Nostalgia Sunday – Tel Aviv Zoo
Filed under: education, General, History and Culture, Israeliness, Life, Nostalgia Sunday, Pop Culture, Profiles, Travel
Here’s a tidbit of useless information: do you know why Tel Aviv’s Gan Ha-Ir mall is called that? Because there used to be a zoo — Gan Hayot Tel Aviv — on the site. Gan means “park”, hayot means “animals”, ir means “city”. So, “animal park” and “city park”. Hence the name.
On the other hand, maybe it’s not so useless, as the story of the zoo is, in microcosm, the story of the modern city of Tel Aviv.
The story starts in 1935 when Rabbi Dr. Mordecai Schornstein, formerly the chief Rabbi of Copenhagen and an animal lover, fled from Nazi-occupied Europe to British Mandatory Palestine.
En route, Schornstein purchased a number of animals in Italy. According to the Farkash Gallery (more about them below), “He opened a pet shop on Shenkin Street 15 and named it ‘Gan Hayot’ (‘zoo’ in Hebrew). The birds and mammals in the store soon became a local attraction, and after the ‘Eastern Fair’ [or the Levant Fair] of 1936, where Dr. Shornstein presented his animals, he founded his zoo on Hayarkon Street 65 [in 1938].”
“However, after a pair of lions and tigers was donated to the zoo, the zoo became a real annoyance to its neighbors. With pressure mounting by the zoo’s neighbors, a new compound was built for the zoo in the northern part of the city, which was at time mostly uninhabited. In November 1939, the zoo was relocated to its new location and was opened to the public.”
“The Tel Aviv Zoo was a source of pride for residents of the first modern Jewish city. The zoo displayed creatures from around the world as well as animals and birds of the Land of Israel. It also had a small aquarium. A visit to the Tel Aviv Zoo was a popular outing for children of the Land of Israel.”
The zoo’s proximity to Tel Aviv City Hall provided the perfect situation for a joke told by the late great humorist Ephraim Kishon. To paraphrase: “One day a lion escaped from the zoo, wandered over to city hall and began eating the clerks, one by one. This went on for weeks. It was only after the lion made a crucial error and ate the tea cart lady that anyone noticed.”
The zoo was also apparently one of few in the world able to breed flamingos in captivity, according to this 1970 study published in the Journal of Zoo Animal Medicine.
Another curio of this zoo story: During the World War II, a Polish army regiment was stationed in British Mandatory Palestine. The unit, the 16th Lwow Rifles Battalion, kept a bear as a mascot: Wojtek. The soldiers decided to bring him a companion and acquired Michael, a Persian bear.
According to the website devoted to Wojtek’s memory — he was much loved in that screwy Eastern European sort of way, meaning that in addition to being kept in captivity, the soldiers made him do tricks and taught him to drink beer and smoke cigarettes — “It was hoped that he [Michael] and Wojtek would become companions, unfortunately they had a vicious fight which put paid to that idea. So Michael was donated to the Tel Aviv zoo in 1943.”
Here’s the letter from the Mayor of Tel Aviv thanking the Lwow Rifles Battalion for their donation of Michael to the zoo. As for his would-be companion, “In turn they received a monkey called Kaska who spent most of it’s time teasing Wojtek.”
(BTW, after being demobilized in 1947, rather than subject him to Soviet occupation, the unit gave Wojtek to the Edinburgh Zoo where he remained until his death in 1963).
Originally located on the city outskirts, as Tel Aviv expanded, so gradually was the zoo surrounded by residential buildings. In 1980, the zoo was closed and the animals moved from the center of Tel Aviv to more the hospitable, humane surroundings of the Ramat Gan Safari.
The Gan HaIr luxury high-rise and up-market shopping center was built on the site and completed in 1989. A statue commemorating Rabbi Dr. Schornstein was placed at the entrance to a little garden to the rear of the building, on Hadassah Street.
The Zoo lives on in images, though. Some wonderful posters from its heyday available for sale online at The Farkash Gallery. And some of the children who loved the zoo, now adults, have posted home movies of their visits on YouTube.
Tel Aviv Zoo 1966
Tel Aviv Zoo 1970s
Foto Friday – Beating the Heat at the Biblical Zoo
Filed under: Art, education, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Religion, Travel
This little fellow, a Grey-headed fruit bat, makes his home in the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in southwestern Jerusalem. Popularly known as The Biblical Zoo, it was recently named Israel’s top tourist attraction.
The zoo was in the news today because of the hot weather that’s keeping the animals indoors or – in the case of the resident hippos – in the water.
The zoo collection features animals from the Land of Israel, with special emphasis on those species mentioned in the Bible. For example, this Black python (Desert Cobra), mentioned no less than 25 times in the bible.
And the leopard, famous for this quote from Isaiah 11:6: “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.’
Exodus 19:4: “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles‘ wings and brought you to myself.”
The Bible doesn’t specifically mention elephants, but Chronicles 2:9, 17 does mention their still treasured but now contraband byproduct: “Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold.”
Photo: Ruthie Shuler
Our little pal the fruit bat, by the way, is mentioned in Leviticus 11:19, rounding up the list of flying birds of prey and scavengers that are absolutely unkosher and not to be eaten by Jews. So Mr. Bat can continue his peaceful daylight sleep. At night, he’ll have to duke it out for mice with the local owls — and there are many here. We’ll meet them another Friday.
Foto Friday – Summer at the Safari
Filed under: Art, Environment, Foto Friday, General, Life, Travel
It’s hot!
I’m so warm, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going!
How about stepping over to the watering hole for a bit of refreshment…
Though it’s a bit crowded…
Probably best just to stay put.
Maybe have a light snack.
And wearing that heavy fur coat is certainly out of the question!
All of the above photos were taken at the Ramat Gan Safari and come courtesy of Sharpest Pictures.com, a unique collection of high-quality pictures about nature, animals, ancient and urban environments. The site’s founders are happy for educational institutions to make use of the photos, which are available free-of-charge. Individuals may also download, for personal use only. Enjoy and spread the word.
Shuk HaPishpushim
We skipped the zoo this week and headed over to Jaffa next to Tel Aviv for some good old flea market shopping. We didn’t really go with anything in mind to buy but its nearly impossible to come home empty handed. I have been amassing a collection of old Israeli tins for products that no longer exist (I have chocolate tins, pretzel tins and hard candy tins). These can be quite pricey and I am on a small austerity plan so I completely avoided the storefront known to carry these. However I did find a small old school red chair for the little one that needs a little fixing but was a steal at only 40 NIS (talked him down from 70 NIS). Next weekend I’m going to reinforce the wood, repaint and then distress it.
Friday is the best day (and the most popular) at the shuk because all the vendors’ wares spill out into the street. It’s a really, really strange market with some pretty bizarre items being sold. I saw a used oxygen tank and nail clippers (why would anyone want to buy used nail clippers?) and these were not among the oddest items being hawked. Take a gander at a few photos I shot and you’ll spot a few oddities.
Life at the zoo
I miss being lazy. I yearn for the days of sitting around doing nothing on Friday and Saturday. Catching up on TV, lounging around, eating leisurely meals, etc. However, those days are over and will only be available again about 20 years down the line or so. It was a bit easier when my daughter was younger and napping twice a day. That was a guaranteed 4 hours I had to chill. These days she’s napping once a day for only an hour and a half. When she’s awake she is a high octane ball of energy and she gets bored around the house pretty easily despite the dozens of toys. With this in mind we recently purchased a membership to the Ramat Gan safari/zoo. We’ve been going pretty much every weekend for the two months and the reasonable cost for yearly membership has already paid for itself. A good, sound investment, and only 20 minutes away. She already knows her way around. She know the “elephen” is to the left and the “monkey” is to the right. She doesn’t care much for the birds. But said “woah” when a giraffe almost licked her. Her favorite animal is still the “beebras” (zebras). Its amazing how much she retains from the few hours we spent at the zoo. Just yesterday, five days after we visited she jumped on my wife’s back and said “tzofie baby monkey.” She now requests “baby monkey” every five minutes. I love this kid.
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