Menus in Hebrew and Shabbat? What Happens on This Brazilian Island, Which Becomes a Refuge for Young Israelis After Military Service and Transforms the Routine of the Bahian Village

Written by Romário Pereira de Carvalho

Published on 13/02/2026 at 12:41

Updated on 13/02/2026 at 12:42

Descubra os motivos que levam milhares de reservistas israelenses para a Ilha de Tinharé (Foto: Reprodução/Wikimedia Commons)

3 people reacted to this.

Morro de São Paulo Attracts Young Israelis After Military Service, Boosts Tourism, Transforms Local Commerce, and Strengthens Cultural Exchange in Bahia

Military for years, travelers by choice. As soon as they finish their mandatory service, thousands of young Israelis leave behind the rigid routine of the Israel Defense Forces and head to a very different scenario: Morro de São Paulo, on Tinharé Island. The small Bahian village, known for its beaches and laid-back atmosphere, has become almost a traditional stop during this transition phase.

From Military Discipline to The “Big Trip”

Military service in Israel lasts from two to three years. During this period, many young people save up for the so-called “big trip” after their contract.

It’s at this moment that Morro de São Paulo emerges as an alternative to European routes. The tropical climate and attractive cost of living help explain the choice.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

Local Commerce Adapts to New Visitors

With the constant influx, the village has undergone visible changes. Restaurants display menus in Hebrew, inns adjust services, and merchants are increasingly attentive to the religious traditions of this audience.

The most notable impact occurs on Fridays. In respect to Shabbat, meals and payments are organized in advance.

As Jewish tradition restricts financial transactions and food preparation after sunset, the local routine takes on a different rhythm.

The result is a curious and harmonious coexistence between residents and tourists.

Pop Culture Boosts the Destination

The popularity of the location has also been reinforced by the series Magic Malabi Express. The production helped to consolidate Morro de São Paulo in the imagination of young Israelis, further increasing the visibility of the destination.

Today, the village is reaping the effects of this international fame. Morro de São Paulo has ceased to be just a tourist spot and has come to represent a space for cultural exchange.

The foreign presence has altered habits, strengthened commerce, and brought a new dynamic to local daily life, which continues to preserve its charm while reinventing itself.

Menus in Hebrew and Shabbat? What Happens on This Brazilian Island, Which Becomes a Refuge for Young Israelis After Military Service and Transforms the Routine of the Bahian Village

Morro de São Paulo Attracts Young Israelis After Military Service, Boosts Tourism, Transforms Local Commerce, and Strengthens Cultural Exchange in Bahia

From Military Discipline to The “Big Trip”

Local Commerce Adapts to New Visitors

Pop Culture Boosts the Destination

The Soviet Union spent 22 years drilling into the Earth’s crust and reached a depth of 12,262 meters — they found water where it was thought impossible, hydrogen bubbling from the rock, granite that is 2.7 billion years old, and temperatures of 180 degrees that melted the drill bits.

Ethiopia has banned gasoline and diesel cars, placed over a hundred silent electric buses on the streets of Addis Ababa, and now aims for half a million electric vehicles by 2030, all powered by Africa’s largest dam and a courage that few countries have shown.

Egypt wants to draw 10 million cubic meters of water from the Nile per day into the desert, irrigate a new agricultural frontier, and build a city where there is currently only sand.

BRICS is preparing a payment system inspired by the Brazilian PIX that will allow direct transactions between countries using national digital currencies without relying on the dollar or Western banks as intermediaries.

Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

Chinese engineers begin filling a 217-meter dam at an altitude of 3,000 meters and prepare a 2,240 MW hydroelectric power plant to integrate hydropower, solar, and wind energy in the upper Jinsha.

Giant turbines on the seabed of Scotland have been generating clean energy for nearly a decade without interruption, and now the big promise is that tidal power could solve the biggest problem of solar and wind energy: the unpredictability that no one has been able to overcome until today.

Iran maintains constant negotiations with Russia to accelerate the expansion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the Iranian ambassador in Moscow also revealed that allied countries like Russia may be exempt from tariffs to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

Russia accelerates closed internet: after 37 thousand hours of outages in 2025 and a loss of almost US$ 12 billion, Putin blocks WhatsApp and Telegram, hunts VPNs and pushes the state app Max, monitored by the FSB, detonating the economy and eroding political support before the elections.

Saildrone has just unveiled a 52-meter drone ship that hunts submarines autonomously and can fire missiles without any crew on board — each unit costs US$ 40 million and the US Navy already wants to buy it.

The Stad Ship Tunnel will excavate 3 million cubic meters of rock to open 1.7 kilometers through a peninsula and create the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel, designed to divert ships from one of the most violent stretches of the Norwegian coast.

The largest railway under construction in the Northeast will complete 20 years of construction in June — spanning 1,206 km, with R$ 14.9 billion invested, 727 km completed, and 53 cities that waited 67 years to see the first cargo train cross the sertão towards the sea.

Menus in Hebrew and Shabbat? What Happens on This Brazilian Island, Which Becomes a Refuge for Young Israelis After Military Service and Transforms the Routine of the Bahian Village

Morro de São Paulo Attracts Young Israelis After Military Service, Boosts Tourism, Transforms Local Commerce, and Strengthens Cultural Exchange in Bahia

From Military Discipline to The “Big Trip”

Local Commerce Adapts to New Visitors

Pop Culture Boosts the Destination

The Soviet Union spent 22 years drilling into the Earth’s crust and reached a depth of 12,262 meters — they found water where it was thought impossible, hydrogen bubbling from the rock, granite that is 2.7 billion years old, and temperatures of 180 degrees that melted the drill bits.

Ethiopia has banned gasoline and diesel cars, placed over a hundred silent electric buses on the streets of Addis Ababa, and now aims for half a million electric vehicles by 2030, all powered by Africa’s largest dam and a courage that few countries have shown.

Egypt wants to draw 10 million cubic meters of water from the Nile per day into the desert, irrigate a new agricultural frontier, and build a city where there is currently only sand.

BRICS is preparing a payment system inspired by the Brazilian PIX that will allow direct transactions between countries using national digital currencies without relying on the dollar or Western banks as intermediaries.

Norway is drilling 27 kilometers of rock 392 meters below the bottom of a fjord to build the world’s largest and deepest underwater road tunnel — when completed, a 21-hour journey will be reduced to 10.

Chinese engineers begin filling a 217-meter dam at an altitude of 3,000 meters and prepare a 2,240 MW hydroelectric power plant to integrate hydropower, solar, and wind energy in the upper Jinsha.

Giant turbines on the seabed of Scotland have been generating clean energy for nearly a decade without interruption, and now the big promise is that tidal power could solve the biggest problem of solar and wind energy: the unpredictability that no one has been able to overcome until today.

Barão de Capanema

China’s largest state-owned company puts R$ 2 billion on the table to create the largest soybean complex in Brazil.

Woman ‘buys’ the Sun and now wants to charge a fee from everyone who lives on Earth.

Germany took 1,468 days to drill 9,101 meters of the Earth’s crust, faced temperatures of 265 degrees, crossed faults saturated by fluids under pressure, and revealed that the continental crust remains active, stressed, and permeable far beyond the limits that science considered possible.

An electric ferry for 150 passengers and 36 knots of speed has already arrived in the waters of Belfast, gliding above the waves, and the Artemis EF-24 relies on hydrofoils to transform coastal crossings into faster and almost wake-free journeys.

Iran maintains constant negotiations with Russia to accelerate the expansion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, and the Iranian ambassador in Moscow also revealed that allied countries like Russia may be exempt from tariffs to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

Russia accelerates closed internet: after 37 thousand hours of outages in 2025 and a loss of almost US$ 12 billion, Putin blocks WhatsApp and Telegram, hunts VPNs and pushes the state app Max, monitored by the FSB, detonating the economy and eroding political support before the elections.

Saildrone has just unveiled a 52-meter drone ship that hunts submarines autonomously and can fire missiles without any crew on board — each unit costs US$ 40 million and the US Navy already wants to buy it.

The Stad Ship Tunnel will excavate 3 million cubic meters of rock to open 1.7 kilometers through a peninsula and create the world’s first full-scale ship tunnel, designed to divert ships from one of the most violent stretches of the Norwegian coast.

The largest railway under construction in the Northeast will complete 20 years of construction in June — spanning 1,206 km, with R$ 14.9 billion invested, 727 km completed, and 53 cities that waited 67 years to see the first cargo train cross the sertão towards the sea.