Sixth & I

• Individual arrivals.
• Check in to the hotel.
• Meet in hotel lobby at 4:00 PM
• Opening program and Orientation, followed by a guided walk through Florentine, a gentrifying, hipster, H Street meets Shaw neighborhood in Tel Aviv, and learn about contemporary Israeli culture through some great people-watching, tour-guiding, graffiti-and-bumper-sticker studying, and window-shopping.
• Opening Dinner at The Old Man and the Sea (on the patio or in a private room).

(Links to the hotel websites are in the Payment Information section below.)

• Shacharit/morning stretches and prayers on the beach with Beit Tefillah Yisraeli.
• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Contemporary Issues in Israel: Interactive discussion with social historian Paul Liptz.
• Guided walk through the streets of Tel Aviv, using music and text to explore the origins of the “Hebrew city”. Walk along Rothschild Blvd and visit Ahuzat Bayit, the first neighborhood settled by Zionists in what would become Tel Aviv. Tour the White City, the UNESCO World Heritage collection of Bauhaus buildings.
• Lunch on own in Sarona, formerly a flourishing Christian Templar agricultural settlement that has been transformed into an upscale business and retail park in the heart of Tel Aviv.
• Depart Tel Aviv.
• Travel to Taibe to meet with Dalia Fadila, Director of Al-Qasemi College for Science and Engineering in Baqa al-Gharbiyye and Founder of the Q School for English and Human Resource and Women’s Leadership Development in Israeli-Palestinian society.
• Meeting in Akko with the Dror Israel social movement, which has initiated dozens of educational projects that address the economic, educational and societal concerns of Israeli and Palestinian citizens.
• Dinner and debriefing.
• Check in to the hotel.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Memorial for Tali Matlis, JWW3, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 40, who visited Israel with Sixth & I in 2013, and who loved his stay at this lodge.
• Begin a security tour of Israel’s northern borders on the Golan Heights and learn about and discuss how the current Syrian civil war has affected those who live in the Golan Heights.
• Ascend Mount Bental for a view into Syria and the abandoned town of Kuneitra.
• Visit the Druze village of Buq’ata for a traditional Druze lunch and dialogue with communal leaders on their relationship with Israel and some of the joint projects taking place between the Druze and Jewish communities.
• Walk along the trail at Tel Dan or Banias for a discussion of the political issues related to the sourcing and distribution of water.
• Dinner and wine tasting at Belle Ofri restaurant and Ein Nashut boutique winery.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Travel to the West Bank.
• My Home in Judea and Samaria – I am Here to Stay, a dialogue with residents of Shilo for an understanding of the origins of Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria and why living in this area for them is the essence of being Jewish.
• My Home in Palestine – I am Here to Stay, drive to Ramallah, administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and meet with local officials.
• Lunch on own in Ramallah.
• Visit the Christian Palestinian village of Taybeh, home of the Taybeh Brewing Company, the first microbrewery in the Middle East, and meet with members of the Khoury family, who returned to Taybeh from the United States after the Oslo Accords, to hear of their triumphs and challenges in fighting for Palestinian independence.
• Walk back from the West Bank into Jerusalem through the Qalandia Checkpoint Crossing.
• Stop at Mount Scopus for an introduction to Jerusalem and a Shehecheyanu celebration upon arrival in the city.
• Check in to the hotel.
• One Land, Many Narratives summation
• Walk through the open-air Machane Yehuda shuk.
• Dinner on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Travel to the Ezrat Yisrael (“egalitarian Kotel”) to meet with a representative of The Jewish Pluralism Watch, an institute whose mission is to monitor Israeli-elected officials’ positions, statements, and legislative initiatives and voting regarding state and religion in Israel.
• Visit the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, including the Avenue of the Righteous, the Holocaust History Museum and the Children’s Memorial, concluding with a special ceremony in the Valley of the Communities.
• Questions of Sovereignty, a guided visit through the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, concluding with the Leaders of the Nation section with the graves of Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir and others.
• Lunch and afternoon on own as Jerusalemites prepare for Shabbat.  (For those who wish to take an afternoon swim, we will provide passes to a pool.)
• Shabbat candle lighting.
• Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel or a Jerusalem synagogue, followed by Shabbat dinner in the home of Jerusalemites.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Time for Shabbat services.
• The Multi-ethnic Weave of Jerusalem, a guided walk through the streets of Jerusalem, exploring the varied make-up of the city, from the Chief Rabbinate and the Jewish Agency through the Catholic Ratisbonne and the Baptist Church on Narkis St, the many Jewish traditions in Nachlaot, concluding on Nevi’im St. with its many Jewish and Christian institutions.
• Lunch at an Old City “chumusiya”, an unpretentious local eating place, where the chumus is made in house daily along with techina, falafel and lots of variations on the theme.
• Study session with Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.
• Debriefing session overlooking the Old City, followed by Havdallah.
• Dinner and evening on own.

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Spend the morning with professional counterparts throughout Jerusalem.
• Summation session over lunch with Playback Theater.
• Free time to enjoy Jerusalem.
• Concluding wrap-up discussion.
• Farewell Dinner, venue TBD.

*Program is subject to change, pending confirmations.