Cantor Roochvarg's Israel Trip Blog

Installment #8

On April 24, we checked out of our Jerusalem hotel after breakfast. We took a taxi to the Central Train station (at the same intersection as the Central Bus Station). The train station, opened in 2017, is named in memory of Itzchak Navon (1921-2015), Israel's 5^th, & 1st Sephardic, President. There was one entrance to the terminal, and instead of having people line up single file, as folks must do at other airports & train stations, it was the stereotypical Israeli "BALAGAN" (chaos), with hundreds of people, many with babies in strollers, all pushing towards the entrance, with a couple of soldiers trying mightily to keep order.

Once we got through that, we descended to the actual platform by 3 consecutive escalators, all amazingly long & steep. We found out, to our surprise, that the train from Jerusalem does not go directly to Tel Aviv: you have to get off at the airport & change trains. Kind of a surprise that there is no non-stop service between Israel's 2 largest cities. Soon we arrived at our lovely Airbnb in the center of Tel Aviv.

Two hours later, we were picked up by a cousin to take us to one more family gathering---after all, the cousins had seen ME, but this was their first time in seven years to see Linda. Spent a lovely few hours with 3-generations of cousins, between the ages of 2 and 75. And naturally, there was plenty of food.

In the Diaspora, Passover is observed for 8 days, with the last two being full festivals. In Israel, it is only observed for 7 days, with the last day being a full festival. Because this evening is Erev Chag (the evening of the last day), most restaurants are closed. There are a few, however, that are open, but dinner reservations must be made in advance. So while Linda went to the Carmel Market, an outdoor SHUK of fruits, vegetables, spices, etc., I spent the morning going to two restaurants in our area, each connected with a (rather posh) hotel, & making our dinner reservations.

After lunch, I met with Yossi Zucker, a gent who is the proprietor of OR-TAV, a large (the largest?) Israeli music publisher. After we discussed the current situation of Israeli music publication (struggling), he took me on a walking tour of the nearby neighborhood of Nachlat Binyamin. Like Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem, it is a several-blocks-long, pedestrians-only, thoroughfare with shops, street buskers, reflexologists, glass blowers...you name it! While we were there, there were four strolling French Horn players playing classical & Israeli music! There were of course cafes and street murals, and many old buildings that have recently been refurbished, or are currently being refurbished.
 

Tel Aviv was established in 1909, so this coming July will mark its 110^th Anniversary. MAZAL TOV!

Then I met with Zach Weinstein, a former Charlottean who has made Aliyah, who took me on another walking tour, this time of the historical Neve Tzedek neighborhood. We passed an equestrian statue of Me'ir Dizengoff, Tel Aviv's founder & 1st mayor. In Hebrew, "Al tidag" means don't worry. We passed the office whose company apparently chose that as its name.

The Shalom Tower, when completed in 1965, was not only ISRAEL's first skyscraper, but was for years the tallest building in the Middle East. So I took a photo.

Each year, there are more and more cars in Israel. The streets are just not wide enough for the growing numbers. I took a photo of a line of parked cars: the cars are parked incredibly tightly together. There were about six inches between each of these cars! Six inches!! I don’t know how they do it.

As we were getting ready for bed, we did a few minutes of "channel surfing". On one station we watched a minute of JUDGE JUDY, dubbed in Russian, with Hebrew subtitles! Can't watch THAT in Charlotte!!