NOTE: The seminar starts in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon (DAY ONE) and ends in Jerusalem on the following Thursday (DAY ELEVEN). The last day includes dinner, but ends in time for late-night flights out of Israel.

DAY ONE: MONDAY

Program commences at our hotel in Tel Aviv (in the case of a group flight a transfer will be provided from the airport).

Introduction to seminar 

Points of Arrival: Earliest Tel Aviv and the Zionists (Field trip to Jaffa port)

Opening Dinner

Overnight: Tel Aviv

DAY TWO: TUESDAY

a.m.

Tel(s) of Spring: 100 Years On… and 3800 Years Back…
The View From Above (Tel Aviv from the hotel roof)

Study session: The Place of the City in Zionist Thought

Field trip to southern Tel Aviv: The New Invisibles and Social Responsibility: Foreign Workers and Other Challenges to Israeli Society
Lunch at leisure 

p.m. Leave Greater Tel Aviv for Negev

Deep Are the Wells of the Past (Field trip to Tel Beer Sheva) 

Travel to Mitspeh Ramon 

Group dinner at hotel and debriefing session

Overnight: Mitzpeh Ramon

DAY THREE: WEDNESDAY

a.m.

Of Cosmic Beginnings & Visionaries (Day commences before dawn!!)
Desert Encounters (Pre-dawn overlooking the Ramon Crater; study session) 

Breakfast at the hotel and rest of morning free

Lunch at leisure

p.m.

At Ben Gurion's Sde Boker home: BG's Vision of the Negev & Israeli Society

Yeruham: Redeveloping Development Towns - Tour of Yeruham and study with educators from Atid Bamidbar center

Group Dinner with The Chefs of Yeruham and Summary Discussion

Overnight: Mitzpeh Ramon

DAY FOUR: THURSDAY

a.m.

Taming the Southern Frontier: BG's Dream Visit The Institute for Desert Studies, Midreshet Sde Boker 

Facing the Challenge: Taming the Desert… or Adapting to it?

Brief stop at BG's graveside overlooking Nahal Zin 

Lunch at leisure at Ben Gurion University Campus in Beer Sheva

p.m. 

Bedouin Education: The Challenges of Integration in Contemporary Israeli Society (Visit a school and discussion OR Meet with Students at Ben Gurion University)

Proceed to Jerusalem; Check in and group dinner

Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY FIVE: FRIDAY

a.m.

Likrat Shabbat Lechu Ve'Nelcha

Shabbat Shalom? Jews vs. Jews in Jerusalem and Israel

(Study session; Self-guided field trip exploring Haredi neighborhoods) 

(Optional) Exploration of Machaneh Yehuda, Jerusalem's fresh produce market and neighborhood 

Rest of the afternoon free

Erev Shabbat

Meet in the lobby; special pre-Shabbat discussion 

Shabbat services (optional) and Shabbat dinner

Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY SIX: SHABBAT

a.m.

Free time (list of synagogues provided)

Noon Parashat Hashavua study session followed by lunch and afternoon rest

p.m.

Neighborhood walk: Exploring Komemiyut

Snacks and discussion: On Jerusalem, Jews and Shabbat

Havdalah; Free evening from 6:30 p.m.

Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY SEVEN: SUNDAY

a.m.

A Land of Many Voices 

The Battle to Build a Nation: Field visit to Ayalon Institute, Nes Tsiyona, OR Palmach Museum, Ramat Aviv 

Travel North along the Coastal Road

Lunch at leisure in Zichron Yaakov

p.m.

Ein Hod vs. Ayn Houd: The Art of Symbols (Tour of the village; study session) 

Travel to hotel in Haifa

Dinner at the hotel and debriefing session

Overnight: Haifa

DAY EIGHT: MONDAY

a.m.

Jews and Arabs Together… and Apart

Study session: Jews and “the Other”: The Portrayal of the Arab in Israeli Literature 

Haifa: A Mixed City 

Introduction at Beit Hagefen

Meeting with Haifa activist and educator and Field Trip in Wadi Nisnas

Lunch at leisure

What Role Does the IDF Fulfill in Building the New Israel? Meet with IDF soldiers or with special pre-IDF Mechina program 

Group Dinner

Overnight: Galilee

DAY NINE: TUESDAY

a.m.

Building an Ideal Society? A short tour of Kibbutz Lavi

Field trip: "From Beit Alfa to Nahalal" - Connecting over eighty years
(1) "Not In My House!!" - The Beit Alfa Synagogue at Kibbutz Heftsiba
(2) Mt. Gilboa - Site and Text in context: The Deaths of Saul and Jonathan

Break for lunch 

p.m.

(3) Field trip to Nahalal cemetery: Whatever Happened to “The Blue Mountain”?

Dinner en route to Jerusalem

Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY TEN: WEDNESDAY

a.m.

Is Jerusalem "as a city joined together"?

Study session: Palestine and Israel in Mirror Verses 

Jerusalem - The View Along the Seam (Field trip)

Group Lunch 

p.m. 

Voices in Dialog: An Encounter with Jerusalemites, Jewish, Moslem and Christian

Debriefing Session and Free Evening

Overnight: Jerusalem

DAY ELEVEN: THURSDAY

a.m.

The Whole Megilla - What Vision of Zion Does The Declaration of Independence Represent? (Study session in Liberty Bell Garden)

Justice in Jerusalem: Visit to the Supreme Court of Israel 

Visit The Hebrew University on Mount Scopus and meet with leading scholar

p.m.

Lunch at leisure and free time in city center

Summary Session: The Old-New Homeland: Modern Israel and the Jewish People

Festive Farewell Dinner (1 group transfer is offered to Ben Gurion Airport for departing flights).  

Note: Itinerary subject to change. Museum visits and personal shopping time may be disrupted due to unforeseen circumstances or the many religious, state and local holidays observed in the destinations being visited.