Sunday, 12 June – Depart USA

Monday, 13 June – 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 Gate of Zion.
• Shekhiyanu-Welcome ceremony on top of Tel Jaffa overlooking modern Tel Aviv.
• Check-in to the Carlton Hotel on Tel Aviv’s Mediterranean Coast (Sea view rooms).
• Free time to swim in the Mediterranean Sea and enjoy beach side Promenade.
• Welcome dinner at Goshen Restaurant
• Overnight:  Carlton Hotel, Tel Aviv

Tuesday, 14 June – The Hebrew City and the Jewish State

• Visit the Palmach Museum in Ramat Aviv for a multimedia presentation about the elite underground organization that played a critical role in founding the State of Israel.
• Hear about the establishment of Tel Aviv standing at the Founders’ Monument then stroll down Rothschild Boulevard to view the Bauhaus architecture for which central Tel Aviv was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Visit the new Israel Innovation Center located in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange to learn how Israel became the Start Up Nation.
• Lunch on your own and free time to explore the Nahalat Binyamin crafts fair.
• Travel to Rehovot for a guided tour of the Ayalon Institute – an underground bullet factory used by Jewish forces before the founding of the State of Israel.
• Free time to swim in the Mediterranean Sea and enjoy beach side Promenade.
• Free evening
• Dinner on own
• Overnight:  Carlton Hotel, Tel Aviv

Wednesday, 15 June – Along the Mediteranean Coast

• Depart for northern Israel.
• Visit the ruins of Caesarea, including its Roman Theater, Amphitheater, Hippodrome and Promontory Palace.  Ponder a rabbinic debate over Jews attending gladiator games.
• Guided tour of the former Atlit Illegal Immigrant Detention Camp where the British held Holocaust refugees, who tried to enter the country “illegally”. Then board an “illegal immigration ship” to watch a multimedia presentation about the heroic pre-State immigration.
• Lunch on own
• Look out over the greater Haifa region from the top of the Bahai Gardens.
• Travel to Rosh Hanikra in the northwest corner of Israel.
• Descend by cable car to explore the Grottos of Rosh Hanikra – Beautiful sea caves formed by the forces of wind and water.
• Check-in to the Leonardo Plaza in Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee.
• Boat ride on the Sea of Galilee followed by dinner at Decks Restaurant.
• Overnight:  Leonardo Plaza, Tiberias

Thursday, 16 June – Mystics, Geopolitics and Israel’s Finest

• Learn about Kabbalah, Jewish Mysticism at the Kabbalah Center in Tzfat.
• Tour mystical Tzfat’s old synagogues and picturesque alleyways. Tzfat was the cradle of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) in the 16^th century.  Judaism’s Friday night service, Kabbalat Shabbat, and the hymn Lecha Dodi originated in Tzfat a that time.
• Glassblowing demonstration in the studio of a local artist – Hear about the influence of Jewish spirituality on her art.
• Lunch on own
• Walk in the lush Tel Dan Nature Reserve, one of the sources of the Jordan River, where you’ll discover biblical intrigue and one of the oldest arches in the world.
• Tour of the strategic Golan Heights to visit bunkers where the Syrian army used to look down at Israel below. Then look out from the peak of Mt. Bental to gain a special perspective on Israel’s complex geopolitics.
• ITC Touch:  Barbeque dinner with young Israeli soldiers who are giving some of the best years of their lives to the defense of Israel.
• Overnight:  Leonardo Plaza, Tiberias

Friday, 17 June – Across Israel: A Multicultural Jewish Society

• Tour the Roman ruins of Beit Shean – A splendid city of the Decapolis.  Hear how the rabbis of the Mishna related to the Roman theater and bathhouse.
• 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 Sde Eliahu
• Continue south through the Jordan Valley.
• Check into  Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem.
• Free time to relax and prepare for Shabbat.

• Friday/Shabbat evenings options:
• Join hundreds of other Jews from around the world to Greet the Sabbath at the Western Wall. Then celebrate our own service facing the wall. (Bus available for return to hotel from Western Wall).
• Festive Shabbat Dinner at hotel (Private room to be requested).
• Overnight:  Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem

Shabbat/Saturday, 18 June – And on the Seventh Day… in Jerusalem

• Shabbat morning services at a local synagogue of your choice.
• Shabbat Lunch at hotel
• Afternoon walking tour to Jaffa Gate and the Christian Quarter, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to appreciate Jerusalem’s multicultural character.
• Havdalah with Rabbi Spiegel.
• Free evening.
• Dinner on own.
• Recommendation: Visit the Ben Yehuda Street Pedestrian Mall.
• Overnight:   Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem

Sunday, 19 June – Holocaust, Remembrance and Continuity

• Visit Yad Lakashish, a unique employment project helping Jerusalem’s elderly, including a stop in its shop “where shopping is a mitzvah!”
• Tour of Yad Vashem – Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and museum, including the Holocaust History Museum and Children’s Memorial.
• Alternate tour to Supreme Court and Hebrew Music Museum
• Lunch on own
• Meaningful visit to the adjacent Mt Herzl Cemetery to discover chapters in the history of Israel while visiting the graves of Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir, Theordore Herzl and Hannah Senesch.
• Tasting tour of the Machane Yehuda Market to discover Jewish cuisine from East and West.
• Dinner on own, if still hungry
• Overnight:  Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem

Monday, 20 June – The Old City of Jerusalem:  An Ancient Jewish Legacy

• Explore the City of David using the Bible and archaeology to make Jerusalem’s stones tell the story of the city’s ancient past.
• 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.
• Tour of the Western Wall Tunnels to discover underground Jerusalem.
• Lunch on own in the Jewish Quarter
• Tour of the Jewish Quarter including the Cardo, Broad Wall, Hurva Synagogue and Rooftops followed by free time to shop and explore on own.
• Visit to the Israelite Tower for a unique look at Jerusalem’s biblical past.  The Israelite Tower is a closed archaeological site beneath the streets of the Jewish Quarter which will be opened specially for your group.
• Dinner at Picollino Restaurant in downtown Jerusalem’s historic Nahalat Shiva neighborhood.
• Briefing on Israeli and Middle East Politics by Steve Linde, editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Report and former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post(at restaurant).

• Overnight:  Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem

Tuesday, 21 June – Masada and the Dead Sea: Freedom Fighters or Fanatics?

• Set out across the Judean Desert and ascend Masada by cable car to tour the ruins of Herod’s palace and the last outpost of Jewish independence. Discussion: Which Jewish Legacy – Masada or Yavne? Who were our ancesters? What decision did they make?

• Swim in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth, at a local resort hotel.  The resort also has a fresh water pool and spa facilities.  Massage and spa treatments available at own expense by prior reservation.
• Lunch at Dead Sea resort.
• Time permitting:  Walk in Ein Gedi Nature Reserve opportunity to bathe in waterfalls and hear how David hid there from King Saul.
• Stop off for a camel ride and a biblical dinner at Abrahams’s Tent .
• Overnight: Leonardo Plaza Hotel, Jerusalem

 

Wednesday, 22 June – Conclusion:  Lasting Memories

• Visit to the Israel Museum to see the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book and the Model of Jerusalem in the first century.  Free time to explore additional exhibitions on own.  Recommendations:  Modern Israeli art, Synagogue interiors in the Judaica section and the Archaeology Wing.
• Drive through Jerusalem’s Government Quarter to see the Kneeset and Supreme Quarter buildings.
• Lunch on own
• Remainder of afternoon free to relax and get in last minute shopping.
• Late check-out
• Farewell dinner at Medita Restaurant.
• Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport – See you again soon!

Thursday, 23 June – Arrive in USA

• Begin planning your next Israel trip with Rabbi Spiegel and ITC Tours!

Print Application for Submission

Print Application for Submission