Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh – Post Poland Mission – June 2024

Activities:

• Welcome to Israel

• Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport - Arrival at Ben Gurion airport. Your VIP agent will be waiting to greet you at the sleeve of the plane. After assisting with arrival procedures and collecting your baggage, you will be taken to meet your driver.

• Head to Tel Aviv

• Opening dinner at (Kosher) Animar - - OR - hotel - OR - Whiskey Bar

• Isrotel Royal Beach Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• JAFI morning session about Clandestine Aliyah by Arielle di Porto

• Meting with Jessica Steinberg - Steinberg is the culture editor at the Times of Israel, covering Israeli life, culture, food, travel and business.
  Our topic would be the Israeli Narrative through the screen. Addressing the way Israel is portrayed through the popular shows like Fauda, Shtisel and the Queen of Jerusalem.

• JDC morning program - Photography with Joy - Photography with Joy teaches Holocaust survivors basic photography skills and guides them as they explore their past and present through the lens of a camera.
  On this visit you will meet survivors who will share the stories behind the pictures.

• Entrepreneurs' Talk (the true story behind Israeli Start Ups) - Led by Gal Inbar Executive Director of 412×972 Pittsburgh Israel Innovation Inc — Gal designs services to connect Pittsburgh and Israeli businesses, assists these businesses in structuring ongoing business relations, and manages relationships with partner organizations and funders.
  
  Gal has spent over a decade turning around distressed Israeli middle-market industrial companies. Since 2015 he has spent time starting up and advising tech companies. Gal specializes in business development, business planning, and sales. Gal developed expertise in Robotics business development, was and is still involved in dozens of deployments of various robotics technology developments in Israel and around the world.
  
  Gal serves as a board member for the Reut Group, Tikkun Olam Makers, and Edtech Israel, Gal is also volunteering doing various roles and projects with Unistream & Taasiyeda.

• Lunch break

• Graffiti Tour - Explore Florentine through an urban graffiti tour. What stories do these images and words tell us about the people living here? What is unique about graffiti in Israel and in Tel Aviv specifically? We will walk through Florentine, the neighborhood of Tel Aviv best-known for graffiti art, to answer these questions and many more during this dynamic and inquisitive tour.

• Afternoon visit to JDC PROGRAM: Save a Childs Heart - Saves the lives of critically ill children suffering from heart disease in countries where access to pediatric heart care is limited or nonexistent. Through bringing children to Israel for medical care, performing missions abroad, and training medical personnel, they are bringing hope to families, communities, and countries. You will meet with the kids, play with them and hear about the organization. A donation has been included as well.

• Dinner accompanied by Adeena Sussman

• Isrotel Royal Beach Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel & check out

• American-German Colony walking tour - In 1866, a group of 150 Christian Americans from Maine and the New England region, led by the eccentric (some say charlatan) preacher George Adams, left the United States, where the Civil War had just ended. They carried with them their faith, and the materials to rebuild their houses in the Holy Land, sailing 42 days to the disease-ridden Middle East. Join a fascinating journey that weaves its way through religious fervor, nationalistic jingoism, renewal and modern speculation to create a uniquely Tel Aviv neighborhood. Today, the neighborhood has both crumbling ruins and new villas- meticulously preserved 150-year-old homes next to four-story buildings with luxury apartments. Visit the Maine Friendship House and Immanuel Church, walk through the surprising streets, and learn the stories of the place.

• Meeting and talk with MK Danny Dannon - Danny Danon is an Israeli Member of Knesset (MK) from the Likud party, former Ambassador to the UN. Known for his staunch conservative views, Danon strongly advocated for Israeli sovereignty and opposed concessions in peace negotiations. He held various ministerial positions and was a vocal supporter of settlement expansion in the West Bank.

• Meeting with an Israeli Musician at Succulent Sessions - Succulent Sessions is the juiciest live sessions format fresh out of Tel Aviv, based in Maze 4, the social entrepreneurship center of Tel Aviv

• Drive north

• Tour Atlit Immigration Camp - A visit to Atlit takes you back in time to the harrowing experiences of clandestine immigrants to Palestine, many of them Holocaust survivors, who were incarcerated during the British Mandate at the Atlit detention camp. The camp was reconstructed based on reports of those who were held there.

• Travel north to the partnership region

• Dinner at Kishorit winery

• Check in to the hotel - Amirey Hagalil

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

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Partnership Program (1.5 hour)

• Cooking workshop with a local Druze family - Together with your hosts in their private home, prepare traditional Druze Galilean dishes and then enjoy a lunch of the foods you create. Learn about Druze culture and history from your hosts and from the food you eat.

• Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company (KCDC) - KibbutzVisit.com connects you with authentic kibbutz life, including kibbutz tours in Israel, unique attractions, stores, museums, workshops, dining, nightlife and kibbutz hosts - real people living on kibbutzim, eager to share with you a part of their special lives in a community unlike any other in the world. Prepare for a special kibbutz tour to experience the real Israel.

• Sunset tour of Shfar'am synagogue and the Old City along the Sanhedrin Trail - Led by Dr. Hagi Amitzur - walk in the path of Shvil HaSanhedrin.
  The Sanhedrin trail, which at c. 70 kilometers is slated to be among the longest trails in Israel, will be divided into five segments that can be covered during the course of five days of walking. It will be suitable for families and will also include circular routes. The “smart” trail will communicate with the hikers using an innovative, augmented reality-based application that will create an extraordinary and first of its kind travel experience on the trail.

• Dinner at Havat Rom or at the hotel - A visit to a magical organic farm, located on a mountain with a beautiful view of Meron Mountain. This is an agricultural organic farm, where they use ancient knowledge along with modern tools. Trying to find the balance between humans and nature. Enjoy a light meal from the fresh produce and excellent cheese.

• Amirey HaGalil Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel - Check out at 10:00 am

• Partnership Site visit

• Light lunch on route

• Army base visit - Mehva Alon (Pending approval) - Michve Allon is a training base of the IDF Education and Youth Corps. It is named for Yigal Allon. The base operates an ulpan (Hebrew language school) for soldiers whose Hebrew is deemed insufficient by the IDF. It accepts new immigrants, Druze and Bedouin soldiers, who study Hebrew together with basic training.

• A visit to the Ghetto Fighters House

• Farewell early dinner at Harduf Organic Vegetarian Restaurant - Lunch at Harduf’s organic vegetarian restaurant. Kibbutz Harduf specializes in education, social therapy and rehabilitation, medicine, arts, agriculture and organic food. Harduf's current population consists of 600 people, of which about 150 are people and children with special needs, who live in the four rehabilitative homes

• Drive south towards the airport

• Farewell - Drive and drop off a the airport including group VIP at the airport. We look forward to hosting you again in our beautiful country!