Fun & Historical Tel Aviv Street names you might recognize!

Tel Aviv is full of surprises. In the White City you won’t only find some of the most breathtaking sunsets of your life, some spectacular coasts to surf, and some spectacular bars and restaurants to hang out with your family and friends. No, in Tel Aviv you will find much more than just that.

For example, if you are looking for an amazing place to have a date, Tel Aviv has lots of options to offer. Also, if you want a genuine Israeli experience in Tel Aviv, you can take a look at our 48-hours in Tel Aviv article, and decide how to spend 2 magnificent days in the city of Bauhaus architecture.

Now, we want to talk about something else. Something about Tel Aviv that once you notice it, it will keep you happy and entertained while walking through the city, even if you are not eating one of the best shawarmas in town… Are you ready to keep yourself happy, interested and laughing?

At this opportunity, we want to talk about some fun and historical Tel Aviv street names. Did you know that Tel Aviv has a street named “What’s that?”… Well, let us guide you through some of these street names, and if you happen to be there on your next visit to Israel, send a selfie our way with the street sign above you!

Tel Aviv Streets: History and Judaism

Let’s begin with the historical ones. As you know, Tel Aviv, and the entire State of Israel, is an open sky museum… and you can also experience it while seeing some of its street names. We are sure you will recognize some of these characters and places.

Of course, there are hundreds of streets named after important people or places. We love Peretz Hayut, Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion, Begin and all others, but we decided to pick only a few… please don’t get offended!

Are you ready? Here we go!

Metsada St

Metsada is a highly important place in Jewish history, and even though Mount Metsada is a bit far from the White City, Tel Aviv wanted to honor Menahem and his people by having a street named after this glorious, beautiful place.

Ben Yehuda St

We’ve talked about Ben Yehuda several times in the past. Actually, we owe him (and his son) many of the words we use in modern Hebrew, and most of the words you could learn by joining one of the online Hebrew courses offered by Rosen School of Hebrew. In Tel Aviv, this is a beautiful street located just a few meters from the sea, and it is the location of some delicious restaurants you don’t want to miss.

Lincoln St

Yes, you heard it right: Lincoln! On your way to South Tel Aviv from the center of the city, you’ll pass by Lincoln St., a gorgeous street named after the 16th president of the United States. Right on this street, you can find the Tachtit Cafe, a trendy place for locals with a unique Tel Aviv vibe. Are you on your way there already?

Rothschild St

This lovely street full of bars, restaurants, historical places, lovely Israelis, and precious ancient trees is named after Baron Rothschild, a wealthy and very generous Jewish man who donated a lot of money to Israel, and to the city of Tel Aviv. In order to thank Sir Nathan Rothschild for his generosity, the city named this spectacular street after him.

Did you know that the place where David Ben Gurion declared Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948 is located in this Avenue? Well… now you do!

Funny Tel Aviv Street Names

Some Tel Aviv streets are quite funny, and they could provide you with more than one hilarious taxi story to share with your friends and family. We will share 2 of these examples with you, and let you discover the others while discovering the city… We don’t like spoilers!

Mazeh

Mazeh Street, which is very near both Rothschild and Lincoln, is a very peculiar street. Why? You may ask… Because Mazeh can mean a lot of things, but it also means “What’s that?”. Actually, in Hebrew you ask מה זה (pronounced mah-zeh) when you have no idea what are you looking at, tasting, or hearing. Yes, you are right… it is spelled different, but since you always ask for directions while speaking this street may cause you more than one happy moment in the White City.

Le’an

Technically, this beautiful street isn’t located in Tel Aviv itself, but 300 meters away, in the city of Ramat Gan. This fully residential street with no bars or stores may not appear to be a cool one… but, what does it mean its name? Le’an, in Hebrew, means “Where to?”. Yes… now, try getting a cab from Mazeh to Le’an (‘What’s that’ to ‘Where to?’, please)… that is the real challenge! If you are lucky enough you’ll find the nice kind of Israeli driver and everything will be alright…

Learn some Hebrew today. The time is now!

It is time to learn some Hebrew! How will you read the street signs if you don’t? Or, how could you get the internal Israeli jokes without learning the language of our matriarchs?

Learning Hebrew has never been this easy and accessible. The Hebrew courses offered by the Rosen Hebrew School are online, live, and super fun and engaging. If you don’t learn Hebrew now, it is only because you don’t want to. So, what do you say?