Private Bar/Bat Mitzvah tour

Day 1 Departure from the USA

• Overnight, on flight

Day 2  Welcome to Israel! 

• VIP Meet/Assist after passport control, to luggage claim and then to the driver 
• Transfer from Ben Gurion Airport to your  hotel in Jerusalem 

Overnight, Jerusalem  

Day 3 – Jewish Heritage of Jerusalem

• Visit Yad Vashem, considered the first and most famous memorial to mankind’s darkest period. See the Valley of the Communities – a man-made valley in the form of the European Map built in remembrance of where over 5000 names of communities are engraved on the stone walls, each one remembering a Jewish community that was damaged or destroyed during the Holocaust. (Optional : twinning ceremony- you can strengthen your child’s identification with his or her Jewish heritage by forging bonds with individual children who were murdered during the Holocaust. Choosing to participate in the Program offers the opportunity to remember and learn about the life of a child who was murdered during the Holocaust.)

• Taste your way through the Machane Yehuda Market. This bustling Jerusalem marketplace and neighborhood incorporates food, drink, shopping, bars, and restaurants. The market is an exciting venue to experience the colors, aromas and flavors of Israeli food and more! 
• Tour the City of David, housing the newest and most exciting excavations of Jerusalem during the time of the first Temple period. Here we’ll also walk through Hezekiah’s Tunnel which still flows with water (weather depending). 
• Return to your hotel to meet with your rabbi and review details for the bar/bat mitzvah service  

• Tonight- Enjoy the sound and light show at the Tower of David

Overnight: Jerusalem 

Day 4 –  Bar/Bat  Mitzvah in Jerusalem

• Travel to the  Old City for  a Bar/Bat Mitzvah at the Southern Wall
• Visit the Davidson Center
• Descend through the Western Wall tunnels and into the many layers of Jerusalem’s past at the time of the Temple 
• Continue walking tour of Jerusalem Old City including The Four Quarters: The Cardo, Roman Road with lunch en route
• Return to the hotel to change and Dress warm for an exciting night of celebration and adventure
• Depart for GenesisLand  for an adventurous Camel Ride in the Judean Desert and learn all about the surrounding area and its rich history. We will learn how to make pita followed by a festive dinner !

Overnight: Jerusalem 

Day 5 – The Dead Sea Valley 

• Visit Ein Gedi Nature Reserve  and walk to the waterfalls at this oasis in the desert. 
• Ascend the legendary mountaintop plateau of Masada by cable car to the ancient synagogue of Masada and explore the ancient fortress. Here, was the last stronghold of the Jewish Zealots in their struggle against the Romans. 
• Relax, Lunch and Swim (Float!) at the Crowne Plaza Dead Sea Spa Hotel – Float in the Dead Sea! Cover yourselves with mud (found on the shores of the Dead Sea / for purchase) and enjoy the unsinkable therapeutic waters of this mineral-rich Sea. Make the lowest place on Earth a “high”light of your trip! 
• Drive North to your hotel in the Galilee  

Dinner and Overnight: Galilee

Day 6 Ancient and Modern Jewish History in the North

• Take a walking tour through  the narrow winding alleys of Safed, site of some of the beautiful 
• synagogues and browse through the artists’ workshops and galleries found in the flourishing artists’ quarter. 
• Visit DeKarina and learn about the chocolate making process, tour the factory and participate in a chocolate making workshop. (Adults can do a  wine tasting) !
• Drive to Mount Bental one of Israel’s favorite mountain peaks on the Syrian border.  
• Board your  jeep for an exciting trip along Israel’s border, see the bunkers  
• Would you like a taste of Galilean village life? Participate in a short (one dish – grape leaves or similar)  cooking lesson with hosts in Madjal Shams. Then, enjoy dinner with your hosts and learn about the Druze community and their contributions to Israel. 

Overnight, Galilee 

Day 7 – Israel -Along the northern coast 

• Breakfast at the Hotel and Check Out 
• Drive to Rosh Hanikra and visit the famous northern border point with the cable car going to the amazing grottos. Tour the adjacent kibbutz of Rosh Hanikra
• Visit the ancient crusader port city of Acco and the fascinating UNESCO town with new excavations, from 1000 years old. Visit the Crusader Halls and see the underground tunnels and pathways. We’ll also visit the Acco Prison which was the main prison and execution site used by the British during the Mandate Period. 
• Stop at Herod the Greats masterpiece, the ancient city of Caesarea and once the seat of Roman rule. View the excavated Roman Theater, with its acoustic and theatrical sound, which was used for many performances throughout the centuries. 
• Check in to hotel 

Overnight: Tel Aviv 

Day 8  – Israel’s Modern start up nation city – Tel Aviv

• Take a walking tour of Neve Tzedek, the first neighborhood outside of Jaffa and Tel Aviv’s hip neighborhood where the intellectual elite lived during Israel’s early days. 

• Visit Independence Hall, where Ben Gurion declared the birth of the State of Israel
• Walk down Rothschild Boulevard one of the first streets to be built in the city of Tel Aviv little over 100 years ago. Named originally as “The Street of the People”, it was renamed to reflect the generosity of Baron Edmond James de Rothschild of the French Rothschild banking dynasty. Visit the Birthright Innovation Center (based on availability) 
• Visit the Nahalat Binyamin artists market (every Tuesday and Friday)
• Lunch on own in the  Carmel market

Overnight: Tel Aviv 

Day 9 – Tel Aviv – Then and Now

• Visit the Underground Bullet Factory – also known as the Ayalon Institute and learn the story of a secret factory that was instrumental in the Independence day war 
• Visit the Old Port City of Jaffa (Yafo), one of the oldest port cities in the world, you can visit the ancient ruins and walk along the Artist’s Quarter.

• • End your visit  by learning a  bit of Hebrew and a peek into  Israeli culture on a fun graffiti workshop  tour, led by  one of Tel Aviv’s foremost graffiti artists.

• Late Check out

• Transfer to Ben Gurion Airport for International Flight