Vienna: Tel Aviv Beach – promoting international understanding on the Danube Canal

A beach atmosphere, good food, music, films, dialogue, new contacts: the Tel Aviv Beach on the Danube Canal, co-organised with Israel to mark the 100-year anniversary of the vibrant Israeli city, will enrich summer life in Vienna from May to September. The City of Vienna also supports the project designed to promote international understanding.

Guy Feldman, the initiator of the Tel Aviv Beach and deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of Israel in Austria, told wieninternational.at correspondent Ferdinand Hennerbichler what makes the hip new location on the Danube Canal so special and what it has to offer.

wieninternational.at: Guy Feldman, how did you get the idea for this beach?
Guy Feldman: We basically decided that there is a very big Israeli secret that no one is talking about. Everybody is talking about the Middle East conflict or anti-Semitism but no one talks about (normal) life in Israel, education, fun, beaches, science. All those things are kept aside and no one is talking about that. So we decided to get the people of Austria and the people of Israel closer together to see what life really is like. Just something full of life and happiness and fun, and educated, to show that Israel is, after all, a very nice place to live. For example, no one knows about the fantastic Medical School in Beersheba University (the biggest city in the Negev desert in southern Israel) that has a very unique working programme with the Bedouins in the area who have specific health problems. I think it is one of the leading schools dealing with this subject. So this was the main thing.



wieninternational.at: So the occasion was to celebrate 100 years of the foundation of Tel Aviv. And this gave you the idea to launch this Tel Aviv Beach project in Vienna and other places.
Guy Feldman: Vienna is a wonderful city, one of the best places to live. And I thought there’s one thing missing in Vienna, that’s a beach. Well, you don’t have a sea here but a beach might be possible. And I thought it’s wonderful project, Tel Aviv is a wonderful city to present as a gate to Israel, Vienna doesn’t have a beach and I thought that might be a very nice connection. Then I started knocking on all kinds of doors to find out if this project can come alive, and I’m very happy to say it did, in less than a year and a half from the first initial idea.

“Tel Aviv” – the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl’s last book

wieninternational.at: Why did you choose the Danube Canal?
Guy Feldman: Well, basically, if you want to make a beach you need some water. The Danube is out of the city centre. This (the Canal) is inside the city centre. So that was good. The second aspect was that it (the area along the Danube Canal) is in the 2nd district which historically used to be a Jewish place, and it seems to connect nicely with that. And one interesting background connection was that (Theodor) Herzl, who lived in Vienna, wrote his famous book _Altneuland_ (his last literary work) in Vienna and it was translated into Hebrew back then by one of the leaders in Israel, (Nahum) Sokolov, as _Tel Aviv_ (roughly means “hills of spring”). So you might say that the name of the first Hebrew city was made up here in Vienna.



wieninternational.at: I understand that there is not only this event around the Tel Aviv Beach on the Danube Canal but there are lot of others as well. What else can we expect?
Guy Feldman: There are going to be other Tel Aviv Beaches in New York, Paris, Copenhagen, but nothing like what’s going on here in Vienna.

wieninternational.at: …so what is going on here in Vienna?
Guy Feldman: Firstly, it (the Tel Aviv Beach on the Danube Canal) is a huge place. There is good food by Haya Molcho on one side. On the other side we have a stage where artists from electronic music to Klezmer will perform. And movies from Israel will be shown too. And in between we have quite a large area covered with sea sand which we flew in from Israel, from the beach in Tel Aviv – together with original beach chairs from there.

wieninternational.at: … all the sand from Tel Aviv?
Guy Feldman: All of it and the tables too. And the menus are in Hebrew, Arabic, German and English. So you can really get the atmosphere. And hopefully we can also have a lot of international activities there. It will be a unique place right in the heart of the city. Beach atmosphere, very easy-going, sophisticated, but not too remote – basically, just like Tel Aviv is. I was there yesterday. It was sunny, it was fun, full of people. We are exporting the vitality of the city of Tel Aviv and the spirit of Israel.

Vibrant Jewish community in Vienna

wieninternational.at: Do you have the feeling that Jews are back in Vienna?
Guy Feldman: The Jewish community here is very positive, very vibrant. I think they are already very much embedded in Vienna. Any cooperation of the City of Vienna with its citizens, in that case the Jewish community, is very welcome. I see them all over the place, on the tramway, they are part of the city, a vital part of the city. And I hope to see them at the Tel Aviv Beach too. The city itself is very nice and easy-going – as we mentioned, this is one of the best cities to live. And there are a lot of things going on here. The Jewish community itself is organising a lot of events. I would really like to see even more cooperation, things going on between the city and the Jewish community, on open ground just to encourage the two to be even more in the open. But basically you have a very good community going on.

Jews feel secure in Vienna today

wieninternational.at: Do Jews feel secure in Vienna today?
Guy Feldman: I guess so but you should ask the Jewish community. As far as I can see they feel very safe (in Vienna).




wieninternational.at: Can we expect this kind of cooperation to continue and to be extended in the future?
Guy Feldman: I surely hope so. You know the City of Vienna would like to do a lot of things but then the budget holds it back. But specifically in this year (of international financial crisis) having this kind of beach is extraordinary. With all that’s happening in the world, it’s a very hard financial area – but it’s a sign. We are opening our hands and we want to share a lot of things that are in Israel, in our hearts and lives, much more than you might even know. So do come and share it with us, and hopefully we can have an even bigger event next year.

wieninternational.at: Guy Feldman, thank you very much.