Temple Judea Journey to Israel

• Depart USA for Israel.

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance from a Makor Educational Journeys representative.
• Travel to Jaffa-Tel Aviv.
• Introduction to Jaffa-Tel Aviv from the outlook from the Jaffa Slope Park with a view of Tel-Aviv’s shoreline, the Promenade and hotels located along the beach.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Meet with journalist Haviv Rettig-Gur of the Times of Israel “The Lay of the Land in Israel After October 7th”
• Welcome dinner at a Tel Aviv restaurant.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Guided visit to the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation to learn about Israel as the ‘Start Up Nation’ and late President Shimon Peres’ vision for a ‘new Middle East’.
• “Tasting tour” lunch in the Carmel Market, including some free time for shopping.
• Visit the Nachalat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Market, with its many street artists and entertainers.
• October 7^th’s Public Art – A guided walk to see how Tel Aviv’s remarkable street artists responded to events of October 7 and its aftermath (in Kiryat Hamelacha or Florentine to life).
• Walk through Hostage Square (Tel Aviv Art Museum Plaza), which has been the focal point of the public efforts to BRING THEM HOME, concluding with a meeting with a hostage family.
• Return to the hotel for rest and relaxation.
• Free evening and dinner on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check out.
• Visit ANU – the new Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University for a special mission program: using the creativity of the present, explore the story of the Jewish People, with our past as a map toward the future.
• Travel North along the Trans-Israel Highway.
• Visit Caesarea, including the Roman theatre, hippodrome, promenade and palace, concluding at the remains of the Crusader city, exploring the relationship between Romans and Jews.
• Continue to Daliyat El-Carmel.
• Participate in an authentic Druze cooking workshop that affords a hands-on, cultural immersion that’s not just about good eating but also about exploring foreign cultures through taste, smell and experience (lunch).
• Guided walk through the labyrinthine alleys and streets of the port city of Akko, to explore the remains of Crusader, Muslim and Ottoman construction along the massive city walls; the subterranean Crusader city; the Ottoman fortress; a uniquely decorated synagogue and a mosque that holds a hair of the Prophet Muhammed.
• Proceed to Mitzpe HaYamim Hotel.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Full day exploring Israel’s North – Upper Galilee and Lebanese border.
• Rosh Hanikra, Metula, Kiryat Shemona – exact program TBD.
• Lunch (possibly with Gadi Elias).
• Finish the day with a wine-tasting at one of the many wineries in the area.
• Dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check out.
• In depth guided tour of Tzippori, where Rabbi Judah Hanasi sealed the Mishna and see its remarkable ancient mosaics, including Mona Lisa of the Galilee and Nile Flood Festival.
• Explore the Catacombs of Beit Shearim, a former seat of the Sanhedrin and an ‘exclusive’ Jewish burial site 1,800 years ago.
• Lunch on own en route.
• Continue your journey, enter Jerusalem and stop at Mount Scopus or the Mount of Olives for an introduction to Jerusalem and a celebratory moment to recite the traditional Shehecheyanu prayer upon arrival in Jerusalem.
• Visit Machane Yehuda Open Air Marketas residents prepare for Shabbat, with free time for shopping.
• Proceed to the hotel and check in to the hotel.
• Free time for rest, relaxation and Shabbat preparation.
• Optional Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel.
• Festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Drive South to the Dead Sea region, the lowest point on earth.
• Ascend Masada via Cable Car for a guided visit through the site, exploring the heroic story and its meaning for us 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.
• Continue to the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve and walk through the Nahal David desert oasis to the Ein Gedi waterfall.
• Return to the hotel.
• Free evening and dinner on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Depart for the Western Negev and start with a briefing overlooking Gaza from the Assaf Siboni Overlook.
• Visit one of the Kibbutzim in the Gaza envelope that was brutally attacked in the Hamas onslaught.
• Continue to Sderot, which has become a symbol of Israel’ s longstanding conflict with Hamas – drive through the town, stopping at the once famous police station, which was demolished in the aftermath of the attack.
• Lunch at a local restaurant in Sderot or at one of the nearby Kibbutzim.
• Drive to the site of the Nova Festival, located next to Kibbutz Reim, where close to 400 people were killed and many were taken hostage.
• Continue to the Tekuma Car Cemetery, where many of the destroyed vehicles were brought after October 7.
• Return to Jerusalem
• Dinner at a Jerusalem restaurant.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Understanding Israeli Politics: A comparative Study: Reuven Hazan, Political Science Dept., Hebrew University (at the hotel).
  or
• Living a Life of Hope in today’s Challenging World, with Tal Becker, former legal advisor to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Vice President and Senior Faculty of the Kogod Research Center at Shalom Hartman Institute (at the hotel).

• Guided visit through the Old City of Jerusalem, exploring the unique weave of various religious and ethnic groups in one square kilometer, while walking through the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Quarters, including the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and an overlook on to the Temple Mount – Haram al Sharif.
• Tastes of Jerusalem: During the time in the Old City, walk through the “suq” (market) to enjoy tastes of authentic coffee blends, local special herbs and spices, sweets such as Halva or Knafe, 4 variations of hummus, falafel in “laffa” and “beigeleh Yerushalmi (lunch).
• In depth tour of new excavations beneath the Western Wall Plaza which has not yet been opened to the public guided by a leading archaeologist.
• Guided tour of the new National Library, including its rare historic manuscript exhibition, which includes handwritten texts by Maimonides and Agnon.
• Return to hotel.
• Dinner at a Jerusalem restaurant.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• The Memory of the Holocaust in Contemporary Israeli Society with Rachel Korazim.
• Visit Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, including the Avenue of the Righteous, Holocaust History Museum and Children’s Memorial.  
• Visit the new Memorial to Israel’s fallen and some of the new graves at the Mount Herzl National Cemetery, including the graves of those killed in the current war.
• Lunch on own in the quaint village suburb of Ein Kerem.
• Kiryat HaMemshala – Government Hill: Guided Walk between the impressive Supreme Court building, the Bank of Israel and the Knesset in the Givat Ram section of Jerusalem to discuss the artistry and mechanics of Israeli democracy and governance.
• Ancient Jewish Governance: Conclude at the Israel Museum to see the Shrine of the Book, which houses the Dead Sea Scrolls and the miniature model of Jerusalem, as it was during the Second Temple period. Free time at the museum for individual exploration in the unique collections of Judaica and Jewish Living, Archaeology, Fine Arts and the Sculpture Garden.
• Return to the hotel.
• Remainder of the afternoon free to pack, explore on own and get in last minute shopping.
• Check out of the hotel.
• Wrap-up Conversation and Festive Farewell Dinner at a Jerusalem restaurant.
• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for return flight home.

• Arrival to U.S.

L’shana Haba’ah B’Yerushalayim

–>All program elements subject to final confirmation