Page 19 - Rehavia advanced 130918

Advanced level – ‫רמה מתקדמת‬

The Tennis Platz

Eliezer Yellin Park is part of the green boulevard that traversed Rechavia. When
the neighborhood was established there weren't any young children there so the
neighborhood committee decided to rent out the land as tennis courts for local
residents. The original rental agreement was for three years but, by the time three
years had passed the local residents had gotten used to the tennis courts and refused
to give them up in favor of setting up a playground for kids.
Judge Gad Frumkin wrote in his book: "The tennis aficionados saw that the location
was good and didn't want to give it up and make the effort to travel somewhere
further away. Some of the tennis fans also sat on the neighborhood council and they
passed a resolution for the benefit of the tennis players. I saw this as discrimination
against the children and resigned from the council of which I was the chairman."
Because of this use of the park, it acquired the German nickname Tennis Platz,
which means Tennis Square.

The park provided the council with another source of income, as the eastern edge of
the park was rented to a flower shop that is still in business today.
Only in the 1950's was a playground built in the park. The playground was named
after the founder of the neighborhood, Eliezer Yellin. At the edge of the park a
kiosk was built. A sculpture of a giraffe, done by Avraham Yachin, the brother of
the kiosk owner at the time it was set up, was erected on top of the kiosk. Since
then, the park has been nicknamed “Giraffe Park”.

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