Tel Aviv Diary: Karen Alkalay-Gut

A walk through the neighborhood made it clear that the articles about Ramat Aviv are true – there IS a plan to take over the neighborhood. It was a time of havdalah, three stars in the sky, and the only people in the street were families with one parent in charedi clothing and a few children. A man with two bottles of wine and three children, a woman with two children hanging on to a stroller of twins. A family here, a family there. “Is this the way I remember this street?” I said, thinking that I was expecting the usual joggers and fast walkers, and suddenly I had a flashback to when I first came to live here and was awakened by the donkey braying next door and the rooster who couldn’t figure out daylight savings. Sheep would come by, a Bedouin boy with a stick leading them down the street. Except for the rooster, none of this bothered me.