MONDAY, JANUARY 13

Depart from Newark on your non-stop flight via El Al Israel Airlines to Israel. Beverages and meals served in flight.

TUESDAY,  JANUARY 14

Arrive in Tel Aviv and meet our guide. Transfer by deluxe motor coach to our hotel in Tel Aviv. Have dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Dinner and Overnight: Herods, Tel Aviv.


WEDNESDAY,  JANUARY 15

After breakfast drive to Caesarea, an excavated city built by Herod the Great 2000 years ago. It served as the administrative capital of Judea for over 600 years. Drive to Sea of Galilee to enjoy a boat ride. Proceed to Capernaum – known as Jesus’ “own town” – “walking where Jesus walked” takes on thrilling new meaning. As you sit on the stone benches of Capernaum’s ancient synagogue, you’ll be reminded that right here, Jesus taught and healed a man possessed by an evil spirit. It was the synagogue on this very spot, whose foundations you can still see, which Luke says was built by the centurion whose servant Jesus later healed. Jesus also raised from the dead the daughter of this synagogue’s leader. End the day at the baptismal site of Yardenit, at the place where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee and into the Dead Sea.

Dinner and Overnight: Herods, Tel Aviv


THURSDAY,  JANUARY 16

Check out of our hotel in Tel Aviv and drive to Gaza surrounding area. Go through main sites and locations involving the recent events. Continue to Jerusalem.

Dinner and Overnight: Ramada, Jerusalem


FRIDAY,  JANUARY 17

Visit the alternative baptism site of Qasr el Yahud, located near Jericho and the Dead Sea on the Jordan River. Continue to Qumran and stand among the 2,000 year-old ruins overlooking the Dead Sea on the edge of the Judean wilderness, we will experience a dramatic view of the cave in which most of the Dead Sea Scrolls, containing the oldest Bible ever found, were discovered. Return to Jerusalem. End the day at Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb.

Shabbat Dinner and Overnight: Ramada, Jerusalem


SATURDAY,  JANUARY 18

After breakfast, begin the day with the glorious view of the Old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. Visit Gethsemane and see its ancient olive trees, remembering Jesus’ agony in prayer for us. Visit the Pool of Bethesda, the site of the miraculous healing of a paralyzed man by Jesus, as recounted solely in the gospel of John, and also the site of the birth of Mary's mother. Here over the original pools St. Anne’s church was built. Walk through the Old City and see the Church of Holy Sepulchre. Visit Mount Zion and the Upper Room and remember the Last Supper and the outpour of the Holy Spirit. Below we can pray and pay homage to Israel’s famous king and ancestor of the Messiah at King David’s Tomb. Then head to St. Peter in Galicantu Church built over the site of the House of Caiaphas where Jesus was imprisoned. Visit the Israel Museum, the largest cultural institution in the State of Israel and one of the leading art and archaeology museums in the world.

Dinner and Overnight: Ramada, Jerusalem


SUNDAY,  JANUARY 19

First we visit the spot where Abraham offered Isaac in sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount. “Awestruck” is the way many describe their feeling at the Western Wall, destroyed 2,000 years ago by the Romans. Stroll through the Jewish Quarter and visit the stores along the Cardo, a typical Roman street built in the 6th century. Visit the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament. Drive to Gush Etzion, the region south of Jerusalem, with its picturesque rolling hills adorned with grape arbors and olive groves, brimming with biblical and modern history. For millennia, the main road through here passed near Bethlehem, which in Bible days was called Efrat. Stop at the Kfar Etzion visitors' center, which showcases the region’s heritage in a moving audio-visual presentation.

Dinner and Overnight: Ramada, Jerusalem


MONDAY,  JANUARY 20

After savoring our early morning breakfast, we will head to the mountaintop fortress of Masada overlooking the Dead Sea. Less than 40 years after Jesus was crucified, Jewish rebels took over Masada. In contrast to Jesus’ instruction to “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”, the rebels believed in zero-tolerance for Roman rule. The rebels were surrounded by the Roman army, and took their own lives rather than become slaves. This act has made Masada a symbol of the human spirit’s yearning for freedom. Continue to the oasis of Ein Gedi on the shore of the Dead Sea combines a wild, natural setting, history and archaeology. Nakhal David and Nakhal Arugot flow year-round through deep canyons surrounded by lush vegetation – a sharp contrast to the surrounding desert. This is where David took refuge from King Saul. Afterwards, we will descend to the lowest point on Earth to bathe in the healing waters of the Dead Sea.

Dinner and Overnight: Ramada, Jerusalem


TUESDAY,  JANUARY 21

This morning visit City of David & Temple Mount Sift. Visit the Yad Vashem museum, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance and education center which is an emotional and heartrending experience, but seeing the exhibits and remembering the Holocaust gives the more than one million individuals, world leaders and dignitaries who pass through its doors annually a meaningful way to commemorate the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Continue to Tel Aviv to stroll through Old Jaffa. Farewell Dinner before heading to the airport for our return flight home.


WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

Arrive to the USA from a “Life Changing Experience” that will stay with you for all your days.

 

PLEASE NOTE!  We reserve the right to omit any site and/or change the itinerary
Should it be necessary due to local conditions.

DAY BY DAY ITINERARY

Pastors & Spouses Israel Solidarity - Familiarization Tour
January 13 to 22, 2024