Women of the Bible Holy Land Tour

•     Show God's love for the people through meaningful projects and experience firsthand what God is doing in Israel today
•     Explore the role of biblical women at Neot Kedumim
•     Walk in the footsteps of Jesus through the Old City of Jerusalem
•     Take a festive sail on the Sea of Galilee  
•     Meet female Israeli leaders of today 
•     Participate in a cooking workshop with local Christians
•     Touch the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews
•     Take communion in the Garden Tomb
•     Enjoy a Shabbat meal with local Jewish families 
•     Meet with Ethiopians and participate in activities together
•     Explore the lives and relationship of Mary and Elizabeth at Ein Karem
•     Journey to Magdala and explore the life of Mary Magdalene
•     Pray together and provide encouragement to local Christians in Bethlehem

Day 1:  Our Journey begins Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. Genesis 26:3  

• Arrival to Ben Gurion airport (am arrival)
• Meeting and assistance by our representative just after passport control
• After luggage collection you are escorted to your guide and driver waiting outside the arrival hall
• Travel to Neot Kedumim for a special Women of the Bible tour and an opportunity to plant a tree.
• Continue to where Herod built Caesarea, the grandest city other than Jerusalem over the course of 12 years and renamed this city “Caesarea” in honor of the emperor. It was here that a stone inscription was found mentioning Pontius Pilate, the only archeological remains ever found with the name
• Travel to the Gailee to check into your hotel.
• Welcome dinner and introduction to the program by your tour educator.

  Overnight: Galilee Day 2 :- The Role and Challenges Facing Women, then and now    And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. Luke 4:16  

• Begin the day learning about first Century Galilean life at Nazareth Village, with a scholar from the University of the Holy Land or visit Nazareth, nestled in a hollow plateau 350 m above sea level. According to the New Testament this town was the home of Joseph and Mary and the site of the Annunciation.  Take time for prayer and mediations.
• Walk thru ancient Nazareth to see the Church of Annunciation, Marys Well.

• Continue to Magdala, a small town going back millennia, is most famous for its best-known citizen – Mary Magdalene.  Findings at the town include an ancient 1st-century synagogue where it seems Jews and the earliest Judeo-Christians worshipped together, side by side. Dr. Faydra Shapiro Director of the Galilee Center for studies in Jewish-Christian Relations will conduct a bible reading at this site
• Festive praise and worship  with local Christians as you sail on a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee in a wooden “Jesus boat”
• Dinner and reflection time at the hotel

  Overnight Galilee Day 3: Sisterhood, Cooking and Spirituality in the Galilee Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan Isiah 9:1  

• Breakfast
• Visit the Biblical sites around the Sea of Galilee:

Mt of Beatitudes - it was at this site that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God (Matt 5:1-9) Tabgha the traditional site of the calling of the disciples. A Byzantine mosaic is preserved under a modern church today that was once part of a church which commemorated Jesus’ feeding the multitudes. Here we will walk down to the shore line and enjoy some time for prayer and mediation.

• Capernaum was a large Galilean fishing village and busy trading center.   Peter, Andrew, James and John also lived at Capernaum. The remains of a basalt synagogue believed to be the synagogue where Jesus taught was discovered at this site
• Participate in a  cooking workshop and lunch and enjoy fellowship with Arab Women in the Galilee
• Last stop today will be at the Yardenit situated at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea on its way to the Dead Sea. This is one of the most important sites for Pilgrims - here there will be an opportunity of being baptized
• After dinner enjoy home hospitality with kibbutz members.

  Overnight Galilee Day 4: Our Biblical heroines –if they can do it we can too   The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.  Genesis1:12

• Check-out after breakfast
• Ascend to Mt. Tabor. The book of Judges describes a contest for control of the Jezreel Valley, during the times of the prophetess Deborah, when she summoned a general and ordered him to march on Mt. Tabor with an Israelite army .This is also the site where Christian tradition places the transfiguration of Jesus
• Drive south through the Jordan Valley to Jerusalem and view the city in all its splendor from Mt Scopus
• Tour the City of David, which began more than 3,000 years ago when King David left Hebron for a small hilltop city known as Jerusalem.  The massive destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians can be seen in the layers of the charred remains and thick layer of rubble from the collapsed buildings.   According to the Hebrew Bible “Bathsheba” becomes David’s wife after he sees her bathing at a pool and has her husband Uriah killed
• Visit the Western Wall, the holiest site for the Jewish people and tour through the Jewish Quarter.
• Dinner and overnight Jerusalem Hotel
• After dinner Hebrew bible study session with the CJCUC

  Overnight Jerusalem Day 5: The Spirit of Jerusalem  As the mountains [are] round about Jerusalem, so the LORD [is] round about his people from henceforth even for ever. Psalms 125:2  

• Breakfast in the hotel
• Continue to Yad Vashem (which is open late on Thursdays)- Israel’s official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, as well as recognizing and honoring a number of non-Jewish people that helped save Jews during this bleak period. These heroes are referred to as The Righteous among the Nations.
• Dinner and overnight: Jerusalem
• Visit the Israel Museum where you will see the model of Jerusalem during the second Temple Period as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Walk through the Jewish market of Machene Yehuda
• Return to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat dinner
• Tonight we will enjoy Shabbat dinner at the home of  local Jewish families.
• Overnight Jerusalem

  Overnight Jerusalem Day 6:  Exploring our Faith  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Psalms 122:6  

• Ascend the Mt of Olives that rises to 818 meters above sea-level, named for olive groves that once covered its slopes. The Mt of Olives is associated with both Jewish and Christian traditions, filled with churches commemorating events in Jesus’ life
• Enjoy time for prayer at Gethsemene
• Walk along the Via Dolorosa the road where Jesus walked on the day of His Crucifixion from the judgment seat of Pilate to Mt Calvary, following the 14 Stations of the Cross, ending at the Holy Sepulcher.  The church contains the Chapel of Golgotha , and is in itself a fascinating example of the various streams of Christianity co-existing side by side.
• Visit Mount Zion and the Room of the Last Supper
• Enjoy the remainder of the day at leisure
• Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Jerusalem

Day 7:  Harnessing Strength to move Forward

• Drive by Qumran, the site of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and ascend by cable car to the mountaintop fortress of Masada, a rugged natural fortress of majestic beauty, built by King Herod in the Judean Desert, overlooking the Dead Sea. Explore the ancient palace with its water cisterns, ritual baths (mikvah) and ruins of the synagogue. This site has been claimed as a UNESCO World Heritage

 

• Experience a float in the therapeutic mineral water of the Dead Sea – 400 meters below sea level

 

• Visit Shepherds’ Fields where an angel appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:8-20).  Ruth had remained loyal to her mother-in-law Naomi after the death of her first husband and they both returned to Bethlehem.  It was in these fields where Ruth gleaned the barley for her future husband Boaz
• Be a blessing and enjoy fellowship and prayer with local Christians in Bethlehem
• Return to your hotel for dinner and overnight
• Overnight Jerusalem

Day 8:  Blessing the people of Israel As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him Luke 10:38  

• Begin the day with an uplifting communion service at the Garden Tomb Gordon’s Calvary)  providing a peaceful setting and an equal opportunity to contemplate the events surrounding the death of Jesus,  his burial and resurrection
• Meet with women and men soldiers who are part of the border control police and hear about their challenges and service
• Drive south to Kiryat Gat for an activity with  Ethiopian Jews who working to integrate into Israeli life while retaining their cultural
• Continue to    Jaffa (Joppa) - one of the most ancient port cities in the world for a brief walking tour and reflection time by the water.
• Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did. Acts 9:36
• Farewell dinner in Jaffa
• Transfer to the airport for your night departure flight

Note this is our sample tour: all speakers are tentative and based on availability.