Temple Emanuel, Greensboro

The first day’s itinerary is subject to change depending on the flight arrival(s).

• Early breakfast at the hotel

• 7:30 am Together at the Wall: Celebrate Rosh Chodesh (the New Moon) Adar with a prayer service at the Kotel (Western Wall).  Join Women of the Wall, leaders in the struggle for religious pluralism and egalitarianism in Israel, to welcome the new month with a service of joy and togetherness.

• Descend to the City of David for a guided visit through some of the newest archaeological finds in Jerusalem and explore the complex realities of contemporary geopolitical challenges interwoven with ancient archeological finds.  Gain an understanding of the many regimes under which Jerusalemites have lived throughout the centuries. Conclude with a walk through the new tunnel from the City of David to the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.

• Lunch with Dr. Rabbi Rani Jaeger, Research Fellow of the Kogod Research Center and head of the Tanakh Initiative at the Shalom Hartman Institute, and a co-founder of SHI’s Be’eri Program for Pluralistic Jewish-Israeli Identity Education:  A Song for Many Voices: The Soul of Secular Israel.

• Symbols of Sovereignty at Givat Ram, the site of the “Government Hill complex,” which includes many of Israel’s most important national institutions,  such as the Knesset, the Israel Museum,  the Supreme Court, Bank of Israel, Academy of the Hebrew Language, National Library, a campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and many government ministries’ offices.

• Group processing session

• Dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel

• The Memory of the Holocaust in the Contemporary State of Israel, a dialogue with Sharon Kangisser Cohen, Editor in Chief, Yad Vashem Studies.

• Walk through the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center complex, including a guided visit to the Museum and the Sculpture Garden, exploring the various messages conveyed by the exhibits and sculptures as they relate to contemporary Israel.

• Tasting tour of world Jewish foods in the Machane Yehuda open-air market.

• Diverse Jewish Ethnicity: Rashut Ha’Rabim –conducted tour of the Jerusalem Kiryat Yovel neighborhood (Rashut Ha’Rabim is an umbrella organization that connects Jews from diverse denominations, backgrounds, and traditions to build bridges and confront challenges that world Jewry at large — and Jews in Jerusalem in particular — are facing today)

• A Window on Mt. Zion:  Mount Zion is a microcosm of Jerusalem – sacred, complex and multicultural.  While there are other structures and areas that are holy to Jews, Christians and Muslems, today’s in-depth visit to Mount Zion will concentrate on a single building that houses King David’s Tomb / the Room of the Last Supper/ Nabi Daud – sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

• Group processing session

• Dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Proceed to the Judean Desert

• The guided visit to Tel Arad will center on the temple and horned altar found inside this fortress, from the time of the Divided Monarchy.  Though worship centers outside of Jerusalem were forbidden, other high places did exist.  Modern and ancient texts will guide a discussion about whether there can be more than one “center” for Jewish people.

• Continue to Ein Bokek for an opportunity to float in the Dead Sea and swim in the hotel pool, followed by lunch.

• Ascend Masada via cable car for a guided visit through the site and an exploration of the symbolism and questions that arise from the Masada story and their implications for Jewish life today.   Group processing session atop Masada.

• Return to Jerusalem

• Dinner on own.
• Optional: Late night visit to a Jerusalem bakery preparing Challah for Shabbat

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Visit the Gush Etzion Heritage Center, which tells the story of the establishment of Gush Etzion -a cluster of communities in the Judean Hills south of Jerusalem- from its early beginnings to the fall of “The Gush” during the War of Independence and its rebirth following the 1967 war.

• Visit the Shorashim – Roots Dialogue Center, the only joint Israeli-Palestinian community center in the West Bank/Judea & Samaria, which is dedicated to bringing Palestinians and Israelis together for dialogue and reconciliation.  Meet with founders Ali Abu Awwad, a former Palestinian militant, who served a number of years in Israeli jails, and Shaul Judelman, a settler from Bat Ayin.

• Enter Bethlehem with a guided walk along the graffiti-covered walls of the Seam Zone Barrier, with Palestinian guide, Noor Awad.

• Lunch on own in Bethlehem

• Return to Jerusalem

• Group processing session

• Friday evening services and Shabbat dinner home hospitality at a Reform congregation

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out

• Morning at leisure with time for Shabbat services

• Kiddush with Anna Kislanski, CEO, IMPJ: The Reform Movement in Israel Today

• Proceed north

• Meet Dr. Moti Zeira from HaMidrasha (the Educational Center for Pluralistic Jewish Studies, Oranim) and take “A Journey to the Jezreel Valley,” a combined tour-text study at  milestone-sites in the history of Jewish spiritual life.   Journey to Kibbutz Yifat or Kibbutz Ein Shemer where the pioneers who founded the kibbutz movement strove to realize their dream of a new Jewish way of life in the Land of Israel a century ago.   Tour Beit Shearim, where Jewish life crystallized following the destruction of the Second Temple.

• Check-in hotel

• Group processing session

• Havdalah at the Yefe Nof panoramic observation point.

• Dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Beit HaGefen Jewish-Arab Cultural Center works to creatively bring together the various religions, cultures and nationalities living in Israel.   As part of the “Art of Shared Society” project, trace the Wadi Nisnas (a mixed Jewish and Arab neighborhood)   art route – the Beit HaGefen “Museum Without Walls,” an open display venue with an emphasis on the messages of understanding, tolerance, pluralism and mutual respect.

• Proceed to Akko (Acre)

• Guided visit in Akko, including massive Crusader structures and:

• The Tunisian Synagogue (Or Torah), known as the “Jariya,” is a one of a kind in the world as it is literally covered in mosaics – both inside and out that depict the history of the Jewish people and of the Land of Israel

• The Treasures in the Wall Museum, located in the inner eastern wall of Akko and one of the thickest walls in the world, displays rare collections and traditional handicrafts from the 19th century that illustrate the folklore of all the religions and communities that have existed in this region of the Galilee.

• Lunch on own in Akko.

• Continue to Hurfeish

• The Hurfeish Women’s Center for Traditional Arts & Crafts.  35 religious housewives assemble here for social gathering and cultural engagement in their common hobby of embroidery and knitting, passed down from one mother to the next. The meeting is a cultural and social initiative, designed to promote the status of Druze women and integrate them in the workforce while preserving their traditional handicrafts and enabling them to help in the household economy.

• Participate in an authentic Druze cooking workshop/dinner in Hurfeish that affords a hands-on, true-to-life cultural immersion that’s not just about good eating but also about exploring foreign cultures through taste, smell and experience.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out

• Programming with the Leo Baeck Education Center, an Israeli Reform organization, which provides children with a first-class education, rich in humanistic values and embedded within a Progressive Jewish framework. It also provides a variety of services to religious, immigrant, special needs and low-income populations with a commitment to Arab-Jewish co-existence.

• Drive to Tulip Winery at Kfar Tikvah (Village of Hope), an inclusive kibbutz community that is home to over 200 adults with special needs, some of whom staff this superb winery, which offers tastes and treats.

• Meet with Mohammed Darawshe Director of Planning, Equality and Shared Society, Givat Haviva Educational Center: The Maturation of Arab-Jewish Relations in the State of Israel.

• Lunch meeting with P2K counterparts in Hadera

• Visit Kuchinate, a collective of African asylum-seeking women in vulnerable situations who design and create crocheted products for the home, and enjoy a traditional Eritrean/Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

• Check-in hotel

• Group processing session

• Dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Visit ANU, Museum of the Jewish People, which connects Jewish people to their roots and strengthens their personal and collective Jewish identity.  The museum presents the fascinating narrative of the Jewish people and the essence of Jewish culture, faith, purpose and deed while presenting the contribution of world Jewry to humanity.

• Meet with Prof. Hizki Shoham,  The Interdisciplinary Program for Hermeneutics and Cultural Studies,  Bar Ilan University: A Tale of Two Cultures: Comparative Cultural Analysis of Israeli and North American Jewry

• Using poetry and song texts, continue on a guided walk through Neve Zedek, one of the first neighborhoods outside Jaffa and home to author S.Y. Agnon, Israel’s first Nobel Laureate, including a visit to the Nachman Gutman Museum, with art from Tel Aviv’s artist laureate.

• Lunch on own – “Tel Aviv style” – in one of Tel Aviv’s “café culture” restaurants.

• Meeting with students from the Telem Mechina, the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism’s gap year program for young Israelis graduating from high school and before entering military service.

• Dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Visit the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which promotes peacebuilding between Israel and its neighbors (particularly between Israelis and Palestinians), as well as between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel and presents the journey from the early days of the State to the Startup Nation of today and beyond.

• Guided walking Tel Aviv “Rainbow Tour:” Explore the home of the largest LGBTQ community in Israel (and the Middle East) by visiting sites and learning about the events that shaped this community

And/or

• Guided tour in the Florentin neighborhood, Tel Aviv’s most bohemian and upbeat neighborhood and learn about contemporary Israeli culture through urban art: writing on the wall, graffiti, bumper stickers and even painted garbage bins.

• Lunch and the rest of the afternoon at leisure

• Group summation session

• Farewell dinner at a Tel Aviv restaurant.

• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for return flight home.