By Karin Kloosterman
and editorial staff

Is it really Middle Eastern Jerusalem for prayer, Mediterranean Tel Aviv for play and European Haifa for hard work?

It is rumoured that when Israel became a State, some of the nation’s greatest rabbis declared Tel Aviv to be the country’s holiest city. No other non-Jewish religious institution had yet laid claim to its spiritual turf. Today, with its throbbing nightlife, open sexuality and a general disregard for Jewish traditions such as kashrut and the Sabbath, Tel Aviv is anything but a rabbi’s dream. But there is a softer side to Tel Aviv; not the in-your-face kind of Judaism found in Jerusalem, but a spirituality quietly bubbling beneath the surface.

Defying Definitions

In Israel, in general, you are religious or you are not. Being “Religious” is like a declaration that you embrace certain political ideologies and therefore defined behaviour, while choosing the “not” category implies unlimited options on how you can express your faith.

Tel Aviv is hot on the ‘not.” Trends in Israel take hold rapidly and fast, however briefly, and workshops in every kind of new-age spirituality with a Jewish twist are there for the taking.

A little less on the ‘not’ side are the Reform and Conservative congregations in the city. If just soaking in spiritual vibes is more your thing, then there is no better place than African drumming at the Dolphinarium beach come sundown Friday.

Taking a reprieve from a hectic workweek, you will find a hodge-podge of Tel Avivians– young and old, single, married and/or very pregnant, new agers and hightechies all dancing together to the beat of the same drum.

”When I think back to my time in Tel Aviv, I think of an endless tour of cafes, and the people I met in them. In Israel I had an intellectual life I have never experienced anywhere else in the world.... Israelis did not really understand that there are few cities in the Western world any more where a man or a woman can walk a few meters to their coffee shop, order a cappuccino or latte, sit down with their newspaper and in a few mintues be talking about epistemology, false consiousness, Iranian theocracy, the Swedish novel and neo-colonialism.” Award winning novelist, Linda Grant from “The People on the Street”

Jerusalem Plays?

In Jerusalem you can hear muezzin calling Muslims to pray and the Church bells ringing simultaneously, set in the backdrop of Jews running around doing last minute shopping before the Sabbath. Moments before sundown on Friday, the city seems to take a giant sigh of relief and becomes quiet for at least 24 hours. Everyone in the world knows that Jerusalem is the Holy City. For Jews, Christians and Muslims it is a place of pilgrimage and a favored spot for reflection and prayer. But as Tel Aviv breaks out of its mold as a party city, so does Jerusalem as the city to pray.

According to the singer Faithless, God is a DJ. If so, perhaps he will be found playing some tunes around the collection of bars in downtown Jerusalem near Zion Square. On Thursday and Saturday nights, the narrow pedestrian streets are packed with young partiers in their early 20s. Higher up in the square itself, musicians perform Israeli folk songs on guitar, or rap their latest musings.

Although it is difficult for Jerusalem to compete with the cultural offerings of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem has taken its own direction. Tel Aviv directly serves a population of two million and can compare to any Western capital in terms of its music and dance scene. Whereas Tel Aviv wears that culture on its sleeve, Jerusalem is understated. Jay Rosen, a 25 years-old  student at Hebrew University, claims, “Jerusalem is a city waiting to be discovered.” He suggests heading inside Jerusalem’s openair market -- Machane Yehuda where the impromptu party will spill out into the streets. As for regular hangouts, he and other Hebrew University students prefer the pubs; “Sira on Ben Sira Street has an interesting feel,” says Rosen of the pub that offers cheap beer and a rare occasion for Arabs and Jews to clink their beer glasses together. The bar also posts listings for other events in the city -- events put on by young artists, such as the Bezalel Art Academy crowd, which can’t be found in newspapers. “It is important to explore Jerusalem to feel the real pulse of the city.”

“Jerusalem is a festival and a lamentation. Its song is a sigh across the ages, a delicate, robust, mournful psalm at the great junction of spiritual cultures.” David Shipler

City on a Hill

Sensible Haifa was known for its hardworking populace -- from the longshoremen at the port to the engineering professors at the Technion. Here lies the cradle of the new nation’s trade, a huge petrochemical industry as well as Microsoft operating systems.

While it hasn’t been transformed over the past two decades of affluence into a cultural or spiritual beacon,  it has certainly lightened up. And what it may lack in quirkiness, it makes up for in beauty.

View from the Bahai Shrine, Haifa

The tip of the Carmel range juts out into the sea with a deep water bay on its northern side creating stunning views from every angle -- of the sea coast, the bay, the rolling hills of the Galilee or the meandering seacoast past Acco to Lebanon. And when party-time comes, Haifans have learned to take to the streets.During Succot and Haifa’s International Film Festival, the city turns into a big block party. Aside from the thousands of movie-goers, the sidewalks fill with public performances, exhibitions, open markets and the like.

The unrivaled centerpiece of the city is the golden dome of the Bahai shrine set halfway up the slope of the mountain, a site for prayer and meditation. Just a step below its magnificent gardens is the newly renovated Ben-Gurion Boulevard, lined with restaurants and cafes. Here, with the matter-of-factness typical to Haifa, Jews and Arabs sit side by side. Jewish-Arab coexistence in Haifa happens -- in business, in leisure, in local politics, in the arts.

Urban Israel means a dose of hard work, a dose of leisure and a dose of spirituality. All share the Israeli street culture of cafes, evening strolls, and neighborliness. All retain the individuality of geography, population and temperament. Three three-dimensional cities - a combination of the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Europe - each 100% Israeli.