The most popular street names are the names of the Zionist founding fathers. Theodor Herzl, the father of modern political Zionism, has more central thoroughfares named after him than anyone else the main streets of Netanya, Rehovot and Rishon Lezion, for example. A visitor to the country might be forgiven for thinking that Herzl was the Hebrew translation of the British High Street or the American Main Street.
by Simon Griver
The repetitive use of founding fathers names can be very confusing, particularly in the Greater Tel Aviv conurbation where one municipality leads into another. Jabotinsky Street in Tel Aviv, named after Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founding father of the revisionist Zionist movement, ends less than a kilometer from where Jabotinsky Street in Ramat Gan begins. The distance between Arlozoroff Street in Tel Aviv and that in Ramat Gan is even less. However, Tel Aviv probably has a prior claim to the name, because the Tel Aviv street reaches the beach where the labor Zionist leader was assassinated in 1933.
Ben-Gurion Street in Tel Aviv also has a relevance to the man it is named after. The street, originally named Keren Kayemet (JNF) Street, passes the house where Israels first prime minister once lived.
Jerusalems Golda Meir Boulevard, named after Israels prime minister in the early 70s, leads to the northern suburb of Ramot and is joined en route by the recently completed Menachem Begin Boulevard, a six lane highway which cuts a swathe through the citys suburbs from north to south, named after the prime minister in the late 70s and early 80s. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (1974-77, 1992-95) is commemorated on a new highway along Jerusalems government complex.
Tel Aviv, though, has a more solid historical connection to Yitzhak Rabin: Malchei Yisrael (Kings of Israel) Square, where he was assassinated in 1995, has been renamed Yitzhak Rabin Square.
With independence, municipal authorities decided to rename most of the streets labeled by the British. While King George V Street in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem remained, the Jerusalem street named after Princess Mary became Queen Shlomzion Street, named after the Hasmonean queen (76-67 BCE). General Allenby, Lloyd George and Lord Balfour streets honoring British leaders who championed Jewish rights to a homeland all remained in place.
Street names often reflect the type of neighborhood in which they are located. Streets in ultra-orthodox quarters are named after eminent rabbis, while Arab neighborhoods have streets named after great Arab leaders. Street names also sometimes reflect local themes; the main street in Raanana is Ahuza Street, after the name of the fund which helped build the town, and the main street of Karkur near Hadera is Rehov Samuel Kaufmann, the villages founder. In the Rehavia neighborhood of Jerusalem, streets are named after personalities from the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry, such as Ibn Gbriol, Ibn Ezra, Alharizi, Metudella and the Ramban.
Other themes are universal. Many cities have streets named after trees, flowers and birds. The streets in Jerusalems Talbieh quarter are named after great American presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington while in the neighborhood of Kiryat Hayovel, streets are named after Latin American countries.
Many Israeli streets helpfully indicate the direction in which the road leads. Thus, Jerusalems Hebron Road and Bethlehem Road lead southwards to Hebron and Bethlehem, while Shechem (Nablus) Road leads northwards to Nablus. The citys main street Jaffa Road leads westwards to Tel Aviv-Yafo, while Yafo itself returns the compliment by calling its main street Jerusalem Boulevard. Tel Aviv also has a Petah Tikvah Road leading to that city.
One of Tel Avivs main streets, named after former mayor Meir Dizengoff, has even given a verb to the Hebrew language lehizdangef: to amble aimlessly up and down, to see and be seen, stop to chat with friends and maybe sip coffee at a streetside cafe. It is possible lehizdangef in any number of central streets, including the capitals Ben-Yehuda Street, a pedestrian mall, named after the founder of modern Hebrew, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who might not have approved of such linguistic creativity.
The prize of pride goes to Rehovot. Proud that Chaim Weizmann, Israels first president, made his presidential home in the city, two streets near the Weizmann Institute are named for him: Weizmann Street and Hanasi Harishon (the first president) Street.
The award for the most defiantly named street in Israel has to be Haifas Zionism Avenue. Originally named United Nations Avenue, this road, on Mount Carmel, was renamed in 1975 when the UN General Assembly passed a resolution equating Zionism with racism. The name was not changed back when the resolution was repealed in 1992.
The most peculiar set of names belongs to Tel Aviv, which has named two small lanes near the old town hall just off Allenby Road as Unknown Alley and Anonymous Alley. More ordinary, Jaffas streets are named in the American fashion by numbers, and although most streets have since been changed to "real" names, such thoroughfares as Street 193 still remain.
And perhaps the most cryptically named street is Rehov Hagidem, in Jerusalem as well as in Haifa. Its meaning: street of the amputated one; it was named after Joseph Trumpledor, who was killed defending the northern settlement of Tel Hai, and who had previously lost an arm when fighting for Russia against Japan in 1906.