A Reform Jewish tour of Israel

Spend 11 days in Israel on our guided tour taking you to the main attractions of the country including the experience of a reform Shabbat in Jerusalem

 

 Main attractions of Israel

 

Day 1. Arrival Tel Aviv

Arrive in Israel at Ben Gurion International Airport, where a Vered HaSharon representative will meet you and escort you to your motor coach. Welcome to Israel. You will have only a short drive to Tel Aviv where you will check-in to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 2. Tel Aviv - Yafo

Begin your first day in Israel where Tel Aviv began, in the ancient port city of Jaffa, now a maze of antiquities, restaurants, shops and artists' galleries. Continue on to Neve Tzedek, the first Jewish neighborhood, built in 1909 and the site of the declaration of the newly created State of Israel in 1948. Along Rothschild Boulevard view the houses built in the "Bauhaus" International-style of architecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visit the Carmel Market, a colorful, hectic and aromatic outdoor market. Visit the site where former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in 1995. Continue to Beth Hatefutsoth, the Museum of the Diaspora, where you learn from graphic and multi-media presentations of how the Jewish people dispersed among the nations and then returned to their ancient, ancestral homeland in the Land of Israel. In Jaffa, visit the newest addition to the Reform Jewish presence in Tel Aviv, Mishkenot Ruth Daniels. Dinner and overnight.

Day 3. Tel Aviv - Haifa

Depart Tel Aviv today, heading north along the Mediterranean coast. Visit Caesarea, the port city and center of the Roman province of Judea, built by Herod the Great. Continue to Binyamina, one of the centers of Israel's growing wine industry to visit a winery. At nearby Zichron Ya'akov stroll down the main street of one of Israel's first "new" communities founded at the end of the 19th century. Drive on to Haifa, the gateway to the Galilee for dinner and overnight.

Day 4. Haifa - MT. Carmel

Begin the day with a visit to the recently restored German Colony, founded by German Protestants who settled in Israel out of religious conviction. View the magnificent Bahai Gardens, completed in 2000 at the center of the Bahai faith, here in Haifa. Near Haifa visit with one of the Druze towns and learn about this unique Middle Eastern community. Visit with one of the Reform congregations in the Galilee and learn of the activities and challenges facing a non-Orthodox Jewish congregation. Return to Haifa for dinner and overnight.

Day 5. Galilee

After breakfast depart Haifa heading north to visit Acre (Akko), the restored Crusader port city. Visit Ness Amim, a small community founded by European Christians as penitence for the holocaust. Continue across Galilee to visit Hazor, a biblical "tel" city and the first to be excavated in Israel. Visit Banias, an ancient Roman religious center and one of the sources of the Jordan River. Ascend to the Golan Heights for spectacular views of Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Enjoy the restored ancient Roman hot springs and spa at Hamat Gader below the southern tip of the Golan Heights. Continue on to our Galilee hotel (optional Kibbutz hotel) for dinner and over night.

Day 6. Galilee - Jerusalem

Begin today with a visit to cemetery by the shores of Lake Kinneret where such Israeli legends as poetess Rachel and song writer Neomi Shemer as well as many of Israel's well known early pioneers are buried. Continue to Beit Shean, the Roman Scytopolis to visit this excavated ancient city. Depart Galilee, following the Jordan River south past the biblical oasis of Jericho and begin your ascent to Israel's capital city, Jerusalem. Check-in to your hotel for dinner and overnight. (Optional - On Friday evening, join a Jerusalem-area Reform congregation for Kabbalat Shabbat services before dinner).

Day 7. (Shabbat) Jerusalem

(Optional - on Saturday morning, join a Jerusalem -area Reform congregation for Shabbat morning services or relax at you hotel.) Tour the Old City of Jerusalem today, including the Jewish and Christian Quarters and Mt. Zion. (On Saturday early evening - hold Havdalah service.) Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight. (Optional - After dinner listen to a speaker on a topic of relevance to Reform Jews in Israel).

Day 8. Jerusalem

Begin today with a panoramic view of Jerusalem from the top of the Mt. of Olives and then enter the Old City through the Dung Gate, to visit the Temple Mount and learn about the functions of Solomon's Temple, the center of early Judaism, at the nearby Davidson Center. Tour the Rabbinic Tunnels which follow the base of the western wall of the Temple Mount. Spend the late afternoon studying Jewish texts with Reform educators. Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight.

Day 9. Jerusalem

After breakfast visit Yad VaShem, Israel's national holocaust memorial and museum. Visit Mt. Herzl, where many of Israel's leasers are buries. Continue to Israel Museum to see a model of Jerusalem, accurately depicting the city at the time of the second temple and the Shrine of Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are on display. Tour the security barrier built to hamper terrorist activity and learn of the success and the problems of this much publicized and criticized physical division of Jerusalem. Dinner and overnight in Jerusalem.

Day 10. Dead Sea

Depart Jerusalem this morning, heading east into the Judean Desert. Visit Qumran where the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered. Continue to Massada, the site of one of the most dramatic chapters of Jewish history. Visit the oasis at Ein Gedi where David hid from the wrath of King Saul. Enjoy swimming\floating in the Dead Sea. Return to Jerusalem for dinner and overnight.

Day 11. Jerusalem - Departure

Begin your final day in Israel with a tour of some of Jerusalem's fascinating neighborhoods and then enjoy the afternoon at leisure to rest, shop or revisit some of Jerusalem's sites at your own pace. Gather in the evening for a farewell dinner and then transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for your return flight home.

 

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