Shaare Zion Congregation

• Departure from Canada.

Note: the first day’s itinerary may change depending on the time of arrival

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport with assistance from a Makor Educational Journeys representative.
• Proceed to Tel Aviv.
• Shehecheyanu and welcome ceremony at the Jaffa Overlook.
• Tel Aviv as a Jewish City, Tel Aviv as an Israeli City, Tel Aviv as a City of the World, with scholar Rachel Korazim at her home in Jaffa.
• Lunch on own at Café Bialik.
• Over the years, Bialik Street has been home to writers, artists and rabbis, noted among them Haim Nachman Bialik, Reuven Rubin and rabbis of the Rozin Hasidic Dynasty. A walk along Bialik Street is a virtual walk through the past 100 years of Jewish creativity in Israel, from the written word through art, architecture and spiritual searching. Explore the creation of Modern Hebrew culture while walking along the street, using art and writing as a guide.  Possible visits include:
  • Beit Hair former City Hall and now the Museum of the History of Tel Aviv
  • Bialik House
  • Reuven Rubin House and hidden spaces along the way
• Welcome dinner TBA.

• Optional Meditation on the beach.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• The Jewish-Israeli Dialectic: traditional and modern text-study-oriented discussion with Rabbi Roberto Arbiv at the Neve Schechter Center, home to intellectuals and artists, who are in conversation with Jewish thought and Hebrew culture. Community art ritual.
  • 22 Team Exercise in Ritual Art with Rabbi Roberto Arbiv, Rabbi Aubrey Glazer and Elyssa Wortzman
• Masterclass with a dancer from the Bat Sheva Dance Company, hosted by Lisa Preiss Fried.
• Lunch on own in Nachalat Binyamin, a market that has become synonymous with quality Israeli crafts and folk art, and meet with some of the exhibiting veteran artisans.
• Shirel Horovitz, a multi-disciplinary Tel Aviv artist, weaves into each experience aspects of social issues as she leads a guided tour of the Kiryat Ha’Melacha neighborhood in southern Tel Aviv, a maze of industrial buildings from the 1950’s, a microcosm of creative urban development and the very heart and centre of the Israeli art world today, with over 100 galleries/studios.
• Behind the scenes tour at the Cameri or Habima Theater and meet with actors/director.
• Return to the hotel for rest and relaxation.
• Dinner on your own, followed by an optional cultural event with a leading Israeli artist. (pending concert and club schedules)

• Optional Meditation on the beach.
• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.
• Drive to Pardes Hana for a morning of the Art of Voice with Netanel Goldberg. https://www.netanelgoldberg.com/

• Lunch on own en route.
• Conclude the day with a special program experiencing the unique spiritual and grounded community of Clil, including the culinary arts, plastic arts, massage and more. https://clil.org.il/en/workshops/
• Drive to Rosh Pina.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Dinner at the hotel.

• Optional Meditation session on the hotel grounds.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• My Photography as a Window into Israel and Jewish Life, with artistic photographer Adi Nes, followed by an introduction to the Safed Photographic Safari. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi_Nes http://www.adines.com/content/wexner_center_for_the_arts_brochure.htm

• Drive to Safed.
• Photographic Safari through the streets and alleyways of Safed, exploring the people of Safed and Jewish space.
• The Weave of Jewish Life and Art: Visit the Canaan Gallery for a special weaving workshop with textile artist Orna Mor, on how she uses Kabbalistic themes to create her woven masterpieces.
• Lunch at the Way Inn, hosted by Chef Ronen Bar-El: Soul Food. Guests will include local artists and musicians, whose creations are inspired by Kabbalah.
• An afternoon of Islamic Mysticism.
• Proceed to Akko.
• The port city of Akko is a city of intrigue, where you can walk through the labyrinthine alleys and streets exploring the remains of Crusader, Muslim and Ottoman construction. Walk along the massive city walls; explore the subterranean Crusader city; explore the Ottoman fortress; visit a uniquely-decorated synagogue.
• From the White Mosque in Akko, which houses a hair from Muhammad’s beard, making it the most important mosque in the north, walk to the impressive world center of the Shadhili Yashruti Sufi order to meet the order’s representatives and hear a bit about Sufi beliefs, history and lives and how their artistic endeavors reflect their religious principles.
• Dinner on own in Akko.

• Optional Meditation session overlooking Mt. Meron or on the hotel grounds.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Continue to the Jezreal Valley to the Mishkan Museum of Art in Ein Harod, one of Israel’s hidden artistic gems, with both collections of art from the early years of the state and cutting edge exhibits of new and upcoming artists, including a conversation with one of the curators/artists.
• Visit the Kinneret Cemetery, where some of the great Zionist leaders are buried, for a glimpse into their trials and triumphs, concluding with the graves of Rachel Blaustein, the poet laureate of the Second Aliyah, and the great contemporary poet and lyricist, Naomi Shemer, accompanied by their poetry and music.
• Lunch on own en route.
• Drive to Jerusalem through the Jordan Valley.
• Stop at Mount Scopus for and overlook and introduction to the city of Jerusalem.
• Rest of the afternoon at leisure.
• Musical Kabbalat Shabbat at the First Station.
• Proceed to the Kotel OR Friday night services at Jerusalem synagogue.
• Festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel or with Shabbat of a Lifetime home hospitality.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Shabbat at one of Jerusalem’s Masorti Synagogues.
• Shabbat lunch on own, possibilities available at the hotel.
• Memory in the Venice of God: Poetry walk to and in the Old City using the work of Yehuda Amichai as a guide.
• Optional Meditation session.
• Havdallah.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Optional Meditation session.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center for a guided visit through the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations, the Holocaust History Museum, the Children’s Memorial and the Art Museum.
• Additional option for Yad Vashem:
  • Creating Memorial Space: Between Mount Herzl and Yad Vashem
• Travel to the Judean Lowlands.
• Kurdish cooking workshop and lunch Moshav Zekharia.
• Return to Jerusalem for a guided art tour in Ein Karem, concluding with a participatory dance performance to the sound of authentic tunes with Kinneret Botell-Leibowitz, folklore dancer and descendant of Yemeni immigrants.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Optional Meditation session.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Creating Art with Heavenly and Earthly Jerusalem, a special workshop with Kol HaOt and artists David Moss and Rabbi Matt Berkowitz.
  • Optional guided walk exploring the multiethnic weave of Jerusalem, from Jaffa Gate to the Rooftops of the Old City and through the Four Quarters of the Old City, including short visits to the Armenian, Christian, Jewish and Muslim Quarters.
• Lunch and afternoon on own.
• Farewell dinner at Anna, a restaurant located in a 150-year-old historic house with newly-conserved galleries, a renewed permanent exhibition about the house and its former owners, ophthalmologist Dr. Abraham and artist Anna Ticho.
• Depart for Ben Gurion Airport for return flight home.

* Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.