The distance between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is only about 50km, but the difference between the two cities is amazing. Jerusalem is a holy city that home to the three major religions of the world and a deep, involved culture. Tel Aviv, on the other hand, is a fairly new city and a much more liberal city without deep cultural roots.
This Saturday we went to a beach in Tel Aviv, a beautiful coastline dotted with cafés and restaurants and the blue Mediterranean Sea. Since it was a weekend, the beach was crowded, and I felt the density of the beach people might be higher than that of the prayers at the Western Wall 🙂
After resting for a while, I decided to take a walk to Jaffa, an ancient port city. It was an extremely wonderful journey, where I was not only more deeply amazed by the beauty of the coastline but also observed some fun stuff and got a better sense of the relaxing rhythm of Tel Aviv. Contrast to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv is a biking city, and I saw bicycles almost everywhere.
One interesting scene I saw reminded me of Los Angeles. Besides an old, abandoned house, a man comfortably lying on a couch, with rock music playing loudly; several useless TVs piled up, with traces of paints and white dots; a wall painting in the composition of Last Super was fascinating, in which Jesus and his apostles were replaced by Jewish celebrities, such as Karl Marx and Albert Einstein. Tel Aviv is a modern city with modern ideas, a liberal city with with free spirited ideas.
After walking about 30 minutes, I was in Jaffa, one of the oldest town in the world, but is still live and kicking. It is the place where the prophet Jonas was swallowed by the whale. Walking on the city roads of Jaffa, I seemed to feel its spirit. Its stone buildings and ancient fortification were full of history and beautiful. Jaffa has became a tourist attraction, a melting pot where Jewish, Christian and Muslims living together in harmony, where religion is not the main category for differentiation, as people flux in and rush about on their daily business. It is a romantic place, a lot of artists live here and express their own spirits, creativity, thoughts.
It is interesting to see how Jaffa, while preserves part of its ancient history, is reinvigorated by the modern elements–the artists, tourists, city people, which shape the city and reinforce new spirits. Similarly, for other historical or religious places, their meanings and significance do not necessarily stay the same, because historically they are constantly reshaped by people’s new ideas, social movement, and religious or political struggles.
-Jiajing