Shalom Austin

• Depart the United States.

• Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport.
• Arrival assistance
• Drive along the coast to Haifa.
• Stop behind the Dan Carmel Hotel for a welcome ceremony overlooking the Haifa Bay.
• Check in to the Dan Carmel Hotel.
• Festive Mission Opening Dinner at the Dan Carmel Hotel, with representatives of the Western Galilee Partnership Region.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Full morning with the Partnership.
• Lunch with the Partnership.
• Depart for Tel Aviv.
• Late afternoon visit to the new ANU Museum of the Jewish People on the campus of Tel Aviv University, for a special mission program exploring the story of the Jewish People, with the past as a foundation and the present as a source of creativity to look toward the future.
• Continue to the hotel and check in.
• Free evening with dinner on your own.
  • Possibilities include: Rothschild Blvd, Jaffa Flea Market, Old Train Station, Tel Aviv Port.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Israel’s Geopolitical Reality Post-October 7, 2023, with a scholar from the INSS – Institute for National Security Studies, Israel’s leading security think tank.
• Drive to the Western Negev and the Gaza border, visiting sites of the October 7^th Massacre, as well as conversations with residents who suffered the horrors of October 7^th and are rebuilding their lives in the Western Negev, including the site of the Nova Festival, the city of Sderot and the Kibbutz Memorial (to be established – location as yet unknown).
• Drive to Jerusalem.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Shehecheyanu and Mission Arrival Ceremony, overlooking Jerusalem from the Goldman Promenade, (weather permitting) with introduction to Jerusalem and music.
• Dinner and program with Reshut Harabim – Thoughts, Music and Prayer in Memory of October 7 and Looking Toward the Future.

• Breakfast at hotel.

Option 1 –  The Dead Sea

• Drive to the Dead Sea Basin.
• Ascend Masada via cable car or the Snake Path.
• Guided visit through Masada, a fortress and later a stronghold of Jewish Zealots who fought the Romans 2000 years ago, for an exploration of its meaning in modern Israel, as well as some of the outstanding efforts in recent years to renew the Roman mosaics and frescos
• Descend Masada and drive to Ein Bokek for an opportunity to float in the Dead Sea and use the spa facilities, with lunch.

• Additional Option: Spend the day at the Ein Bokek Dead Sea Beach.

Option 2 – The Geopolitics of Jerusalem

• Descend to the City of David for a guided visit through some of the newest archaeological finds in Jerusalem and delve into some the complex realities of contemporary geopolitical challenges interwoven with ancient archeological finds.
• Geopolitical Drive around Jerusalem’s borders, exploring the current Post-October 7 realities on the ground, while driving south toward Bethlehem and Gush Etzion.
• Visit Roots-Judour-Shorashim, a grassroots initiative composed of Settlers and Palestinians, who are committed to dialogue and joint living, while maintaining their respective connections to the land.

Entire Group

• Return to Jerusalem.
• Dinner on your own and an optional walk into the Old City of Jerusalem.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• The Memory of the Holocaust in Contemporary Israel Society, with Holocaust Scholar, Rachel Korazim.
• Visit Yad Vashem, the National Jewish Memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

First-Timers

• Guided visit through the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations, the Historical Museum, concluding with the Children’s Memorial.

Returnees Options

• Special programs include:
  • Art Museum
  • Archive and with an archivist
  • School for Holocaust Education, exploring some of the challenges in Holocaust education, both in the United States and Israel, as the distance from the Holocaust grows
  • Restoration Lab

Entire Group

• Mission Memorial Ceremony.
• Lunch on your own at the Machane Yehudah Open Air Market.
• Return to the hotel.
• Free time for rest and relaxation.
• Optional visit to the Western Wall as Jerusalemites and guests welcome in Shabbat.
• Return to the hotel for an Austin Community Kabbalat Shabbat, followed by a festive Shabbat Dinner at the hotel, with musical guests.
• Late night optional walk into Meah Shearim.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Optional Shabbat services.

Morning Options

• Guided walk through some of Jerusalem’s neighborhoods, visiting various synagogues of differing traditions, concluding at the Ades Synagogue (Syrian) in the Nachlaot neighborhood.
• Shabbat morning walk to Mount Zion, the Hill of Three Religions, with poetry and Midrash.

• Shabbat lunch at the hotel.

Afternoon Options

• The Poet and the Windmill – Guided walk to the Montefiore Windmill and Yemin Moshe using the Poetry of Yehuda Amichai as a guide, while exploring the first neighborhood built outside the Old City’s Walls.
• The German Colony of Jerusalem – Walk through the German Colony, built by the German Templars in the late 1800s’s, with their unique buildings and stories that have become part of Jerusalem’s lore.
• Independent option: Israel Museum – Visit the Israel Museum, its large-scale Model of Ancient Jerusalem during the days of the Second Temple and the Dead Sea Scrolls, followed by an opportunity to visit the Jewish Life and Living, Archaeology, Israeli Art and Design exhibits and much more.

Entire Group

• Free time for rest and relaxation.
• Wrap Up Conversation.
• Havdallah, overlooking the Old City.
• Festive closing dinner.
• Depart for Ben Gurion Airport.

• Return flight to the United States.

*Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.