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Explore Israel: Food, Art and Social Justice

Availability: all year round

12 days / 11 nights

Customizable

Private Tours Available

Explore Israel: Food, Art and Social Justice 

Sunday – Depart USA 

Monday – Going up into the Land

  • Arrive in Israel to be met and assisted by your ITC representative (today’s program depends on arrival time)
  • Tour the alleys of Old Jaffa, the ancient port city once known as the Zion GateShekhiyanu-Welcome ceremony on top of Tel Jaffa overlooking modern Tel Aviv.
  • ITC Touch: Lunch at Café Yafo near the Jaffa Flea Market which has become a hip dining and café area.
  • Guided tour of the Israeli Art Wing at the Tel Aviv Art Museum led by a local Israeli artist to learn about history and trends in Israeli art.
  • Check-in to the Dan Panorama Hotel Hotel on Tel Aviv‘s Mediterranean Coast.
  • Free time to rest and enjoy beachside Promenade.
  • ITC Touch: Welcome dinner at Liliyot Restaurant, a gourmet restaurant which trains at risk youth for culinary careers.
  • Overnight: Dan Panorama Hotel Hotel, Tel Aviv

Tuesday, 29 October – Art, Architecture and Markets in Tel Aviv

  • Architectural walking tour to see Bauhaus style buildings for which Central Tel Aviv’s “White City” was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • Lunch on own and free time to explore the Nachalat Binyamin crafts fair. While there checkout the nearby Carmel Market and bohemian Sheinkin Street All Three of these Tel Aviv icons meet at the “Magen David Junction”.
  • ITC Touch: Discover Tel Aviv’s remarkable street art on a graffiti tour of the hip Florentine neighborhoodThe Soho of Israel.
  • ITC Touch: Tasting tour of the colorful Levinsky Market.
  • Dinner on own
  • Overnight:  Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv

Wednesday, 30 October – Carmel and Galilee, Wine and Hyssop

  • Depart for northern Israel.
  • ITC Touch: Encounter with Rabbi Elisha Wolfin, the spiritual leader of the Ve’Ahavta Masorti (Conservative) Congregation in Zichron Yaakov.
  • ITC Touch: Guided tour of the Ein Hod Artists Colony studios and galleries led by a local artist.
  • ITC Touch: Lunch and Druze hospitality at Nora’s Kitchen in the village of Dalyat El Carmel on Carmel – Hear a Druze women speak about her community.
  • ITC Touch: Visit to the Tulip Winery in Kfar Tikva (Kiryat Tivon).  The Tulip Winery combines wine making with social responsibility.  The Tulip Winery is located in Kfar Tikva, a community for people with special needs, and integrates local residents in the production of fine wines.
  • Check–in to the Kibbutz Lavi Hotel on Kibbutz Lavi by the Galilee.
  • Dinner at hotel
  • Overnight:  Lavi

Thursday, 31 October – Raw Materials and Finished Products

  • Program at the Maimonides Heritage Center in Tiberias about this remarkable medieval Jewish philosopher’s approach to food, nutrition and medicine.
  • ITC Touch: Guided tour of Devorat Hatavor, a silk and and honey farm on Moshav Shadmot Devorah, where the Ben Zeev family has been operated the only active silk farm in Israel, since the moshav was founded as a tower and stockade settlement in 1939.  Then discover amazing world of honey and its medicinal and cosmetic properties.
  • Lunch on own
  • ITC Touch: Visit the Hameiri Dairy in Tzfat where the Meiri family has been producing sheep and goat cheeses since 1840 and sample its gourmet products.
  • Tour mystical Tzfat’s old synagogues and picturesque alleyways. Tzfat was the cradle of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in the 16th century.  Judaism’s Friday night service, Kabbalat Shabbat, and the hymn Lecha Dodi originated in Tzfat a that time.
  • ITC Touch: Tripolitani (Libyan Jewish) culinary experience on Moshav Hazon, where our hostess will share with you her ethnic cuisine, family immigration story and tell you about the moshav as a unique Israeli lifestyle.
  • Overnight:  Lavi

 

Friday, 1 November – Organic Agriculture and Greeting the Sabbath

  • Learn about kibbutz life on a walking tour of Lavi led by a local kibbutznik.
  • Visit Bio-Bee on Kibbutz Sde Eliahu, world leaders in organic agriculture to hear how they are using very effectively biological pest control, rather than toxic pesticides to protect their crops.
  • Lunch at Kibbutz Sde Eliahu
  • Travel to Jerusalem through the Jordan Valley.
  • Check-in to the Herbert Samuel Hotel in downtown Jerusalem.
  • Look out at the Old City of Jerusalem and Temple Mount from Scopus.
  • Free time to relax and prepare for Shabbat.Join hundreds of other Jews from around the world to Greet the Sabbath at the Western Wall. Option to pray together as a congregation at the egalitarian “Masorati Kotel“, where men and women can stand together.
  • OR:  Attend Friday night services at a local Jerusalem synagogue.
  • Festive Shabbat Dinner at hotel
  • Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel, Jerusalem

Saturday, 2 November – And on the Seventh Day… in Jerusalem

  • Shabbat morning services at a local Masorati (Conservative) synagogue.
  • Traditonal Shabbat Lunch at hotel.

Shabbat afternoon options:

  • Enjoy relaxing by the hotel pool and exploring on own.
  • Walking tour to the historic Montefiore Windmill to discover the first neighborhood built outside the walls of the Old City.
  • AND/OR:  Walking tour to First Temple period burial site at Ketef Hinnom – Where archaeologists discovered the oldest biblical text ever found.
  • Havdalah
  • Free evening.
  • Dinner on own.
  • Watch the Night Spectacular Sound and Light Show at the Tower of David.
  • Overnight:  Herbert Samuel Hotel, Jerusalem

Sunday, 3 November – The Old City of Jerusalem:  Ancient, Holy and Diverse

  • Discover the archaeological story of the Western Wall and episodes from rabbinic texts while standing where Jewish pilgrims walked 2,000 years ago at Robinson’s Arch and the Southern Wall Excavations.
  • Visit the traditional prayer area of the Western Wall.
  • ITC Touch: Visit Russel’s Bakery, an artisan bakery and hear from the bakers about producing handcrafted sourdough bread that is “both healthy and tasty”.
  • ITC Touch: Tasting tour of the bustling Machane Yehuda Market to discover Jewish delicacies from east and west.
  • Guided tour of the new Hebrew Music Museum in downtown Jerusalem‘s Nachalat Shiva neighborhood to learn about the history of Jewish music from biblical times and through seven different regions of the Diaspora.
  • Dinner on own
  • Recommendation:  Have dinner or coffee and dessert at one of the restaurants or cafés in adjacent Music Square and listen to an open air performance.  Then check out the nearby Ben Yehuda Street Pedestrian Mall.
  • Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel, Jerusalem

Monday, 4 November – Holocaust, Remembrance and Continuity

  • Guided tour of Yad Vashem Campus focusing on Holocaust art. This track will examine both art created to memorialize different aspects of the Holocaust and art produced during the holocaust by its victims, including visits to the Museum of Holocaust Art, Yad Vashem Synagogue and sculpture installed at Yad Vashem.

1st Timers Option:

Tour of Yad Vashem’s Holocaust History Museum and Children’s Memorial.

  • Engage in hands on tzedakah preparing food packages for distribution to some of Israel’s neediest people at Pantry Packers in southern Jerusalem.
  • Return to hotel – Free time to freshen up before dinner.
  • ITC Touch: Dinner at Eucalyptus Restaurant, where chef Moshe Basson gives a modern interpretation to biblical and regional cuisine.
  • Overnight:  Herbert Samuel Hotel, Jerusalem 

Tuesday, 5 November – Coexistence in Jerusalem, Food and Wine in Judean Lowlands

  • ITC Touch: Visit the mixed bilingual Arab-Jewish Hand in Hand School, which is helping to foster better understanding between Jews ansd Arabs.
  • Continue on to wine tasting tour in the Judean Lowlands (Shfelah).
  • ITC Touch: Traditional Kurdish meat lunch at Habayit Shel Osnat on Moshav Agur.
  • Wine tasting and discussion with vintner Shuki Yashuv at the Agur Winery.

1st Timers Option

Masada and the Dead Sea: Freedom Fighters or Fanatics?

·Set out across the Judean Desert to tour the ruins of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found and hear about the sect which lived there 2,000 years ago.

·Ascend Masada by cable car to tour the ruins of Herod’s palace and the last outpost of Jewish independence.

Lunch at Dead Sea resort

Swim in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth, at a local resort.  The resort also has a fresh water pool and spa facilities.  Massage and spa treatments available by prior reservation at own expense.

 

  • Free evening
  • Dinner on own
  • Recommendation for the evening: Visit the First Station Compound, Jerusalem’s restored Ottoman railway station turned restaurant – cafe area.
  • Overnight: Herbert Samuel Hotel, Jerusalem

Wednesday, 6 November Modern Realities and Departure

  • Visit Yad Lakashish, a unique employment project helping Jerusalem’s elderly, including a stop in its shop “where shopping is a mitzvah!”
  • ITC Touch: Curator tour in the Israel Museum – Specific exhibit to be determined, followed by free time to explore additional exhibitions on own.
  • Lunch on own
  • Remainder of afternoon free to explore on your own and get in last minute shopping.
  • Late check-out
  • Farewell dinner at Medita Restaurant
  • Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport – See you again soon!

Thursday, 7 November – Arrive in USA

Begin planning your next Israel trip with ITC Tours!

Explore Israel: Food, Art and Social Justice

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Why Book With Us

  • +30 Years Experience

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Tour Overview

Day 1: Depart USA
Day 2: Old Jaffa, Tel Aviv
Day 3: Carmel Market, Florentine Neighborhood
Day 4: Carmel, Tulip Winery
Day 5: Tzfat, Lavi
Day 6: Old City of Jerusalem, Temple Mount
Day 7: Montefiore Windmill, Havdalah
Day 8: Western Wall, Hebrew Music Museum
Day 9: Yad Vashem, Museum of Holocaust Art
Day 10: Food & Wine in Judean Lowlands, Dead Sea, Masada
Day 11: Yad Lakashish, 
Day 12: Arrive in USA

Contact ITC

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