Tel Aviv will celebrate its 100th. birthday on April 2009. In fact, celebrations are planned to take place throughout the whole year (2009).
In the coming months, our posts will be mainly dedicated to news and updates regarding the various projects and preparations related to these developments and celebrations.
Although this blog has been going on for some time, we have not told you yet the story about how
Tel Aviv has become to be called
Tel Aviv.
So the story goes....
Tel Aviv has probably had more names than any other city in the world.
It all began with the House-Builders Association that decided to build a new Jewish neighborhood outside Yafo. Later the association changed its name to Ahuzat Bait. Half a year after the establishment of the new neighborhood at the end of 1909, fierce arguments arose regarding the name of the new Hebrew neighborhood. Various names had been suggested: New Yafo, Neve Yafo, Aviva, Yefefiya (Hebrew: beautiful), and Sha'anana (Hebrew: calm & secure).
Herzliya, in commemoration of Theodor Herzl (founder of political Zionism), was favored by many. Finally, Menachem Sheinkin suggested
Tel Aviv. Sheinkin had in mind Nahum Sokolov's Hebrew translation of the title of Herzl's book "Altnueland". Sheinkin was not aware of the fact that there was already a neighborhood of that name in Ness Tziona. The name
Tel Aviv was eventually decided on by majority vote, scoring 20 votes compared to 15 that had been cast in favor of Neve Yafo. When the founders of
Tel Aviv chose the name, they were not aware that it was mentioned in the Bible. Sokolov once explained that he found Tel Aviv to be a faithful translation from German of "Altneuland" (meaning: the old new land). Like the German term, it involves a play of words between "old" and "new". In Hebrew, "tel" means a mound of ancient ruins and "aviv" means spring. Thus "Tel Aviv" balances a sense of the new (renewed) with a sense of heritage (ancient).
