The White City of Tel Aviv

Thanks to Grandma, the Zuckerman family art historian, I have come to really appreciate the Bauhaus design tradition.  This art school started in Germany in 1919 by Walter Gropius, but was dismantled by the Nazis in 1933.  The only good thing about this is that architects from the Bauhaus tradition dispersed themselves around the world, taking their aesthetic with them.

For example, Bauhaus designer Marcel Breuer was the architect of family housing at the Institute for Advanced Study (where we lived last year).  I wrote about similarities between the Bauhaus and IAS communities in a previous blog entry here.

Bauhaus design was well received in Tel Aviv.  Why?  Well according to our tour guide, here are some reasons.  1) Tel Aviv was growing very fast and Bauhaus design was easy to construct.  2) The socialist values of Bauhaus blended with the early cultural values of Tel Aviv.  3) In addition, the design values were similar to Israeli values:  form follows function….meaning that design is all about functionality; no extra design elements to make the object more attractive.

In the end, beauty comes from straightforward functional design. Likewise, in a country struggling to establish itself, it is all about making things work well and fast.

So here we have some pictures from the Bauhaus district of Tel Aviv.  You can see the clean lines, white exteriors, round balconies, and windows that form a vertical line like windows in a thermometer.

Overall, the buildings are beautiful, but look like they could use some repair.  The tour guide acknowledged this and encouraged all of us on the tour to move to Tel Aviv to invest and refurbish Israel’s  architectural treasure. 

Tomorrow in Jerusalem!

"Cats are like squirrels in the US"

Fast Moving Kitty

 The counselors at Emma’s camp told her, “cats in Israel are like squirrels in the US.” I guess this means that cats are not seen as pets, but are rather animals that live on the street.  Perhaps this explains why people were staring at us when Emma and I stopped to pet all the street kitties. Emma calls the sidewalk by our building where all the kitties hang out, “Kitty Cat Alley.” Petting cats on the street and greeting the store clerks in the grocery on our street with a smile and “shalom” are probably sure-fire clues that we are not from here.

Camera Shy Kitty

Friendly Kitty

Enough with the Petting Kitty

Go TAU!

Here we have David in his temporary office at TAU (Tel Aviv University). With a handful of freshly sharpened pencils and a college ruled notebook, he is eager to do some theorizing regarding “algebraic approaches to problems in pseudorandomness” (from the title of the grant proposal).

And now for some campus pictures...

The main entry plaza to the campus

Flags from around the world welcome visitors, but you need to pass through security first.

Big outdoor university promotion

Common signs

Getting ready for graduation ceremonies, I assume?

Einstein, a favorite at Tel Aviv University,  too

Looking westward toward the sea via Einstein Blvd.

Greetings from Rechov Arthur Rubinstein

Striking arrival hall at Ben Gurion Airpot

I am the kind of person who walks into a restaurant, falls in love with the décor and ambiance and quickly says, “Wow, this place is great,” without ever eating a bite.  So it was as we were driving from the Ben Gurion airport to our rental apartment in Ramat Aviv (northern Tel Aviv), that I quickly decided Israel was for me.  Perhaps it was the brilliant sun that reflected off the white modern buildings.  Or maybe it was the tall palm trees that lined the wide streets. 

Ramat Aviv

Tel Aviv felt like Miami with a blue sea framing a modern, busy city.  The place was secured as my fantasy home when I turned on the car radio and the preset button played salsa music. David said Latin music was popular here.  Just a few hours in Israel without reading or speaking Hebrew, I said, “Wow, this place is great.”

Thanks to a grant from BSF (Binational Science Foundation), David is working here in Tel Aviv with a couple of colleagues for three weeks. Our apartment is about a mile from Tel Aviv University where one of his colleagues is based.  Elementary schools are still in session, so Emma is attending the American International School, a summer camp for English speakers.  

American International School

We told her she would be going to camp with mostly Americans. Emma came home the first day and told us she was the only American. Most of the kids are Russian. 

As for me, I brought a suitcase of work and all the American optimism to get it all done.  I have relaxed my goals as the urgency of my “to do” lists faded with my jet lag. 

Here are a few images from our new neighborhood. A tour guide in Tel Aviv called the apartment buildings in Ramat Aviv, "Israeli style"---straightforward, functional with few frills.  I like the clean, white style of the buildings. The neighborhood feels transitional as many of the buildings are still under construction.  

our building

next door neighbors

our new street address

Below is the view from Emma’s bedroom that gives a flavor for this area. A construction site with an Israeli flag and a military airstrip lies between our apartment and the Mediterranean Sea. 

view south to downtown Tel Aviv 

In time,  these chairs on the Levi Eshkol Street near our apartment will provide some nice shade under a tree.   Until then, this sitting area (like this new neighborhood) lives in transition.