Horwitz Bnot Mitzvah Family Trip | Winter 2023

Activities:

• Welcome to Israel - Arrival at Ben Gurion airport. VIP fast track assistance is available - contact us for more details. After collecting your bags you'll meet your driver.

• Transfer to Jerusalem & check-in to your hotel - Please note: check-in time is after 3:00 PM.

• Welcome to Israel - Lechaim - From the Haas Promenade take in a wide view of Jerusalem's Old and New Cities and the surrounding Judean Desert as far as the eye can see. Walk along the promenade for a detailed tour and introduction to Jerusalem. See Jerusalem's complex geography, strategic setting, and beauty. Begin the conversation about Jerusalem's centrality to Judaism as well as Christianity and Islam.

• Continue with a delicious and fun tasting tour - In the heart of the city, a bustling multi-ethnic market bursting with life, art, and flavor, a tasting tour through Machane Yehuda market is an adventure for your taste buds. Enjoy the hustle and bustle with all the rich fragrances, colors, and sounds this iconic Jerusalem market offers. (the tour will replace lunch)

• Free time to relax at the hotel

• Welcome dinner at a local restaurant - Suggestion: Hatzot restaurant. We will be happy to make restaurant recommendations and help with reserving a table. Please note: for a larger group many places requite a set group menu (meal and transfers are not included).

• Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - Every morning you'll enjoy a delicious buffet Israeli breakfast.

• Yad Vashem private tour - B’nei Mitzvah tour with Yad Vashem's Twinning Program. Israel’s national Holocaust museum presents a profoundly Jewish memorial of the Shoah. From its dramatic structure to its powerful exhibits, such as the labyrinthine Valley of the Communities and the chilling Children’s Memorial, Yad Vashem is an unforgettable place of tribute and remembrance.
  Second track: audio guide self tour.

• After a meaningful morning travel to the Judean Desert - Genesis Land is situated in the heart of the Judean desert, on the way to the Dead Sea, in the land where the Patriarchs lived. A magical place, it enables visitors to experience life as it was in biblical times. Ride by camel to desert hospitality in the style of Abraham and Sarah and enjoy a delicious desert meal.

• Travel back to Jerusalem and enjoy a free evening and dinner - (on your own, meal and transport are not included)

• Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• The Southern Wall excavations - Following the ceremony walk through the Southern Wall Archaeological Gardens. Get a glimpse of the glory of the Second Temple, the heart of the ancient Jewish kingdom, and the devastation that followed. Visit the Davidson Visitors' Center and enjoy a modern and interactive virtual presentation. The museum presents a taste of the archaeology of Jerusalem from different eras - covering the First Temple, Second Temple, Byzantine, Islamic, and the Crusades periods.

• Bnot Mitzvah Ceremony at Ezrat Israel - The egalitarian section at the Western Wall (10:30 AM booked prayer time slot was reserved by the family)

• Tour of the Jewish Quarter and a lunch break - See archaeological finds from the First and Second Temple periods, Roman ruins, vibrant synagogues, and learning institutions, all jostling for space in these busy stone streets.

• Kids track: Fun Scavendure hunt in the old city

• Israel museum - track 1: - Classic tour of the Israel museum: 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.

• Track 2: Between the Jewish and the Israeli stories - A tour of the Israel museum with an artist and art expert. In this tour we’ll start in the Jewish Art and Life Wing connecting between the curatorial visions, the artifacts and art, to explore the layered stories of Jewish communities around the world. We’ll then continue to the Israeli Permanent collection to grapple with Israeli art and the interwoven connections between Israeli and Jewish identities.

• Festive dinner at a private room in a local restaurant - Suggestions: Piccolino at Kikar Hamuzika / Hamesila at the First Station / private meal at Shukeriya (meal isn't included, need to be booked in advance)

• Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel & check-out

• Travel north through the Jordan Velley

• Bio Bee Tour - Bio Bee Sde Eliyahu is the pioneer of organic farming in Israel. While visiting the fields we not only learn about the benefits of organic farming but also about biological pest control. The Kibbutz established the first biological pest control company in Israel and is a world leader in the field of biological pest control and bumblebees for pollination. This tour is fun and interesting for all ages.

• Lunch on route - (meal not included)

• Check-in to your hotel

• Friday night Shabbat dinner at the hotel - (included)

• NORTH

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Begin your day with a lovely nature walk in Tel Dan - Tel Dan National Park combines a lush nature reserve with a biblical archaeological experience and includes a short wheelchair- accessible trail. At the heart of the park is “Tel Dan”- the capital of the ancient northern Israeli biblical kingdom.

• Jeep ride in the Galilee - Take a fun and interesting jeep tour of Galilee 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 touches on the nuances of living so close to the northern border and what that has meant for Israel as it relates to security and humanitarian issues.

• Lunch on route

• End your day with a golf cart or bike ride through Agamon HaHula - - The Hula Valley sits in part of the northern Syrian African Rift Valley which stretches as far south as Mozambique in Africa. Each migration season, over 500 million birds travel through the Hula Lake. This wetland paradise is the perfect stopover for small waterfalls, cormorants, heron, pelicans, raptors, storks, and cranes. Enjoy an afternoon sunset ride through the park.

• Dinner at the hotel or a local restaurant - (not included)

• NORTH

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel & check-out

• Akko highlights tour - Walk through 4,000 years of history in this ancient city and UNESCO World Heritage site. The ancient city of Akko, situated on the Mediterranean coast, 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 beneath Akko in the Middle Ages by the Crusaders. Learn about the city’s ancient history, as well as its important role in Israel’s modern history.

• Druze home hospitality, cooking workshop and meal - Together with your hosts in their private home, prepare traditional Druze Galilean dishes and then enjoy the feast you create. Learn about Druze culture and history from your hosts and from the food you eat.

• Afternoon stroll in Zichron Yaakov - meet your relavtive and eat gelato - Established in December 1882, Zichron Ya'akov was one of the first modern Jewish communities in the country. Due to the massive support of Baron de Rothchild the town was soon named after Rothchild's father (Zichron Yaakov - "in memory of Jacob") and became known for its fine wine cellars, which produce high-quality vintages to this day. The town is also famous as the center of the NILI spy ring, organized by Jews to aid the British in ousting the Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. Tour the town to learn its history and enjoy its charming, shop-lined streets.

• Travel to Tel Aviv, check-in to your hotel

• New Year's Eve festive dinner in a local restaurant - Suggestions and proposal can be made (meal and transportation are not included)

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Powerful experience at the Dialogue in the Dark exhibition - A sensory experience for those who've already seen it all. Get to know the world and other people without the benefit of your sense of sight. Swap roles with your sight impaired guide – and discover your other, dormant senses. Hearing, touch, smell and taste – when sight no longer dominates your senses, how do you perceive your environment? You'll find your daily routines seem utterly different in the pitch-dark exhibition. Under the care of your sight impaired guide, a walk in the park, the noisy city and a boating excursion become real adventures. At the end of the tour, you'll reach a café where you'll be served by blind waiters. There, you can discuss your experiences with others. Dialogue in the Dark is based on social creativity. It sets the stage for real and meaningful human interaction. Dialogue in the Dark is not an exhibition about blindness; rather, it's about human non-visual awareness. Dialogue in the Dark challenges our prejudices.

• Proceed back to Tel Aviv and have street lunch on own - (meal not included)

• Go on a fun a colorful graffiti tour - Graffiti tour in the trendy neighborhood of Florentin, and experience fun and artistic freedom. Discover new and daring Israeli Graffiti Artists that are gaining recognition around the world. We conclude the street experience with a real Tel Avivian street lunch

• Tour Neve Tzedek - This is the first Jewish neighborhood to be built outside of Jaffa and currently one of the most beautiful and desired locations in Tel Aviv. It was built by some of the dignitaries of the old Jewish community of Jaffa in 1887. Looking to head out of the ever-growing and over-crowded Jaffa, they built, what was considered back then, modern and comfortable housing. In recent years, after a period of neglect, the neighborhood was restored and has become a trendy fun beautiful part of the city and a good place to try some Israeli Gelato!

• Dinner at a local restaurant in Tel Aviv - We will be happy to give recommendations and assist with booking (meal and transfers are not included)

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel & check-out - Check-out time is by noon. You can leave your luggage with the concierge if needed.

• Begin with a visit to the Palmach Museum - The museum which aims to provide a sense of the period that led to the founding of the State of Israel. Appropriately, the main exhibit takes place in a series of underground chambers. Remarkably realistic sets, sounds, lighting, special effects and even moving rooms, make the visitor feel part of this extraordinary experience.

• Browse through Nahalat Binyamin Arts and Crafts Market - An open-air market in the heart of Tel-Aviv that has become synonymous with quality Israeli crafts and folk art. The market is comprised of over 100 stands representing specialty crafts and folk art in virtually every medium imaginable: wood, stone, sand, glass, ceramics, and various metals with most if not all containing materials or themes found only in Israel.

• Lunch break at the Carmel Market - Continue to Carmel Market (Shuk HaCarmel), the largest market in Tel Aviv. Touring the market reveals the taste of the ages of Tel-Aviv in the youthful atmosphere of the city's central market. The Polish, the Persian, and the Yemeni... in this case, it is not the start of a joke, but the fascinating culinary traditions that mix in this place. The established market that was founded over 90 years ago, can now reveal its secrets, stories, and legends to you.

• Conclude with a tour of the beautiful Yaffo Old City - Jaffa is one of the most ancient port cities in Israel and the Mediterranean basin. Today Jaffa is a mixed city, where Jews and Arabs live alongside each other. Tel Aviv, Jaffa's younger sister, was established centuries later, in the year 1909, but the two were united into one municipality in 1949, yet each part kept its unique feel and atmosphere. Jaffa has been regenerated in recent years with the old narrow streets and courtyards becoming a highly popular part of Tel Aviv’s urban tapestry.

• Farewell dinner at a restaurant - (meal is not included)

• Group transfer to the airport - Fly back home. Safe travels.

• We look forward to hosting you again in our beautiful country.