Saving the Best for Last

Yesterday we joined a coworker and her boyfriend in Tel Aviv for dinner.  When we met up and explained that, although we had been in the country since February we had not yet been to Tel Aviv, her boyfriend lit up.  "Welcome to Israel," he declared with a broad grin.

To most Israelis, Tel Aviv is the center of the world.  Jerusalem may have all of the old religious landmarks but Tel Aviv is the cultural soul of this relatively young state.  It was in Tel Aviv in 1948 that David Ben-Gurion declared the independence of Israel as the first sovereign Jewish state--a state that would "uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens, without distinction of religion, race," while still allowing the "Jewish people to be masters of their own fate."  The secular vs. religious tensions apparent in the Declaration are still plaguing Israel today.  Jerusalem is the religious side--strongly orthodox and very proud of its religous ceremonies.  Tel Aviv is the secular side, the 83% of the Jewish population (Jewish in ethnicity and tradition) that cares more about enjoying life than fighting over territory.  It's a refreshing and playful breath of multicultural fresh air.

Take the restaurant we went to as an example--"The Diner by Goocha."  Goocha had been a seafood restaurant serving everything from fried calamari with parsley and garlic aioli in classic Italian style to a seafood noodle dish cooked in coconut cream and thai peppers.  Last night was just a week after it had been remodeled to look like a traditional American diner.  The menu had changed to include items such as rib-eye "chops" with Hollandaise sauce and New York Cheesecake.  They had even lined the walls with chalkboards to give it the straight from Chicago or New York look.  Everything was new and shiny and it was packed, in the middle of the week, from 8:00 and later.  We left at 10:30 and it really seemed like the city had just started to wake up.  We hear that some restaurants will stay open, serving dinner items well past 2:00 a.m!  Want a bacon cheeseburger at 1:00 in the morning?  Tel Aviv is the place to get it.

We heard from our host that rollerbladers started a protest on Tuesday nights.  They gathered at 10:30 p.m. in such numbers that they shut down the streets and caused traffic jams.  Instead of arresting them the cops worked with them to create a rollerblading route of select streets that are closed from 10:30-12:00.  Now it's more of an event than a protest.

We're going back this weekend because it is an interesting place and it seems a little more like America in its hedonistic pleasures and stay-open-late (even on Shabbat) freedoms.  The food is great and the attractions are supposedly good as well.  How could we leave Israel without visiting it first?

L'chaim!