tzedek; he even maintained a Yeshiva there. During his time in Neve Tzedek he became very close friends with many of the writers, especially Agnon.
By the 1960s, city officials deemed the neighborhood - by this time almost a slum - incompatible with the modern image of a busy, bustling city. By the end of the 1980s, efforts began to renovate and preserve Neve Tzedek's century-old structures. New establishments were housed in old buildings, most notably the Suzanne Dellal Dance and Theater Center and the Nachum Gutman Museum, located in the artist's home. This gentrification led to Neve Tzedek's rebirth as a fashionable and popular upmarket residence for Tel Avivians. Its main streets became lined once again with artists' studios, including the ceramics studio of Samy D., alongside trendy cafes and bars, and more recently boutique hotels and shops selling hand-made goods to wealthy Israelis and tourists.
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