Trains

2.14.2025

I can’t really believe that I’m writing this right now. I have stopped myself from stopping to write a handful of times already. It’s ridiculous to write about trains during a time like this. 

Israel operates through building and planning, thinking, during unimaginable chaos. So I’m writing about trains. 

Israel faces isolation, both inside and out. Our internal separation could be even more dangerous than our growing international isolation. I don’t think we need to stay politically, economically, socially, and religiously estranged inside Israel. 

Tel Aviv is seen as a nation in a nation. I cringe when I hear that, although I know it’s true. Tel Aviv is radically different from the rest of Israel. The quality of life is simply not the same. This division clearly creates a loop of isolation in our national psyche. It can be most obviously seen, within the Charedi community, as they try their best to stay outside of secular society. But the separation can be felt everywhere you go; Jerusalem, the North, the South, the Shtachim. It’s palpable. 

You could say that Tel Aviv, and the central area, lean left wing, while the rest of the country swings right. I have a theory that it works a little something like this. The rest of the country, the North, the South, Jerusalem and its area, and the Shtachim, are mostly right wing, because of either being border areas, or simply being more religious. It’s the coalition between Likud loyalists, Shtachim focused people, and the Charedim. It plays into a narrative of isolated left wing elites, trying to steer politics in their way, while not caring about the rest of the country. There is a clear economic, social, and religious divide that I am trying to point at, and I think it is being propped up by mobility stagnation.

It’s not a bad thing that we are all so different of course, it's a beautiful thing. All different parts of the whole. It’s just that, we don't need to be isolated. When we are isolated from each other, we go further into what makes us different, and it fragments our society. These fragments create cracks, and that is quite dangerous. 

I’m proposing that the train system, and its future, as a part our way through this chaos. Growing the train system connects our different parts together, breaking the isolation. The more mobility we have, the higher our ability to be interconnected, interdependent, and integrated. Our ideologies will follow suit. The health of our  economic, social and political security depends on our infrastructure. 

Imagine if all parts of Israel felt easily accessible to live in, and work from, with high speed trains, interconnected. Imagine the safety of traveling, no longer needing to rely on sketchy roads. It can even provide a safer defense towards traffic terrorism, with proper security on the trains. Imagine what this would do for expanding and balancing our economy? 

The trains started in this land with the Ottomans. They had a line from Jaffa to Jerusalem, and they used it to control their territory. It was the first train line in the Middle East. It was a part of a larger train system project through the region, through Haifa up to Damascus and down to Cairo. It cut the travel time from Jaffa to Jerusalem from 2 days to 4 hours. But I don't think anyone from the Old Yeshuv was using it, as it was intended for the use of Ottoman officials.  

Then, when the British destroyed them in World War One, they took it. Used it to control the region for themselves. There is a fascinating legend of the Haganah; where the British’s army’s train broke down outside of their kibbutz near Rehovot on the Ayalon. Underneath the laundry, the Haganah was manufacturing bullets underground so that they wouldn’t get caught. When the train broke down, the Haganah went to rush in with help, to make sure that they didn't go snooping around and find the underground bullet factory. I just love that story. 

Camels are different from trains of course, but I would be amiss if I didn’t at least mention the ancient spice routes that would go through this land and throughout the Middle East. And even before that, there is Jaffa. The ancient port city is, after all, mentioned in the Tanach with the story of Jonah. 

I live in a neighborhood in between Jaffa and Neve Tzedek, the first kibbutz of Tel Aviv. This neighborhood was historically considered Jaffa before Tel Aviv was really created, in 1948. I live down the way from the Ottoman’s historic train station, and when I had first moved to Israel I lived at its other historic stop in Jerusalem. These stations were used to control the land for the regime, and now it’s a place where you can get artisanal coffee. Go figure. 

Right next to this historic train station by the sea, is a light rail stop, a new lovely piece of infrastructure. When I left Israel a few years ago it didn't exist yet. I just love to look at it go. From Bat Yam to Petah Tikva, through Bnei Brak. It connects to the train that goes up and down the coast of the country.

It’s a blessing to see the people moving around the city. I only wish of course, that it would run on Shabat and all night. That way we can really get around all the time. I wonder if not allowing the train to run on Shabat, or to be built on Shabat, stagnates its growth. Because while the current line is lovely, we clearly have very big plans and a long way to go. I can imagine a day where our railway system extends like roads where we live, and where we will one day live.  

When I think symbolically, my mind paints a map of interconnected meanings. So when thinking about trains, and Israel, and history, my mind of course went to the Holocaust. The Nazi’s death machine, powered through their trains. It’s a symbol of our destruction, of the hate that rises against us. 

And amidst all of that evil perpetrated against us, here we are building trains, creating our future, living in hope. 

What I’m illustrating here is that through expanding our ability to move in our land, and connecting our different parts together, our collective quality of life will grow. We will be able to communicate more easily, expand economically, and become more politically flexible and strengthened. If our systems are built on isolative ideologies, then infrastructure built on interconnected movement will help solve our stagnation on all fronts. 

During this time of chaos, it matters to think about the future in a constructive way. Thinking about these things helps me feel hopeful and motivated. 

I hope you have found it helpful too.