The District of the "Woman's Best Friend"

The word 'diamond' (in hebrew and english) is all over the place. It appears mostly in two-word compounds such as: diamond exchange, diamond culture, diamond jewelry, diamond mines, diamond center, etc..

The Diamond Exchange District is located in the city of Ramat-Gan, and it has become over the years a sort of 'city within city' dominated by the Diamond Exchange - a complex of four towers connected by bridges .

entrance to the Diamond Exchange District

I happened to be in the area this week; it was not during the busy hours (it was around 5:30 PM). The diamond museum was closed and so were part of the jewelry stores, eateries, banks, insurance companies. The places that were still open, seemed to be less active. I entered the Office Depot store to buy a certain item, and afterwards I decided to take a walk around, as there was a cool , pleasant breeze blowing outside.

towers within the diamond district

Years ago when I had my set of diamond ring+earrings purchased (stolen from me later on) in one of the shops in the district, there were not so many towers here and the diamond industry was definitely smaller. Now, one feels like a tiny dot among all these mighty towers. Culture is given its proper place here through a beautiful theater "The Diamond Theater" ,and the interesting "Oppenheimer Diamond Museum".

towers facing the town road

"Harry Openheimer"  Diamond Museum 

The Diamond Theater

The Diamond Exchange complex with its commercial offices and halls (where its members are engaged in trading, cutting, polishing, marketing of diamonds), gemological laboratories, museum, banking and postal services - is considered the world largest diamond exchange.  Its  rivals to the title are, I think, the one in Mumbay (India) and the one in Antwerpen(Belgium).

Bank of India in the israeli Diamond Exchange district

It's interesting to note that business within the Diamond Exchange is made with the traditional phrase 'mazal ve bracha' (luck and blessing) uttered when closing a deal and accompanied by a handshake - no contracts or lawyers. Would you believe that?).

Pajama Town in the Gulf War

22 January 1991. I was sitting in a sealed room wearing a gas mask on my face. and listening to the falling of Scud missiles in the adjacent city of Ramat-Gan , some fifteen minutes drive from my home. The gas mask was supposed to protect us from chemical and biological warfare agents in case Iraq's Saddam Hussein decided to use mass destruction weapons during the Gulf War.

cute,isn't it?

Most of the missiles fell on a street named Abba Hillel , nearby the Diamond Exchange Tower. It was said that Saddam Hussein's people had in mind another target in this vicinity , but they failed to launch the missiles at the right angle, and so this particular street got all the damage and casualties; scores of residents were left homeless.

Abba Hillel street

Ramat-Gan (in translation: Garden Heights), located in the very center of Israel, is associated not only with gardens but also with chocolates, soccer, and...iraqis. The city has several nicknames: Ramat-Iraq, Pajama Town, Little Baghdad, Iraqi Town - all of them relating to the fact that it has a large number of jewish residents of Iraqi origin, restaurants serving iraqi dishes and.. the common sight of iraqi men moving on the balconies of their home dressed in pajamas .

After the war, the main theme for stand-up comedies , was based on the joke that Saddam Hussein' s missiles were attracted to Ramat-Gan by ...the smell of iraqi dishes (sabiach, koube, shawarma, amba) , and the sound of iraqi music coming out from many places in the town. Anyway, it was rather ironical that Saddam Hussein's missiles had hit the place with a big concentration of his former "compatriots".

Statue of iraqi jewish prayer on Abba Hillel street

Today, this street is known for its skyscrapers in the district of the Diamond Exchange (considered the largest diamond exchange in the world) and some skyscrapers at the other extremity , near the big soccer Stadium and the Ayalon Shoping Mall. They say that in the evening the illuminated towers' area looks like Manhattan. I don't know about that as I've never been to Manhattan, but the sparkling cluster of skyscrapers does look nice at any time of the day.

skyscrapers in the Diamond Exchange complex