The ACC-GTM affirms our love for Israel, our unwavering support of her people, and our commitment to traveling together as a community to Israel in July. Together we will be present, bear witness, listen to testimonies, show support, learn, grow and volunteer – “Yachad Lev el Lev | Together Heart to Heart”.
While this itinerary has been built with the expectation that the experiences and opportunities to meet the scholars and individuals listed will happen as planned, we know things change. We ask for your flexibility and understanding should changes need to be made.
The pre-trip option July 1-3 will be an opportunity for additional exploration of Israel’s current situation through the lens of the arts. Visit the Pre Trip tab above for more info on this add on. You will be asked to indicate on the Via Sabra form your interest in this additional portion of the mission. The cost of the pre-mission trip is $1,500 per person, double occupancy. Please indicate your interest in joining the pre-trip in the registration form.
Opening Evening at ANU: Museum of the Jewish People.
We will share a snack and a drink as we gather for ma’ariv in partnership with an IMPJ community.
Dinner followed by a panel moderated by Jessica Steinberg framing the mission with participants Tal Schneider and Haviv Rettig Gur.
Jessica Steinberg is the culture and Lifestyle editor of the Times of Israel and decodes Israeli cultural phenomena for the public. Her analysis of Israeli cultural trends enables a keen understanding of the dynamics that are at play in Israeli cultural expression. Steinberg has taken on the responsibility to profile the Swords of Iron Lost and Missing for the Times of Israel.
Tal Schneider is a political correspondent for The Times of Israel. She was formerly the Washington, DC, correspondent for the Maariv Daily (2004-2009), a Globes business political correspondent and a political blogger running her own blog, “The Plog” (2010- 2017). She is a frequent commentator on Israeli radio and TV.
Haviv Rettig Gur is a senior analyst at The Times of Israel. He has covered Israeli politics and the country’s foreign and regional policies, as well as its fraught relationship with the Jewish diaspora, since 2005. He has reported from over 20 countries and lectures in Israel and abroad on Israeli society and history, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more.
Check in to respective hotels. Overnight: Tel Aviv
Breakfast at your hotel
Visit to Rimon School of Music:
The Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music was founded by musicians in 1985 and is dedicated to the nurturing of future generations of musicians. Rimon challenges their students with a rigorous curriculum that inspires a unique and vibrant environment to develop personal growth, passion, and collaboration. Program includes:
Welcome and Overview about Rimon School of Music with Mitchell Rosen, Academic Director
A conversation with vocalist Daniel Weiss, a Rimon graduate whose father was tragically murdered on October 7 and his mother was murdered in captivity as a hostage in Gaza. He can share his experience and perform his music.
Presentation about the Rimon workshops and programs to support Nova Survivors — potentially with Ari Gorali, hosted by Yehuda Eder.
Collaboration with Total Vocal Ensemble (directed by Kineret Erez Maor). Our vision is to pair Kineret with someone of your choosing. They will work together directly in advance to select a song that both your group and our students learn. On the day of the event, you could then all come together to sing this piece.
Short Performance by the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (led by Oud player Yaniv Tuchman) followed by a short discussion with students about music from the Middle East (i.e. Turkish, Moroccan, Iraqi, Yemenite, etc.).
A performance of an original arrangement by the Rimon Jazz Institute (directed by Ronen Shmueli) of Adon Olam from the Jewish prayer book, followed by a short conversation with students.
A project presentation by Dr. Roy Oppenheim, Chair of Contemporary Composition for Film and Stage who serves as the Conductor and Artistic Director for The Revolution Orchestra; a unique orchestra which stages only original works and partners Rimon student players and composers with the professional sector in Israel. Followed by student Q&A.
A presentation by Managing Director Moshe Sinai about Rimon’s work in the community and the impact of music’s healing potential.
Lunch included.
In the afternoon we will have opportunities to connect with various organizations in and around Tel Aviv. Many of these non-governmental organizations have been formed since October 7 and provide much needed support and resources to the community. The organizations with which we meet will vary depending upon their needs and availability.
You will choose to visit one organization such as:
Healing Space: Merhav Marpe (from Hebrew: Healing Space) is a pioneering response to the mental and emotional trauma the October 7th tragedy and the subsequent war inflicted on Israel. Founded in the immediate aftermath of the massacres, Merhav Marpe recognized both the ongoing nature of the trauma and its ripple effect throughout the whole of Israeli society. Through a holistic approach, Merhav Marpe works to repair the mind-body connection broken by the trauma and build multiple modalities of resilience to ensure the future
Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel is the only comprehensive, tertiary care hospital of its kind in the country and in the Middle East, offering the full range of pediatric disciplines under one roof to all children from 0-18. Since its establishment in 1991, Schneider Children’s has revolutionized the practice of pediatric medicine in the country and been recognized as one of the leading pediatric institutions in the world. Schneider derives its name from its founders and major benefactors, the late Irving and Helen Schneider from New York, who also promoted its legacy to serve as a Bridge to Peace between nations. Through this open-door policy, where all children irrespective of race, religion or nationality are treated, Schneider Children’s receives patients from neighboring countries including the Palestinian Authority and Jordan, and from as far away as Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.
Experience Polyphony: Embrace the power of music as a path to peace with the Polyphony Foundation, an organization that educates musicians and seeks to break down barriers between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel. Founded in 2006 by violinist Nabeel Abboud-Ashkar, Polyphony aims to bridge the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music and to serve as a worldwide model for cooperation based on cultural exchange, dialogue and partnership.
July 4th on the rooftop of Ruth Daniel in Jaffa where we will pray ma’ariv and have dinner together.
Dinner will be followed by a performance by Maureen Nehedar, a vocal artist, composer and paytanit (singer of Jewish liturgical poems), a poetess and researcher of Jewish musical traditions in general and of the Judaeo-Persian tradition in particular. She is a pioneer of the world music scene in Israel and a world pioneer in the renewal of Jewish music. She has revived the Judaeo-Persian poetical and liturgical tradition, saving them from oblivion.
Overnight: Tel Aviv
Breakfast at your respective hotel
Morning Engagement/Volunteer options (choice of one of the following):
Volunteer with evacuees of the war to build functional equipment that they need in their temporary homes. Volunteer together with MOLET, a sustainable and modular way of thinking about furniture using upcycled wooden pallets.
Graffiti workshop with Dan Groover. Dan Groover’s artistic journey began when he was a child in France and eventually brought him to Israel, where he was born after traveling the world and developing himself as an artist. Groover applies a universal dimension to contemporary techniques of his art that are meant to be accessible to all, using graphical language, visual Pop Art, and Street Art.
Lunch on your own
Afternoon free time OR optional tour with our guide team to see off the beaten track artsy areas of Jaffa.
Musical Kabbalat Shabbat with Beit Tefilah Israeli at the Tel Aviv Port. We will join with BTI as they launch their 20th anniversary. Beit Tefilah Israeli – Israeli Prayer House was established as a personal need of a small group of activists who were looking for a way to live a spiritual and community life in Tel Aviv in a way that matches the spirit of the time and place, with a commitment to tradition on the one hand and a desire to renew it on the other one. Following one experimental Shabbat on June 25, 2004, Israeli Prayer House became a large, creative, vibrant and inclusive community – which became a model for Jewish renewal in Israel and a community organization, offering content services to other Jewish community organizations throughout the country.
Shabbat Dinner on your own OR register in advance for a group dinner at HaAchim restaurant for an additional cost.
Overnight: Tel Aviv
Breakfast at your respective hotel
Shabbat Shacharit and Kiddush Lunch with Beit Daniel
We will pray together, enjoy a Kiddush lunch, as well as hear from the leadership of the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism and learn about how the war has impacted their community, their businesses, etc. How can the North American Community continue to support them? Daniel Centers, IMPJ leadership, WUPJ, etc.
Shabbat afternoon free time OR choose to visit one of the following Tel Aviv Museum options (buses provided and entrance fees included):
ANU if you did not attend the opening evening program
Walking tour with tour guides
Havdalah at Kikar Hachatufim. We will gather together with other Reform leaders in Israel who have been involved in weekly Havdalah.
Dinner and Evening on your own
Overnight: Tel Aviv
Early departure on buses to Jerusalem for Women of the Wall – Rosh Chodesh Tamuz at the Kotel, where we will gather, support, and pray together.
Following Shacharit, buses will take us to the HUC-JIR – Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem
A Day of Learning, Music, and Celebration at Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion’s Taube Family Campus, Jerusalem; Sponsored by HUC-JIR
Cantor Jill Abramson, Director of the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music, and Cantor Sarah Grabiner, Assistant Director of the Year in Israel Program, welcome you to a day of learning at the HUC-JIR Taube Family Campus in Jerusalem! Joined also by the senior leadership of HUC-JIR, we will share in opportunities to learn with those who teach our current first-year cantorial students in the Year-in-Israel program, and across the college community:
Dr Naomi Cohn Zentner, former adjunct faculty in the YII, now assistant professor at Bar Ilan, on: “Religiosity in mainstream Israeli music culture: slichot, bakashot and more…”
Rabbi Dr. Michael Marmur, associate professor of Jewish Theology at HUC-JIR Jerusalem, former Provost and Dean, on: “Leadership in challenging times, leading in times of doubt…”
Rabbi Dr. Dalia Marx, the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy and Midrash at HUC-JIR Jerusalem on: “From Time to Time; Journeys in the Jewish Calendar” – discover more here.
Dr. Tanya Sermer, adjunct faculty in the YII program, on: “Popular music since October 7 through hearing the soundscape of the moment.”
We will join together for a lunch to celebrate our teacher, the chazan’s chazan, Emeritus Professor Eli Schleifer and the publication of Mizmor L’Eli: The Eliyahu Schleifer Anthology by TMP. Including a musical program and words from the composer himself.
And to conclude, an afternoon of Piyut and Fusion: how do we bring the diverse soundscape of contemporary liberal Israeli Judaism into our synagogues? The coming together of two of Jerusalem’s most exciting ensembles, who also teach in the cantorial YII, Niggunim Ensemble (Cantor Rabbi Shani Ben Or and Boaz Dorot) and Tandu (Yahala Lachmish and Shani Lachmish).
Dinner and evening on your own.
Overnight: Jerusalem at our respective hotels
Breakfast at your respective hotel
Learn with scholar Dr. Cochav Elkayam-Levy
An expert on international law, human rights, and feminist theories, she established and heads The Civil Commission on Oct. 7th Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children. The commission’s members worked to document every piece of information regarding cases of abuse to present to the international community. After months of intense work, meetings and presentations the U.N. has acknowledged these violations and atrocities. She was awarded the Israel Prize in the field of Solidarity (Arvut Hadadit) for her tireless work to raise awareness and acknowledgement of the crimes committed by Hamas against women, children and families.
Visit the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School
As the leading film school in Israel, we welcome the opportunity to showcase some of the best of the Israeli creative spirit. Named by the Hollywood Reporter as one of the 15 best global film schools for seven years in a row, the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School educates towards excellence and professionalism. Our students come from diverse backgrounds and our alumni make up the core of the Israeli film industry. The school provides fertile ground for the next generation of film and television creators. Located in central Jerusalem at the new Arts Campus, we see our role as essential to the vibrant culture in downtown. The visit will include a tour of the school with its twenty two editing suites, sound studios, classrooms, amazing roof-top garden, and three cinemas that are open to the public. After the tour screen a short student film and speak with students, alumni, and faculty.
Learn with Mohmmed Darawshe
Mohammad Darawshe is a leading political analyst and expert on Jewish-Arab relations inside Israel. He is the Director of Strategy for the Center for Shared Society at Givat Haviva.
Quick lunch on your own in the shuk
Continue to the Knesset where you will meet with MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv, the first Reform Rabbi to be a member of Knesset
Evening Experience at FeelBeit including ma’ariv, dinner, and musical performance
FeelBeit is a house of arts and culture on the seam line between East and West Jerusalem with the aim to dissolve boundaries and reimagine what art, community, and reality itself can be. An incubator for original arts and culture that bridge across divides, it is also a creative community that reflects the range of faiths, orientations and ideological perspectives found in Jerusalem with a shared conviction that when all else breaks down, art must break through.
Conversation with Feel Beit founder Karen Brunwasser and staff member Riman Barakat who will shed light on the accomplishments of this incredible organization, and what their experience has been like after October 7.
Together, we will pray, have dinner and share in a Feel Beit experience that has been the outlet for Feel Beit during the war. Each week a program called No Words is held with different artistic expressions. This week No Words will be a chance for us to share in the space together
Overnight: Jerusalem
Breakfast at your respective hotel
Depart Jerusalem for a day of programming in the south
Stop at key lookout points for an in-depth discussion of the complexity of the Gaza Border situation
Tour an Otef Aza Kibbutz
Meet Bedouin citizens together with Rabbi Yael Vurgan who leads the Reform community of the Shaar HaNegev Region.
Home hospitality lunch in Ofakim or Rahat
Volunteering opportunities may be available along the way.
Memorial Service at the site of the Nova Music Festival
Evening with Lahakat Tzahal, the IDF performance company
Return to Jerusalem
Overnight: Jerusalem
Modeh Ani with Yoga Synagogue-Ah! (optional early morning experience)
A prayer-like experience, Yoga Synagogue-Ah! is an experience of time, place, and movement. Fluid and regular yoga sequences enable participants representing any religion, gender, and background, to set the mundane aside for an hour and concentrate on movement and wellbeing. Join the group’s founder, Laura Gilinski, for a meaningful morning practice.
Breakfast at your respective hotel and morning free time
Check out of the hotel and depart at 1:00pm for final program (Make sure to grab lunch on your own before!)
Visit Beit Avi Chai—The Hub for Inspirational Jewish Culture and Ideas
Established by the AVI CHAI Foundation in 2007 and housed in a beautiful purpose-built facility in the heart of Jerusalem, Beit Avi Chai focuses on creating, developing and producing original Jewish content with the aim of introducing wide and diverse audiences to Jewish-Israeli culture and ideas in Israel and around the world – and engaging reached audiences to actively take part in Jewish/Israeli cultural study and activity.
While at Beit Avi Chai we will also engage with:
Israel Story—Telling the Story of October 7. Meet the creators of the radio show that took Israel and the diaspora by storm. Through curating and broadcasting stories, Israel Story uses the power of storytelling to expand the circle of those engaged with Israel.
Finding our Way- Mapping Journeys from October 7. Traditionally, when lost, humans have looked to the sky, sea and land to map our journeys, to locate ourselves and to ground us, literally. In this visual arts workshop, we will begin to interpret our journeys from October 7th through the lens of artist’s maps and use the process of mind-mapping to help us find our footing in this unstable new reality. The workshop will be facilitated by Jennifer Bayer, an experienced art educator working with all ages in formal and informal educational settings, teaching art and Jewish Art workshops and tours.
Musical Siyum Circle: Where do we go now…
We join together for a closing musical circle reflecting on our time together, processing our experiences, transitioning ourselves toward heading home. Joining the music circle will be Maya Belitzman and Matan Ephrat, Maya Belsitzman & Matan Ephrat are a couple both in life and music creating their own unique sound, based on their instruments – Cello, Voice and Drums. In 2012 Maya & Matan teamed up to perform together, hypnotizing their audiences through the unique and exhilarating combination of Maya’s ethereal Cello and vocal talent, and the orchestra of sounds that made up Matan’s drums. Finally, as we say l’hitraot, we will share in a l’chaim with wine and appetizers as we prepare to return home from this journey.
Buses depart at 7pm for the airport. (Book your departing flight after 11pm)
