Tel Aviv celebrates 100 years.
When a small group of people gathered on the sand dunes close to Yaffo in 1909 their intentions were not to build a city but rather a suburb to Yaffo. The name of the place should be “Ahuzat Bayt” or “ Housing Property”.
Yaffo in those days had turned into a crowdy, noisy and busy place. It was the main entrance gate to the country from the sea and was connected to a well developed railroad system which could bring people to Haifa and further to Damascus, to Beersheba and southwards through the desert towards Egypt or up to Jerusalem. Yaffo was good for business but did not have any quality living conditions to offer.
The first house owners in this new neighborhood on the dunes did not want their living quarter to turn into a busy town. It took several years and many heated discussions for the first kiosk to be granted approval and even after it was built it was allowed to sell cold soft drinks only.
The name was later changed to Tel Aviv.
The word “Tel” in Hebrew refers both to a natural hill and to an archaeological hill of ancient remains. “Aviv” is the Hebrew word for the season of spring. On that back ground “Tel Aviv” can be translated to the “Spring Hill”.
The reason for choosing the name however has more to do with other factors. Theodor Herzl, who is known as the “father of political Zionism” wrote a book titled “Altneuland” (which translated from German means “new-old-land”) When his book was translated to Hebrew by Nachum Sokolov the title became “Tel Aviv”.
The first Jews to settle this land were more politically than religiously focused, but the Bible and the reading of the Bible has never been considered a part of religious peoples lives only but rather the “root” of every Jew. Tel Aviv is mentioned in the Bible as a city inhabited by Jews in Babylon. This together with the Hebrew “understanding” of the name made it an easy choice.
As such it “has it all”. Tel Aviv turns on the lights of “belonging”, “roots”, “Hebrew” as well as “religious freedom”. It was easy for the inhabitants back in those days to identify with such a name.
Only in 1924 did Tel Aviv officially turn into an independent city. It was the Arab riots that forced this reality into being and it resulted in the building of the Tel Aviv harbor. As banks, shops and offices were added the number of inhabitants grew quickly.

In the time of the Bible when the Land was divided between the various tribes this part of the coastal plain was the inheritance of Dan. In those days this area was not as much appreciated because of lack of water and problems with peoples who were superior in warfare on the plains. It was considered better and safer to live up in the mountains.
Today the situation is exactly the opposite. Very few Jews have settled the mountains while the majority of the people live on the coastal plains from Askelon in the south to Nahariya in the north. Two out of five million people have made Tel Aviv and the surrounding towns their home.

Tel Aviv is the symbol of Jewish success in this Land.
Congratulations!!
Elin Elkouby