Beth Chaim Princeton Junction

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance by a Makor Educational Journeys representative.
• Proceed to Tel Aviv.
• Check in to the hotel after 3:00 pm.
• Day at leisure, on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Free morning.
• Tour the Old City of Jaffa through Jaffa women-related stories, poems and encounters that may include:
  • Andromeda’s Rock, a sea rock formation off the shore of Jaffa, named after a Jaffa-related Greek myth.
  • Women artisans: Visit the Ilana Goor Museum for a tour, which follows the female identity and its complexity, as manifested in Ilana Goor’s work and in the works of other artists in the fascinating collection Goor has collected over the years.
  • Arous Elbahar (Bride of the Sea) Association for Women, a non-profit women’s organization, which advances the position and the involvement of Jaffa’s Muslim women.
  • Stories/stops about pioneer women in Jaffa from the First and Second Aliya, who lived/worked in Jaffa.
• Festive welcome dinner and trip orientation.

• Optional: Yoga on the beach.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
•  Turning the Tables is dedicated to vocational training and economic empowerment of women, who break away from life “on the streets” by building self-worth and achieving livelihood possibilities by offering services of sewing, pattern making and designing for designers and individual clients.
• Maskit, founded to create jobs for new immigrants, is Israel’s first “high” fashion house and its concept was to take modern European patterns combined with ethnic embroidery, creating a uniquely Israeli brand.
• Lunch with Michal Avera, CEO of Fidel, an organization dedicated to assisting the integration of Ethiopian Israelis into Israeli society through high-impact initiatives that educate, empower, and nurture leadership.
• Guided walk and exploration through the Ahuzat Bayit neighborhood, from which the city developed, and Neve Zedek, one of Tel Aviv’s first neighborhoods with its many stories and modern galleries, including time for self-exploration and shopping.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Optional: Bike ride on the promenade.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Tour the Tel Aviv urban art scene with Murielle Cohen, who draws colorful collages made up of short sentences that describe the hidden secrets of each soul that she draws – a woman artist in a generally male-dominated art and street art world.
• Visit Kuchinate, a collective of African asylum-seeking women in vulnerable situations—many are survivors of human trafficking, torture, and sexual abuse—who design and create crocheted products for the home, to partake in a traditional Eritrean/Ethiopian coffee ceremony.
• The Nachalat Binyamin market has become synonymous with quality Israeli crafts and folk art.
• Lunch on own.
• Participate in a guided walking Rainbow Tour of Tel Aviv to discover the secrets of the largest LGBT community in Israel.
• Mindful Wine Tasting, with pioneering female vintner Roni Saslove, at the hotel.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Optional: Yoga on the beach.
• Breakfast at the hotel and check out.
• Proceed to the Bedouin village Tel Sheva to the Desert Daughter farm for a unique visit, including an inside view of how Desert Daughter health products and cosmetics are produced, which are based on Bedouin family traditions dating back over 400 years.
• Proceed to Moshav Zekharia.
• Kurdish cooking workshop and lunch with local women in the Mateh Yehuda region, who are part of a women’s empowerment initiative that provides professional mentoring and instruction in operating catering businesses that serve the tourism industry.
• Continue to the Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem for an introduction to Jerusalem’s historical importance and centrality to the Jewish people, including the chance to recite the traditional Shehcheyanu prayer.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Workshop with Theatre Company Jerusalem that gives contemporary theatrical expression to ancient Jewish sources by merging traditional Jewish text study with theatrical and musical performance, with particular attention given to the voice of the woman.
• Dinner on own in Machane Yehudah market.
• Tour of Machane Yehuda after hours.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Survivor Testimony over Time, a presentation by scholar Sharon Kangisser.
• Guided visit through Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, including the Avenue of the Righteous, the Holocaust History Museum and the Children’s Memorial, concluding with a special ceremony in the Valley of the Communities—with emphasis on women in the Holocaust.
• 70 Years of Women’s Service in the IDF, lunch with Brigadier-General (Res.) Racheli Tevet-Wiesel.
• Proceed to Ein Karem.
• A workshop of baking Yemenite breads, with Efrat Giat.
• The Ketuba, discuss the Jewish wedding ceremony today and participate in a calligraphy workshop with a female artist, who writes and illuminates ketubot.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Travel to the Old City of Jerusalem.
• Women-based Religious Concepts, explore on-site origins of faith-based rituals, such as the mikvah, and discuss the origins and evolution of female head coverings. Sites to be visited include:
  • Guided tour of the Western Wall Tunnel
  • Time for reflection at the Kotel (Western Wall)
  • The Ezrat Yisrael section of the Western Wall
  • Ancient mikva’ot in the Jewish Quarter or the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.
  • Meet with Rabbi Noa Sattath, Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the social justice arm of the Reform movement in Israel.
• Lunch and afternoon on own.
• Kabbalat Shabbat with Kamatz, a Progressive congregation in Mevasseret Zion, followed by home hospitality for dinner.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Time for meditation or worship.
• Participate in a walking tour reminiscent of a different era as every building on Rehov HaNevi’im (the Street of the Prophets) tells a story of Zionist aspirations, European romanticism, African mysteries or Middle Eastern intrigues.
• Proceed to Damascus Gate, one of the main entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem that, since Biblical times, connects to the main thoroughfare which once lead to the ancient city/capital of Damascus. Continue walking along a seam line that today lacks the physical demarcation of a wall but separates East and West Jerusalem, Israelis and Palestinians, ultra-orthodox and secular neighborhoods.
• Shabbat lunch on own.
• Afternoon at leisure.
• Optional visit to the Israel Museum at own expense (40 minute walk or 10 minute cab ride).
• Check out of the hotel.
• Havdallah at the hotel.
• Farewell dinner, including a wrap up conversation.
• Proceed to Ben Gurion Airport for return flight to the United States.

*Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.