Anat Helman

225 Pages·2010·19.5 MB·English

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The Schusterman Series in Israel Studies
editors
S. Ilan Troen
Jehuda Reinharz
Sylvia Fuks Fried
The Schusterman Series in Israel Studies publishes original scholarship of ex-
ceptional significance on the history of Zionism and the State of Israel. It draws on
disciplines across the academy, from anthropology, sociology, political science, and
international relations to the arts, history, and literature. It seeks to further an un-
derstanding of Israel within the context of the modern Middle East and the modern
Jewish experience. There is special interest in developing publications that enrich the
university curriculum and enlighten the public at large. The series is published under
the auspices of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University.
For a complete list of books in this series, please see www.upne.com
Anat Helman
Young Tel Aviv: A Tale of Two Cities
Nili Scharf Gold
Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel’s National Poet
Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz, editors
Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society,
Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present
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Yo u n g
(cid:67)(cid:84)(cid:91)(cid:15)(cid:48)(cid:101)(cid:88)(cid:101)
(cid:48)(cid:15)(cid:67)(cid:80)(cid:91)(cid:84)(cid:15)(cid:94)(cid:85)(cid:15)(cid:67)(cid:102)(cid:94)(cid:15)(cid:50)(cid:88)(cid:99)(cid:88)(cid:84)(cid:98)
Anat Helman
Translated by Haim Watzman
brandeis u niversity p ress
Waltham, Massachusetts
Published by
University Press of New England
Hanover and London
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Brandeis University Press
Published by University Press of New England
www.upne.com
© 2010 Brandeis University
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Designed by Eric M. Brooks
Typeset in Whitman and Mostra Two
by Passumpsic Publishing
The publication of this book was generously supported by the
American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise Publication Grant and
the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation.
Originally published as Or veyam hikifuha: tarbut tel avivit bitkufat
hamandat by Haifa University Press, Haifa, 2007.
University Press of New England is a member of the
Green Press Initiative. The paper used in this book meets
their minimum requirement for recycled paper.
For permission to reproduce any of the material in this
book, contact Permissions, University Press of New England,
One Court Street, Suite 250, Lebanon NH 03766;
or visit www.upne.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Helman, Anat.
Young Tel Aviv: a tale of two cities / Anat Helman.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(The Schusterman series in Israel studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-1-58465-893-1 (cloth: alk. paper)—
isbn 978-1-58465-890-0 (ebook)
1. Tel Aviv (Israel)—History. 2. Tel Aviv (Israel)—
Description and travel. 3. Tel Aviv (Israel)—Social life
and customs—20th century. 4. Tel Aviv (Israel)—
Economic conditions—20th century. I. Title.
ds110.t34h45 2010
956.94'804—dc22 2010023308
5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
chapter one
Portrait of a City 11
chapter two
Public Events 45
chapter three
Tel Aviv’s Consumer Culture 77
chapter four
Entertainment and Leisure 105
chapter five
Subcultures in the First Hebrew City 131
Conclusion 155
Notes 165
References 185
Index 207
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is based on a PhD dissertation submitted to the Hebrew
University ten years ago. I wish to express my gratitude to my teachers, Em-
manuel Sivan and Hagit Lavsky, for their inspiring supervision.
The primary sources were collected in the Central Zionist Archive, the
poster collection at the National Library, the Pinhas Lavon Institute for
Labor Movement Research, the Jabotinsky Institute, Bialik House, Kibbutz
Afikim library, the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archives, the Jerusalem
Cinematheque, Ahad Haam Library and Beit Ariela’s journal collection, the
Eliasaf Robinson Collection at Stanford University, and the Kaplan Centre
for Jewish Studies and Research at the University of Cape Town. Thanks are
due to all the librarians, archivists, and workers in these institutions. Spe-
cial thanks to Ziona Raz, Nellie Verzerevsky, and Rivka Pershel- Gershon of
the Tel Aviv–Yafo Municipal Historical Archive.
I wish to thank Atalia Helman, Ada Schein, Yael Reshef, Elchanan
Reiner, Yael Zerubavel, and Orit Rozin, who read earlier drafts of the book,
for all their helpful comments; the staff of the Haifa University Press, which
published the Hebrew edition in 2007; the Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Institute and
the Association of Israel Studies, for awarding it the Ben-Shalom prize and
the Shapiro prize in 2008. Thanks are also due to Danny Helman for the
book’s title.
Preparing a book for the Schusterman Series in Israel Studies was a de-
lightful experience. I wish to thank Sylvia Fuks Fried of the Brandeis Uni-
versity Press and Phyllis Deutsch of the University Press of New England,
as well as Ilan Troen and Jehuda Reinharz, Jason Warshof, Amanda Dupuis,
and Katy Grabill. I am very grateful to Haim Watzman for his attentive and
creative translation.
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