Temple Beth El of South Orange County

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

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International Airport, with assistance by a Makor Educational Journeys representative

• Proceed to Tel Aviv.

• Check in to the hotel.

• Welcome dinner and introduction to the program

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• The Song of Many Voices: Secular Israel’s Search for Spirituality: begin the day with Beit Tefilla Yisraeli co-founder Rani Jaeger at Beit Tefilla Yisraeli, a liberal, independent, egalitarian, and inclusive community committed to the Jewish spirit, culture, and social action.

• Lunch on own

• Guided by Ihab and Ora Balha, participate in a Sufi whirling class and Ziker ceremony, one of the major rituals in the Sufi’s spiritual practice.

• Dinner at the Blackout Restaurant, a dark environment meant to simulate the inability to see, is located in the “Nalaga’at” Complex, founded on the basic belief that every human being has the right to contribute to the society in which they live.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel and check-out of the hotel.

• Travel north along the Trans-Israel Highway.

• River of Light:  Join a ceremony of healing with Netanel Goldberg, a vocal artist who leads sessions of prayer and healing circles in Hebrew, English and a new language that he makes up live as an improvisational reflection of life through music.

• Wine Tasting at Tulip Winery. Located in Kfar Tikva, a pioneering community for adults with developmental and emotional disabilities, the winery employs Kfar Tikva members and provides them with tools to enter the labor market.

• Lunch on own en route

• Check-in to the hotel

• Begin a mini-retreat with Or HaLev: Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation (with James Meisels) 

• Kabbalat Shabbat in nature.

• Festive Shabbat dinner.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• T’filot Shabbat.

• With the Or HaLev staff, a mindfulness Shabbat.

• Shabbat lunch at the hotel.

• Havdalah.

• Dinner at the hotel/Melaveh Malkah.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• Depart the hotel.

• Of Sufis and Dervishes:    Walking tour with world spiritual traditions researcher and author, Ze’ev ben Arieh, beginning at the White Mosque in Akko.   Continue to the World Center of the Shadilli Yashruti, Zawayat El-Shadlia, a holy place of retreat and communion for dervishes and sheikhs.  Discussion of the integration of Sufism into Judaism.

• Lunch on own en route.

• Methods of Divine Communication: Visit the grave of Shimon bar Yochai in Meron or the traditional gravesite of Yonatan ben Uziel (Amuka) in the Birya Forest.

• Continue to Safed, the center of 16^th c. Jewish mysticism, for a Kabbalistic walking tour

·      Meeting with artist Avraham Lowenthal or David Friedman, who use Kabbalah as inspiration.

• Return to Hanaton for dinner

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Community Spiritual Leadership: With Moti Zeira, president of HaMidrasha. Engage in text study to explore Jewish spiritual leadership in ancient Tzippori, where the Mishna was codified after the destruction of the Second Temple.

• Drive to Nazareth for a program with the Abrahamic Reunion, hosted by Sheikh Abed Alsalam Manasra and with the participation of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Abrahamic Reunion Peacemakers.

• Lunch on own in the Nazareth suq.

• Continue to Jerusalem

• Overview of Jerusalem from Mt. Scopus or Mt. of Olives, with an opportunity to recite the traditional shehechayanu prayer.

• Check-in to the hotel

• Dinner on own

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• Ashera / Shekhinah: The Development of Judaism’s Divine Feminine: Travel to the Rockefeller Museum, which contains many statues and figures of the “Goddess,” to discuss how ancient Canaanite beliefs influenced the Israelites.

• A Meditative Life: Visit the contemplative Benedictine abbey, Our Lady of Calvary and meet with one of the sisters about her life in religious meditation and contemplation.

• Lunch on own.

• With Rabbi Hillel and Chaya Lester of the Shalev Center, experience separate men’s and women’s “Circle Growth Groups.”

• Dinner and evening on own.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• Travel to the Dead Sea.

• Explore the lives and teachings of the ascetic Second Temple Essenes sect both in the archaeological excavations at Qumran and hike the “Scrolls Trail” near the cliffs to experience the desert’s invitation to freedom, emptiness, stillness and quiet.

• In mystical teachings, water symbolizes pleasure.  Personal journey experience at the Dead Sea, the lowest point on Earth and the closest to the womb of Mother Nature, to unleash the deep healing powers of weightlessness in water.

• Lunch at the Dead Sea

• Travel to Mevasseret Tzion to meet and meditate with the Community of Mindfulness, which practices the mindfulness of the Plum Village tradition of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh.

• Return to Jerusalem

• Dinner on own

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• On the Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar, learn with Dr. Melila Hellner-Eshed.

• Options: (leadership to choose 1-2 options)

• Lunch on own.

• Meet artist David Moss for a talk and exhibition of his work, which concentrates on “Symbolism and Colors” at the Kol HaOt Center in Hutzot HaYotzer.

• Meditation session

• Afternoon at leisure and Dinner and evening on own.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• The Israeli Search for Spirituality, with Rabbi Avraham Leader of the “Leader Minyan.”

• Bend the Light: Workshop on prayer led by liturgist and poet, Alden Solovy.

• Lunch and afternoon on own

• Creating music and engaging prayer spaces Kabbalat Shabbat with Nava Tehilla and Rabbi Ruth Gan-Kagan.

• Festive Shabbat Dinner at the hotel.

• Daily practice led by Rabbi K’vod Wieder.

• Breakfast at the hotel.

• Shabbat Services overlooking the Old City or another location TBD(weather permitting…)

• The Spirituality in Dialogue, the Dialogue in Spirituality and how they both can bring people together, with Alec Isaacs, founder of Siach Shalom.

• Shabbat lunch on own – personal arrangements can be made at the hotel.

• Meditation and Havdalah overlooking the Old City

• Summation and farewell dinner at T’mol Shilshom.

• Depart for Ben Gurion International Airport for the return flight to the United States.