Extremely rare one of a kind Tel Aviv Zoo Aquarium poster from 1939.

The Story of Tel Aviv’s Zoo and ‘Rabbi Dolittle’

Tel Aviv’s historic zoo, a cherished icon of the city, operated from 1938 to 1980 where Rabin Square and the Tel Aviv Municipality stand today.The zoo’s origins are tied to Mordechai Shorenstein, the former rabbi of Copenhagen and a passionate animal lover. He arrived to Tel Aviv in 1935 with only two bird cages and a vision of bringing joy to the city’s children. Shorenstein small pet store quickly expanded to include monkeys, bears, and tigers and eventually evolved into the Tel Aviv Zoo, located on the city’s outskirts at the time.

To address concerns about the zoo’s remote location and attract visitors, Shorenstein turned to some of the most knowned artists at the time, like Nahum Gutman and Pesach Ir-Shay and commissioned the captivating zoo posters, that later became iconic symbols of Tel Aviv’s culture and history.

Contrary to Shorenstein’s concerns, the zoo’s opening was met with overwhelming enthusiasm. In its first year, 70,000 people—more than half of Tel Aviv’s population at the time—flocked to see it. As the city grew, the zoo, once in a distant corner, found itself in the midst of residential neighborhoods. By 1980, the zoo closed, its animals moving to the Ramat Gan Safari, but its memory still endures as a cherished part of Tel Aviv’s history.