Silverman Family Israel Trip | April-May 2023

Activities:

• 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.

• Transfer from Ben Gurion Airport to Tel Aviv - - Zach and Gillian, Nolan and Maya Silverman
  - Bri and Mike, Jaks, Neely and Max Morisset
  - Jordan and Maria, AJ and Sammi Silverman
  - Stan Silverman

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

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

• Transfer to Kfar Blum - Day on your own in the north

• Kfar Blum - On your own

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Kfar Blum - Day on your own in the north

• Kfar Blum - On your own

Activities:

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

• Transfer to Tel Aviv

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

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

• Travel from Tel Aviv and Ben Gurion Airport (after picking up the Hall Family) to the Dead Sea Region

• Dead Sea Boat Ride - Take a boat ride on the Dead Sea in a small group motorboat or in kayaks and see amazing salt formations and scenery. During this unique experience you will enjoy the wondrous muds, salt pearls, salt diamonds, water springs streaming to the sea and sink holes filled with sweet water. Learn about the ecosystem and the environmental issues connected to the Dead Sea.

• Check in to hotel - And enjoy hotel's facilities and some relaxing time by the beach

• Dead Sea Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Masada National Park - 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.

• Bnei Mitzva Ceremony

• Festive lunch at the Dead Sea region

• Return to hotel - And enjoy hotel's facilities and some relaxing time by the beach

• Dinner at hotel

• Dead Sea Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - And check-out

• Travel to Jerusalem and Visit City of David - Take a trip back in time through the layers of Jerusalem’s past. It was on this hill where Jerusalem was built 4 millennia ago. Continuously excavated over the last 120 years, discoveries are regularly made. Tour the palace of King David, ritual purification pools, and Hezekiah’s Tunnel built to protect the water supply. Walk through newly uncovered sites and marvel at Central Valley's excavation. See the tour's highlight - monumental foundational stones of the Western Wall which lie at the foot of the Temple Mount. Exit the site onto the magnificent road where the Jewish pilgrims walked, over 2,000 years ago.

• We take the time to reflect at the Western Wall – Ha Kotel Ha’Ma’aravi or simply HaKotel - Over generations, Jews came to pray here, as it was the closest they could come to the Holy of Holies on the Temple Mount. When you see the Wall, you aren't just seeing it with your eyes - there is so much more. There are thousands of years and the weight of millions of Jews there. Your eyes may just see giant bricks and people praying, but your heart sees infinitely more. What does being here mean to each of us individually and as part of the Jewish people?

• 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 of the challenge that stood before Herod the Great during the biggest of all his immense building projects - the expansion of the Temple Mount.

• Tour Jerusalem’s Old City and 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. Throughout the tour explore the complexity of a city that is holy to these three major religions.

• Head back to the hotel - And get ready for your evening outing

• Dinner on your own - We can make recommendations and reservations!

• Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Explore Beit Guvrin National Park where you will be able to take part in an archeological dig - The caves of Beit Guvrin hold a rich trove of artifacts that visitors like you have uncovered over the years. Don’t forget to check out the amazing Bell Caves too.

• Lunch on own at Machane Yehuda Market - In the heart of Jerusalem sits this 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.

• Visit the museum at Yad Vashem, Israel’s National Memorial to the Holocaust - Tour this memorial to the darkest moment in 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.

• Dinner at hotel

• Jerusalem

Activities:

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

• Travel to Ben Gurion Airport

• Flight to Ramon Airport - And transfer to Arava Border Crossing

• Travel (about 1 hour) to Wadi Rum - In Wadi Rum you shall pass the famous “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” on your way to the Visitors Centre, where you will have a short stop. Here you will board a local open 4 X 4 Vehicle escorted by a Bedouin guide to take you out into the desert for 3 hours. You will visit the Lawrence Spring, the Famous Ghazaly Gorge with its ancient Rock inscriptions. Lunch Break at a Bedouin Camp. At the end of the tour we drive to Wadi Rum for check in at the Hotel.

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel - Check out from hotel and travel to Petra

• Visit Petra - Jordan's jewel, the capital city of the Nabateans. Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face of the rose red stones of the Wadi Mousa Mountains by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome. Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid king Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey and Herod the Great to bring Petra under the control of their respective empires, Petra remained largely in Nabataean hands until around 100AD, when the Romans took over. Upon arrival, you will take a horseback ride (optional), and walk through the Siq - the only access to this city. Enjoy lunch (included).

• Travel to Arava Border Crossing - Hall Family continues to Egypt

• Transfer to Ramon Airport - And flight to Ben Gurion Airport

• Transfer to Tel Aviv

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Givat Haviva - At the Givat Haviva International School, high school students from around the world are taught leadership skills in order to work together to create a strong shared society and sustainable, just future. With over 100 students, half of them from Israel, conflict resolution is just as much a part of the curriculum. Meet one of the school's teachers, along with Jewish Arab and international students to find out how bridges are being built in this unique academic setting. (including lunch)

• Sindayanna of the Galilee - Sindyanna of Galilee, a female-led non-profit that actively promotes the concepts of “business for peace” and Fair Trade in Israel. Sindyanna’s premium products are sold in the international marketplace according to Fair Trade principles with the profit being channeled back locally to Arab women’s education. Taste their excellent olive oil and learn about the craft of basket weaving that they teach women in order for them to earn money.

• Druze 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.

• Return to Tel Aviv

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at your hotel

• Guided Electric Bike Tours - Electric bikes are definitely the most thrilling and fascinating way to explore and experience the cities sights and views, history and contemporary culture.
  Ride around Tel Aviv's bike paths with a Certified Tour Guide!
  Electric Bikes – Just perfect for the hot days in the city!

• Visit the Ayalon Institute - A clandestine ammunitions factory built in 1945 by the Haganah. In just three weeks, preparations for the factory were completed and it was code named the Ayalon Institute. Above ground, it appeared to be no more than a kibbutz. However, located 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 the War of Independence.

• Striving for Peace at Netiv HaAsara, a moshav on the western border of Israel with the Gaza Strip - Visit the Peace Wall on the border. Meet Tsameret Zamir, an artist and the creator of the project who will talk about life in the moshav in the shadow of the ongoing security situation – and about the hope of a good and peaceful future. Choose a colorful optimistic tile on which to write a personal wish and later glue to the border wall.

• Farewell Dinner at a local restaurant

• Tel Aviv

Activities:

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

• Transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport - Farewell, Safe travels, and we look forward to hosting you again in our beautiful country!