As far as transit goes - if you live and work in Tel 
    Aviv, you can pretty much walk wherever you need.

This is a big if, as few Israelis can afford to live in Tel Aviv (we couldn't, despite earning significantly above median).

The average gross wage in Israel is 9,702.60 ils per month [1] (2277.78 Euro). According to a quick check [2] this gives a net of 8,302.57 ils per month (1948.94 Euro). A small apartment in good repair in a not-terrible part of Tel Aviv can easily cost ~6000 ils per month, before utilities.

Realistically if you work in Tel Aviv you either live in the suburbs, are in the top ~10% of wage earners, or are young and don't have a family to support (and live with roommates).

[1] http://www.tradingeconomics.com/israel/wages

[2] http://www.payway.co.il/calculator/en/bn3_form.asp

"A small apartment in good repair in a not-terrible part of Tel Aviv can easily cost ~6000 ils per month, before utilities."

We probably have different definitions of "not terrible part of tel aviv". 1BRs (What israeli's call 2 rooms) go for 4000 shekels in Florentine. Walking distance from the startup scene of Rothschild, and 20 minutes by bus to the google and checkpoint area.

Which is fine for a single guy. But would you want to raise kids in a 1BR in Florentine (polluted, noisy, somewhat rough population in adjacent neighborhoods)?

It's about 1000 USD, so that means a two bedroom is 2000 USD.

Lot's of people near NYC/DC raise kids in 2 bedroom apartments or townhouses for around the 2000-3000USD price range.

What are average wages like in NYC/DC? More than ~$30k gross, like in Israel? What is the transit like in NYC with regards to the ability of the middle and lower classes to live outside of Manhattan?

Remember that OP suggested Tel Aviv's bad transit is not an issue cause you can walk anywhere if you live in the city (mostly if you live somewhat near the center/downtown, but nm that for now).

I'll speak of DC since I know it best.

Pre-tax average is in the 80k to 90k USD range for DC, though obviously double that if you're thinking about a couple. DC transit is fairly good in-city, going to the suburbs its branches rather than a grid system so the train lines will essentially take you from home to work and that's it.

Walkability depends on where you live. In the suburbs of DC (virginia/maryland), there's quite a few walkable neighborhoods but they're small and separated from the next walkable neighborhood by about 3-5 miles.

It was sort of a rhetorical question :)

My point was that if you are raising a family in metropolitan Tel Aviv you are either wealthy or, more likely, live in the suburbs.

In which case transit & traffic matter a lot.

Isn't that a Bavarian brewery? I'll drink a Berliner Kindl though ;)

It is :) but they have an awesome beer hall at Gendarmenmarkt.