CONGREGATION ACHDUTH VESHOLOM ISRAEL TRIP

MAR 11 – 19, 2018

MAR 11 – Sunday Welcome to Israel You are not a tourist – This is Your Home

Day 1

Arrive at Ben Gurion Airport where you will be met by a representative who will assist you through the arrival procedures and will escort you to your awaiting driver driver.

Arrive to Tel Aviv and check in to the Dan Panorama hotel. Depending on arrival time: Enjoy a walking tour of Neve Tzedek, Tel Aviv’s new hip neighborhood where the intellectual elite lived during Israel’s early days.

Enjoy Welcome Dinner at Maganda Restaurant in Tel Aviv. Overnight – Tel Aviv

Mar 12 – Monday Tel Aviv

Day 2

After breakfast, Join the ‘underground’ at the Ayalon Institute, where a once- secret Haganah munitions factory existed during the Mandate Period under Britain. The factory and its products played an important role for the Haganah underground and later, during the War of Independence, for the

newly born Israel Defense Forces. Visit the spiritually moving Independence Hall. We will take a step back in time as we listen to David Ben Gurion’s moving Declaration of Independence, which ended 2,000 years of Jewish yearning for a return to the land of Israel. Walk along Rothschild Boulevard where you can see The White City of Tel Aviv (UNESCO World Heritage) Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 and developed as a metropolitan city under the British Mandate in Palestine and was planned by Sir Patrick Geddes. The various architects created an outstanding architectural ensemble of the Modern Movement in a new cultural context.

Tour the Old Port City of Jaffa (Yafo), just south of Tel Aviv for a beautiful panoramic view of Tel Aviv and a sense of the first Jewish city of the modern era, established in 1909. Jaffa is where the Prophet Jonah set out on his ill-fated sea voyage before returning to warn the people of Nineveh.

Overnight – Tel Aviv

Mar 13 – Tuesday Upper Galilee

Day 3

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and travel north to visit the ancient city of Caesarea, built by Herod the Great and once the seat of Roman rule. View the excavated Roman Theater, and aqueduct once used for conveying water to the city. Visit the Hologram room and ask questions to important and historical figures from Caesarea's past.

Stop at a Druze village for Druze hospitality and learn about this great community that lives in Israel and serves in its Army. Enjoy authentic Druze lunch.

Arrive in Haifa and ascend Mt. Carmel for a panoramic view of Haifa Bay and the beautiful Bahai Gardens with its impressive Temples Drive to Nahariya and check in to your hotel. Enjoy some dinner at a delicious restaurant in Nahariya. After dinner enjoy some time at leisure to explore this historical community on the Mediterranean.

Overnight and dinner – Western Galilee

Mar 14 – Wednesday Partnership in the Western Galilee

Day 4

Partnership2gether, a program of the Jewish Agency, is our community’s investment in Israel. Established with the purpose of bringing

Israelis and Americans together, Partnership2gether promotes people to people relationships between Israeli’s and 14 U.S. communities.

After breakfast, drive to Rosh Hanikrah to visit the famous northern border point with cable car going to the amazing grottos resulting from an ongoing geological process over thousands of years.

Visit the Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya - Israel’s only underground hospital facility, featuring 450 beds, 8 modern operating rooms, and comprehensive emergency preparedness protocols and regular mass casualty event drills for each department. These facilities and measures proved invaluable during the Second Lebanon War in 2006. Following the War, our Partnership was instrumental in helping raise the dollars to build this incredible underground facility.. Travel to the ancient crusader port city of Acco, the fascinating UNSCO town with new excavations 1000 years old. Visit the Crusader Halls and see the underground tunnels and pathways. Look upon the port and fortifications that enabled the inhabitants of the town to resist against Napoleon Bonaparte. Spend some time walking through the Arab Bazaar with vendors selling fresh fish and other goods. Visit the Shop for Meaning, sponsored by a program called “WINGS”, which enables young people with disabilities to be independent.. Return to your hotel to freshen up. In the evening you will be welcomed by our friends in our Western Galilee Partnership with Home Hospitality for dinner. Meet and get to know the Israeli’s who are very much involved with us in our 14 Partnership communities and enjoy a real opportunity to talk with your hosts and understand what life in the Western Galilee is like and the things we in America share in common. Overnight – Western Galilee

Mar 15 – Thursday From the Galilee to Jerusalem

Day 5 After breakfast, check out of your hotel and drive to visit the Mystical City of Safed (the birthplace of Kabbalah) one of the Four Holy Cities according to tradition with its Kabalistic studies. We will stroll through the narrow, winding alley’s, visit some of the beautiful synagogues and browse through the artists’ workshops and galleries found in the flourishing artists' quarter.

Head to the Har Bental overlook. From this former military base we can look into Syria and learn about the village of Kunetra and the 1967 & 1973 Wars . Today, below in Syria is a location where government & rebel forces often clash. Enjoy light lunch at Coffee Annan

Drive south to the ancient remains of Beit Shean, the city where Saul and his sons where hung up on the city walls by the Philistines. The Talmud mentions this city as being the "entrance to paradise." We will tour one of the biggest excavated sites in Israel with its bathhouse and Cardo.

Ascend the Judean Mountains and upon arriving in Jerusalem, we will stop at a viewpoint overlooking the Old City where we shall celebrate our arrival with a special She’hecheyanu ceremony, a blessing we use to offer thanks for new and unusual experiences. Overnight – Jerusalem

Mar 16 – Friday Jerusalem

Day 6

Visit Yad Vashem, considered the primary memorial and museum of the

Holocaust. Take a guided tour of the

new Holocaust History Museum, which

occupies over 4,200 square meters, mainly underground. We will visit the very moving exhibit at the Children’s Pavilion, commemorating the death of over 1.5 million Jewish children in the Holocaust.

Enjoy a special culinary tour at the Machane Yehuda Market.

Return to your hotel to freshen up.

Early evening, enter the Old City and walk to the Western Wall (Kotel), Judaism’s Holiest site, for a Shabbat evening service unlike anything you have ever experienced.

Return to the hotel for a festive Shabbat dinner.

Overnight – Jerusalem

Mar 17 – Saturday Shabbat in Jerusalem

Day 7

Optional – attend a Shabbat service at a nearby synagogue. Enjoy a walking tour in the Old City.

Walk through the Jewish Quarter, reconstructed after the Six-Day War in 1967. A special point of interest in the restored Jewish Quarter is the "Cardo", meaning the "heart" of this ancient Byzantine City. View the unearthed main Roman thoroughfare and ancient marketplace lined with columns. Walk the Via Dolorosa and end with a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is in fact, a complex of various chapels built on what was called the Hill of Golgotha.

Walk through the Old City Bazaar and see Middle Eastern life with it rich colors, flavors, and smells. Here we will have a short break for individual lunch

Optional on own: Visit the renovated and exciting Israel Museum, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are exhibited, and view a large Model of Jerusalem, as it used to look in the 2nd Temple period. The Museum itself has a vast priceless collection of archeological finds and artifacts. Enjoy the evening at leisure Overnight – Jerusalem

Mar 18 – Sunday Layers of the Past

Day 8

After an early breakfast, depart to the Dead Sea area. Traveling east arrive at the shores of the Dead Sea and descend to the lowest land point on earth at 1388 feet (423m) below sea level

Continue south to the legendary mountaintop plateau of Masada and ascend by cable car to the ancient fortress. Explore the site with its synagogue and bathhouse. Here, was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots in their struggle against the Romans. Rabbi Lenny will provide an opportunity for those that would like

to renew their wedding vows on the top of this majestic and panoramic spot known as Masada. Lunch N’ Swim at one of the Hotels on the shores of the Dead Sea. Cover yourselves with mud and enjoy the buoyant therapeutic waters of this mineral-rich Sea. Relax by the pool or take a spa treatment.

Visit the beautiful Ein Gedi Reserve. See the waterfalls at this Oasis in the desert, which is mentioned several times in the Book of Psalms, and hear the biblical stories of King David hiding from King Saul. The combination of Ein Gedi’s abundance of water and tropical climate provides the ability for wonderful exotic plant and animal life to flourish. While here visit the ancient synagogue dating from the Byzantine period.

Evening on your own. Optional: At night, enter into Migdal David to see the famous Sound and Light Show, which displays the history of the city of Jerusalem along the ancient stones. Overnight – Jerusalem

Mar 19 – Monday See you soon

Day 9

Drive to Ein Karem to look at the world famous Chagall Windows in the Hadassah Hospital’s synagogue.

Visit the City of David and see the newest and exciting excavations of Jerusalem during the time of the first Temple period.

Underneath the Jerusalem sun and next to the site of the location of the old Temple we will celebrate a glorious occasion with a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. If you have never had an opportunity to have your own Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the rabbi will lead a course of study across the next several months which will culminate with your own Bar/Bat Mitzvah near the Kotel. Please contact the rabbi if you are

interested in this opportunity. Enjoy lunch on your own in the Old City Jerusalem and some free time to shop and walk through the Old City Bazaar and see Middle Eastern life with it rich colors, flavors, and smells. Return to your hotel to freshen up and pack (late check out has been arranged for you) Have a farewell dinner at the Piccolino restaurant. Transfer to the airport for your departure flight