Tel Aviv תל אביב
The first modern Jewish city, founded on the dunes in 5669, where the State of Israel was proclaimed.
In the spring of 5669 sixty-six families gathered on the dunes north of Jaffa and drew lots for plots—the photograph of that lottery, with its seashells, became famous. The settlement was called Achuzat Bayit and renamed a year later Tel Aviv, Nachum Sokolow's rendering of Herzl's Altneuland: tel, an ancient mound, and aviv, spring.
The city grew with the Second and Fifth Aliyot: the first Hebrew gymnasium, the first Hebrew theatre, and the Bauhaus quarters built by architects who had fled Germany—the White City. By 5699 it was the country's largest Jewish city.
On 5 Iyar 5708, in the museum hall on Rothschild Boulevard, David Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence—knowing that war would begin the next morning.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Documents of the period
- the Israeli Declaration of Independence, 5 Iyar 5708 — the proclamation of the state in this city
- documents of the Second Aliyah — the lottery on the dunes and the Achuzat Bayit society
- T. Herzl, “Altneuland” — the translated title of the book gave the city its name
Basis: tradition.