Three years after founder Noa Barazani began posting videos, TLV Olim has attracted 90,000 Instagram followers and more than 100,000 likes on TikTok.
What began as a vehicle for humorous street interviews and observations about life in Israel has become a non-profit that hosts community events and, in partnership with local municipality, helps newcomers find their feet.
The ambition now, Zagdanski says, is to become a one-stop shop for people building a life in Israel.
If you've seen attractive, young Americans interviewing Israelis in English, mocking the country's bureaucracy or joking about beach culture, you've probably stumbled across TLV Olim.
Barazani, 28, moved to Israel from Dallas and worked in the start-up world, while Zagdanski, 33, arrived from Canada a decade ago and found a job in real estate.
He discovered Barazani's videos after she went viral and messaged her with an idea to review schnitzel across the city. Before long, TLV Olim had become a team of two.
"It started with relatable stuff that happens every day or funny things that happen on the street that nobody realised," he says. "People saw Noa as this go-to for Tel Aviv recommendations. They'd ask ‘where do I go for Shabbat dinner? Where do I open a bank account? How do I meet people here?’"
One video on the page jokes about furniture removal in Tel Aviv and has amassed 1.9 million views (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]
"I realised I was onto something," Barazani says, as messages began arriving every day asking about life in Tel Aviv.
Today, the operation has grown to a team of 12, including interns from the Masa summer programme, producing several videos a day alongside a weekly podcast.
"With olim becoming a really significant part of society, we want to help them interact with Israelis," Zagdanski, who now works on the project full-time, tells me.
More than a fifth of Tel Aviv's residents are olim (new immigrants) and Zagdanski wants to both entertain and inform the growing group.
"We see ourselves as twofold. On the one side, we are a media company that showcases content that puts a smile on people's faces and helps people feel comfortable moving or visiting Israel,” he says.
"Then on the other side, we are communal. When someone moves here, we help them integrate into Israeli society, how to meet Israelis, learn Hebrew, open a bank account, find a job, an apartment.
"A lot of people come and make aliyah, and the demand for moving here is true, but a lot of people also leave after two or three years; they just realise they can't deal with it. But they would stay if it was easier, and I think it's achievable to make it easier. That's what we're trying to focus on.”
The pair think much of the page's success lies in what it avoids. Many organisations supporting olim are rooted in religious communities, while much of the online conversation around Israel revolves around politics, antisemitism, or explicitly pro-Israel advocacy.
"Programmes designed to support people making aliyah can be amazingly supportive, but few, or perhaps none, are completely apolitical, areligious and humorous," Zagdanski says.
"TLV Olim finds ways to inform newly arrived immigrants about the social security system in Israel while entertaining them. It really is a nice mix."
Another video with 1.7 million views mocks the table manners of Israeli men (Photo: Instagram)[Missing Credit]
However, he has little interest in becoming another "Jewish influencer".
"There are all these conferences where influencers come and speak, and it's normally the same thing on repeat about antisemitism and politics," he says, showing me an over-earnest AI-generated video depicting pro-Israel influencers as superheroes. In an online world built on authenticity, it is horribly forced.
Barazani agrees. Too much of the Jewish influencer world, she says, is "pushy on thoughts and how things should be".
"I just want to document authentic experiences and build a community, and not focus on politics and war, which is what most Jewish influencers do. I think it's better to focus on life and the beauty of living here. Naturally, people will gravitate towards seeing Israel in a different light.
"If you're here, antisemitism and politics are kind of the last thing on your mind. It's just living."
After our interview, Zagdanski and the page's 19-year-old British intern, Natasha Richards, head to the beachfront to film another video.
The premise is to ask Israelis what they know about Britain.
"Can I get a cup of tea, please?" one runner replies in an English accent.
Like much of TLV Olim’s content, it is an easy watch. Young Tel Avivians along the tayelet laughing at stereotypes beneath a Mediterranean sun.
Not explaining Israel, not arguing for it, just showing a few minutes of ordinary life in the Jewish State.
