Scarsdale Synagogue

• Depart USA for Israel.

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance from a Makor Educational Journeys representative.
• Proceed to Tel Aviv.
• From atop the Azrieli Tower with its 360 º view, see how the dream and vision of the Jewish State meet today’s reality and view the development of Tel Aviv-Jaffa .
• Check in to the hotel.
• Welcome dinner.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• The Visitors Center of Old Jaffa enables the visitor to experience 5000 years of history in one the most ancient port cities in the world with a virtual performance that brings past heroes to life.
• Lunch on own in the Jaffa Flea Market.
• Guided tour in the Florentine neighborhood, Tel Aviv’s most bohemian and upbeat neighborhood and learn about contemporary Israeli culture thorough urban art: writing on the wall, graffiti, bumper stickers and even painted garbage bins.
• Enjoy the “Sounds of Summer” in December. Be an Israeli and learn to play “matkot”, Israel’s unofficial national sport, on the beach. (Weather permitting)
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Social Justice in Action, visit a Leket Farm in Rishon l’Zion and participate in field gleaning, to collect produce for those in need.
• Visit the Nachalat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Market, with its many street artists and entertainers, with lunch on own.
• Visit London Square, site of the “Aliyah Bet” Memorial to hear the story of the illegal immigration operations which rescued Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors before the founding of the State of Israel.
• Visit the Palmach Museum, dedicated to the pre-state elite fighting force, for a glimpse at the determination and one of the significant driving forces behind the establishment of the State of Israel.
• Hardly a day goes by that Israel, a country with a small land mass and population, isn’t mentioned in the international media. Social historian Paul Liptz will go ” Behind the Headlines” to examine the issues that concern the Israelis from an Israeli viewpoint.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.
• Travel north along the Trans-Israel Highway, with a security briefing on the bus along the Seam Zone between Israel and the Palestinian territories.
• Healing Herbs Tour and Workshop: Guided stroll through the paths of Ramat Hanadiv to become acquainted with the wild medicinal herbs and learn how to identify plants and their healing properties that have been used throughout history.  Make herbal brews and first-aid creams to use on wounds, cuts, scraped skin and other conditions to take home.
• Lunch and visit at Sindyanna of the Galilee, led by a team of Arab and Jewish women who work to create social change through producing high-quality olive oil and other premium food products while enhancing Arab-Jewish cooperation and creating economic opportunities for Arab women.
• Guided visit through the Beit Shearim catacomb necropolis of Jewish families from many countries around Israel who requested to be buried in the Land of Israel close to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi whose tomb is in one of the tomb clusters.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Travel in 4X4 Jeeps through the Golan Heights, with its green fields, farmlands and volcanic mountains, alongside borders and former battlefields.
• Hands on activities at Kibbutz Ein Zivan
  • Adults: Wine Tasting
  • Youth: Chocolate making workshop
• Travel to Safed.
• Lunch on own
• Walking tour of Safed starting at the highest point in town, the strategically placed 12th c. Crusader Citadel (Metsudah) that was important even in the 20th c War of Independence. Interwoven with tales of Kabbalists and mysticism, descend to the Old City for stories and sites relating to the Israeli War of Independence.
• Challah baking workshop
• Dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.
• Guided visit through the lastest excavations at Beit Shean, with its Roman Theater, remains of a large Byzantine city and the Biblical Tel.
• Proceed to Jerusalem through the part of the Syrian-African Rift Valley called the Bika.
• Learn about shepherding and modern Bedouin life with Abdullah OR Honey making with Orel at the Eitan Pre-Army Mechina, with light lunch.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Shabbat programming and dinner.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Proceed to the Dead Sea.
• 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.
• Ride the cable car down and continue to Ein Bokek for an opportunity to float in the Dead Sea and swim in the hotel pool, followed by lunch.
• Return to Jerusalem.
• 5:24 pm Havdalah
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Guided visit through the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center complex, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, including:
  • The Avenue of the Righteous
  • The Holocaust History Museum
  • The Children’s Memorial
  • Valley of the Communities, with a life-affirming closing ceremony
• Continue to Machane Yehudah open air market, one of the most colorful and famous markets in the Middle East. Smell and taste the best of it all.
• “Tastings” lunch in the shuk
• Become an archaeologist for a day and take part in the ongoing dig at Beit Guvrin, where hundreds of caves that served as storerooms, burial crypts and safe havens dating back to the time of the Phoenicians.
• Return to Jerusalem.
• Meet with Kids4Peace, one of the most successful shared society projects in the Middle East.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• B’nai Mitzvah ceremony at rooftop venue at HUC/Mercaz Shimshon (or similar).
• Proceed to the Old City.
• Guided visit to the Old City, beginning at Jaffa Gate and walking along the rooftops of the Old City for a glimpse at the multi-ethnic weave of the City, followed by a guided visit through the Jewish Quarter including the Cardo, Hurva Square and the Herodian Mansions, concluding at the Western Wall (the Kotel) and the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.
• Lunch on own in the Jewish Quarter
• Dinner on own.
• View the Night Spectacular at Tower of David, which tells the story of Jerusalem with light and music.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the workshops of Yad Lakashish, which provide meaningful, creative, and serious artistic and craft expression to Jerusalem’s elderly, and for an opportunity to shop at the Yad Lakashish Gift Shop.
• Conclude your Israel journey by “Mapping the Journey” with Kol HaOt educators who impart Jewish values, texts and history through a creative synthesis of the visual and performing arts.
• Lunch and afternoon on own.
• Farewell dinner.
• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for return flight home.

• Arrival in the United States

Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.