Explore Israel with Shaare Tefila

• Departure from the United States.

Note: The first day’s itinerary is subject to change depending on the flight arrival.

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance from a Makor Educational Journeys representative.
• Proceed to hotel for check-in.
• Walking tour of Jaffa, one of the most ancient cities in the world, including Biblical vignettes, the role of Jaffa as gateway to the Middle East, the great return of Jews to these shores beginning in 1881, and Jaffa as a microcosm of the challenges of two peoples striving to live side-by-side.
• Welcome dinner in Jaffa at a restaurant and introduction to the program (private room).

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Using literature, songs, newspaper clippings and photos, “meet” thinkers, writers, artists, musicians and politicians at Tel Aviv’s “pantheon,” the Trumpeldor Cemetery, which contains the graves of the leading figures in Israel over recent generations, including those who laid the foundations for the new Hebrew settlement in Jaffa and builders of the city of Tel Aviv.
• Explore the Neve Tzedek neighborhood, founded in 1887 to escape the crowded living quarters of Jaffa. Within a decade it became the center of Jewish Jaffa’s public and cultural life; many of the neighborhood’s turn-of-the-century houses can still be seen.
• Lunch on own at HaTachana, the old Jaffa railway station that has been renovated into a stylish and open, pedestrian-only complex that houses shops, restaurants, art shows and classes, two weekly markets and lots of other events – while preserving the original design of the buildings.
• Specially guided tour at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation, which promotes peacebuilding between Israel and its neighbors (particularly between Israelis and Palestinians) as well as between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel, and presents the journey from the early days of the State to the Startup Nation of today and beyond.*
• Guided walk through the Kiryat Hamelacha*, the heart of the local art scene, a visit to galleries and exhibitions for a view of the dynamic contemporary Israeli art scene that reflects local temperament and issues alongside current trends in world art.
• Visit to Hostage Square and possible conversation with a hostage family -depending on timing and availability, might be an option on Day 4 (…with the hope that Hostage Square will have returned to being Tel Aviv Museum Plaza…)
• Dinner and evening on your own to explore Tel Aviv.

(*alternative to Peres Center and/or Kiryat Hamelacha: a visit to The Anu Museum: the Museum of the Jewish People, located on the campus of Tel Aviv University)

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Volunteer fruit or vegetable harvesting at a Leket Field.
• Travel to the Western Negev/Gaza Envelope.
• Continue to Sderot.
• Geopolitical landscape – Look out from in Sderot at the northern Gaza Strip.
• Drive through Sderot to see the town which has been the target of Hamas rocket attacks for nearly 20 years and see the new memorial at the site of the former, and subsequently demolished, Police Station where a fierce battle with terrorists took place on October 7.
• Lunch on your own in Sderot.
• Guided walk through a Kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas on October 7 with a survivor of the Hamas cross-border ambush and brutalities.
• Visit the NOVA Festival site, where over 400 people were murdered, while others were taken hostage and meet with one of the survivors.
• Visit the Tekuma Car Cemetery, where many of the destroyed vehicles were brought after October 7.
• Return to Tel Aviv, visit to Hostage Square and possible conversation with a hostage family (with possibility of meeting with a hostage family), followed by dinner and evening on own -depending on timing, this visit may take place on Day 3 (…with the hope that Hostage Square will have returned to being Tel Aviv Museum Plaza…)

• Breakfast at the hotel and check out.
• Visit Kuchinate, an African Refugee Women’s Collective, for an opportunity to engage with members of the collective and hear from Israeli women who have dedicated themselves to bettering the lot of African asylum seeker women in south Tel Aviv.
• Travel to Jerusalem
• Stroll through Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s open-air shuk, where Shabbat grocery shopping has already commenced.
• Tasting Tour with lunch in Machane Yehuda.
• Visit the National Military Cemetery at Mount Herzl, including the new sections that have been opened since the October 7, 2023.
• Check in to the hotel in Jerusalem.
• Dinner on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Descend to the City of David for a guided visit through some of the newest excavations in Jerusalem, including the dry water tunnel, the Siloam Pool and the drainage tunnel, which goes under the walls of the Old City to Robinson’s Arch.
• Meet artists in their studios/galleries in Hutzot HaYotzer and/or tour in the Bezalel Crafts Market.
• Lunch on own.
• Rest of the afternoon at leisure.
• Kabbalat Shabbat (options):
  • -Kotel
  • -Group only at a specially chosen site
  • -Jerusalem synagogue
• Festive Shabbat dinner

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Morning at leisure or time for prayer/attend a local synagogue for Shabbat morning services.
• Shabbat lunch at the Fuchsberg Center.
• A Window on Mt. Zion: Mount Zion is a microcosm of Jerusalem – sacred, complex and multicultural.  While there are other spaces that are holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, today’s visit to Mount Zion will concentrate on a single building that houses King David’s Tomb / the Room of the Last Supper/ Nabi Daud –sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

OR:

• Tour the Jewish Quarter of the Old City with its archaeological remains that date back 3000 years to the days of the First Temple, including Biblical and Hasmonean remains in the open Cardo and the Broad Wall. Continue to the Kotel/Western Wall for personal reflection and prayer.
• Havdalah overlooking the Old City walls.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Volunteer with Pantry Packers.
• Visit the newly re-opened National Library, which strives to collect, preserve, cultivate and endow the treasures of knowledge, heritage and culture in general, with an emphasis on the Land of Israel, the State of Israel and the Jewish people in particular.
• Lunch on own en route.
• Drive to the Gush Etzion Junction and meet with the founders of the Shorashim – Roots project, Ali Abu Awwad and Shaul Judelman, for a grassroots dialogue and activism project with Palestinians and settlers.**
• Return to Jerusalem.
• Candle Lighting – First Night of Hanukah, followed by a walk thought the Nachlaot neighborhood to view the Hanukiot in the windows and alleyways, followed by dinner on your own in the Machane Yehudah area of Jerusalem.

**It is also possible to meet with former Efrat Mayor Oded Ravivi and/or Palestinian peace activist Huda Aburqou.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out.
• Drive to the Bedouin village of Lakiya for a peek into Bedouin society. Meet with women from the Sidreh–Lakiya Weaving Initiative to learn about the independence movement for Bedouin women, with a chance to see how the weaving is done and participate in dying some wool.
• Proceed to Be’er Sheva.
• Lunch on own in Be’er Sheva.
• Walk along part of the Be’er Sheva “ring trail” that encircles the city. It leads visitors to the various spectacular landscapes and sites around the city, such as the Negev Brigade Memorial, designed by internationally-renowned urban artist Dani Karavan.
• Learn about Israeli cybersecurity at CyberSpark–the Israeli Cyber Innovation Arenain Be’er Sheva, where -in the heart of the Negev Desert- many high-tech and innovation companies develop their ideas.
• Continue to Dimona
• Meet members of the community of Black Hebrews, a spiritual group that began in Chicago and is based on a long tradition in Afro-American culture, which holds that they are descendants of ancient Israelites. Sample a bit of their music culture which ranges from gospel to rap.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Dinner at the hotel, followed by Candle Lighting – Second Night of Hanukah.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Descend into Mahktesh Ramon (Ramon Crater): various activities including a scenic walk and overview from the Visitors Center, hiking and/or Jeep rides, geological formations.
• Proceed to the Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research in Sde Boker: Winning the War Against Desertification.
• Overlook from the graves of Paula and David Ben Gurion with a brief discussion about Ben Gurion’s dream for the Negev and the challenges it poses.
• Lunch on own.
• Intertwined with wine and cheese-tasting along the Negev Wine Route “lone farms,” visit galleries and artisans who take inspiration from the desert landscapes.
• Return to the hotel for rest and relaxation.
• Dinner at the hotel.
• Candle Lighting – Third Night of Hanukah, followed by Star-gazing in the first recognized Dark Sky Place*** in the Middle East.
  ***The International Dark Sky Places (IDSP) program certifies communities, parks, and protected areas around the world that preserve and protect dark sites through responsible lighting policies and public education.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check out.
• Walk in the beautiful white Canyon of Ein Avdat to discover hidden springs in the Zin Valley.
• Lunch with the Kitchen Queens, a social project in which women in the development town of Yerucham host visitors in their homes for a meal of ethnic delicacies accompanied by stories about their community for a rich human, cultural and culinary experience.
• Continue to Rehovot, for a visit to the Ayalon Institute, a clandestine pre-State Haganah bullet factory, to experience how Israel’s nascent military operated during the last years of the British Mandate over Palestine.
• Travel north to Neot Kedumim.
• Step back in time with an interactive ecological tour at the Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve, a living museum of Israel’s “green archeology,” illustrating Jewish heritage tied to the Land and the People of Israel, with special emphasis on water issues and creative solutions, both ancient and modern, including an opportunity to draw water from a 2000-year-old cistern.
• Farewell dinner at Neot Kedumim, with Candle Lighting – Fourth Night of Hanukah.
• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for return flight home.

Arrival to U.S.

Next Year in Jerusalem!

*Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.