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See You in September:
Best of Israel Hadassah Mission
Led by Shelley Kaplan
Sept. 5 - 15, 2017

Tour Rates & Dates:

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*Please note that all rates displayed are based on standard room double occupancy.
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Tour Overview:

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5 nights Mount Zion Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel
2 nights Kibbutz Kfar Blum, Galilee, Israel
1 night Crowne Plaza, Tel Aviv, Israel
All touring and sightseeing per an agreed upon itinerary in a deluxe
air-conditioned vehicle with an English speaking guide
Breakfast daily
Welcome dinner & orientation in Jerusalem
Shabbat dinner in Jerusalem
Lunch & swim at the Dead Sea
2 Kibbutz dinners
Farewell dinner in Tel Aviv
Archeological dig
Machane Yehuda tasting tour
Salad trail experience in Eshkol
Yaron Bob - Rockets to Roses workshop
Meeting with Rena Quint
Shabbat walking tour
Camel ride & Bedouin hospitality
Jeeps to the Golan Heights
Winery tour and tasting
Transfers included if arriving/departing with the main group
Entrance fees as per itinerary
Porterage
Hostess throughout
Banner & hospitality desk

NOT INCLUDED - These prices do not include:

Roundtrip airfare departure taxes and fuel surcharges
(listed separately)
Any border taxes or visas
Tips to guides, driver, and dining room waiters
($20.00 per person, per day-pre-collected)
Any items of a personal nature
Travel Insurance
(Highly recommended)
Tower of David Sound and Light show

Tour Itinerary:

Day 1, Tuesday, September 5, 2017: DEPARTURE

• We depart on our afternoon flight and travel overnight to Israel.

Day 2, Wednesday, September 6, 2017: ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM

• Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, with assistance by an Ayelet representative - Welcome Home!
• We start our touring by uncovering the secrets of the Ayalon Institute, where an underground ammunition factory played a pivotal role in Israel's fight for Independence at the end of the British Mandate.
• Travel up to Jerusalem.
• Upon arrival in Jerusalem, we stop atop Mt. Scopus overlooking the City of Gold, to recite a special “Sh'hekiyanu!” Blessing.
• Visit the Mt. Scopus Hadassah Hospital and Henrietta Szold's office.
• Visit Ein Tzurim - a live archaeological site, where we have the opportunity for a hands-on dig. Join us in uncovering the glorious past of the Temple Mount. Sift through rubble that originated in ancient buildings from the Temple Period and learn about findings from archaeologists.
• Check into our hotel.
• Visit Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem's outdoor marketplace, filled with foods of every variety. Together we'll take part in a “tasting” tour allowing us the opportunity to enjoy a varied taste of the marketplace in a fun and new way.
• Enjoy a welcome dinner and orientation in the market.
• On the way back to our hotel, we enjoy the unique murals painted on the shutters of the market shops and see how the market changes as it becomes the newest hub for Jerusalem's night life.

O/N Jerusalem

Day 3, Thursday, September 7, 2017: ESHKOL REGION

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Visit the JNF/Hadassah Beer Sheva River Project Park. We'll plant a tree here, helping to make it even more beautiful and connecting us physically to this important project.
• Drive south to the Eshkol region, bordering Gaza. We visit the Regional Center for a security briefing at the Command Center.
• Continue to a secure school on the border and the protected playground for a moving visit with faculty.
• Enjoy a picnic lunch at the “Salad Trail” in the Eshkol region on the border with Gaza. See how Israeli innovation is literally making the desert bloom with crops grown out of some of the most inhospitable sand imaginable.
• Visit Bnei Netzarim, a "Halutzit". (A new village that is in the process of being built on the Gaza/Egyptian Border). Talk to the people building a new life and a new family and who are literally, holding the border.
• We end our day with a visit to a unique blacksmith, Yaron Bob. Struck by the terror of shell attacks, Yaron decided to transform something horrible into something beautiful - and so began “Rockets into Roses”.
• Dinner on own when returning to Jerusalem

O/N Jerusalem 

Day 4, Friday, September 8, 2017: WELCOME SHABBAT

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Meet Holocaust survivor Rena Quint in her home
• Visit the Yad Vashem complex, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, where we explore some of the newly found materials relating to places, people and events connected to the Holocaust,
     o The Avenue of the Righteous
     o The new Historical Museum
     o The Children's Memorial
     o End the visit at Yad Vashem with a group Memorial service at the Valley of the Lost Communities.
• Visit Mt Herzl, Jerusalem's military cemetery, where we visit the gravesites of Theodore Herzl, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Shimon Peres and hear from our guide some of the heroic stories of those buried here.
• Time to relax at our hotel before Shabbat.
• Oneg Shabbat at the Southern Wall with Barbara Sofer.
• We welcome Shabbat at Shira Hadasha Synagogue with the people of Jerusalem.
• Shabbat dinner in a private room with Hadassah friends.

O/N Jerusalem

Day 5, Saturday, September 9, 2017: SHABBAT SHALOM

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Free morning for Shabbat services or just to relax.
• We enjoy a guided walking tour through the historical and charming neighborhood of Yemin Moshe.
• Continue to the Old City where we explore the Bazaar/Shuk, the Christian Quarter, the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
• Havdalah with Barbara Goldstein on the rooftop of our hotel overlooking the Old City.
• Free evening in Jerusalem. Enjoy a stroll along Ben Yehuda Street, through Emek Refaim Street or visit the Mamilla pedestrian walk, filled with shops and restaurants.
• Dinner on own this evening.
• OPTIONAL: Sound and Light show on the history of Jerusalem at the David Citadel (additional cost).

O/N Jerusalem

Day 6 Sunday, September 10, 2017: HADASSAH AND CITY TOUR

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Meeting with a speaker to discuss politics in Israel.
• Continue with a visit to Ein Karem Hadassah Hospital, where we tour the Mother and Child Pavilion. We also visit the new Sarah Wetsman tower, featuring the most modern hospital facilities in the region. Meet Doctors and patients, and see the Chagall Windows in the Abbell Synagogue.
• Lunch (on own) at the Hadassah Mall.
• Explore the bunkers at Ammunition Hill, the official museum symbolizing the liberation and reunification of Jerusalem. Its new multimedia film helps visitors better understand the events and battles of 1967.
• Tour the Western Wall Tunnels where we walk along the underground tunnel.
• For a different perspective, we enjoy a short walk along the rooftops and ramparts of the Old City.
• Shop in the Cardo.
• Free afternoon and evening.
• Dinner on own.

O/N Jerusalem

Day 7, Monday, September 11, 2017: MASSADA & THE DEAD SEA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Check out of our hotel.
• We depart Jerusalem and drive toward the Dead Sea Basin.
• Ascend to the Masada summit by cable car. Here we view the remains of King Herod's palace and fortifications, and hear the story of the Jewish Zealots' last stand against the approaching Roman armies.
• We descend down the Roman ramp.
• For an authentic desert experience, we visit a Bedouin camp and enjoy a camel ride and Bedouin Hospitality in the wilderness.
• We enjoy the mud baths and an unsinkable swim in the salty waters of the Dead Sea. Lunch at the Spa.
• Drive along the Jordan Valley to our Kibbutz in the north.
• Dinner at our kibbutz.

O/N in the Galilee

Day 8, Tuesday, September 12, 2017: THE GOLAN HEIGHTS

• Breakfast at our kibbutz.
• Morning Jeep tour up to the Golan Heights. Atop the Golan, we take in an amazing view and see the memorial to those soldiers who lost their lives capturing this crucial spot from Syrian forces in 1967 at Mitzpe Gadot.
• Take in the views stretching far into Syria from atop Har Bental.
• We next cross the Galilee to visit the mystical city of Safed. Here we visit the ancient synagogues and have time to stroll along the shops of the Artists' Quarter. We participate in a Kabbalah workshop.
• We'll tour the Hula Valley Nature Preserve, where millions of migrating birds come to rest and eat each year. Enjoy a surrey or golf cart ride through the heart of this beautiful and bucolic scene.
• We visit a nearby Winery for a delicious wine tasting before returning to our Kibbutz.
• We take a short drive to the Banias Nature Reserve, where we hike through the lush green forest to the Banias waterfall. Rising from the base of Israel's tallest mountain, Mt. Hermon, the water flows through a gorge to the waterfall and into the River Jordan.
• Dinner at our kibbutz, followed by a meeting with Kibbutz members and youth.

O/N in the Galilee

Day 9, Wednesday, September 13, 2017: ALONG THE WESTERN COAST TO TEL AVIV

• Breakfast at our kibbutz.
• We check out of our kibbutz early this morning.
• We drive west to Rosh Hanikra where we see the white chalk cliff grottoes, which were carved from the cliffside by the waters of the Mediterranean. Here we enjoy a cable car ride along the stunning cliffs.
• Visit Akko, where we explore the Crusader-era fortifications and British Prison, as well as the secret Templar tunnel. Here we also learn about this historically important port, and its current challenges as a mixed Jewish/Arab city
• Lunch (on own) in Akko.
• In Haifa, we stop atop Mt. Carmel, where we take in the panoramic views of the port city, and admire the beautiful Bahai Temple and Persian Gardens.
• Visit Hadassah's Meir Shfeya youth village, where we visit and interact with the kids and staff.
• Visit Zichron Yaakov, stroll the streets, browse the charming shops & cafes amid this European style village.
• Continue to our hotel for check in.
• Free evening to stroll the promenade and enjoy dinner on own.

O/N in Tel Aviv

Day 10, Thursday, September 14, 2017: TEL AVIV AND JAFFA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• The Story of Tel Aviv, guided walk through Neve Zedek and what was Ahuzat Bayit, exploring the origins of the city of Tel Aviv, its people and places.
• Continue to Tel Aviv's White City, one of the largest concentrations of Bauhaus in the area around Rothschild Boulevard.
• Experience lunch (on own) at Dr. Shaksuka.
• Visit Old Jaffa, an 8000-year-old port city. Visit the ancient ruins and walk along the restored Artist's Quarter, as well as the amazing flea market.
• Farewell dinner together this evening at a local restaurant as we recount all we have experienced together.
• Transfer to the airport for our flight back to the United States.

Day 11, Friday, September 15, 2017: ARRIVE HOME

• We arrive home.


The Memories Last Forever!


*Itinerary subject to change