This largest all-Jewish city in the world, today started celebrating the 50th anniversary of its existence. All streets are illuminated with special electric light displays, all public institutions are decorated, and flags are flying from virtually every building in this city of 400, 000.
Tonight, in the home of the late Mayor Meir Dizengoff, the city’s top administrative official for many years, the Municipal Council will hold a meeting where the opening of the jubilee celebration will be formally launched. Among guests specially invited to this festive meeting will be 26 of the city’s original settlers–three men with their wives, and 20 widows. All were among the group of Jews who came out to the sand-dune area beyond Jaffa, 50 years ago, to establish their own town in the wilderness.
Parades, carnivals, and other celebrations are scheduled during the coming weeks. Mayor Haim Levanon has issued a special proclamation inviting all residents of the city and many tourists and foreign guests to help celebrate the city’s anniversary. One of the scheduled events that is expected to bring large numbers of visitors here this year, not only from Israel but also from abroad, will be the Levant Fair, which will open next August.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
