Day 1
Depart USA on your way to Israel
Day 2
Arrival in Israel. Your guide will be waiting for you as soon as you clear passport control, and will escort you to Jerusalem to the Haas promenade for a Shehechianu before arriving at your hotel in Jerusalem.
Prepare for Shabbat
Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel or at the Montefiore shul in Yemin Moshe
Shabbat Dinner and overnight in a Hotel in Jerusalem
Day 3
Shabbat services, followed by lunch at your hotel.
4.00pm Please meet in the lobby for our Shabbat afternoon activity for all the family in Yemin Moshe
Motze Shabbat – try Little Italy, or Olive & Fish, both with kid-friendly options, both within (literally) 3 minutes walking distance of the hotel, or if you really want to head further afield, and the kids are up for a walk, head along Emek Refaim Street in the German Colony…plenty of little restaurants, coffee shops, ice-cream and dessert cafes to choose from…and Ben Yehuda and the Nahlat Shiva neighborhood is a 5-minute taxi ride in the opposite direction…
Overnight Hotel in Jerusalem
Day 4
Please be ready to depart by 9.30am for a visit to Ein Yael, where we’ll learn the basics of ancient wine-making (in other words, treading grapes!), and we’ll also have a chance to make mosaics, frescoes, and pottery.
Return to hotel for midday break and swim, then meet again at 1.00pm to head out for the Old City of Jerusalem: Har Zion + Cardo + Southern Wall of Temple Mount (the new Davidson Center is airconditioned with loads of visuals!). End the day with a visit to the Biblical Zoo, complete with Noah’s Ark!
Overnight Hotel in Jerusalem
Day 5
Drive through the Jerusalem Mountains to reach the natural wonderland of the Sorek Stalactite Cave, then drive down past Bet Shemesh and the Ela Valley (David and Goliath territory) and take part in an active archeological dig at Tel Maresha – this is one of the most exciting archeological sites in the country and has turned up many amazing finds over the past few years. After the dig, you need a late lunchbreak – we’ll stop at Mevasseret for kosher KFC/MacDOnalds/Pizza Hut, then head out in the late afternoon for a short drive in to the Judean Desert to receive a patriarchal welcome at Eretz Breishit, as well as learning to ride a camel, and bake pitot…
Overnight Hotel in Jerusalem
Day 6
We’ll begin the day with a drive down to Rehovot, and visit the Clore Science Park, followed by a tour of Machon Ayalon, aka the Bullets Factory, to hear the amazing – and true- story of this underground munitions factory from pre-State days. (We’ll also arrange for a pizza lunch to be brought there!) On the way back to Jerusalem, we’ll stop at Mini Israel for a look at all of Israel’s major landmarks in miniature replicas, and also make this a lunch break. Returning to Jerusalem, we’ll take part in a Chesed project at one of the main centers of Yad Eliezer, where we’ll be helping to pack up food parcels for needy families.
After performing this important mitzvah, we’ll return to the hotel for swimming, and then packing our bags to prepare for tomorrow’s departure to the Galil.
Overnight Hotel in Jerusalem
Day 7 – Jerusalem to Galil
Please have your luggage ready for the bellboys to collect from your rooms.
Drive down to Emek Ayalon and make our first stop at Latrun Fort (this is a 35 minute drive) where you’ll see all the tanks Israel bought/borrowed/captured – plus the Merkavah which we make – all climb-able and make the greatest Kodak moments!, before continuing on the new Trans-Israel highway to the hills of the Carmel (approx. 50 minutes – 1 hour drive) where we’ll visit the beautifully restored 19th century town of Zichron Yaacov – our first stop will be at “Tut Niyar” where even the youngest can pound the pulp and make paper (from the raw tree!), and whilst our handiwork is drying, we’ll take a lunch break on Zichron’s main street, and also visit the First Aliyah Experience to see what was happening in this part of the world just over 100 years ago…after we collect our artwork from Tut Niyar, we’ll continue across the Galilee hills to the ancient town of Zippori and neighboring Kfar Kedem (about a 45 minute drive) to experience what it was like to live on a Galilee hillside in the Mishna and Talmud period – you will all be transformed into shepherds and goatherds for the next hour or so: activities involve getting into appropriate costume, herding the goat and sheep and making cheese from their milk, and of course learning how to use the local means of transport – donkeys…. From here we’ll drive across the hills of the Galil to the Hula Valley (this is where the kids – and adults! – should have their afternoon nap – it’s a good hour’s drive from Kfar Kedem to our hotel)
Dinner and overnight at a Kibbutz Hotel
Day 8 – need swimsuits and water shoes all day…
Walk through Tel Dan – probably one of the best sites in the country for combining nature, water, bible and modern history…then drive up the slopes of Mount Hermon to Nimrod Castle. Return to the banks of the Jordan River for a rafting trip down the river, which brings us back to Kfar Blum.
We’ve scheduled a late afternoon jeep ride (departing at 5.30pm) for an off-road adventure in the Golan (you may get wet here too!).
PLEASE NOTE: Although rafting is restricted to age 5 and up, any age (including babies) can come on the jeep ride; whoever is NOT going rafting because of small children will be brought back to Kfar Blum to enjoy the pool, and we will have the jeeps start out from the Kibbutz so the non-rafters can join the jeep ride.
Dinner and overnight at a Kibbutz Hotel
Day 9 (Friday)
Drive up onto the Golan to Ein Zivan to pick fruit, make and bake your own fruit pie, and ride on the back of a tractor through the kibbutz fields to the border near the old Syrian town of Kuneitra…from here we’ll drive to the top of the extinct volcano of Mount Bental – great bunker for the kids to go through, and have lunch in a coffee-shop at the top called – what else? – “Koffee Anan” (For the non-Hebrew speakers, that translates to ‘coffee in the clouds’ and gives you an idea of local sentiment vis a vis the leader of the U.N.…)
Back to the hotel for swimming, and prepare for Shabbat.
Kabbalat Shabbat, Dinner and Overnight at our Kibbutz Hotel
Day 10
Shabbat services and lunch at the Kibbutz
At leisure in the hotel
For dinner, can take the group to a nearby restaurant in Kiryat Shmona, or Dag al HaDan – highly recommended – the kids can paddle in the Dan River whilst waiting for their pizza/pasta (assuming they don’t want fish?)
Day 11
Cliff Manara can be enjoyed by all ages: cable car to the top, and ‘mountain train’ is suitable for all (from age 2-3), rappelling suitable from age 5-6, omega (“zip-line” I believe you call it), suitable for babes in arms – they are harnessed to mum or dad! – and climbing wall suitable for age 7+.
When you’ve exhausted all possibilities at Cliff Manara, time for the ultimate hands-on experience – join the team at Moshav Bet Hillel for the midday cow-milking (don’t worry if you have no prior experience – they have a wooden simulator with plastic teats for you to practice on…) and a chance to feed the newborn calves (there are ALWAYS newborns – they have a herd of 400 mums)
Return to the hotel, swim, relax, pack.
At 4.00pm, the bus will depart for Neot Mordecai for anyone who wants to visit the Teva Naot shoe factory.
At 5.00pm, the bus will drive up to Zfat (swinging by the kibbutz after Teva Naot for those who want to drop off/join the trip up to Zfat
Dinner & overnight at the Kibbutz Hotel
Day 12
For our last day’s touring together, we’ll make our way back to Jerusalem, stopping first to plant a tree at the Lavi Forest near Golani Junction, then we’ll make our way across the Lower Galilee to Kfar Tavor, stopping at Moshav Shadmot Devora to see how the “Devora” (bee) makes honey, and how the silkworm makes – you guessed it! – silk…Driving down the Jordan River Valley to Bet She’an, we’ll stop for lunch in the little (but fully airconditioned!) mall for kosher McDonalds or pizza; continuing on a little way, we’ll stop at GanGaroo, the only place in the world outside Australia where you can pet kangaroos….across to the shore for a dip in the Mediterranean at Herzlia Pituach where we can also have a fairwell dinner together in the Marina before saying bye to each other and head to Ben Gurion Airport for your return flight home.
Shalom and L’Hitra’ot!