Exploring Israel: Panoramic Perspectives- March 2023

Activities:

• 1:30 p.m. Early arrivals option - Meet in hotel lobby and transfer to Mount Scopus

• Festive Opening of the Spring Program - • Greetings from Chair of the Melton School Academic Advisory Board, Prof. Uzi Rebhon.
  • Welcome from Rabbi Dr. Morey Schwartz, International Director, The Florence Melton School

• Campus or Sanctuary: Between Ideals and Reality - A special exploration of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus campus

• Opening dinner at Hamotzi - Israeli Master Chef winner Avi Levy combines a North African cooking style with a Jerusalem flare to create a rich kaleidoscopic of flavors using local ingredients from the nearby Machane Yehuda market.

• Who Are We and Why Are We in Israel? - Group Introductions and Reflections

• Herbert Samuel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Why Jerusalem? - Study session overlooking The City of David

• Field trip to the Jewish Quarter

• Group lunch

• Free time

• Days of Glory; Days of Destruction - Exploration of the Burnt House or Hafirot Hakotel

• Kotel Tunnels - Explore what’s under the Kotel 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 for the challenge that stood before Herod the Great during this biggest of all his immense building projects - the expansion of the Temple Mount.

• Summary Session: Why Was The Temple Destroyed?

• A visit to the Israel Museum and The Shrine of the Book

• Dinner at leisure

• Herbert Samuel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Early departure for Dead Sea region

• The Dead Sea Sect: Rejecting the Center in the Struggle for Light - Field trip to Qumran

• Group lunch

• Study Session: Bar Kochba: True or False Messiah? - OR Optional bathing

• Masada: Fighters for the Future of the Jewish People? - Field trip to Masada

• Return to Jerusalem and free evening

• Mamilla hotel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Drive to Tel Aviv

• A City Rises From the Dunes - Explore earliest neighborhoods beyond the walls of Jaffa

• "We Hereby Declare the Establishment of a Jewish State…" - Explore the growing city, including Rothschild Boulevard, where Ben Gurion declared Israel's Independence.

• Lunch in the old heart of Tel Aviv

• Can We Build Anew by Learning from Our Past?

• A. Bialik in Tel Aviv- Then and Now - Study session in Bialik's house in central Tel Aviv

• B. The Day the Music Died... - A visit to Kikar Rabin

• Reflections alongside the sea

• Group dinner in the Yemenite Quarter of Tel Aviv - After dinner return to Jerusalem.

• Mamilla hotel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Symbols and Signs - Mapping Jerusalem's Multi-faceted Population - Study session, followed by field trip to Jerusalem neighborhoods

• Free time; Preparations for Shabbat

• Lekha Dodi Likrat Kallah- Welcoming remarks towards our Melton Shabbat Celebration

• Candle-lighting

• Evening service

• Traditional dinner: Se'udat Shabbat with both programs - Group discussion and reflections

• Mamilla hotel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Morning Services at Synagogue(s) of choice

• Study sessions together: Parashat Hashavua - A Look at the Weekly Torah Portion, closing the Book of Leviticus

• The Poetry of Yehuda Amichai or Along King David Street: Three Buildings, Three Faiths, Three Agendas

• Se'udah Shlisheet - late afternoon snack and schmooze

• Dinner and evening at leisure - Havdalah

• Mamilla hotel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel - Check out of the hotel

• Travel to Caesarea

• Between Caesarea and Jerusalem - Two World Views - Field trip and study session at Caesarea

• Lunch at leisure

• The Period of the Mishna: Responding to New Jewish Realities - Field trip and study session at Beit Shearim OR Tsippori

• Beit She'arim - Beit Shearim was a Hellenistic and Roman city. This ancient city is a famous archaeological site, due to its remarkable necropolis, where a series of catacombs were excavated in the hillside. In the man-made tunnels and caves there are hundreds of coffins dated to the 2nd-5th century. These tombs were of rich Jewish families from many countries around Israel who requested to be buried in the Land of Israel, close to Rabbi Yehuda Hannasi whose tomb is located in one of the tomb clusters. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage site

• Check in and dinner at the hotel

• Study session: The Fable of the Goat

• Lavi Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Building Community in Anticipation of Redemption - Exploration of story and synagogues of Tsfat

• Lunch at leisure

• "Deep River; My Heart is Over Jordan…" - Rafting on the Jordan River (weather permitting)

• Of Farmers and Poets: What Motivated the New Jew? - Field trip to Kinneret Farm and Kinneret Cemetery

• Group dinner

• Lavi Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Study session before departure

• "From Here you Look Seven-Fold Larger..." - Overview into Galilee Panhandle from Golan Heights and examination of the period leading to the Six-Day War

• Yom HaDin: What Went Wrong? - Stop at sites connected to the Yom Kippur War and examination of outbreak of Yom Kippur War in 1973.

• Lunch in Katzrin, “Capital” of the Golan

• My Past; My Future/Our Past, Our Future - Meeting in Katzrin with resident of the Golan

• What Do We Learn From the Story of Gamla? - Visit the Golan Archaeological Museum in Katzrin

• Summary discussion

• Make our way back to Jerusalem

• Evening at Leisure

• Herbert Samuel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Israel and the Holocaust: The Shoah and Collective Memory in Israel - Site visit and study session at Yad VaShem

• Lunch at leisure

• Free time

• Land and Compromise: Addressing One of Israel's Central Challenges

• -Study session at hotel

• -Departure for field trip, home hospitality and dinner

• -Encounter with differing viewpoints on the issue

• Herbert Samuel Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Symbols of Sovereignty - A visit to Mt. Herzl

• "And the Children Will Return to Their Borders..." - Stop at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel

• S.Y. Agnon as Symbol - A visit and study session in the home of the Nobel Laureate

• Lunch at leisure - Free time

• Where Have We Been and Where Are We Going To? - Closing activity evaluating the seminar

• Celebration with second Melton seminar, including festive meal

• L'hitraot- see you again soon!

• Transportation will be provided to Ben Gurion airport for all those flying on Thursday night on flights from 11 p.m. on.