Hadassah Associates
Mission to Israel
Jerusalem & the Spectacular South
Led by Fred Safer & Sherryl Kaufman
October 15 - 27, 2017


Tour Rates & Dates:

There are no Departure Dates available for this Package.
*Please note that all rates displayed are based on standard room double occupancy.
All rates above are in US Dollars, and are based on full payment by credit card unless otherwise noted.
If check payment discount is available for this tour, it can be selected after clicking "BOOK" above.
(Deposit can still be paid by credit card).
Upgraded room categories may be available to book later in the booking process.
If Land & Air price is displayed, the air portion includes tax and fuel surcharges, which are subject to change until ticketed.

Tour Overview:

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6 nights Mount Zion Hotel, Jerusalem, Israel
1 night Desert Iris Hotel, Yerucham
2 nights Beresheet Hotel Mitzpe Ramon, Mitzpe Ramon, Israel
1 night Herods Hotel, Herzilya, 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 at a local restaurant in Jerusalem
Dinner at Eucalyptus Restaurant
Lunch at a Military base
Chef lunch in Machane Yehuda
Shabbat dinner in a private room in Jerusalem
“Salad Trail” lunch
Dinner at hotel in Yerucham
2 dinners at hotel in Mitzpe Ramon
2 Speakers - Khaled Abu Tomeh & Rachel Korazim
Group transfers & airport assistance upon arrival and departure in Israel
Entrance fees as per itinerary
Porterage

INCLUDED - This Eilat/Petra quote includes the following:

2 nights at the Hilton Queen of Sheeba, Eilat
Roundtrip Flights between Tel Aviv and Eilat
Transfers in Eilat
Entrance fees as per itinerary

INCLUDED - This Tel Aviv quote includes the following:

2 nights at the Crowne Plaza, Tel Aviv
Entrance fees as per itinerary

NOT INCLUDED - These prices do not include:

Roundtrip airfare departure taxes and fuel surcharges
(listed separately)
Any border taxes or visas
(Jordanian Border tax of $65 USD cash is due at the border from each participant)
Tips to guide, driver, hostess and all staff on the tour (but not including room staff at all hotels)
will be collected in advance at $20 per person per day for a total of $240 for main tour -
$20 per person/day additional for Eilat & Tel Aviv Extensions
Any items of a personal nature
Travel Insurance
(Highly recommended)
Tower of David Sound and Light show
($18 per person)
Day tour to Petra
($285 + $69 for Jordanian Visa fee & processing)


Tour Itinerary:

Day 1: Sunday, October 15, 2017: DEPARTURE

• We depart the United States on our overnight flight to Israel.

Day 2: Monday, October 16, 2017: ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM

• Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, with assistance by an Ayelet representative - Welcome Home!
• Transfer to Jerusalem.
• This evening, we participate in a special “Shehecheyanu!” blessing at our hotel.
• Check into our hotel.
• Enjoy a welcome dinner and orientation with Hadassah Leadership.

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 3: Tuesday, October 17, 2017: HADASSAH AND CITY TOUR

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• This morning, we meet with Gil Hoffman, chief political correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, for an in-depth and entertaining look at Israeli current events.
• Continue with a visit to Ein Karem Hadassah Hospital, where we tour the Mother and Child Pavilion. We also tour the newly opened Sarah Wetsman Tower, featuring the most modern hospital facilities in the region.
• Walk along the Cardo with time to shop at Hurva Square.
• Lunch (on your own) in the Jewish Quarter.
• 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.
• This afternoon, we meet with Member of the Knesset, Yehuda Glick.
• Meet with scholar Rachel Korazim at Nofei Jerusalem.

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 4: Wednesday, October 18, 2017: NATURE & THE CRADLE OF JERUSALEM

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• We drive west to the Avshalom Reserve to explore the stalactite cave. Here we can see many varied limestone formations, among the best in the world.
• Tour Latrun, Israel's outdoor armed corps museum, where we explore and touch the tanks and artillery used by the Israeli Defense Force and enemy armies throughout the country's history.
• Explore the Ir David Excavations just outside the Old City walls, where we wander through the carefully preserved archeological excavations dating back to the time of King David.
• Enjoy some time at the Kotel and experience the special atmosphere.
• Tour the Western Wall Tunnels.
       o Walk along the underground tunnel.
• For a different perspective, we enjoy a short walk along the rooftops and ramparts of the Old City.
• Dinner at Olive and Fish Restaurant.

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 5: Thursday, October 19, 2017: IDF AND HADASSAH

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Visit Israel's Parliament for a tour.
• We arrive at an army camp and meet with commanders.
• Lunch at the base with the soldiers.
• "Sharing" conversation. Each participant shares their opinions and feelings experienced during the day's activities.
• Visit Binyamin Region visitor's center and meet with key members of the local community.
• Visit Mount Scopus Hospital to see and hear about Hadassah projects and the local area.

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 6: Friday, October 20, 2017: WELCOME SHABBAT

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• 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. End the visit with a group memorial service at the Valley of the Lost Communities.
• Visit Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem's outdoor marketplace, filled with foods of every variety. Meet a Chef and learn about the amazing varieties of produce, spices and more, in the market, before sitting down for lunch.
• Time to relax in the market or at our hotel before Shabbat.
• Oneg Shabbat at the Southern Wall.
• Shabbat dinner at the Dan Panorama with Hadassah friends from Florida and beyond.

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 7: Saturday, October 21, 2017: SHABBAT SHALOM

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Free morning for Shabbat services or just to relax.
• Guided walking tour of the Old City. We walk through the Christian Quarter. Continue along Neviim Street, with its' many buildings connected to the history of Hadassah.
• Late afternoon meeting at the hotel with Khaled Abu Toameh, an Israeli Arab journalist, lecturer and documentary filmmaker, born to an Israeli Arab father and a Palestinian Arab mother.
• 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.
• OPTIONAL: Sound and Light show on the history of Jerusalem at the David Citadel (additional cost - $18 pp)

Overnight in Jerusalem

Day 8: Sunday, October 22, 2017: MASADA & THE DEAD SEA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Drive to Ein Gedi & hike to the hidden waterfall, as we watch the Ibex & other wild animals come out to feed in the morning.
• Ascend to Masada by cable car and tour the famous mountain fortress.
• Next we enjoy an unsinkable swim in the healing salty waters of the Dead Sea.
• Visit the Dead Sea Water Works and learn about the importance of this factory to Israel's economy. • Drive to Beer Yerucham, a city in the Negev, and check into our hotel.
• Dinner together this evening at our hotel.
• Meet the Mayor of the city to hear about the great positive changes being made in the city.

Overnight in Yerucham

Day 9: Monday, October 23, 2017: BEER SHEVA AND THE NEGEV

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Visit the JNF/Hadassah project of a park in the desert.
• Visit Ben Gurion University and learn about all the technological updates of utilizing the desert in a high-tech industry.
• We tour the solar energy farms in the desert.
• Visit the village of Merchav Am.
• Check in to our spa hotel and enjoy the facility.

Overnight in Mitzpe Ramon

Day 10: Tuesday, October 24, 2017: LIVING IN THE DESERT

• OPTIONAL: Sunrise Jeep tour of the Ramon Crater, watching the sun reflect on the golden and red rock. (No extra cost)
• Return to our hotel for breakfast.
• Visit the Mitzpe Ramon Visitors Center, which combines exhibits about Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, with information on the natural creation of this massive crater
• Visit the unique original hut & grave of David Ben Gurion at Sde Boker, deep in the heart of the Negev Desert. We learn about his dreams for the region, as we have seen them become realities.
• Visit one of the local farms of Ein Avdat.
• Dinner together this evening at our hotel.

Overnight in Mitzpe Ramon

Day 11: Wednesday, October 25, 2017: ESHKOL REGION

• Breakfast and a slow desert morning.
• Continue to the Eshkol region, bordering Gaza; visit the Regional Center for a security briefing at the Command Center.
• Next we visit exquisite 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”.
• 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 sands imaginable.
• Farewell dinner at L'Entrecote.

Overnight in Herzliya

Day 12: Thursday, October 26, 2017: TOURING TEL AVIV

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• We begin this morning with a visit to Independence Hall, site of the 1948 signing of Israel's Declaration of Independence (if open to the public after renovations).
• Continue to the library in the city center - Space for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The Library provides a shared-working space and hub facilities for teams dedicated to developing internet startups and technology companies.
• Time Permitting: Visit Tel Aviv's White City, one of the largest concentrations of Bauhaus in the world, followed by a tour of Jaffe.
• Lunch on your own.
• Next we visit the Rabin Center and Museum, where we Learn about the History of a leader and a country from the time before Israel was established till today
• The balance of the day is at leisure.
• Transfer to airport for our flight back home or optional extensions.

Day 13: Friday October 27, 2017: ARRIVE HOME

• We land back home in the USA.

OPTIONAL EXTENSION NO. 1

Day 12: Thursday, October 26, 2017: EVENING FLIGHT TO EILAT

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Full day touring with the group (see 10/26)
• After Dinner we board our flight to Eilat.
• Check into our hotel upon arrival.

Overnight in Eilat

Day 13: Friday, October 27, 2017: EILAT

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Enjoy a day of leisure at our hotel on the shores of the Red Sea. Optional on own activity suggestions include visiting the Underwater Aquarium, OR enjoy a barbecue lunch and snorkeling cruise on the Red Sea, OR just relaxing poolside or seaside!
OR
• OPTIONAL PETRA DAY TOUR: We cross the border into Jordan and begin our full day tour of Petra, the Red Rose City. Explore the Nabatean City (as seen in Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade). Walk through the Siq and view the ancient temples. Discover the famous Treasury, the Roman Theater, and more at this, the Eighth Wonder of the World (additional cost - border taxes are due in USD at the border crossing - currently $65 per person).
• Pass Wadi Ram before returning to Israel.
• Dinner on your own this evening.

Overnight in Eilat

Day 14: Saturday, October 28, 2017: SHABBAT IN EILAT

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Enjoy the day at leisure in Eilat.
• This evening, we join together for a closing Havdalah service.
• Depart for the airport to connect with our flight home to the United States.

Day 15: Sunday, October 29, 2017: ARRIVE HOME
• We arrive home.


OPTIONAL EXTENSION NO. 2

Day 12: Thursday, October 26, 2017: TEL AVIV OR HERZELIYA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Full day touring with the group (see 10/26)

Overnight in Tel Aviv or Herzliya

Day 13: Friday, October 27, 2017: TEL AVIV OR HERZLIYA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Enjoy the day at leisure.

Overnight in Tel Aviv or Herzliya

Day 14: Saturday, October 28, 2017: TEL AVIV OR HERZLIYA

• Breakfast at our hotel.
• Enjoy the day at leisure.
• Depart for the airport for our flight home to the United States


The Memories Last Forever!
*Itinerary subject to change