Parties, “Shooks” & Shoes

by Niki Hadany (United States of America)

I didn't expect to find Israel

My family moved to Israel when I was 5 years old and we resided there for 7 years. My dad is from there which was part of the reasoning for going - it was either that or Vegas and Israel for some reason won the coin toss. What I didn’t expect from spending the better part of my childhood there was that I was going to grow so deep in love with it that I would end up having way more fun and experience way more freedom as a kid there than I do now in my adult life living as a 31 year old female in L.A. As a child in Israel, by the way we we lived in a small town called Ra’anana which was about 25 minutes north of Tel Aviv, I was blown away by the level of relaxedness and laissez faire attitudes that parents had toward their 12 year old children staying out until 6 in the morning after partying all night at Bar and Bat-Mitzvah clubs, or “diskoteks” as their called over there. I mean as a kid growing up in Israel you are pretty much winning for the ages of 12 and 13 which are the years when everyone in your class turns that age and there are literally Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties almost every single weekend of the year for 2 years. Not too shabby when you are being picked up in a party-bus headed to a private venue that’s been rented out and fully supplied with food and virgin drinks for you and your friends to enjoy at no cost. Please tell me where I can find that kind of gig now? If if exists beyond the golden years of my teenagehood. Another experience in Israel that makes it such a fun and alive place to be, are the “shooks” or outdoor marketplaces where you can find pretty much everything from spices to candy, to jewelry, to produce, to clothing, to bootlegged CDs and DVDS. In Tel Aviv there is a very cool divergence of Jewish and Arab cultures which is also ever present in the shooks. Jaffa “the old city” as they call it is the historic and heavily Arab influenced part of the city and it is home to cobblestone streets and some of the best and most authentic middle eastern food in the country. Tables covered with small side plates of delicious salads and dips, hummus, tahini, babba ganoush, pickles, soft cheeses, cabbage slaw, olives, pita, falafel and kibbe (fried dough balls filled with lamb and pine nuts) are the standard at the legendary Jaffa restaurant “Aboulafia”. And of course while you’re in Tel Aviv you want to visit the beach which as a kid growing up felt like a religious experience. Every weekend of every summer was celebrated by going with my best friend and her mother to the beach. The beach was our church and watermelon was our daily bread, which is also an integral part of the Israeli beach experience, along with ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream. Strolling through town after the beach in the summer in Israel is also a favorite past-time. What you seem to notice after walking through the hippest and most chic clothing stores in Tel Aviv is that there are more women’s shoes stores per capita than almost any other type of retail store. Cafes and “makolets”, or mini convenience shops like our version of 7-11’s, are also found in abundance but man, are women in-to shoes in Israel. And for good reason. Because of Israel’s juxtaposition between Africa, Europe and Asia it receives a lot of diverse cultural influences which are prevent in both the fashion and in Israeli music. Cute and comfortable platform-style sandals are all the rage in Israel regardless of age. I remember getting my first pair of rainbow Rocket Dog platform thongs when I was about twelve and rocking them til there was no tomorrow. Life as a kid in Israel is and was incredibly liberating and I thank my parents for taking me. If given the opportunity, I can’t recommend enough for parents to raise their children abroad for a time.