Rabbinic Leadership Familiarization Trip to Israel

• Depart USA for Israel.

• Various arrivals at Ben Gurion Airport.
• Travel through the Judean Hills to Jerusalem.
• Check in to hotel.
• Orientation and opening circle.
• Israeli Society: Looking in and Out: Welcome Dinner with Ambassador Dr. Reda Monsour, currently a lecturer at the Riechman University, formerly the Israeli Ambassador to Ecuador, after serving in numerous other posts.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Israel and the Future of the Jewish People: This Fragile Moment, with Rabbi Professor Michael Marmur, former Rector of the Hebrew Union College and author of the recently published Living The Letters: An Alphabet of Emerging Jewish Thought, for a conversation on the challenges to the Jewish conscience during the course of the Gaza War.
• Visit the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a candid discussion about the relationship between Israel and American progressive Jewish communities and about bridging the growing divide.
• Lunch on your own in Mamilla or in the Old City.
• Afternoon walk through the alleyways and markets of the Old City, visiting Artisans and Merchants who maintain age old trades that have been passed down through their families with visits to some of the following: Ceramicists, jewelers, tinsmiths, spice mavens, textile merchants and more, with conversations about their crafts, their lives and living in Jerusalem.
• Special audience with Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa of Jerusalem, at the Latin Patriarchate.
• Conclude the day with a visit to the Kotel/Azarat Yisrael.
• Processing conversation.
• Dinner with Social Activists who are working to better Israeli society.

• Breakfast at the hotel and checkout.
• Drive to the Western Negev.
• Defining Memorial Space in Daily Life, at the Sderot Police Station Memorial, located on what was the Sderot Police Station. For years, it embodied the steadfastness of the Sderot community. The memorial has become a beacon for both memory and the future.
• Continue to the Nahal Oz Memorial to the Tatzpitaniyot, who were killed on October 7^th, for a conversation about military vs. civilian commemoration.
• Visit the newly defined Nova Memorial Park, for an in-depth look at how the site of the Nova massacre has evolved into the central memorial site for the horrific events of October 7^th, with a representative of the Jewish National Fund.
• Conclude the day at Kibbutz Hatzerim, with Eilam Maor, who led the defense of Kibbutz Beeri on October 7^th and today is in charge of greening Beeri-on-Hatzerim, for a guided walk through what has become the temporary home for Kibbutz Beeri members.
• Drive to Tel Aviv.
• Check in to hotel.
• Processing conversation.
• Dinner on own and free time in Tel Aviv.

• Breakfast at the hotel and checkout.
• Drive to Tel Aviv.
• Non Orthodox American Jews and the Israeli Polity, Can They Coexist and Thrive? with Shacharit, a synergistic mix of think tank, leadership incubator, and community organizing hub that is nurturing a new social partnership among all of Israel’s communities, building a future rooted in the common good, with the participation of Shacharit founder and director Eilon Schwartz, staff and fellows.
• Israel’s Declaration of Independence as a Handbook for Life, conversation over lunch with Rabbi Dr. Rani Jaeger of the Shalom Hartman Institute.
• What are Israelis Saying and Creating Today, a walk through some of Israel’s most intriguing and dynamic public art, in Tel Aviv’s Kiryat Hamelacha.
• Check in to day-use hotel, followed by free time.
• Wrap Up Conversation, followed by a concluding dinner at the New Malka Restaurant
• Depart for Ben Gurion Airport.

Note, if the hostages are still held in Gaza, a visit to Hostage Square will be included in this day.

!טיסה נעימה

Note: All elements of the program are subject to change