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Scarsdale Synagogue

Dec 21, 2025 - Jan 1, 2026

Led by Cantor Chanin Becker
Saturday, December 21, 2025
DEPARTURE
  • Depart USA for Israel.
Overnight: In flight
Day 2
Sunday, December 22, 2025
WELCOME - B’RUCHIM HABA’IM!
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv
Day 3
Monday, December 23, 2025
THE BIG ORANGE
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv
Day 4
Tuesday, December 24, 2025
THE STATE OF ISRAEL
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv
Day 5
Wednesday, December 25, 2025
TO THE GALILEE
  • 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.
Overnight: Nof Ginosar Hotel, Kibbutz Nof Ginosar
Day 6
Thursday, December 26, 2025
NORTHERN EXPOSURES
  • 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.
Overnight: Nof Ginosar Hotel, Kibbutz Nof Ginosar
Day 7
Friday, December 27, 2025
A CRACK IN THE EARTH
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Jerusalem
Day 8
Saturday, December 28, 2025
MAKING THE DEAD SEA COME ALIVE
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Jerusalem
Day 9
Sunday, December 29, 2025
REMEMBERING THE PAST; LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Jerusalem
Day 10
Monday, December 30, 2025
LAYERS OF JERUSALEM
  • 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.
Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel, Jerusalem
Day 11
Tuesday, December 31, 2025
CONCLUSIONS
  • 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.
Overnight: In Flight
Wednesday, January 1, 2026
ARRIVAL HOME
  • Arrival in the United States

Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.

$4,955
Per person in double-occupancy
$1,665
Single-occupancy supplement
$4,720
Third person sharing

*Price based on a minimum of 20 participants. Price does not include airfare.

 

Hotels:

3 nights at Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv
2 nights at Nof Ginosar Hotel, Kibbutz Nof Ginosar
4 nights at Dan Panorama Hotel, Jerusalem

 

Land Price Includes:

  • Assistance upon arrival and departure at Ben Gurion Airport for one (1) group flight
  • One transfer from and one transfer to Ben Gurion Airport per bus
  • Licensed Israeli Government Tour Educator and trained by Makor – 10 days
  • All group Transportation in Israel on a private luxury bus – 10 days
  • Hotel accommodations per above (including porterage) ** or similar, pending confirmation
  • Field coordinator at hotel check-in
  • All site admissions, programs and speakers as per the itinerary
  • Meals
    • Breakfast daily
    • 4 Lunches
    • 5 Dinners
  • Source Materials, Hat, Bag, Map
  • Water on bus daily – 3 bottles/person/day
  • Credit card fees

 

Not Included

  • Flights
  • Tips for Guide and Driver
  • Meals on own and out of pocket expenses
  • Travel and Medical Insurance 

 

PAYMENT AND REFUND SCHEDULE

Payment Schedule

Upon Registration — Deposit of $500 per participant

September 1, 2025 — 50% of Total Payment

November 1, 2025 — Full Payment


Refund Schedule

Cancel before September 1, 2025 — Full Refund

Cancel between September 1 and November 1 — 50% Refund

Cancel between November 1 and December 1 — 25% Refund

Cancel after December 1, 2025 — No Refund

 

For more information, contact Rabbi Misha Zinkow at [email protected]
 

 

TRAVEL INSURANCE INFORMATION

  • We urge you to purchase cancellation insurance & supplemental medical coverage (which covers pre-existing conditions). This is a smart way to safeguard against life’s surprises.
  • We have made arrangements with SMS-Travel Insurance Center (Israel) of Omaha, Nebraska. SMS has over 25 years of experience as worldwide insurance brokers and can help you choose the policy that best meets your needs. Yonah Engel is our contact person.

Please note regarding the purchase of travel insurance:

  • most insurance policies require purchase within 21 days of your first payment in order to receive maximum coverage (pre-existing conditions, bankruptcy insurance, etc).
  • even if you do not yet know the final trip cost (e.g. flights), write down the amount you do know – and then at a later date, the insurance premium can be amended.
  • trip dates are for the entire period away from home
  • trip costs are all pre-paid expenses (e.g. airfare + land costs)
Phone number: 1-402-404-5205
Mention promo code: IGT-MAKOR