Tel-Aviv, the First Century: Visions, Designs, Actualities

6 Dirt, Noise, and Misbehavior in the First Hebrew City: Letters of Complaint as a Historical Source

Files in the Tel-Aviv Historical Archive contain hundreds of letters of complaint dating from the Mandate era. Some, regarding a variety of issues, were filed by the Tel-Aviv Municipality (hereafter TAM) secretary under “Complaints.” Many others were filed under the specific topic of the complaint. Such letters, sent to the TAM by residents, officials, firms, local organizations, and visitors, can be found in files regarding gardening and cleaning, commerce and industry, licenses and transportation, to mention but a few examples. These letters serve as useful historical sources for reconstructing the daily reality in pre-state Tel-Aviv. The complaints reveal some of the less representative facets of the first Hebrew city, unattractive elements that were rarely photographed or filmed, hardly mentioned in formal presentations of the growing city, and, of course, never used in tourist brochures or Zionist propaganda. However, we should treat these sources—like any historical documents —with some skepticism. A letter of complaint has its own generic rules. In order to gain the reader’s full attention, and to increase the chances of the complaint ever being addressed, the writers have to put their case forcefully. In other words, letters of complaint are likely to include somewhat inflated descriptions, disproportions, and exaggerations . To make their point, writers often use a tone of sarcasm, dismay, and indignation. To goad the TAM into action, writers might either plead, or, more frequently, use direct or indirect threats, for instance a threat to publish the issue of complaint in the local press, or even to address the complaint to the higher British authorities. six Dirt, Noise, and Misbehavior in the First Hebrew City: Letters of Complaint as a Historical Source Anat Helman Letters of complaint contrast the real, daily life of Tel-Aviv, full of flaws and shortcomings, with the writers’ image of what the first Hebrew city should be like. The following complaints—a select sample from a large corpus—represent some elements of Tel-Aviv’s social reality, and provide the opportunity for discussing the writers’ understandings of culture, urbanity, and Zionism. “The Danger of Poisonous Air” In late 1922, Dr. Chamy, a resident of Lilenblum St. “near the Eden cinema -house,” complained to Mayor Meir Dizengoff about the market in his vicinity, lately opened by the TAM. He writes that the vendors put up their “sordid stalls” from which they sell fruit, vegetables, “killed hens,” fish, etc. The market opens at 4:30 in the morning, accompanied by cries and screams of peasants who bring in their wares on camels and donkeys or by cars. Fowls are being slaughtered, their blood “drying on the sands and the feathers flying in the wind.” The stalls are all dirty and “swarming with flies that attack [Dr. Chamy’s] house.” The sea breeze from the west carries into his house “all the infected odors” of the market, further enhanced by the heat. He explains that during the previous week his family suffered from headaches due to breathing in this “bad air.” The market has become a source of plague, he laments, as rats are roaming the streets. Dr. Chamy ends his letter with a request to move the market elsewhere, away from the Eden cinema, since that site draws to this street “hundreds of people” every day.1 The description of the market is somewhat hyperbolic, but the basic details presented are confirmed by other sources. The market in question , like other markets in Tel-Aviv, was a constant source of dirt and noise, a thriving breeding ground for rats.2 After an outbreak of plague in 1922, and under orders from the British authorities, the Eden market actually was moved from Lilenblum St. to another location. Interestingly , not all the residents in the vicinity shared Dr. Chamy’s objection to the market, and local shop owners claimed that its removal had seriously harmed the formerly thriving commerce in the neighborhood.3 Another detail in the letter that is corroborated by other sources is Chamy’s claim about Eden’s wide appeal. Eden, opened in 1914, was the first cinema house in town. We do not have exact figures about cinema Dirt, Noise, and Misbehavior in the first Hebrew City 95 96 Anat Helman attendance in the 1920s, but it was reported to be a highly popular pastime in Tel-Aviv.4 Thirteen years after the founding of Tel-Aviv as a “garden suburb,” just one year...