The Local Tel-Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo Tours
& nostalgic talks
With Michal Minsky
A journey to the old holidays celebrations lectures
A nostalgic, exciting and funny journey to the customs of holidays and celebrations in young Israel, through original photographs, rare videos and old advertisements.
The lectures are also delivered in English.
The length of all lectures is about an hour.
Nowadays, with the deployment of the New Year we send a generic Happy New Year message via WhatsApp or email, but for decades it was customary in Israel and the Diaspora to send Happy New Year letters that were an integral part of popular culture. The New Year Letters were a platform that reflected what was happening at that time and dealt with issues that were an integral part of the daily life of the Jewish people. In this lecture we will embark on a visual journey saturated with kitsch and glitter and review the history of New Year's letters from their birth in Europe in the mid-19th century to the 90s of the previous century: where was the custom born? What were the prevailing images? What did the Israel Post do in order not to collapse during the new year and how did the singer Madonna fit into the custom?
A journey to 1940's-1960's Hanukkah of yesteryear
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Purim celebrations in Tel Aviv have always been characterized by large parties, Adlaide processions, colorful costumes and the first Hebrew city was washed away with celebrations for several days. In this lecture we will review the Purim celebrations in the city from the 1920s to the 1960s: What have been the popular costumes over the years? Who was crowned Queen Esther the First Yemenite and what happened to her? Who is the gang that found itself on the defendants' benches of the British court due to an attempt to sabotage the Adlaideh processions and how the pair of monkeys and puppies from the municipal zoo are associated with the holiday? Together we will embark on an entertaining Purim journey through the city streets.