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A day that connects man and place By Orna Coussin Tags: Ford, Israel News Last Yom Kippur, I checked my watch to measure the exact time: Forty-five minutes of moderate walking, no more, to get from one end of the city to the other. From Salameh Street in south Tel Aviv, up Herzl Street, then Rothschild, Chen and Ben-Gurion boulevards, along Dizengoff Street at a leisurely pace, breathing easy, step after step, at the pace of one's thoughts, in the shadow of the ficus trees and poincianas, to the sounds of chirping birds, casual conversations, the whoosh of bicycle tires and the shouts of playing children - all the way to the broad lawns and eucalyptus trees and the banks of the Yarkon River that border the city in the north. A whole city in three-quarters of an hour, no more. This is Tel Aviv at its finest: a metropolis on a human scale and, at eye level, within walking distance. Of course, on any day of the year one can follow this route on foot, or wander the city from one point to another without any set destination, amid all the busy traffic and commerce and entertainment, all of which are the embodiment of what it means to be urban. But one day a year, Yom Kippur, the day when all engines are silenced, is without doubt a unique holiday in the world, a one-of-a-kind day to celebrate walking and the city. It's a mitzvah to leave the house on this day and roam the streets, to meet and be met, to see and be seen, to feel the stone and the asphalt, to take the measure of the roads, to get to know the city's open areas. Because for thoroughly secular folks like me, Yom Kippur isn't a day that atones for the sins of man against God (called hamakom in Hebrew, literally "the place"), but it surely is a day that connects man and place. Advertisement And now, this year more than ever, it makes sense to proclaim Yom Kippur an international day for pedestrians. Because a tremendously influential and historic event took place this week exactly 100 years ago: In October 1908, the first Model T rolled out of the Ford plant in Detroit, and thereafter the human race would never be the same. Henry Ford, the man behind the revolution, developed the assembly-line method in his factory and invented the conveyor belt - by which each worker performed one simple task over and over again, and was no longer responsible for the entire production process. In so doing, he laid the foundations for the consumer culture: efficiency, utilitarianism, uniformity, accessibility, convenience - and, yes, a car for every worker, and a whole world that would be built around and for the sake of the car. It's interesting to recall: Before 1908, cities were not much affected by private vehicles. Private cars were reserved for the very rich, and skilled, hired drivers ferried them through the streets of their kingdoms. The urban masses got around on foot, or bicycle, or by public transportation. Then Ford came along and manufactured a car that anyone could drive and anyone could buy: A Model T was manufactured in just 93 minutes and cost $825 (that was the price in 1908; by 1916, the price was down to $360), and was supported by extremely persuasive advertising. In the early 1920s, there were almost 10 million cars on the road in the United States, about half of them made by the Ford Motor Company. Within five years, there was an average of one car for every six citizens; in Britain, the rate at the time was still just one car per 100 citizens. By the end of the 1920s, there were 26.5 million cars on America's roads, one for every 4.6 citizens, and a hitherto unknown social phenomenon began to spread - two-car families (all of this information comes from the archives of the American automobile industry). Henry Ford and his successors managed to ingrain in American society, and all the other societies in the world that are influenced by it, the essentialness of the private car as a symbol of normalcy, of what every family should have, of a way of life. Not only did the advances of the American automobile industry eventually lead to the paving of highways and the elimination of railroad lines, the construction of vast suburbs and shopping malls; not only was the face of the earth changed beyond recognition for the sake of private transportation; but the very idea of the "private car" spawned an entire system of values and thinking that we've all eagerly adopted, unquestioningly, as self-evident. A century after the birth of the Model T, the average American household has more than one car, gas is running out, air pollution is ever rising, open land has given way to asphalt, the planet is heating up and glaciers are melting. There are some who wish to stop and think about this private car culture, to reflect on its price. To question it. Just recently, on September 22, hundreds of cities in the world observed "A Day Without Cars." (Its principles were first outlined in the late 1990s, and it became a regular international event in 2000.) Activists, mainly in Europe but also in numerous cities on other continents, call on the residents of their city to avoid using their cars for an entire day, to roam their city on foot and to use the day to think about their motorized daily routine and its implications. The aim of "A Day Without Cars" is to return the city to its people. To breathe life, rather than car exhaust, into the streets. To foster a return to a more physically active lifestyle. To celebrate the social aspects of city life - where variety and diversity can be found, and people can meet on the sidewalk, on the bus or in the public park - and to denounce the lifestyle of separateness and alienation that comes along with the noisy and polluting private car. And yes, "A Day Without Cars" activists also seek to underscore the frightening connection between the use of automobiles and climate change. How fortunate we are in Tel Aviv: We have Yom Kippur. Last year, on Yom Kippur, carbon monoxide levels fell from 205 parts per billion, on the day prior to the holiday, to just 2 parts per billion at its height - a phenomenon unmatched anywhere in the world. And pollution isn't the only thing that's reduced. So is stress and rushing around and grim purposefulness. You go out into the street and see the city in its nakedness, which is to say, in its simple beauty. Comprised entirely of short stretches of road, street corners, turns and stops. The neighborhood synagogue is necessarily nearby, since one isn't supposed to travel on Shabbat and holidays. But in a good city, you have everything you need nearby and need not ride in a car to get there: to the pub and the cafe, the laundry and the grocery, the post office and the bank. Everything is close by, everything is plentiful and varied, no one feels like an alienated stranger here, everyone is different and everyone fits in, everything is outside, but nothing is "out." Walking in the city refreshes the soul, or redirects one's attention from the news on the radio and the traffic on the street and the assembly-line atmosphere of the office and the mall inward toward the soul. Walking also opens up your eyes to your surroundings. One can roam the city in the spirit of Walter Benjamin, who wrote in praise of the urban wanderer who is both apart and near, observant and closely attuned. Or, say, in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau, who wrote of the marvels of walking and thinking, and of the thoughts that are formed while in motion, and the freedom that comes with the lack of a distinct purpose. But this year one may also wander the streets in a kind of protest. For Yom Kippur alone is not sufficient to atone for the sins between man and place; but one can at least get out there and make a start. Bookmark to del.icio.us   A man of peace Vatican defends wartime pope Pius XII against charge he turned blind eye to Holocaust. Feminine features An Iranian motor company unveils plans to design cars specifically tailored to women.

Read & React Bradley Burston: For the journalist, on Yom Kippur Responses: 117 Edgar Bronfman: Judaism must recognize mixed marriages for Israel's sake Responses: 134 Arab lawyer detained after refusing to remove pants during airport check Responses: 161 Nadav Shragai: Settlers have become punching bag of the media and the left Responses: 61 Acre sees worst violence in years as Jews and Arabs resume clashes Responses: 104 More Headlines 21:29 Acre sees worst violence in years as Jews and Arabs resume clashes 13:44 Russia hints it won't sell advanced missiles to Iran 14:19 N.Y. rabbi: Animal rights backers threatened me over holiday chicken slaughter ritual 18:03 Fatah says Hamas stalling on Palestinian unity plan 18:30 Nasrallah: We have not abandoned plan to avenge Mughniyeh 14:27 Two U.S. journalists reported missing detained in Syria for not having visas 14:22 Germany launches nationwide crackdown on neo-Nazi youth group 13:58 ANALYSIS / Thank goodness for McCain and Obama support on Iran 20:15 Vatican defends wartime pope against charge he turned blind eye to Holocaust 16:06 Delegation of Israeli doctors to Gaza denied entry 17:01 Left-wing terrorist turned neo-Nazi tried for Holocaust denial 08:31 Hungarian prosecutors zero in on alleged Nazi war criminal 12:58 Report: Hezbollah says Ron Arad died in 1988 21:40 Obama threatens dire consequences if Iran doesn't change its ways Previous Editions Select Day 08 oct 07 oct 06 oct 05 oct 03 oct 02 oct 01 oct 30 sep 29 sep 28 sep 26 sep 25 sep

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