Temple Beth Sholom Culinary Trip- October 2023

Activities:

• VIP 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. VIP services will be arranged according to flight arrivals of individuals or those arriving on the same flight.

• Ascend to Jerusalem and check into your hotel

• Opening Dinner at Hansen House - At Offaime Restaurant you are invited to savor the food and take part in the move to flavorful, organic, and environmentally conscious agriculture. The restaurant focuses on handmade produce that is crafted slowly using traditional techniques to create food that is tasty- with complete respect for the environment and for the people who take part in the creative process. The restaurant's unique setting in Beit Hansen brings another element to the experience - it sits in one of the first hospitals established in Jerusalem in the mid-19th century, by the Joint Anglican-German Protestant Community in Jerusalem.

• Meet Gil Hovav and discuss "What is Israeli Cuisine?" - Gil Hov­av is one of Israel’s lead­ing culi­nary jour­nal­ist and a pop­u­lar TV per­son­al­i­ty. He has played a major role in the remak­ing of Israeli cui­sine and the trans­for­ma­tion of Israel from a coun­try of basic tra­di­tion­al foods into a ​“gourmet nation”. Gil has pro­duced some of Israel’s most pop­u­lar TV cook­ing shows and writ­ten a num­ber of best­selling cook­books and novels.

• Isrotel Orient Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Back to the Sources-Neot Kedumim - Neot Kedumim is the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel which is a unique endeavor to re-create the physical setting of the Bible in all its depth and detail. Travel through and taste some of the Seven Species which are some of the building blocks in the story of Israeli Cuisine.

• Biblical Lunch

• The role of Culture in Building Bridges - Feel Beit is a cultural home for creating art, expanding perspectives, and imagining new ways forward for Jerusalem. "We are a group of Israelis and Palestinians who create art and music to bridge divides in Jerusalem. Everything we present is rooted in love for the diverse people of this place. We are driven by the conviction that when all else breaks down, art and music must break through." Mekudeshet is an award-winning, cultural organization that creates original art and music to reimagine Jerusalem from being a center of conflict into a laboratory for connections between people of all kinds.

• Kabbalat Shabbat as a group or at a local Reform synagogue

• Shabbat dinner at Rama's Kitchen - “Rama’s Kitchen” was founded by Rama Ben Zvi 22 years ago, as a unique restaurant in the Jerusalem hills. Over the years Rama’s Kitchen has become a thriving culinary landmark and is consistently ranked as one of Israel’s leading restaurants. The magnificent surroundings enhance a total and uniquely special culinary experience. The menu constitutes a confluence of contemporary western cooking techniques and traditional Arab and Mediterranean cuisine.

• Isrotel Orient Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• "Progressive" Shacharit in Sataf - Explore the Jerusalem Hills at the beautiful Sataf forest with a 'progressive' shacharit service. The Sataf is on the site of ancient agricultural terraces which date to the time of the ancient Israelites. Progress through the service stopping at different stations for each section of the tefilah.

• Meet Nurit Hertz in her natural habitat- the outdoors - Nura will teach you to identify edible plants which will be used to cook a delicious lunch with these fresh greens. The foraging culture is deeply rooted in our past. Long before humans started farming and settled into villages their nutrition depended on foraging wild plants (and hunting). The Judean Hills are the natural landscape in which the Jewish rural culture was formed. Become familiar with the local plants that grow in the Judean Hills since Biblical times (and before), and will learn how to use them as both medicine and food. Create a meal inspired by the food people have been eating here during ancient times.

• Return to Jerusalem

• Walk on the urban Park Hamesila near the hotel ending with Havdalah

• Usher out Shabbat with Havdalah

• Dinner on your own

• Isrotel Orient Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Explore Jerusalem's Old City - 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, and, if conditions permit, visit the one of the holiest Muslim sites, the Temple Mount. Throughout the tour explore the complexity of a city that is holy to these three major religions.

• Old City Tasting Tour - Walk through the Muslim and Christian Quarters of the Old City seeing the historical and religious sites. See some off-the-beaten track sites in the winding alleyways and enjoy some Jerusalem delicacies. We will have a “taste of history” that interweaves stories and anecdotes, historical information, and, of course, combines the senses of smell, taste, and sound.

• Take in a bird's-eye view of the Old City - On the rooftop of the Austrian Hospice, have a beer and look out over the Old City from above.

• Metzilot Mazon - Metzilot Mazon, the Jerusalem Food Rescuers, aims to create a more Just and sustainable urban food system with less waste. Working with the wholesale market, they divert surplus produce that would have otherwise gone to waste and support communities that don’t have equitable access to food, engage in food literacy focused activities such as lectures and workshops with kids and adults, and run a sustainable catering business.

• Dinner at Cafe Shalva - Shalva is a Jerusalem based organization that provides services to children with special needs and their families. Graduates of Shalva work at the café, and the café’s profits go back to the center to support its programs.

• Isrotel Orient Jerusalem

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• 'Shtisel' Tours - A taste of the Ultra-Orthodox world - Have a taste of the Ultra-Orthodox world-walk the streets of the ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods, get to know the people, the food, and feel the vibrations of this life. Gain a more complex appreciation for the people by listening to their music, visiting synagogues and others institutions, and seeing the unique leisure, fashion, and art this world encompasses.

• Continue to Machane Yehuda Market Tour - 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.

• Begin to drive north

• Creativity meets Creativity - The Wine Truck with Nitzan Savarski - On the way north, enjoy a wine tasting and meet with incredible wine maker Nitzan Savraski of Ahat Winery. Ahat features white wines that are made with passion and detail. The Wine Truck sets up wine-tastings around the country and works with numerous wine-makers.

• Check into your hotel and get settled

• Dinner at the beautiful home of Chef Gadi Elias - In the moshav Yesod Hamaaleah celebrate the local fare and experience a decadent farm to table meal. Devour an array of grilled and roasted aged meat served with variety of salads. A feast of Gadi’s is not complete without a wide variety of local wines from Golan Heights and Naftali Hills.

• Mitzpe Hayamim Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Start the day in Yanuh-Jhat - Yanuh Jhat is a Druze village in the Galilee, where an ancient olive press stones testify to thousands of years of olive oil production.

• Tis the season- the olive harvest! - In Deir Hana, join in an olive harvest picking olives from trees that are the oldest ones in Israel that are still harvested today.

• Druze Cooking Workshop - 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.

• For desert, stop for Knafeh - Knafe is one of the most popular Middle Eastern desserts! Here you will get to taste some of the best Knafeh in Israel.

• Ride- Bikes & Golfcarts in Agamon HaHula - The Hula valley sits in part of the northern Syrian African Rift Valley which stretches as far south as Mozambique in Africa. During every 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. Early morning ride through the park.

• Dinner at the hotel

• Mitzpe Hayamim Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Start the day at Gamla Nature Reserve - Visit the Gamla Nature Reserve, with the highest waterfall in Israel. The ancient city of Gamla was made the capital of the Golan in the 1st century BCE and was conquered by the Romans in 67 CE after being subjected to a long siege. Walk the circular vulture trail with an observation point from which you can see Gamla Mountain. From this point, you can watch the 80 Griffon Vultures circling above.

• Stories and sounds that come from the stones and enter the heart and the soul-Musical tour of Um el Kanatir - Um el Kanatir, also known as Ein Keshatot, is home to a Jewish village from the Period of the Mishna and Talmud, with a magnificent synagogue in its center. Enter a synagogue that features the original Ark Complex – the most preserved and magnificent ever to be discovered in Israel. The synagogue was excavated and reconstructed with advanced technological methods, and today it stands at a height of one story. The Ein Keshatot site also offers a visit to the village spring, which flows into ancient pools, surrounded by shaded areas.

• Wine tasting, tour, and seasonal lunch at Assaf Winery - Assaf Winery a wonderful example of a family-owned fine winery built in the spirit of elevating the wine culture of Israel through unique Israeli wines.

• Time to explore Rosh Pina - The earliest major wave of immigration, the First Aliya, created small agricultural colonies along the coastal plain. Rosh Pina, established in 1882 on deserted rocky land, was the first settlement in the Galilee. Walk along the historical main stoned paved street, explore the local artist's studios, and hear about the story of this place.

• Dinner at the hotel

• Mitzpe Hayamim Hotel

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel - Check out of the hotel

• Visit Tzfat - The city of Tzfat is one of 4 holy cities in the Jewish tradition, together with Tiberias, Hebron, and, of course, Jerusalem. It resides on the top of Mount Canaan which overlooks the green tops of Mount Meron to the west and the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights to the east. The city became the center of Kabbalah scholars in the 16th century,

• Visit Hameiri Tsfat Dairy- (option for yoga workshop) - Hameiri Tsfat Dairy is the first dairy to be established in Israel, producing gourmet cheeses of only the purest of sheep and goat milk for 170 years.

• Drive to Akko

• Stop at the 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.

• Lunch at Uri Buri - 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.

• Akko 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.

• Drive to Tel Aviv and check into the hotel

• Dinner on your own in Tel Aviv

• Carlton, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• The Association for Urban Farming - Visit an urban garden in a school for children of Asylum Seekers - a project of the Association for Urban Farming, a non-profit organization based in Tel Aviv that promotes urban agricultural infrastructure in cities around the world. The association sponsors programs throughout the city, including urban gardening in schools and commercial centers.

• Baking workshop with Uri Scheft at Lehamim Bakery - Meet master baker, Uri Scheft, founder of Lehamim Bakery and participate in a baking workshop with him in his flagship store. Uri's baking encompasses the myriad cultural influences of Israel and transforms them into magnificent baked goods that are loved by all of Tel Aviv.

• Two afternoon options: - Option 1: Visit Nachalat Binyamin, an open air market in the heart of Tel-Aviv, 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, various metals with most if not all containing materials or themes found only in Israel.

• Option 2: Stroll through and shop in Neve Tzedek, the first Jewish neighborhood to be built outside Jaffa and currently one of the most beautiful and desired locations in Tel Aviv. In recent years, after a period of neglect, the neighborhood was revitalized and has become a trendy, fun beautiful part of the city and a good place to try some Israeli gelato!

• Kabbalat Shabbat-ish - The music of Shabbat with a trio led by Daniel Hoffman. Hoffman specializes in klezmer and other Eastern European music, as well as Arabic and Turkish music and new music based on folk and jazz. After graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, he co-founded the San Francisco-based new music ensemble Davka, He created The Klez-X (Daniel has also written silent film scores for live performance for the 1920 German Expressionist film The Golem, and for the 1925 Soviet comedy, Jewish Luck.

• Shabbat dinner at a private venue - Enjoy a seven course Mediterranean dinner in a private Tel Aviv garden.

• Carlton, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• The Tel Aviv Museum of Art - In this dynamic tour we'll figure out what makes Israeli art into what it is, and what’s it relationship with the Zionist narrative as well as the international art world. This tour through the extensive Israeli collection at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art is an amazing way to visually explore the Israeli narrative from the early 20th century until today. What is the story the Arts Establishment tells about Israeli Art?

• In a private setting, indulge in a Jewish Shabbat Brunch - Enjoy the variety of classic ethnic foods that are part of the Shabbat day meal. These dishes are brought directly from the homes in which the food was cooked for families that share their heritage and flavors.

• Israeli Cocktail Workshop - Drink down a story of Israel! Travel the different regions of the country through the drinks. Through local spirits, quality Israeli produce, cultural design, and Israeli innovation, meet the staff of an Israeli cocktail 'start-up' and see how they translate this into amazing cocktails. Cocktails are mixed with Israeli alcohol, fruit in season, and wrapped into the story of Israel. You’ll have a chance to learn to mix the drinks as well.

• Untold Jaffa tour - Tour the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, a predominantly Arab neighborhood in Jaffa, you’ll hear a challenging narrative about the city and its history. Continue your tour through Jaffa, enjoying the beauty of the winding streets and the beautiful port with its biblical reference.

• Havdalah

• Dinner on your own in Tel Aviv

• Carlton, Tel Aviv

Activities:

• Breakfast at the hotel

• Asif: Culinary Institute of Israel - Asif is a non-profit organization and culinary center in Tel Aviv dedicated to cultivating and nurturing Israel’s diverse and creative food culture, a joint venture of the New York City-based Jewish Food Society and Tel Aviv’s Start-Up Nation Central.

• Two options:

• Fashion Tour - The tour addresses the relationship Israeli fashion has with the various aspects of living in Israel including identity questions, sub-groups in Israel, immigration to Israel, wars and cultural life and social entrepreneurship. Meet old and new fashion brands, designers who use ancient crafts and other professionals who use the best technology. We will walk, talk and shop.

• Architecture Tour - Tel Aviv has more Bauhaus buildings that any other city in the world, so many that it is designated by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. The buildings were designed by Bauhaus architects who immigrated to Israel from Europe in the 1930s and were influenced by the work of Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Some 4000 Bauhaus buildings were built in the 1930s – and turned the city center into a quasi "open air Bauhaus museum" and earned Tel Aviv the nickname “White City.”

• Levinsky Market Tasting Tour - 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. Whether you are looking for a rare Indian spice or some good quality saffron - this is the place. Shops offer a cornucopia of excellent cheeses, smoked fish, wines, and other delicacies. Tour the market and have "tastings" throughout.

• Food trends in Israel with Adeena Sussman - Adeena Sussman is an author, food writer, recipe and product developer and consultant based in Tel Aviv who has been on the forefront of bringing Israeli Cuisine into the culinary repertoire.

• Stroll through the Carmel Market

• Final dinner at HaBasta - Small but perfectly formed, HaBasta is located on a street leading off Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, from where almost all its produce is sourced. An extensive daily changing menu is scribbled on a piece of paper on the wall. The dishes, while simple, are satisfyingly complex in execution. You will be greeted by Maoz Alonim, chef and owner.

• Transfer to the airport