Tel Aviv versus Jerusalem

I need a day out of Tel Aviv, just going to start it at that.

For anyone who has spent a significant time in this country, and even for those who've just passed through and visited. It doesn't take long to see that there are more than a few schisms that exist in Israeli society. That's saying it lightly. Spending just a few minutes upon arrival in Ben Gurion Airport you'll see examples up close and personal. Religious against secular, Ashkenazim versus Mizrahim, and of course, the seemingly endless antagonistic relationship between Jews and Arabs. They're all on display, wherever you go. Both under the surface and overtly in the open.

Ever since the birth of the Zionist movement, and the first established Jewish communities or Yishuvim in Palestine during the Ottoman period though the British Mandate, the stage was set for a changing of the guard regarding the future of Jewish culture in what would become Israel. The emergence of the first major secular, Hebrew speaking city in modern times was a pretty big deal. Tel Aviv was finally on the map, and for the first time, our holy Jerusalem had a counterpart to contend with. Fast forward seventy years, Tel Aviv is as hedonistic as ever, and on the other side, Jerusalem, while still scholarly, is perhaps under the highest form of religious coercion it has ever been in Israel's history.

Tel Aviv Summer. T.A Municipality

I've always found the division that exists between the culture of Tel Aviv and that of Jerusalem to be one of the more overlooked rifts in Israeli society, yet it acts as a near microcosm for everything else, and encompasses so much. It plays out all the time, and takes shape in even subtle unexpected forms. I myself am a resident of Tel Aviv, and have been for the past few years. This is not for particular love of the city, in fact, I find it rather tacky and superficial, with a particular high proportion of assholes living here. The falling apart buildings and sky high rent, and overall cost of living don't do the city that many favors either. However, it's where the work is, and it happens to be the only true 24 hour, secular styled city in Israel on a legitimate scale. For better or worse, and as someone who is staunchly secular, its pretty much all we've got. It's all the more obvious by the steady influx of English speaking immigrants who've chose to settle in Tel Aviv in recent years. They're looking to let loose and have fun, and not be confined to the conformity of pious life in Jerusalem. I can't blame them.

Sometimes I just wish though that there was a bit more substance to the supposed style of Tel Aviv. A little more contemplation and little less irrational, mindless reaction.

Jerusalem Light Rail. Jaffa Road. J'lem Municipality

Of course though, in terms of aesthetic beauty and enchantment, Jerusalem will still always take it.