Shir Ami Multigenerational Adventure in Israel

• Departure from the United States.

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Depart hotel
• Adults: Israel Today, with social historian, Paul Liptz – a look at today’s headlines for a peek into Israeli society.
• Youth: 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.
• Visit 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.
• Lunch on own in the Nachalat Binyamin Arts and Crafts market.
• Kabbalat Shabbat at Beit Tefilah Yisraeli
• Shabbat dinner at a local restaurant

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Shabbat services, morning at leisure, or Shabbat Torah Study: Questions of Identity in Parshat Vayigash
• ANU – the Museum of the Jewish People – conveys the fascinating narrative of the Jewish people and the essence of Jewish culture, faith, purpose and deed.
• Lunch Tel Aviv style at open air cafes
• Walk through the trendy neighborhood of Florentine to explore new and daring Israeli graffiti art.
• Continue to the “Tiny, Tiny” Art Gallery, where a professional graffiti artist will demonstrate and teach the creative techniques and secrets behind graffiti art — paint a T-shirt or canvas to take home
• Havdalah
• Evening and dinner on own

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out
• Participate in a volunteer activity with the LEKET Project, Israel’s National Food Bank that “rescues” healthy, surplus food and delivers it to those in need through partner nonprofit organizations.
• Continue to Kibbutz Ein Shemer
• At the Old Courtyard at Kibbutz Ein Shemer, get a sense of what kibbutz life was like years ago. Experience being a pioneer – wear traditional pioneer’s clothes to create your own kibbutz: build tents, do the laundry, guard the old guard tower, bake fresh rolls in a brick oven and plow the field. Continue with a tractor ride of the kibbutz to visit a number of different thematic stations

o          Pioneer’s lunch is served in authentic tin dishes with a taste of the old days.

And/or

• Special program at the Ein Shemer Ecological Greenhouse, a mainstay of shared society and dialogue in Israel for close to 40 years, hosted by Avital Geva
• Check-in to the hotel
• Dinner at the hotel

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Travel to Safed
• Guided walking tour of Safed -starting at the highest point in town, the strategically placed 12th c. Crusader Citadel. With tales of the Israeli War of Independence, Kabbalists and mysticism, descend by foot to the Old City to explore the old synagogues of Safed, the center of Jewish mysticism since the 16th century.
• Lunch and time on own in Safed
• Ascend to the Golan Heights and travel by Jeeps along the Golan Volcanic Way down a route with some spectacular results of geological activity. Conclude at Mount Bental, a dormant volcano from whose vantage point one has magnificent views of Mount Hermon, the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and the mountains of southern Lebanon.
• Discuss the current Middle East geopolitical situation from atop Mt. Bental.
• Continue to Kibbutz Ein Zivan for a  chocolate-making workshop

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out
• Proceed to Jerusalem
• Visit Sindyanna of the Galilee, an organization led by a team of Arab and Jewish women which works to create social change through Arab-Jewish cooperation. It promotes fair trade and economic opportunities for both Arab and Jewish communities.
• Continue along the Trans-Israel Highway with selected overlooks into the Palestinian Authority and discussion on the Seam Zone Barrier.
• Guided visit through Caesarea, including the Roman Theater, Hippodrome, Promenade and Palace, and concluding at the remains of the Crusader City, exploring the relationship between Romans and Jews.
• Lunch on own in Caesarea
• Continue to Jerusalem
• Stop at the Goldman Promenade, overlooking the Old City, for an opportunity to recite the traditional Shehecheyanu blessing upon arrival in Jerusalem, followed by a short introduction to the city.
• Check-in to the hotel
• Dinner and evening on own in one of Jerusalem’s “restaurant neighborhoods.”

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Visit the workshops of Yad Lakashish, which provide meaningful, creative, and serious artistic and craft expression to Jerusalem’s elderly.
• Explore the Jewish Quarter to discover the layers of history beneath the surface, including visits to the First Temple era Broad Wall, the Herodian Mansions of the Second Temple period and the 500-year-old 4 Sephardic synagogues complex.

• Lunch on own in the Jewish Quarter
• From Yemin Moshe along the Jerusalem Seam Zone: A guided walking and bus tour starting in Yemin Moshe, the first Jewish neighborhood outside the Old City to some of the civilian neighborhoods that after the reunification of Jerusalem in 1967 became part of the “security belt,” as well as the Jerusalem Envelope Seam Zone Barrier for a discussion of Jerusalem geopolitics
• Dinner on own in the Mamilla Pedestrian Mall
• Guided visit through the Western Wall Tunnel, followed by a visit to the Kotel (Western Wall).
• Return to hotel

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Proceed to the Dead Sea region
• Option 1: Ascend Masada on foot or by the 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.
• Option 2:  Ecotourism at the Dead Sea: Learn about the environmental dangers to this natural wonder. [Depending on group size] Sail on the only exploration boat on the Dead Sea or paddle in a double kayak excursion.  Capture images of the magical salt formations, salt treasures and sinkholes as they constantly transform, uncovering new geological phenomena
• Continue to Ein Bokek for an opportunity to float in the Dead Sea and swim in the hotel pool, with lunch.
• Return to Jerusalem
• Dinner on own
• Meet with an organization composed of Israelis and Palestinians seeking an end to bloodshed through dialogue.

• 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

▪           Returnees: Tour the Art Museum and Sculpture Garden

• Concluding ceremony in the Valley of the Communities
• Age-appropriate program for children or alternate programming elsewhere.
• Explore Machane Yehuda open-air market where one can see Jerusalem’s human tapestry: people of all nationalities, religions and ages crowding the market’s streets. Lunch on own in the market with “Shuk Bite” meal tickets.
• Kabbalat Shabbat TBD
• Shabbat dinner at the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel
• Morning at leisure or
• Option 1: Guided walk through the Quarters of Jerusalem, exploring the multi-ethnic weave of the city, including views from within rooftop the Jewish Quarter, a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian Quarter and concluding at the Austrian Hospice on the edge of the Muslim Quarter
• Option 2: Guided walking tour through some of the early neighborhoods of Jerusalem’s “New City:” Yemin Moshe, German Colony, Talbieh, Rehavia
• Lunch on own

• Visit the Israel Museum “Route of Passage” exhibit, the Shrine of the Book and/or the Sculpture Garden.
• Havdalah & Farewell Dinner
• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for return flights home.

“Next Year in Jerusalem!”