A Birthday Greeting from Tel Aviv – An Imaginary letter

Greetings stranger! Welcome to the well-worn shores of the liveliest city in the Promised Land, where every square is contested, where every truth has two sides and where the sacred and profane wonderfully coexist.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

I hope you are finding your way around my countless squares, sipping coffees from my beloved cafes (don’t you just love the fact that I have no Starbucks here?), and having delectable feasts in my fine restaurants. I have several suggestions in mind but I’ll leave it to your adventurous palate for discovery.

I see you’ve been to the pretty boulevards in my midst. Didn’t you enjoy watching families, teenagers, pets and what-have-you converge on such a narrow strip? An island of normalcy in an otherwise river of insanity? Well, that was part of the plan.

I write because I feel truly delighted that you chose to celebrate your special day with me. Chosen – well, I notice that you don’t really like that word a lot these days. So you feel it was a reckless idea to come here in the first place? Good grief. Stop whining. There is no such thing as an accident, in my opinion. Cheer up, you’re stuck with me for the next two months. Let us make the most out of it. How so, you ask. Well, I have some interesting ideas. But you can start by standing up and not sulking in the corner for being stupid/brave (whichever you are in the mood to use) in coming here, not knowing one word of my beautiful language and not being able to answer countless questions why you came in the first place. You see -I am good at drawing people in. It’s not you – it’s me. Who can resist my charms?

So sit back, relax or wander around. Get Lost. Be found. The Mediterranean is there to soothe your ears. I guarantee that you will come back and feel that it was, at least, for two months, like home.

Love and best wishes for an exciting year ahead,

the city that never sleeps,Tel Aviv