Isn’t 2020 great? This is the best time of the year to visit Tel Aviv, but even people in Tel Aviv don’t want to be in Tel Aviv right now. Or rather, not stuck at home and not even able to go to the beach or sit in a cafe or party all night or do any of the things that make Tel Aviv the wonderful place it is.
But wait, what’s this? There are actually some Tel Aviv related things you can still do online and while some are a poor substitute for the original, others are far more interesting. Also, this is our life now, so any form of entertainment is pretty welcome right now.
Aaaaaanyway, if you’re missing the Tel Aviv vibe, DIY Tel Aviv is for you with some options. See you on the other side.
Music
KzRadio, which is my favourite Israeli radio station (and not just because I used to work there), is still blasting amazing music online as always, with lots of great shows to choose from. If you want to know what Israeli alternative and electronic music fans listen to, you should go there and listen to some shows.
Teder.fm has rebranded itself as “Seger.fm” (“seger” means “lockdown” in Hebrew) and is transmitting live every day from 14:00 – 00:00 Israel time, though the archives are open 24 hours a day for your listening pleasure. Lots of great alternative sounds from Israel and beyond.
The Block Club may be shut, but their Soundcloud is full of DJ sets recorded at their events.
Beit Haamudim, Tel Aviv’s awesome little jazz club is sharing daily music recommendations on their home page, from some of the great Israeli artists who perform there.
The Zimmer, Tel Aviv’s one true underground venue, featured a list of cool things to listen to in their latest newsletter. Punk lovers, rejoice! Here’s stuff from Suicidal Furniture, Refuse to Die, Social Virus, Pgooay Moach on Ketamin, Mujahideen, Meshukatzot, and Moon Gear. You can also check out the 10th year anniversary collection.
Digitel, from the Tel Aviv municipality is sharing all kinds of stuff to do in isolation, including some live music gigs that will be broadcast on “Facebook live” through the page. Most of them are pretty mainstream and not that exciting, but today (April 6) from 18:00 Israel time there’s Shai Tsabari, and tomorrow (April 7) from 16:00 there’s the East West Orchesta with Yasmin Levi and then Hila Ruach at 22:15.
A while back, I made some Spotify playlists of Israeli music, which are more relevant than ever today! You can check out a four hour list of Israeli alternative sounds here, and a list of Israeli alternative music from the 90s here.
Party
There is apparently a virtual party coming up on April 10, set in a VR world based on a 3D scan of Tel Aviv. How awesome? Here’s the Facebook event. You apparently don’t need any special equipment, just to download some chat programme, but it won’t work on Macs, though possibly it will if you use a virtual machine. All details are in the event link.
Activities
The good Gaga movement people are offering free Zoom classes (suggested donation $5 per class, but you can access the classes for free and pay when you can / if you want). While it’s not quite the same as doing a class with lots of other people present, plus, at least for me, it’s impossible to really hear the music properly when the teacher is talking, this is a fun way to move around if you’re stuck at home. There are a bunch of classes a day from both Tel Aviv and NYC. You can find out everything and sign up to classes on their fundraiser page. If you want to learn more about Gaga, you can visit their site. You don’t need to have any dance experience or be fit to join and do a class.
Fluent TLV are doing a bunch of online classes, plus some online language exchanges. If you want to learn Hebrew or teach your own language to others while meeting up with people from Tel Aviv and beyond, this is a good thing for you to do.
This is not an ulpan are also offering online Hebrew intensives from beginner to intermediate level and are certainly not your average ulpan.
If you want to use this time to quaranteach yourself Hebrew, you may also enjoy the Streetwise Hebrew podcast (useful if you speak a bit of Hebrew already and want to learn about language usage, slang, etc.) or do a discounted online course in your own time with Hebrewpod101. Full disclosure: I’m a Hebrewpod101 affiliate, so if you sign up for a course, I get a small commission (which is handy nowadays when nobody’s buying travel guides). It also means that if you use the discount code “DIYTELAVIV” you get to save up to 25% on some courses.
Studio Naim, my favourite yoga / dance studio in town is now doing virtual Zoom classes by many of its teachers. They will also be uploading recordings you can view in your own time later on. I assume many of these will be in English as many students don’t speak Hebrew.
The wonderful Ava whose amazing Zumba and stretch classes I used to go to at Studio Naim is offering all kinds fitness classes on her Facebook page and they are in English.
The Stage are hosting a virtual poetry and story slam on April 30th. Watch the show or even participate yourself from anywhere in the world. The theme is “connection”.
Art
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art has some virtual tours of some current exhibitions, plus some voice tours (Hebrew, mostly, I think) and activities for kids (likewise). I like this one.
Virtual Tours
OK, so many of these are kinda old or otherwise not that exciting at all, but as my father used to say, “when you have no songbirds, even a pig is a nightingale” (yeah, it loses something in translation).
Want to see what bits of Tel Aviv looked like in 2011? You can do a bunch of 360 mini tours here.
I’m not really sure what the point of this site is, but you can have a guided tour of Tel Aviv university (looks like something out of Google streetview superimposed with an annoying American lady telling you stuff) or…look at pretty photos of Tel Aviv.
This “1 Day in Tel Aviv” thing from SamsungVR is kinda cool.