Tuesday - Shehechiyanu - Welcome to Israel!

• Early morning landing at Ben Gurion Airport
• Welcome to Israel ceremony at Burma Road.
• Lunch en route.
• Haas Promenade Overlook of Jerusalem
• Check in and orientation.
• Dinner at hotel

Overnight accommodations: Jerusalem hotel

Wednesday - The History of Jerusalem Begins
Today we will visit some of Jerusalem's most important historical sites and learn about the ancient history of this holy city and our people.

• Hazon Yeshaya Soup Kitchen volunteering
• City of David - Visit the City of David. The story of the City of David began over 3,000 years ago when King David left the city of Hebron for a small hilltop city known as Jerusalem, establishing it as the unified capital of the tribes of Israel
• Southern Wall Excavations - offers a rare opportunity to explore and study the most significant archaeological site in Israel by means of exhibitions and illustrations describing Jerusalem's main episodes
• Jewish Quarter and Kotel – including Kotel Tunnel Tour
• View the Dome of the Rock
• Church of the Holy Sepulcher
• Dinner on your own

Overnight accommodations: Jerusalem hotel

Thursday - Masada: Struggle for Life, Struggle for Dignity
Leaders make difficult choices. We’ll struggle with the challenges and choices of the Masada saga. In the afternoon we’ll float in the Dead Sea and hike in a nature reserve and enjoy the beauty of the wilderness.

• Masada - climb or cable car, depending on your request. Bnai Mitzvah ceremony
• Hike in the Ein Gedi desert oasis at Nachal David
• Dead Sea - lunch and swimming

Overnight accommodations: Jerusalem hotel

Friday - Destruction & Rebirth
There is a strong and extremely complex relationship between the Holocaust and the modern State of Israel. We will explore the meaning of the Holocaust to the communal memory of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. We’ll see inside of the lives of Jerusalem residents. Then, we’ll travel to Kibbutz Gezer and welcome in Shabbat with the members of Kehilat Birkat Shalom.

• Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum
  The group can be divided for this portion if there are children who are too young for Yad Vashem. A parallel program will be arranged for them, depending upon their ages
  Har Herzl – Visit Israel's National military cemetery
• Machane Yehuda – Stroll through and eat lunch in the famous Jerusalem market; see how Jerusalem prepares for Shabbat. Buy food for Seuda Shlishit picnic on Shabbat
• Kabbalat Shabbat & dinner with Kehilat Birkat Shalom at Kibbutz Gezer (Rabbi Miri Gold)

Overnight accommodations: Jerusalem hotel

Shabbat - Shabbat in Jerusalem

• Bar Mitzvah ceremony at HUC
• Celebration lunch at hotel
• Tour of Old City neighborhoods
• IsraelExperts program - “The Changing Map of the Middle East” interactive family activity and discussion program, focusing on the political and historical background that led to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the current situation in Israel and the Middle East in general
• Group organized Seuda Shlishit picnic in park
• Havdalah
• Free evening & dinner on own

Overnight accommodations: Jerusalem hotel

Sunday - The Founders of Modern Israel: Poets & Pioneers
We’ll hear the stories of everyday young heroes, poets and pioneers who created the State of Israel.

• View the security fence and discuss Israeli/Arab border issues and co-existence at Givat Haviva. Parallel activity for children. The Givat Haviva Institute educates and acts to promote the values of equality and human dignity. The institute implements activities to develop the experience of equality between Jews and Arabs living in Israel, and provides tools to this end. This will also be an opportunity to view and discuss the separation fence.
• Lunch on own.
• Swim at Sachne
• Kinneret Cemetery. Learn through poetry, song, and storytelling, about the lives and loves of a handful of young idealists who left Eastern Europe one hundred years ago in order to lay the foundation for the Jewish state
• Donkey rides on Mt. Arbel, with an overview of the entire Kinneret (Sea of Galilee)
• Hotel check-in
• Evening drumming

Overnight accommodations: Kibbutz guesthouse in the Galilee

Monday - Od Lo Avda Tikvateynu- We Never Lost our Hope: Kabbalists and Chalutzim
We’ll examine the common elements and differences between Kabbalists in Tzfat and the pioneers of Israel as they each set out to build a new future for our nation. We’ll look at the reactions of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances and how they led a people to make a two-thousand year old dream come true.

• Bat Mitzvah ceremony
• Golan Heights - Witness the natural beauty and strategic advantage of the Golan Heights mountain range and visit a variety of strategic and historic sites including Har Bental. OPTIONAL JEEP TOUR.
• Tzfat- Explore this fascinating city through a family treasure hunt. Tzfat is regarded one of the Four Holy Cities in Judaism along with Jerusalem, Tiberias and Hebron, and is a center for the Kabbalah, an esoteric form of Jewish mysticism. Tour the ancient synagogues and artists’ square. Optional meeting with artist Avraham Lowenthal.
• Rafting on the Jordan River.
• Boat ride on Kinneret and fish dinner at Kibbutz Ein Gev

Overnight accommodations: Kibbutz guesthouse in the Galilee

Tuesday - "The ornament of all Galilee”
Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity were both born in this neighborhood at the end of the second Temple period. Tzipori provides us with background to the creation of the Mishnah by scholar and religious leader Yehuda Hanasi.

• Tree planting at Golani junction
• Galilee Jewish-Arab Children’s Circus with Rabbi Marc Rosenstein
• Tzipori - tour the amazing archaeological site of the city of Tzipori, described as "The ornament of all Galilee," located on a hill in the Lower Galilee, midway between the Mediterranean and Lake Kinneret, with abundant spring water and a fertile valley around it.
• Dinner at Kfar Blum

Overnight accommodations: Kibbutz guesthouse in the Galilee

Wednesday - Partnership-friends, neighbors, “the ‘other’ in our Midst”
As we make our way back to the center of the country, we’ll stop to learn more about our history.

• Haifa – Bahai Gardens
• Visit to Caesarea including the “Caesarea Experience,” a fascinating cinematic experience, which will take you on a voyage to the past. You will also meet characters from Caesarea's history, such as King Herod, Rabbi Akiva and Saladin, in a state of the art interactive project
• Free evening in Tel Aviv

Overnight accommodations: Tel Aviv hotel

Thursday - Tel Aviv – Israel’s Big Orange
Yitzchak Rabin's memory is embodied in a place, a place that stands for Peace. Tel Aviv, now over 100 years old, is symbolic of Israel's transformation to a cosmopolitan sophisticated country.

• Palmach Museum - Tour the Palmach Museum where we learn about Israel's struggle for independence
• Kikar Rabin- Visit Rabin Square ("Kikar Rabin" in Hebrew), a large public city square in central Tel Aviv. It is named after Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated at the conclusion of a massive peace rally held at the square on November 4, 1995.
• Lunch on own & free time in Tel Aviv
• Final dinner and closing program
• Transfer to airport

Transfer to airport (B, D)

Shalom and Le'Hitraot, see you again next year!