Congregation Beth Shalom

• Depart from the United States.

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance.
• Shehekhiyanu ceremony at Aliyah Bet Memorial at London Square overlooking seashore.
• Check-in to hotel on Tel Aviv’s Mediterranean Coast.
• Welcome dinner with guest speaker: Col (res.) Grisha Yaakobovitch, formerly of the IDF Civil Administration in Gaza on October 7: Israel and the Palestinians at hotel.
• Optional after dinner walk on beach.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Travel to the Nova Festival site in the Western Negev.
• Lunch and volunteering opportunity in the nearby development town of Netivot.
• Drive through Sderot to see the town which has been the target of Hamas rocket attacks for nearly 20 years and see the site of the now demolished Police Station, where a fierce battle with terrorists took place on October 7.
• Meet with Ayelet Shmuel, Director of the Resilience Center in Sderot to hear about training teams to administer psychological first aid in times of strife.
• Visit the Municipal Operations Center in Sderot, where emergency services are coordinated, including on October 7.
• Return to Tel Aviv
• Free evening, dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Graffiti tour focusing on street art dedicated to October 7 events and Gaza War.
• Clal Yisrael: Jewish Unity and Peoplehood, a guided tour and discussion at Anu – The Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University.
• Lunch on own
• Visit Hostage Square, formerly Tel Aviv Art Museum Plaza, which has been the focal point of families and public campaigns to BRING THEM HOME!
• Possible meeting with a Hostage Family.
• Free afternoon for personal exploration.
• Free evening, dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the Palmach Museum in Ramat Aviv to learn about the elite underground organization which played a critical role in founding the State of Israel.
• Hear about the establishment of Tel Aviv, the first Hebrew city in 2,000 years at the Founders’ Monument on Rothschild Boulevard and see the Bauhaus architecture for which central Tel Aviv was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Tasting tour lunch to discover a synthesis of traditional and Tel Aviv fusion cuisine in the colorful Levinsky Balkan Market.
• Travel to Jerusalem.
• Look out over the Temple Mount and Old City of Jerusalem.
• Check-in to the hotel in Jerusalem.
• Speaker: Where are we now:  Israel@June 2024 with Haviv Rettig Gur, Strategic Analyst and Political Correspondent at the Times of Israel.
• Free evening, dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Tour of Yad Vashem – Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum, including the Historical Museum and Children’s Memorial.
• Visit graves of soldiers and police officers, who fell in the 2023 Gaza War at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, including the grave of Atlanta native Staff Seargent Rose Lubin.
• Lunch on own and free time to explore the bustling Machane Yehuda Market.
• Free time to relax and get ready for Shabbat.
• Light Shabbat candles at hotel.
• Friday night/Kabbalat Shabbat options:
• Join hundreds of other Jews from around the world to Greet the Sabbath at the Western Wall. Option to pray together as a congregation at the “Masorti Kotel”, where men and women can stand together.

OR

• Attend Friday night services at a local Jerusalem synagogue.
• Festive Shabbat Dinner at hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Shabbat morning services – TBD with Rabbi Zimmerman.
• Shabbat Lunch at hotel.
• Free time to relax, explore the city on own and enjoy hotel pool.
• Walking tour to the historic Montefiore Windmill to discover the first neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City. Then continue to nearby Ketef Hinnom, a First Temple period burial site where archaeologists discovered the oldest biblical text ever found.
• Havdallah with Rabbi Zimmerman.
• Free evening
• Dinner on own
• Recommendation for the evening: Check out the First Station Compound – Jerusalem’s old Ottoman Train Station which has been converted into a restaurant- café area.  It’s a short walk from your hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Possibility of Shacharit Services at Egalitarian section of Kotel.
• Discover the archaeological story of the Western Wall and episodes of Jewish history at Robinson’s Arch and the Southern Wall Excavations.
• Visit the traditional prayer area of the Western Wall.
• Walk through the Western Wall Tunnels to discover underground Jerusalem.
• Lunch on own in the Jewish Quarter
• Tour of Jewish Quarter including the Broad Wall, Rooftops and Cardo.
• Remainder of afternoon free to pack, relax and get in last minute shopping.
• Farewell dinner at a local restaurant.
• Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for U.S. bound flight