Join Main Line Reform Temple Beth Elohim Israel Tour with Rabbi David Straus May 7 – 17, 2012

Tour Highlights:
Round Trip air on EL AL Air Lines - Newark NJ to Tel Aviv - Return
Including round trip bus to Airport from Temple
Mount Zion Hotel Jerusalem, Kibbutz Lavi Tiberias, Renaissance Hotel Tel Aviv
Breakfast Daily, 4 Week-Day Dinners, Shabbat Dinner, Dead Sea Lunch
Touring with one of Israel's Top Tour Guide Educators in Deluxe Motor Coach,
Welcome Orientation, Plant a tree in Israeli soil, David’s City, Hezekiah’s Water Tunnel, Church of St.Anne, Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem’s Old City, Kotel Tunnels, Southern Wall Excavations, Robinson’s Arch, Davidson Center, Lag B’Omer Bonfires, Dead Sea, Masada, Dead Sea resort, Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, Yad Vashem, Har Herzl Military Cemetery, Machaneh Yehuda open-air market, Visit Security Wall, Welcome Shabbat at a scenic overlook, Mount of Olives, Church of Dominus Flevit, Garden of Gethsemane, Basilica of the Agony, Bethlehem, Church of the Nativity, Shepherd’s Field, Garden Tomb and Golgotha, Havdalah with Rabbi Strauss, Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, High school in the Israeli Arab village, Galilee Region, Mount of Beatitudes, Ancient Caperneum Synagogue, Banyas/Tel Dan Nature Reserve, Har Bental, Golan Heights, High-tech incubator in Misgav, Mystical city of Tzefat, Tzippori, Arab-Jewish youth circus, Jewish-Arab Community Center in Acco, Atlit, Na Laga’at, Independence Hall, Palmach Museum, Old Jaffa, ITC full color source book, A fantastic tour filled with meaningful experiences and fun!

(check payment) Land and Air Package $3695 - Land Only $2395- Single Supplement: $725 Reductions - Third person over 18 in triple room: subtract $210 Price is based on 30 full paying participants Included in the cost: tips for Guide, Driver Included in air price - airport tax and fuel surcharge $570 * Fuel and Tax surcharge are subject to change

For information, Itinerary and Application Please call Rabbi Straus 610-649-7800 OR e-mail Rabbi Straus at dstraus@mlrt.org

  Itinerary

Monday, 7 May – Israel Bound! Overnight flight to Israel

Tuesday, 8 May – When You Come Into the Land (Deut. 26:1)
We will use this first travel day to ask our opening questions from a very beautiful site and to sit down together for the first of many community meals. Morning arrival in Israel, to be met and assisted your ITC representative at Ben Gurion Airport (today’s program depends on arrival time) Put down roots right away as you plant a tree in Israeli soil in honor or in memory of a loved one. Ascent to Jerusalem. Gaze upon the Old City of Jerusalem from the Haas Promenade, standing where Abraham stood at the dawn of Jewish history; take in the breathtaking view. Stop for lunch (on one’s own) on Emek Refaim. Group may split: Go way back in time to King David’s Jerusalem in David’s City and enjoy sloshing through Hezekiah’s water tunnel (strap-on water shoes and flashlights needed) OR Check into the hotel. Hotel check-in, rest, and welcome dinner. O/N: Mount Zion
Hotel, Jerusalem

Wednesday, 9 May – Jerusalem of Old
The first of the questions we will look at is the place of Jerusalem as a center for three of the great world faiths. What does this mean for this city and its inhabitants? What price has Jerusalem paid for this special status over the centuries? We will get to the question of what it means today and what it might mean for our future in a few days time. Drive around the walls of the Old City. Enter the Old City via the Lion’s Gate to visit the Church of St. Anne; walk along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Take in a rooftop view of the four quarters of Jerusalem’s Old City with some free time for lunch (on one’s own) In the Kotel Tunnels, walk alongside the massive foundation stones of the Western Wall. Explore the Southern Wall Excavations and visit Robinson’s Arch, the “Masorti Kotel”; learn more about the ancient Jerusalem Temple at the Davidson Center. Evening: Walk through streets and parks near your hotel to see some of the many Lag B’Omer bonfires kindled by Jerusalem children and teens; dinner at leisure. O/N: Mount Zion Hotel, Jerusalem

Thursday, 10 May – Freedom Fighters or Fanatics?
Lag B’Omer. Jerusalem is situated on the edge of a desert. Many cultures and religions come out of deserts. We will explore some of the fascinating places in the desert proximate to Jerusalem and try and understand why this is the case. A question which comes into sharper focus on this day, Erev Lag B’Omer, has to be about fanatics and freedom fighters. Group may split: Early departure for the Dead Sea Region OR Remain in Jerusalem for optional touring, details TBA (latter not included in tour price) Ascend Masada by cable car; tour this impressive excavation and discuss the terrible dilemma faced by its Jewish population during Roman times. Spend some time today at a Dead Sea resort hotel, enjoying its spa facilities, lunch, and the amazing Dead Sea. Optional excursion (included in price; time permitting): Enjoy a walk through the beautiful Ein Gedi Nature Reserve to the waterfall. Return to Jerusalem for a free evening. O/N: Mount Zion Hotel, Jerusalem

Friday, 11 May – Those Who Sacrificed:
It is impossible to understand Israeli society and the way we respond to many situations without understanding the impact of the Holocaust on Israeli society and individual Israelis. We will continue the theme of sacrifice and see what meaning it has taken on in Israeli society over the years. Visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Children’s Memorial at Yad Vashem. Take a sobering walk through the history of the Jewish State at the Har Herzl Military Cemetery. Visit colorful, bustling Machaneh Yehuda open-air market as Jerusalem prepares for Shabbat; lunch (on one’s own) in the market. Take a tour to see both the Security Barrier and some memorials to terror victims that have been erected at bus stops in Jerusalem. Welcome Shabbat at a scenic overlook. Shabbat dinner at the hotel. Overnight: Mount Zion Hotel, Jerusalem

Shabbat, 12 May – Shabbat in Jerusalem.
We will have a Shabbat in both Jerusalem and Bethlehem, a very special and unusual Shabbat which we will use to both explore and worship in the heart of the Judeo-Christian world. Shabbat morning services as a group in the park. Take in a breathtaking view of the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. Walk down alongside the ancient Mount of Olives Cemetery to the Church of Dominus Flevit and proceed to the Garden of Gethsemane to see the ancient olive trees and visit the Basilica of the Agony. Continue to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity and Shepherd’s Field. Visit the Garden Tomb and Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion of Jesus, according to Protestant tradition; Christian Sabbath services in a private room. Havdalah with Rabbi Strauss. Free evening in JLM. O/N: Mount Zion Hotel, eru

Sunday, 13 May – The Galilee and the Golan Heights
One of Israel’s great problems - our tiny size - is, when it comes to tourism, one of our major advantages. In just a few hours we will be in the north of the country where we will begin a three day exploration of an area which has been called our Tuscany. What Tuscany does not have, of course, is the story of the life of Jesus. We will visit some of the central sites connected to Jesus as a Galilean and will celebrate as a community as we did on the Jewish Sabbath in Jerusalem, a time of prayer this time led by our Christian community members. The last part of the day will focus on the difficult security issues we have had to deal with in the north taking in to account the identity of our northern neighbors and their aggression towards us over the years. We end the day with dinner in our Kibbutz Hotel. Accompany Rabbi Ron Kronish of ICCI (Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel) to a high school in the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh. Travel north to the Galilee Region. At the Mount of Beatitudes, stand at the site of the Sermon on the Mount. Proceed to the excavations of the ancient Caperneum Synagogue on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the focal point of Jesus’ ministry. Stop for lunch (on one’s own) en route. Take a lovely hike through the lush forests and streams of the Banyas/Tel Dan Nature Reserve. Ascend the Golan Heights and stop to gaze down over the Galilee as the Syrians once did. Ascend to the peak of Har Bental, where you can enter army bunkers and take in a panoramic view at the crossroads of three countries; discuss the significance of the Golan Height in today’s geo-political reality. Hotel check-in and dinner. Overnight: Kibbutz Hotel, Tiberias

Monday, 14 May – Varieties of Religious Expression
This has always been a place where dreamers have dreamed great dreams and where visionaries have put forward new ways of understanding our world when times demanded a new way of understanding pain or God or giving meaning to life. We will talk about and visit sites connected to those who once had a vision and meet with some of those working towards a vision of peace in this land. Tour a high-tech incubator in Misgav. Tour the synagogues, courtyards, and art galleries of the mystical city of Tzefat. Free time for lunch (on one’s own) in Tzefat. Explore the magnificently excavated ancient city of Tzippori, home to Rabbi Judah the Prince; discover ancient beauty and evidence of a community in which Jews and Romans coexisted peacefully. Attend a rehearsal of an exciting Arab-Jewish youth circus with Makom B’Galil Dinner at the hotel Overnight: Kibbutz Hotel, Tiberias

Tuesday, 15 May – Layers of History
This day will look at the meaning of majority-minority relations and culture in this land, both in earlier days and today. Visit the Jewish-Arab Community Center in Acco and meet with its charismatic director, Muhammed Fahili. In Atlit walk through the detention camp that held Holocaust refugees denied entry into Eretz Yisrael by the British; see the incredible, newly arrived “illegal immigration” boat with its wonderful hightech laser presentation about heroic pre-State immigration. Stop for lunch (on one’s own) in Zichron Ya’akov or en route. See ancient history come to life at the multi-media center against the backdrop of ancient Casesaria. Excavations include an impressive amphitheatre and aqueduct. Free evening in Tel Aviv. Evening option: Enjoy dinner at Café Kapish in Old Jaffa, served by deaf waiters who will teach you sign language during your meal, followed by Na Laga’at, a unique play performed by actors who are both deaf and blind (advance registration required; not included in tour price) Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, Tel Aviv

Wednesday, 16 May – Foundations of the Modern State
We will reflect on the meaning of this State by visiting the heart of Tel Aviv and thinking about what a Jewish State should/could/might mean. We will also visit one of the special museums of Israel that tells the story of the struggles for Independence. We will conclude our program with a wrap-up session where we will reflect back over the trip and end with the same question we began with: Why have we made this Journey together? And then… one final time together to eat, drink and be merry. At Independence Hall, relive Ben Gurion’s moving declaration of the State; discuss whether it seems that the vision of Israel’s founding fathers – articulated in the Scroll of Independence – have come to fruition (with group’s guide) Enjoy an impressive presentation of the amazing achievements of the Palmach at the multi-media Palmach Museum. Free time for lunch (on one’s own) in Old Jaffa. Afternoon: Take part in a choice of special walking tours of Old Jaffa, conducted by Beit Daniel: “Co-Existence,” which is led by both Arab and Jewish guides working together OR “Bread and Butter,” which focuses on multiculturalism through the role of bread in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Late check-out from the hotel. Farewell dinner at Maganda (Yemenite) Depart for the airport

Thursday, 17 May – A Temporary Departure
Arrive in USA . Begin planning your next Israel trip with Rabbi Strauss and ITC

Itinerary subject to change