Givatayim

Giv'atayim
Hebrew transcription(s)
• Hebrew	גִּבְעָתַיִם
• ISO 259	Gibˁataym
• Also spelled	Givatayim (official) Givataim (unofficial)
Panorama of Giv'atayim
Logo
Giv'atayim
Coordinates: 32°04′11″N 34°48′42″E / 32.06972°N 34.81167°E / 32.06972; 34.81167Coordinates: 32°04′11″N 34°48′42″E / 32.06972°N 34.81167°E / 32.06972; 34.81167
District	Tel Aviv
Founded	1922
Government
• Type	City (from 1959)
• Mayor	Reuven Ben-Shahar
Area
• Total	3,211 dunams (3.2 km2 / 1.2 sq mi)
Population (2009)[1]
• Total	53,000
Name meaning	Two hills

Location of Giv'atayim in the Tel Aviv District

Giv'atayim (Hebrew: גִּבְעָתַיִם‎‎, lit. "two hills") is a city in Israel east of Tel Aviv. It is part of the metropolitan area known as Gush Dan. Givatayim was established in 1922 by pioneers of the Second Aliyah. It has a population of 53,000.^[1]

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. The city expanded in the 1930s so that today it is actually situated on 3 hills, Borochov, Kozlovsky and Rambam Hill.

History

Givatayaim City hall

Giv'atayim mall

Archaeological ruins date settlement on the site of what is now Giv'atayim back to the Calcolithic period. The modern town was founded on April 2, 1922 by a group of 22 Second Aliyah pioneers led by David Schneiderman. The group purchased 300 dunams (300,000 square metres (3,200,000 sq ft)) of land on the outskirts of Tel Aviv that became the Borochov neighborhood, the first workers' neighborhood in the country. It was named for Dov Ber Borochov, 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, which organized Jewish settlement at the time, in keeping with the pioneers' socialist beliefs.^[2]

Giv'atayim is credited for a number of breakthroughs in the early Jewish settlement movement, including establishing the first cooperative grocery store (Tzarkhaniya) ^[3] that still functioned in the same location into the 1980s.

Over time, more neighborhoods developed: Sheinkin (1936), Givat Rambam (1933), Kiryat Yosef (1934) and Arlozorov (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 Aviv, 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.^{[citation needed]} 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 that won a city election and the first mayor in Giv'atayim that was not from the Israeli Labor Party

Notable residents

• Oded Kattash, basketball player and coach

Twin towns — sister cities

Giv'atayim is twinned with:

• Sfântu Gheorghe, Romania
• Oradea, Romania
• Arad, Romania
• Chattanooga, Tennessee
• Harbin, China^[4]
• Vác, Hungary

References

External links

• Official website

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