Giv'atayim
Encyclopedia
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
east of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
. It is part of the metropolitan area
Metropolitan area
The term metropolitan area refers to a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metropolitan area usually encompasses multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships,...
known as Gush Dan
Gush Dan
The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area , or Gush Dan , is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv and the Central Districts of Israel. The area is closely linked to the city of Tel Aviv through social, economic, and cultural ties. It is located along the Israeli Mediterranean coastline...
. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah
Second Aliyah
The Second Aliyah was an important and highly influential aliyah that took place between 1904 and 1914, during which approximately 40,000 Jews immigrated into Ottoman Palestine, mostly from the Russian Empire, some from Yemen....
. It has a population of 53,000.
The name of the city comes from the "two hills" on which it was established: Borochov Hill and Kozlovsky Hill. Kozlovsky is the highest hill in the Gush Dan region at 85 meters above sea level
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
. The city expanded in the 1930s so that today it is actually situated on 3 hills, Borochov, Kozlovsky and Rambam Hill.
History
Ber Borochov
Dov Ber Borochov was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement as well as a pioneer in the study of Yiddish as a language....
, founder of the Poalei Zion workers' party. Later, another 70 families joined the group, receiving smaller plots. The land was purchased with their private savings, but was voluntarily transferred to the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...
, which organized Jewish settlement at the time, in keeping with the pioneers' socialist beliefs.
Giv'atayim is credited for a number of breakthroughs in the early Jewish settlement movement, including establishing the first cooperative grocery store (Tzarkhaniya) that still functioned in the same location into the 1980s.
Over time, more neighborhoods developed: Sheinkin (1936), Givat Rambam
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
(1933), Kiryat Yosef (1934) and Arlozorov
Chaim Arlosoroff
Haim Arlozoroff was a Zionist leader in Palestine during the era of the British Mandate for Palestine and head of the political department of the Jewish Agency. Arlosoroff was assassinated while walking on the beach in Tel Aviv in 1933....
(1936). All these neighborhoods were merged to form a local council in August 1942. Giv'atayim was declared a city in 1959.
Geography
Giv'atayim is located east of Tel AvivTel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, and is bordered on the north and east by Ramat Gan.
Education
Giv'atayim has 41 kindergartens, 9 elementary schools and 4 high schools. The city has Israel's highest rate of secondary school matriculation. and the highest rate of "Bagrut" or S.A.T rate in the Tel-Aviv metropolitan area. Mayor Ruven Ben-Shachar innitiated a special high school exam assistance program that after 3 years resulted in a 11% increase of high school test results in 2010.Mayors
- Shimon Ben-Zvi (1941–1965)
- Kuba Kraizman (1965–1978)
- Yizhak Yaron (1978–1993)
- Efi (Ephraim) Schtenzler (1993–2006)
- Iris Avram, replaced the previous mayor due to his early resignation (November 9, 2006–January 16, 2007)
- Reuven Ben-Shahar (2007–)
Reuven Ben-Shahar (the current mayor) was the first candidate from Kadima
Kadima
Kadima is a centrist and liberal political party in Israel. It was established on 24 November 2005 by moderates from Likud largely to support the issue of Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and was soon joined by like-minded Labor politicians...
that won a city election and the first mayor in Giv'atayim that was not from the Israeli Labor Party
Twin towns — sister cities
Giv'atayim is twinnedTown twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
with: Sfântu Gheorghe
Sfântu Gheorghe
Sfântu Gheorghe is the capital city of Covasna County, Romania. Located in the central part of the country and in the historical region of Transylvania, it lies on the Olt River in a valley between the Baraolt Mountains and Bodoc Mountains...
, Romania Oradea, Romania Arad, Romania
Arad, Romania
Arad is the capital city of Arad County, in western Romania, in the Crişana region, on the river Mureş.An important industrial center and transportation hub, Arad is also the seat of a Romanian Orthodox archbishop and features two universities, a Romanian Orthodox theological seminary, a training...
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in the US state of Tennessee , with a population of 169,887. It is the seat of Hamilton County...
Harbin
Harbin
Harbin ; Manchu language: , Harbin; Russian: Харби́н Kharbin ), is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China, lying on the southern bank of the Songhua River...
, China Vác
Vác
Vác is a town in Pest county in Hungary with approximately 35,000 inhabitants. The archaic spellings of the name are Vacz and Vacs.-Location:...
, Hungary