Beth Am Greece and Israel | March 2024

Activities:

• Arrive in Athens at 14.50

• You will be met at the airport and taken to your hotel

• Dinner at hotel

• Ergon House Athens

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - ERGON House Athens

• Meet in the hotel lobby after breakfast

• Open with a visit to that grandest of all ancient archaeological sites - The Acropolis with the iconic Parthenon and Erechteion and the view over the Theater of Dionysus and Pnyx Hill where democracy has its origins. A visit to the Jewish Museum. On to the Agora. The National Museum of Contemporary Art to see the other side of the ancient-modern brackets to a visit to Greece

• Dinner in a lovely restaurant as a festive opening to our first full day in Greece

• Ergon House Athens

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out from hotel

• A morning in Athens begins with two visits very close to our hotel, Syntagma Square - And the Holy Metropolitan Church of the Annunciation. A visit to the Jewish Museum concludes our time in Athens.

• Having set the scene for our two weeks together in Greece and in Israel - We continue on a long drive to Ioannina, stopping off for a late lunch in Amfilochia

• In Ioannina - We see the memory traces of the Jewish community wiped out by the Nazis in 1944. A short way away is the Holocaust Memorial.

• Dinner

• Hotel Du Lac Congress Center & Spa Ioannina

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - Check-out from hotel and head off to the Ancient Synagogue of Ioannina to meet with Allegra Matzia

• Drive to Meteora for a visit to one of the extraordinary monasteries there

• On to Volos - Was one of the wonderful Jewish communities of Greece of which little remains. Another Jewish trace, another Jewish man. We will spend time with Menahem, one of the last Jews of Volos at lunch and at the synagogue.

• Lunch

• And now, on to the Jerusalem of Greece, Thessaloniki - The Jewish story is really one of ghosts, of a great community of which there are only traces of its former glory and a small community in what was once the Jerusalem of the Balkans. We begin with a wonderful view of the city from its high point. Join members of the local community for Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner (TBC).

• The Excelsior Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Thessaloniki - Today and tomorrow the Jewish story is really one of ghosts, of a great community of which there are only traces of its former glory and a small community in what was once the Jerusalem of the Balkans. We begin with a wonderful view of the city from its high point.

• We continue to tell the Jewish story - In the Jewish Museum and then the Monastirion and Yad L’Zikaron synagogues.

• Lunch and more in the Modiano Market

• Visit the splendid, old Jewish Mansions - And the University Campus and memorial to the Jewish Cemetery.

• Join members of the local community for Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner

• The Excelsior

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• The first visit is to Veria - With the story of Paul the Apostle and the story of a community which once existed here but has left behind only material memory traces.

• Vergina and the family tombs of Alexander the Great

• Lunch at the Royal Spot Restaurant

• We end our day - At the Old Railway Station and at Liberty Square where on one awful day the history of the Jews of Thessaloniki took a terrible turn.

• Dinner

• The Excelsior

Activities:

• Check-out from hotel

• Transfer to the airport (SKG) for our morning flight to Israel, ETA 9:45

• Stop for early lunch at Neora in Abu Gosh

• We begin with a view into the city of Jerusalem - From Yemin Moshe and consider, for a moment, all that has happened since the previous visit to Israel pre-Corona, the “Guardians of the Walls” and the “Breaking Dawn” conflicts, many different governments, a great split in the society.

• Check in to the hotel

• For some of you, welcome back for yet another visit - For some of you welcome for the first time or after a very long absence. For all of you a fascinating first day in Jerusalem

• Track 1: Old City of Jerusalem - Davidson Archaeological Garden, Western Wall

• Track 2: City Hall Safra Plaza - The new area of the Kotel which was to be set aside for egalitarian prayer with a representative of the IMPJ to talk about issues of religious pluralism.

• Tracks 1 and 2: Jewish Quarter including the Cardo

• Dinner on your own

• Isrotel Orient, Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Track 1: A visit to the central Holocaust Memorial and Museum at Yad Vashem - And afterwards to the National Cemetery at Mt Herzl (including the Herzl Museum).

• Track 2: Jerusalem of poetry, trains, hope and fear - Walk along the old railway line in the German Colony. Volunteer with Pantry Packers. Pantry Packers helps feed Israelis who face nutrition insecurity in a number of ways. They deliver packages of non-perishable household food items to families. We will pack and deliver ready-to-eat meals to seniors at home.

• Explore what’s under the Muslim Quarter through the Kotel Tunnels Tour. - The Western Wall is impressive, but its greatness is truly discovered when you descend underground to the Western Wall Tunnels. The tunnels run along approximately 488 meters (1601ft) of the Western Wall, giving visitors a taste of the challenge that stood before Herod the Great during the biggest of all his immense building projects - the expansion of the Temple Mount.

• Dinner at a local restaurant (TBD)

• Meet with a speaker

• Isrotel Orient, Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• The Temple Mount - Meet Ahmed Munah in the Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem after walking with him through this neighborhood.

• Israel museum and New City neighborhood walk - Visit the unique collections and expansive grounds of the Israel Museum, the country’s national museum. Linger over the renowned international and Israeli art, the world’s most complete Judaica collections and the charming Billy Rose Sculpture Garden. You can also visit the Shrine of the Book, home to the exceptional archaeological finds of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other rare ancient manuscripts.

• Optional: Shukriya Cooking/Bread Baking Workshop - Meet Avraham and Odeya - chefs, life partners, and owners of 'Shukriya - A Home for Jerusalem Culinary Culture' - who will introduce you to the culinary story of Jerusalem.

• Optional: Old City Photography Workshop

• Machane Yehuda Market and lunch on your own - In the heart of Jerusalem sits this bustling, multi-ethnic market bursting with life, art, and flavor. Enjoy the hustle and bustle with all the rich fragrances, colors, and sounds this iconic Jerusalem market offers.

• Dinner on your own

• Isrotel Orient, Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out from hotel

• Track 1: Dead Sea and Masada - Head down to Sde Boker for our overnight (Masada 10.00-12.30, lunch 12.30-13.30; Dead Sea 13.45-15.30; arrive to Kedma at 17.00).

• Track 2: Sataf hike - And on to the Vulcani Institute where the frontiers of agricultural science are continually pushed forward making Israel a world leader in Agritech. Visit to the Bedouin women empowerment project in Lakia and head down to Sde Boker for our overnight

• Dinner at hotel

• Isrotel Kedma Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Sde Boker - Where our visit revolves around David Ben Gurion the first Prime minister of Israel who had a very special vision for this desert place.

• We head back to Mitzpe Ramon for a visit to the Mitzpe Ramon Visitors center - Including the Ilan Ramon museum and Jeep Tour.

• Lunch on own at Lasha Bakery - Meet Hadas Meir of the Lasha Desert Bakery.

• We meet with Tzur Shezaf - A very special type of “New Israeli”, breaking the norms and designing a path for himself on one of the beautiful “Lone Farms” where contrary to the traditional Israeli vision of communal farming ventures such as Kibbutz or Moshav, fiercely independent young Israelis have carved out niches in desert agriculture in fascinating ways.

• Ben Gurion grave and Hut

• Dinner at hotel

• After dinner, stargazing - When night falls in the desert, a whole new setting is revealed, and what could be better than stargazing in Mitzpe Ramon, one of the best locations to do this in Israel (and in the world!)?

• Isrotel Kedma Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out from hotel

• Spend the morning in the area of the communities who live along the Gaza Strip - Including Yated meeting with artist in what is known as the Gaza Envelope.

• Visit Sderot and lunch on your own - Meet with a resident and hear about life in Sderot

• Drive to Tel Aviv - And check in to your hotel

• Shabbat services and dinner at Kehilat Halev

• David Intercontinental, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Walking tour with Julian

• Continue up Rothschild Blvd to Habimah Square

• Havdalah

• Dinner on your own - Dinner arrangements can be made with Tel Aviv Concierge

• Tel Aviv

• David Intercontinental, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Track 1: Caesarea - Caesarea, built by Herod, was the Roman capital of Palestine as well as important seat of early Christianity. Although it boasted a Jewish community in late antiquity, in the 3rd c., Jewish sages exempted the city from Jewish law (Halacha) because by this time most of the inhabitants were non-Jewish. The extensive seaside ruins here date back to Roman, Byzantine and Crusader times. Explore the 2,000-year-old Roman theater, Crusader harbor and 12th-century ramparts.

• Track 2: Hadassah Neurim visit

• Lunch on own en route

• Track 1 and 2: Meet with Via Sabra's Represntative - To learn about life in Ajami in Jaffa after the confrontations and complications of these past years.

• Carmel Market plus shopping time

• David Intercontinental, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Visit ANU - The new museum of the Jewish People

• A culinary tour of the Levinsky Market - And shopping time.

• Wrap up

• Final sites in Jaffa and final dinner in a local restaurant (TBD)

• Late checkout - And transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport