Wednesday, June 28th
Tuesday, June 27th
Sunday, June 25th
Tour of northern Israel with guide Marc Coles
Departure from the Technion at 8:00 AM with a stop near the Yagur interchange at 8:15 AM.
Highlights: Necropolis of Beit She’arim, Nahalal collective settlement, meeting with representatives of the non-profit organization Leket Israel, Nazareth including Basilica of the Annunciation, Church of St. Joseph, and the Druze village of Ussefiyah.
Endpoint back at the Technion at 4:30 PM, in time to rest and freshen up before our first session: Science café: What’s new about public engagement with science on new media?
Price: $120 per person, including lunch. Prices may vary according to the number of participants.
Detailed tour: The group first stop will be the necropolis of Beit She’arim, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Beit She’arim was a center of Torah study and became famous mainly thanks to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, a key leader of the Jewish community during the Roman occupation of Judea, who settled there in the second century AD.
Next, we travel to Nahalal, where we will understand collective settlements and how instrumental they were in developing agriculture in the Lower Galilee area, as well as in the renewal of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel. We will meet with representatives of the non-profit organization Leket Israel to learn about their food rescue activities, which provide wholesome food for the needy in Israel. The group will actively volunteer on behalf of Leket Israel and pick seasonal crops that will be donated to food kitchens throughout Israel.
The next site on our tour is Nazareth, where we will visit the Basilica of the Annunciation, the church commemorating the site where, according to Christian tradition, angel Gabriel announced to the young Virgin Mary that she was pregnant with the Son of God. We will visit the adjacent Church of St. Joseph, traditionally regarded as the site of Joseph’s carpentry shop. A stroll through the market and perhaps some sweets from the Arab cuisine will conclude our visit in Nazareth.
From Nazareth we’ll ascend the Carmel Mountains to the Druze village of Ussefiyah where we will learn about the Druze culture and religion and enjoy a sumptuous Druze meal with all of the home hospitality that form an integral part of the Druze experience. We will be hosted in a private home where we will learn about the Druze community in Israel.
Thursday, June 29th
Jerusalem tour with guide Rakefet Halevi
Departure from the Technion at 8:00 AM.
Highlights: The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the old market, a traditional tahini factory, the Roman Cardo and Jewish quarter, the Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, Santa Anna church and pool of Bethesda, and Church of Ecce Homo.
Endpoint: Optional drop-off at Ben-Gurion International Airport (TLV).
Price: $140 per person, including lunch. Prices may vary according to number of participants.
Detailed tour: Our first stop for the day will be the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the most sacred place to Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. We will walk through the old Shuk (market) and visit an old traditional tahini factory tucked away in an old alley. We will walk through the Roman Cardo toward the Jewish quarter. There, we walk through the charming alleys, hear the story of the old synagogues in the quarter, and visit 2,000-year-old archaeological remains from a Jewish living area. Then we continue to the Kotel, also known as the Western Wall and the Wailing Wall, part of the second Jewish temple complex built by King Herod the Great, a site with tremendous religious and national significance for the Jewish people. We visit the Dome of the Rock, and continue to Santa Anna church and pool of Bethesda, ancient pools used since the time of the first Jewish temple and regarded by Christian tradition as the place Jesus Christ performed one of his miracles. In the Church of Ecce Homo, we’ll go underground into the Roman period, and head back to Jaffa Gate through the old market.
- At religious and holy sites, modest dress is expected.