DAY ONE: Sunday, December 12, 2010
DEPARTURE

Overnight:

• Arrive at Ben Gurion International.
• Welcome by our representative and assistance with arrival formalities.
• Drive through Tel Aviv, known as the “city that never sleeps” and check into the hotel.
• Welcome dinner at a local restaurant followed by a short orientation.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Tel Aviv

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit the Jaffa Overlook for an introduction to Tel Aviv at the place where it all began; stroll through the renovated artists' colony and the ancient port.
• Guided walk through the newly renovated and world-renowned Jaffa Flea Market - Shuk Hapishpishim.
• Visit to Independence Hall, site of David Ben Gurion's monumental proclamation of the State of Israel in May 1948.
• Visit the Nachalat Binyamin pedestrian mall, with its restored buildings and sidewalk artists, and continue onto the colorful Carmel Market and then to Shenkin, one of Israel's most avant-garde streets, with lunch on own.
• Israel and the Zionist Dream: How do they Fit Together Dialogue with social scientist, Dr. Raviv Schwartz at the new Rabin Center.
• Walk through the new Rabin Museum, dedicated to the history of society and democracy in Israel, with the life of Yitzhak Rabin serving as a connecting thread between the various sections of the exhibition, both chronologically and substantively.
• Dinner on your own.
• 8:00 p.m. Optional Night Walking Tour shedding light on the nighttime atmosphere that characterizes the local restaurants, bars and coffee shops in Tel Aviv.

Overnight: Dan Panorama,Tel Aviv

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Check out and drive north along the Costal Plain.
• Visit the Yemin Orde youth aliyah village, one of Israel's most innovative educational institutions, specializing in integrating Ethiopian Youth into Israeli society, including a dialogue with faculty and students.
• Visit a Druze village in the Carmel Mountains for a window into the unique world of the Israeli Druze community, with home hospitality lunch.
• Visit the innovative Zippori National Park, site of Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi's codification of the Mishna and a renowned mosaic collection.
• Drive to Kibbutz Ginosar and check into the hotel.
• Dinner at the hotel.

Overnight: Nof Ginosar Hotel, Lake Kinneret

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Visit Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the site of Jesus' teachings and the remains of a 2nd century synagogue.
• Explore Safed, a center of Jewish mysticism for hundreds of years, and a contemporary artists' colony, including:
• Guided visits to the Ari, Caro or Abuhav Synagogues with their great stories and mystical messages.
• Kabbalah, a Jewish Mystical Tradition:  dialogue with Eyal Riess, the Director of the International Center for Safed Kabbalah.
• A stroll through the quaint Art Galleries and shop in the artists' colony.
• Lunch on your own.
• Explore Israel's security situation on the Golan Heights while overlooking the Hula Valley from former Syrian fortifications. Cross the Golan Plateau to the border with Syria and observe the abandoned city of Kuneitra and the United Nations outpost located nearby.
• Visit one of the Boutique Wineries in the Golan Heights, with wine tasting. 
• Return to the hotel for dinner.

Overnight: Nof Ginosar Hotel, Lake Kinneret

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Check out and drive south, stopping first at Kinneret Cemetery and hear about the dreams of the early Zionist pioneers.
• Visit the Beit Shean National Park, one of the largest archaeological sites in Israel with its Biblical Tel and ongoing excavations exposing the vast Roman-Byzantine City.
• Drive through the Jordan Rift Valley.
• Lunch on your own en route.
• Welcome to Jerusalem - Enter the vibrant and colourful 3,000 year old city of Jerusalem and experience the convergence of the old and the new.
• Stop at Mount Scopus to say the traditional shehechiyanu blessing, recited upon entering Jerusalem.
• Check into the hotel and prepare for Shabbat.
• Kabbalat Shabbat services at a local synagogue or at the Kotel.
• Festive Shabbat dinner at the hotel, with invited IDF Soldiers who immigrated to Israel without their families.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Jerusalem

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Optional Shabbat Services.
• Free Shabbat in Jerusalem with optional visits on your own to:
• The Museum of the History of Jerusalem at David's Citadel, for a walk through the history of Jerusalem from the time of Abraham 4,000 years ago to the end of the British Mandate over Palestine.
• The Israel Museum, one of the most creative and innovative museums in the world
  concluding with a visit to the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Shrine of the Book and the restored Second Temple Period Model of Jerusalem.
• The famous Jerusalem Arab Shuk (Market) in the Old City.
• The Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, including the Via Dolorosa, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer and other Christian sites.
• Ben Kodesh Lechol Havdallah overlooking the Old City.
• Free Evening in Jerusalem on Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall or on Emek Refaim Street in the German Colony, joining the many Israelis out on town.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Jerusalem

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Jewish Pluralism:  special study program at the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, with a leading scholar.
  One Mountain, Three Religions: an interdenominational search through the traditional burial site of King David, the Room of the Last Supper and a mosque, all in one building.
• Enter the Old City via the Zion Gate.
• Walk along the Rooftops of the Old City for a behind the scenes look at the various communities in Jerusalem and how they live together.
• Lunch on your own.
• Walking tour through the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, for guided visits to some of the sites excavated over the past 30 years, including:
• The Cardo, a Byzantine street that is now the world's oldest shopping arcade
• The Hurva Square, the central square of the Jewish Quarter.
• Guided visit to the Davidson Archaeological Park with a special visit to the Davidson Center, to view the new presentation of Life During the Time of the Temple, followed by a guided visit to the Southern Wall Excavations.
• The Kotel (Western Wall).
• Visit the Western Wall Tunnel, the underground continuation of the Western Wall along the Temple Mount.
• Return to the hotel.
• Dinner on your own and evening at leisure.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Jerusalem

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• The Memory of the Holocaust in Contemporary Israeli Society: dialogue with Holocaust scholar, Dr. Rachel Korazim.
• Guided visit through the newly renovated Yad Vashem complex, the Jewish National Memorial to the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust, including:
• The Avenue of the Righteous
• The new Historical Museum
• The Children's Memorial
• A concluding Memorial Service at the Valley of the Communities
• Experience the sites, smells, and tastes of Jerusalem while walking through the Machaneh Yehuda Market, including lunch on your own.
• Test your skill while exploring the colorful and ethnically rich Nachlaot area of Jerusalem, while competing in a unique experiential Neighborhood Game with Ross Culiner.
• Return to the hotel.
• Dinner on your own and evening at leisure.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Jerusalem

• Breakfast at the hotel.
• Drive to the Dead Sea Basin.
• Ascend the cable car or walk up the snake path to Masada, Herod's mountain palace and site of the Jewish Zealots' last stand against the Roman Legionnaires.  Discuss Masada's role as a symbol of Jewish defence and its current significance in modern Israel.
• Bathe in the relaxing and healthy sulphur springs at a Dead Sea Resort Hotel and float in the Dead Sea, including lunch at the hotel.
• Short hike to Nahal David the freshwater spring at the Ein Gedi Nature Reserve, a lush oasis in the Judean Desert overlooking the Dead Sea (time permitting).
• Return to Jerusalem.
• Dinner on your own and evening at leisure.

Overnight: Dan Panorama, Jerusalem

Overnight: Flight