034 After the Holidays
The Hebrew phrase "אחרי החגים" - after the holidays - carries a weight that transcends literal translation. It's the collective sigh of a nation returning to routine after the intensity of the Jewish High Holy Days. Stretching from Rosh Hashanah through Yom Kippur to the festival of Sukkot, nearly a month of sacred time punctuated the calendar. As the temporary sukkah booths come down, families return from their vacation, kids are sent back to school and adults brace themselves for full business weeks again.
Famous Israeli songwriter Naomi Shemer captured this feeling in her song "התחדשות אחרת" (A Different Renewal), where the phrase "אחרי החגים" becomes both prophecy and prayer. It opens with an "unexplained fatigue" and "incomprehensible weakness in the knees," acknowledging the emotional exhaustion that follows weeks of spiritual intensity. From the introspection of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year’s Eve; through the purification of Yom Kippur, Day of Atonement; to the joyful outdoor living of Sukkot and Simchat Torah, a celebration of completing a year of prayer with anticipation to go back and start again from the Book of Genesis - the holiday flush is very demanding. And then, suddenly, life is back to normal, but the intensity remains. Shemer continues to write that "rest is still far away, but after the holidays everything will renew," trying to articulate that unique form of renewal.
Shemer, who spent much of her creative life in Tel Aviv claimed that the city never inspired her artistically. She described her relationship with the city as purely utilitarian - a place to live and work, not to draw inspiration from. Yet, she penned one of the most enduring tributes to Tel Aviv in her song "White City”. In this song, the modern buildings which were built on sand dunes are being described as mystically built “out of sea foam carried by waves” and “a collection of clouds”. Visitors walking down Rothschild Boulevard can find Shemer’s words on a commemorative plaque marking Tel Aviv's White City designation as a World Heritage Site, declared by UNESCO in 2003. The marble plaque is often overlooked by joggers and dog walkers who pass it daily.
The White City she wrote about embodies the same spirit of renewal that is depicted in her song “A Different Renewal”. The International Style architecture of the 1930s is rooted in an ideology of starting fresh, of building something completely new, from a clean slate. This architectural philosophy of clean lines and functional beauty, using modern materials such as concrete and glass, was groundbreaking almost a century ago. In that sense, Tel Aviv was not only built anew, but also built in a new way - a renewal, but of another kind.
Liebling Haus - White City Center | Photo by Tomer Chelouche
When Shemer writes of the "endless journey between fields of shadow and fields of light," she acknowledges that renewal isn't a destination but a continuous process. "Your love is not complete," she admits, yet still promises that “after the holidays, everything will renew” - not because perfection is achieved, but because the very act of beginning again carries its own completion.
For me, these post-holiday weeks feel uplifting. They carry the hope of starting anew, differently, as the first hints of autumn arrive. People in the street start to wear longer clothes for the first time in months; the morning light hits the white building facades at a sharper angle; and the giant ficus trees cast longer shadows across the boulevard. Walking by the plaque with Shemer’s words, I couldn’t help but think how the origins of the White City of Tel Aviv correlate with that unique after-the-holidays feeling.
My name is Tomer Chelouche and I've been guiding tours in Tel Aviv since 2008. I started out of fascination with my family history - the Chelouche family was one of the founding families of Tel Aviv. My ancestors built this city - and I'm telling its story.
The best way to get to know Tel Aviv better is by purchasing one of my audio tours. Here's one way to experience that -
The Rothschild Hotel occupies a light yellow coloured building right on the boulevard that gave the place its name. It’s also right beside the place where the city put up the plaque I mentioned earlier, with Naomi Shemer's song “White City”. The hotel experience was designed to evoke all the senses while deepening guests' connection to the legacy of Baron Edmond Rothschild - the 19th-century French-Jewish businessman who financially supported the Zionist dream in its infancy, supporting Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel.
The Rothschild Hotel is located a short bus ride away from the part of the city that boasts even more examples of the 1930’s International Style in architecture - the area surrounding Dizengoff Square. There you can begin my White City audio tour, which explores the architectural treasures that earned Tel Aviv a UNESCO World Heritage designation.
This walking experience reveals the cultural significance behind Tel Aviv's renowned Bauhaus architecture, taking you through sites that showcase the preservation efforts transforming individual buildings into a protected urban landscape. For example, I’ll show you the Thermometer House and explain the “form follows function” principle to which architects in Tel Aviv adhered in the 1930s. It’s a fantastic example of the White City of Tel Aviv, from which you’ll learn how to spot such White City gems by yourself.
The tour follows a circular route that can take you about an hour to complete. As the tour concludes, you’ll find yourself back on bustling Dizengoff Street. Weather conditions in Tel Aviv during the fall season provide you the opportunity to experience the audio tour any time of day. Just make sure you don’t start right before sunset, because it’s harder to appreciate the architecture during night time.
You can make sure you've downloaded my White City audio tour before you head out, or you can download it on the go if you're set with a data package allowing for uninterrupted internet access. There's a link in the show notes to purchase my audio tour -
If you have any questions - you’ll find all the ways to contact me on telaviv.tours (telaviv as one word, no space, no hyphen) and there’s a link in the show notes for your digital convenience.
Visitors coming in November 2025 will see something that hasn’t happened in decades - renovation work has started in the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv. A few weeks ago, the renovation team had officially taken over the building, marking the practical beginning of restoration work on this urban landmark. It was designed by legendary city architect Yehuda Magidovitch back in the 1920s and completed with funding from none other than Baron Rothschild. The renovation, expected to complete by Passover 2028, is aimed to return the classic architecture of the building, complete with arched windows and a huge dome on the roof, and renew its spiritual significance.
Tel Aviv does hold an ultra-secular ethos that seems to reject a religious way of life, but it’s actually a “live and let live” motto that the city follows. That’s why renovation of the Great Synagogue, located on Allenby Street, is also supported by the local government. It’s also part of my Trail of Independence audio tour. Do take into account that the place will be behind scaffoldings for the time being.
Despite its reputation as Israel's most secular city, Tel Aviv boasts a religious landscape to admire. The city's multicultural character is evident in the places of worship serving Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities. Here’s a list of top religious sites in the city -
Even though it is mentioned in the Bible, Jaffa was never surrounded with an aurora of holiness, so Jewish holy sites are completely absent from Jaffa. This isn’t the case for the Christian faith.
Christian sites anchor themselves primarily in Jaffa's ancient port area, where St. Peter, according to the New Testament, performed miracles and spread the teachings of Jesus. The house in which St. Peter stayed, which belonged to Simon the Tanner, commemorates the apostle's vision and miracle in Jaffa.
Catholics, Protestants and other Christian groups are centred around churches in Jaffa, the most visible of which is St. Peter’s Church at the top of the hill of Old Jaffa, while other churches include the Immanuel Church in The American-German Colony and the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Peter and Saint Tabitha in what was once an Arab village called Abu Kabir and is considered a part of southern Tel Aviv.
Islamic heritage dates back hundreds of years ago. The oldest mosque in Jaffa, called Al-Bahr Mosque, (meaning “Mosque of the Sea”) was built in the 1600s. The more important muslim site in Jaffa today is the Mahmoudia Mosque - one of the largest in Israel, serving thousands of worshipers five times a day.
More interestingly, the Hassan Beq Mosque can be found away from Jaffa, on the Tel Aviv coastline promenade. Why was it built so far away from the muslim community? Well, it wasn’t. The Hassan Beq Mosque was built in the northernmost point Jaffa reached into neighbouring Tel Aviv, but much of the Arab city was damaged in Israel’s 1948 War of Independence and was later demolished. The mosque was preserved and renovated after the war and to this day it stands as testament to times of war, while inside Muslims pray for peace in our world.
Pomegranates in Tel Aviv - one of the symbols of Rosh HaShana | Photo by Tomer Chelouche
Apart from the Great Synagogue, Tel Aviv boasts hundreds of active synagogues serving diverse communities from Orthodox to Reform to conservative congregations. The one I’m most connected to is the Chelouche Synagogue, of course, built by my great-great-great-grandfather, Aron Chelouche. It still operates to this day, in Neve Tzedek, and I have relatives who did their Bar Mitzvah and even wedding ceremonies there, because of the family connection.
I would also like to especially mention O'hel Mo'ed synagogue near Rothschild Boulevard, recognized as the Great Sephardic Synagogue in Tel Aviv. It is also the synagogue in which my father did his Bar Mitzvah ritual.
Lastly, if you visit Tel Aviv University I recommend visiting the Cymbalista Synagogue. It looks like a rectangular base from which two circular towers rise, resembling a pair of linked cylinders or binoculars. The unique architecture makes you think about the duality in the Jewish World - Sephardic and Ashkenazi, Israeli and non-Israeli, secular and religious…
Thanks for listening and you’ll hear from me again when the next episode comes out next week.Until then - I am Tel Aviv tour guide Tomer Chelouche, signing off and hoping to see you soon in Tel Aviv.
