COMMUNITY VIEWS

Tel Aviv At 90: A Daughter Remembers

one of camaraderie and a sense of
n 1909, 6,000 Jews lived in
shared purpose and common des-
Yaffo among 34,000 Aiabs.
tiny. It was 1945 when I attended
The Jews kept on coming —
first grade in Bialik Elementary
this was the height of the sec-
School.
ond aliya, but there was hardly any
One day my sister, Shula,
land left to build upon.
in the fifth grade, was sup-
A group of a few dozen
posed to pick me up. For
Jews got together to form an •
some reason, she wasn't in
association, Ahuzat Bayit
the street to meet me. All
(homestead). They bought
alone on the sidewalk, I
land from the Keren Kayemet
began to cry.
(Jewish National Fund) with
A man riding a bike
the intent of building a new
stopped to help me. He
neighborhood of 60 small
waited with me, then asked
houses. Thus began the histo-
if I wanted him to take me
ry of Tel Aviv, the first
RACHEL
home. I said, "Yes." There
Hebrew city in modern Eretz
were no phones in the
KAPEN
Yisroel (Land of Israel).
homes at that time and he
Special to
When the families entered
had no way to contact my
the
Jewish
News
their new homes in 1910, the
parents. When we reached
name of the place was
Herzl Street, I saw my sister
changed to Tel Aviv, the
waiting at the bus stop. I told him she
Hebrew translation of Binyamin Zeev
was my sister, so he let me off the bike
Herzl's book Altneuland, as well as a
and went on his way. When we told
place in Babylon mentioned in Ezekiel
my mother what had happened, all
3:15.
she could think of was that she didn't
The jewel in the crown of the fledg-
thank the man for bringing me home.
ling Tel Aviv was Gymnasia Herzlia, the
The first mayor of Tel Aviv, Meir
all-Hebrew high school, founded in
Dizengoff,
used to ride a white horse
Yaffo and named after the great Zionist
at the head of the Purim adloyada, the
leader Theodor Herzl.
parade of costumes, masks and floats
As the reputation of the school
reflecting the spirit of-the holiday. The
grew, parents from the diaspora began
tradition began in 1921, the year my
to send their children to be educated
mother arrived.
there. Some students returned to their
The home of Dizengoff and his
homes after graduation; others
wife, Tzina, was located on Sderot
remained in the country.
Rothschild (Rothschild Boulevard) at
Herzlia wasn't only a first-class, all-
the corner of Herzl Street, a few
Hebrew institute of learning. It
minutes' walk from Herzlia. The
evolved into the heart and soul of the
Dizengoffs didn't have children, -so
cultural life of little Tel Aviv. Every
they donated their home to the city
Friday night; the oneg Shabbat took
for a Tel Aviv art museum. This first
place in the auditorium, where local
museum wasn't on a par with other
writers such as Brenner, Bialik and
big-city museums in the world; but
Tshernichovsky read from their writ-
for us, the unsophisticated young
ings. My mother Sara Ivashkovsky,
Israelis of the 1950s, this was the
who made aliya in 1921, was a regular
Louvre.
at these weekly events; there she met a
Here, too, on the unforgettable Fri-
Litvak named Yosef Garber. The chief
day, May 14, 1948, David Ben-Guri-
rabbi of Tel Aviv married them in
on proclaimed the establishment of
1929.
the State of Israel. Now the museum is
Every year on Purim, Barukh
called Heikhal HaAtzmaut (Indepen-
Agadati, a folk-dancing maven, had
dence Shrine).
an invitation-only costume ball. It
Herzlia, when I went to school
was the social event of the year in
there, continued the tradition of the
little Tel Aviv. One year, my mother
oneg Shabbat. Its student body assem-
came dressed as her biblical name-
bled on Friday afternoons in the same
sake and, unbeknownst to her, a Tel .
auditorium where the venerable
Aviv photographer took her picture
authors read from their writings.
and displayed it in a window of his
There were two hours of literary read-
studio.
ings and music performed by the
The Tel Aviv of my childhood was
school's orchestra and choir. I was usu-
ally in the soprano section.
In 1957, our graduating class was
Rachel Kapen lives in West Bloomfield.
the last in the historic building. The
She came to the United States with her
building was razed and replaced by
American husband in 1963.

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Above: The author, then Rachel
Garber, on Rothschild Boulevard
in Tel Aviv, 1947.

Right: Sara Ivashkovsky,
the author's mother, at the. Purim ball
in Tel Aviv, 1924.

Migdal Shalom, then the tallest build-
ing in the Middle East.
Tel Aviv is now marking its 90th
birthday. Tel Aviv at 90 is a young,
vibiant metropolis, the economic and
entertainment center of Israel. It never
sleeps. The city's population has
reached the 400,000 mark and the
metropolitan area, Gush Dan, is near
1.5 million.
Despite Tel Aviv's glitz, tempting as
it is, whenever I return to the city of
my birth, I prefer the old and less
glamorous parts. They hold so much
more meaning for me.
It was at our home on the edge of
Herzl Street where my mother await-
ed to serve us her heavenly cholent.
The smell and taste of this dish I
still remember with love and nostal-
gia as one of the smells and tastes of
home sweet home in my native Tel-
Aviv. ❑

