Streets of Marble
If you want to take a glance at history of Zionism, you better visit Trumpeldor Cemetery in Tel Aviv
In 1902, a cholera plague hit the coastal city of Jaffa. The city’s Muslim, Christian and Jewish cemeteries were filling up quickly and a decision was made to build a new cemetery outside the city’s limits. Shimon Rokach, one of the leaders of Jewish Community in Jaffa and founder of Neve Tzedek neighborhood, executed the decision and purchased a distant sand lot.
A "Black Wedding" ceremony where two orphans are married was held immediately following the burial of the victims, aimed at stopping the curse of plague. The ceremony proved to be a big success as the plague ended, and Jaffa’s residents went back to burying their dead in the ancient city’s cemeteries.
Thus, Seven years later, in 1909, when the foundation to Tel Aviv was laid, the settlement had a ready-made cemetery.
Since then, the Trumpeldor Cemetery has become a pantheon. Major figures of Zionist movements, artists, authors and politicians are all buried there. Among the gravestones one might find National poet Bialik, Arlozorov, Tshernichovski, Ehad Ha’Am, Nahum Gutman, Rubin, Nordeo, Sheinkin and many more. A tour of the cemetery is comparable to a travel through the history of Zionism.
'Revival'
Among the lavish headstones, many graves have heartbreaking inscription: "Solitary," a single word to summarize the lives of those early pioneers who left their homes in the Old Country to settle the land of the fathers and died of a disease, war or exhaustion without a soul by their side that even knew their names.
Recently the cemetery enjoyed a "revival" as leading figures in Israeli culture and politics joined its ranks: Shoshana Damari, Efraim Kishon and Prof. Yuval Ne’eman all rest there.
You too can join, when your time comes, as long as you can afford to pay the meager sum of 100,000 NIS (about USD 22,000) for the pleasure.
Tsafrir Corcia is a tour guide and a researcher of the history of Tel Aviv and Jaffa. Tours are available to organized groups in Hebrew and English. He can be reached at [email protected]
