CCS-CJCN – Israel 2024

Activities:

• Welcome to Israel!

• Reception and introduction at the hotel lobby - Meet at 5:15 PM at the lobby with your guide, Gila Levitan, and group leaders, and get to know your fellow members of the trip.

• Say Shehechiyanu to bless the beginning of your journey together in Israel!

• Dinner at Gueta - On Jaffa's Jerusalem Boulevard, Gueta restaurant keeps to its traditional Tripoli style of cooking, using old recipes that have been passed through generations.

• Tel Aviv: Alberto Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Begin your day with a dynamic graffiti tour - Nahalat Binyamin is the one of the most colorful and artistic streets of Tel Aviv. The streets became a real life museum for local artists to express their creativity and receive a public platform for their work. Enjoy this colorful and engaging tour and learn about contemporary Israeli culture through the art on the walls.

• Gazoz Workshop - Meet Benny Briga the legendary Gazoz master of the Levinsky Market and author of the book Gazoz with Adeena Sussman. Briga has reimagined the Turkish tradition and given it a creative twist that results in delicious and beautifully bubbly beverage.

• Culinary tour in Levinsky Market - The Levinsky Market specializes in spices and Mediterranean delicacies. It is, in many ways, the best market in Tel Aviv, known for its variety, freshness, and special atmosphere. Tour the market and have "tastings" throughout.

• TRACK 1 - Special tour of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art with and art expert. - View the Israeli and contemporary art collections of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel’s largest and most important museums. Tour the different exhibitions and discuss the local art scene, local artists, and their place in the global atmosphere.

• TRACK 2 - Fashion Tour - Dive into the fast-paced, international world of Israeli fashion to learn about its origins and current trends and practices. Visit two-three brands and meet the designers to hear about their stories, answer your questions, and even have time for shopping.

• Dinner on own - (Meal not included.)

• Tel Aviv: Alberto Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Visit the Ayalon Institute - A clandestine ammunitions factory that was built in 1945 by the Haganah, the Ayalon Institute, itself a codename, was completed in just three weeks. Above ground, it appeared to be no more than a kibbutz, but eight meters below ground, this was the country's largest bullet factory. It has been said that the bullets manufactured at the Ayalon Institute played a crucial role in the success of Israel's War of Independence.

• Drive back to Tel Aviv

• Free time and lunch on your own in Jaffa

• Tour the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation - A leading non-profit and non-governmental organization focused on developing and implementing unique and cutting-edge programs, the Peres Center, named after former Israeli President, Prime Minister, Statesman and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, presents the incredible story of Israel as an "innovation nation" and showcases the diverse fields and people behind these notable initiatives.

• Meeting with an entrepreneur - Following our visit to the Peres Center we will have an opportunity to speak with Roy Goldenberg an Israeli entrepreneur, founder of TOM.

• Dinner at Ha'Achim - Haachim, located on Ibn Gvirol offers a spin on the middle eastern cuisine by modernizing classic dishes.

• Tel Aviv: Alberto

Activities:

• Breakfast and check-out from the hotel

• Visit the ANU Museum of the Jewish People - In June 2021, after ten years of planning and construction, the largest Jewish museum in the world re-opened its doors, inviting you to join a fascinating journey that portrays the story of the Jewish people through the generations and up to the present time. With its redesign the museum aims to represent all parts of the Jewish people and highlight the creative works and cultural riches of a variety of communities in different periods of history.

• Lunch on route - (Meal not included.)

• Tour Caesarea National Park - On the Mediterranean coast, Caesarea is one of Israel’s most impressive archeological sites. Here, amazing ancient harbor ruins, beautiful beaches, and impressive modern residences sit side-by-side. The city was initially built by King Herod in the 1st century BC, including an entirely artificial harbor. Caesarea became a central city in Roman and Byzantine times. Walk through the spectacular Roman theater, which is still used today as a performance venue, and the Hippodrome.

• Dinner and wine tasting at Kishor Winery - Wine Tasting at Kishor Winery located in Kishorit, a village for adults with special needs. The members of the community enjoy a full life, including meaningful employment. In conjunction with the professional staff, the members take an active part in the grape cultivation, bottling, and marketing of the wines. The Visitors’ Center also employs Kishorit members who host guests, interact with members of the general community, and give guided tours.

• Drive to Amirey HaGalil Hotel - Amirey Hagalil Hotel rests on the winding road leading up to the historic city of Safed and near Amirim Village, deep in the natural peace and serenity of the Galilee. The boutique hotel commands a breathtaking view from the Sea of Galilee to the Golan Heights.

• North: Amirey HaGalil Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tour Peki'in - According to tradition, Peki'in has maintained a Jewish presence since the Second Temple period. Today, Peki'in or Buqei'a, is also Druze–Arab town with local council status in Israel's Northern District. The elderly sole remaining member of the Zinati family, which reportedly draws its roots to Peki'in back to the period of the Second Temple, cares for the ancient synagogue as best she can.

• Druze cooking workshop and lunch - Together with your hosts in their private home, prepare traditional Druze Galilean dishes and then enjoy a dinner of the foods you learned to cook. Get to know your hosts and their culture and history. You'll leave with new recipes and new friends.

• Leisure time at the hotel

• Kabbalat Shabbat at the hotel with your group or at the Reform congregation in Rosh Pina

• Shabbat Dinner at the hotel

• North: Amirey HaGalil Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Jeep tour of the Golan Heights - Enjoy a fun and interesting jeep tour of the Golan Heights with a local, expert guide. While traversing the rich landscape, learn about the history, flora, and fauna of the area. Stop for a lookout over the border with Syria and Lebanon to get a better understanding of the geography and strategic role this region has for the State of Israel. Your local guide will share the complexities of living so close to the northern border and what that has meant for Israel as it relates to security and humanitarian issues.

• Stop at Har Bental - An extinct volcano and an army stronghold, Mount Bental is a great lookout over the border of Israel with Syria.

• Free time for lunch - (Meal is not included.)

• She'ar Yashuv Memorial - She'ar Yashuv is a moshav in northern Israel first founded in 1940.
  The moshav came to public awareness in 1997 after two IDF helicopters collided in midair above the settlement, killing 73 people on board. The memorial monument was designed by several Israeli sculptors and architects, among them, the renowned Israeli sculptor, Dani Karavan.

• Magical ride through the Hula Valley - The Hula Valley sits in part of the northern Syrian African Rift Valley which stretches as far south as Mozambique in Africa. During the migration season, over 500 million birds travel through the Hula Valley and lake. This wetland paradise is the perfect stopover for small waterfalls, cormorants, heron, pelicans, raptors, storks, and cranes. Enjoy a golfcart ride through the park.

• Dinner at the hotme of Elias House - Dinner at the beautiful home of Chef Gadi Elias, a holistic culinary and cultural experience of Galilee cooking.

• North: Amirey HaGalil Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tour Tzfat Old City - Tzfat sits at a higher altitude than any other city in Israel and has been known since the 16th century as a major center of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. Safed’s mystical aura adds to its special status as one of Israel’s four holy cities, along with Jerusalem, Tiberias, and Hebron. The old synagogues, narrow alleyways and artists’ studios add to the hilltop city’s unmistakable charm.

• Lunch and tour in Kibbutz Amiad - Meet a member of Kibbutz Amiad to hear firsthand about life in the kibbutz, and the history and social ideology of the Zionist kibbutz movement.

• Time to relax at the hotel-optional hike

• Farm-to-table meal at Havat Rom - Visit Havat Rom, a magical organic farm, located on a mountain with a beautiful view of Meron Mountain. This is an agricultural organic farm where ancient knowledge informs the use of modern tools to find a balance between the forces of humans and nature. Meet the goats and enjoy a meal from their fresh produce and excellent cheese.

• North: Amirey HaGalil Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast and check-out from the hotel

• Visit Akko Tunisian Synagogue - The Or Torah Tunisian synagogue in Akko is unique even in a land of synagogues. Built by a community of Tunisian Jews from Djerba, it offers four stories of glorious mosaics and stained-glass windows both inside and out, showing a varied range of stories, plants, and animals.

• Tour the Old City of Akko - The ancient city of Akko, situated on the Mediterranean, is one of the oldest ports in the world and a city shared by Jews and Muslims. Walk narrow streets past towering ramparts, deep moats, green domes, venerable synagogues, slender Muslim minarets, and secret passageways. Discover the subterranean city built in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders beneath Akko and learn about the city’s important role in Israel’s modern history.

• Lunch at Uri Buri and meeting with Uri Yarmias - For the past 40 years, the popular Uri Buri restaurant has offered a variety of delicately prepared fresh fish and seafood dishes and boasts a wine list with over 100 different kinds of fine Israeli wines.

• Travel to Jerusalem

• Welcome to Jerusalem - a lookout and Shehechiyanu at the Haas Promanade - Gather together as a community and say Shehechiyanu at a magnificent panoramic view of Jerusalem's Old City and Temple Mount alongside the sprawl of the modern city.

• Check in at the hotel - Free evening and dinner on your own.

• Jerusalem: Lady Stern Jerusalem Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Tour the Old City of Jerusalem - Meet the people and places that make this place so unique. In the Jewish Quarter, uncover the layers of Jewish history from the time of the First Temple until the present day. In the Christian Quarter, visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and, if conditions permit, visit one of the holiest Muslim sites, the Temple Mount. Throughout the tour, explore the complexity of a city that is holy to the three major religions.

• Lunch break at the Old City - (Meal not included.)

• Reflection time at the Western Wall

• Tour the Western Wall Tunnels - Explore what’s under the Kotel (Western Wall) in a tunnel 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.

• Afternoon Rainbow Tour - Join Rainbow Tour TLV in Jerusalem for a special exploration of the mosaic of Jerusalem - its neighborhoods, religions, and peoples - and explore how LGBTQ life is represented and co-exists here in the capital.

• Dinner at Hatzot - Hatzot is a part of Jerusalem’s history. Two brothers, Abraham and Michael Ajami founded this landmark family restaurant in 1970. Legend has it that Meurav Yerushalmi - the favorite Israeli mixed grill dish - was born at Hatzot Restaurant.

• Jerusalem: Lady Stern Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast & check out from hotel

• Sunrise tour of Masada - Ascend the mountain from the east to explore Masada, scene of the epic stand by Jewish rebels at the end of the Great Revolt against Rome nearly 2,000 years ago. The new museum at the Visitor Center reveals the secrets of the daily life of the rebels, the story of the excavations, and how the site became one of Israel’s most important symbols.

• The Dead Sea: Time to swim and lunch - At 1,300 feet below sea level, the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth. Known in Hebrew as "The Sea of Salt", it is also one of the saltiest lakes in the world - with about 34.2% salinity. This is a stunning, other-worldly landscape of shimmering blue water ringed by bare, orange and yellow hills. The waters of the Dead Sea hold a potent solution of minerals and salts that have strong healing properties. Together with its ethereal beauty, these health-giving minerals make the Dead Sea’s beaches and spas popular vacation spots for Israelis and tourists alike. At one of the local hotels, have lunch and 'float' in the Dead Sea.

• Travel back to Jerusalem and free time

• Dinner on your own

• Jerusalem: Lady Stern Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Morning- Security briefing with Grisha Yakubovich - Tour Jerusalem and the surrounding area with Grisha Yakubovich who served in the Israel Defence Forces for 30 years, ending his career as Head of the Civil Coordination Department of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT).

• Track 1 - Yad Vashem - Visit the museum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s National Memorial to the Holocaust. Tour this memorial to the darkest moment in the world and Jewish history, its children’s memorial, and exquisite gardens. Yad Vashem is an unforgettable place of tribute and remembrance. You'll be guided by a member of the Yad Vashem staff.

• Track 2 - Visit the Shrine of the Book - End the day at the Israel Museum to marvel at the Dead Sea Scrolls and its remarkable archaeology exhibition.

• Farwell Dinner cooked by Rabbi David Freelund

• Jerusalem: Lady Stern Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast & check-out from hotel

• Transfer to the airport

• Farewell - we look forward to hosting you again in our beautiful country.