June 27-August 2, 2021

  

Eligible Program for RootOne Vouchers

Seeded by a generous gift from The Marcus Foundation and powered by The Jewish Education Project

​

Under the leadership of Fivel Glasser, the director of the Nesiya Institute and of camp Yavneh’s Na'aleh program.

 

Sunday, June 27 DEPARTURE FROM US

• Departure from United States (United Flight 90 departing Newark at 10:45pm)

​

Monday, June 28 BRUCHIM HABA’AIM-WELCOME TO ISRAEL

• Arrival at Ben Gurion airport at 16:20.

• Meet your Israeli staff in the Arrivals Hall.

• Airport Snack.

• Set off for the Negev

• Check-in and dinner

• “Our Culture”: Orientation to the rules and goals of the program with icebreakers.

Overnight: M​itzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Tuesday, June 29 DESERT ORIENTATION

• Breakfast at hostel.

• Early morning half day hike in the desert.

• Return to hostel for lunch and Rest Time

• Late afternoon twilight hike to the highest outlook in the Negev, with arts workshop and cooking project.

• Dinner

Overnight: M​itzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Wednesday, June 30 THE NEGEV TODAY

• Breakfast at hostel

• Introduction to Development Towns

• Enjoy an authentic North African home hospitality dinner prepared by the Culinary Queens of Yeruham.  Learn about the history of Yeruham and other “development towns” in Israel which absorbed many immigrants in the 1950s.

• Return to Hostel for arts workshops. Arts Workshops

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: Performance-Full Group Arts- presentation of the arts educators who share their work (and themselves). ​

Overnight: ​Mitzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Thursday, July 1 ART WORKSHOPS

• Breakfast at hostel

• Introduction to the concept of “Participant Led Activities”. The program includes multiple leadership opportunities for participants and we build in time to prepare them. The focus is on including the participants in planning program content.

• Arts Workshops

• Lunch at hostel

• Dinner at hostel

• Presentations of Projects

Overnight: M​itzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Friday, July 2 MAKING THE DESERT BLOOM

• Visit Ben Gurion’s ​tzrif,​ desert home on Kibbutz Sde Boker and learn about the leadership of Israel’s first Prime Minister.

• Discussion on Ben Gurion’s vision of making the desert bloom by his grave, overlooking the Wilderness of Tzin.

• Lunch

• My Egypt: a program focused on exploring and overcoming our own “narrow places” Introduction to Shabbat and preparation

• ReLeSH-Ruach Lifnei Shabbat. Pre-shabbat singing and dancing with snack.

• Candle lighting

• Kabbalat Shabbat services

• Festive Shabbat dinner

Overnight: M​itzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Shabbat, July 3: NEGEV SHABBAT-PARSHAT PINCHAS

• Late wakeup and breakfast at hostel

• Shabbat morning services

• From Out of The Desert: an exercise in imagining the ideal Jewish state with Biblical and modern texts that reflect the transition from Exile to the Land of Israel

•  “Kol Yisrael Arevim”--- a program on taking responsibility for the behavior of a community.

• Shabbat lunch

• Rest time and participant led reflection activities.

• Improv workshop

• Seudat Shlishit dinner at hostel

• Havdalah

• Evening: Ice Cream Party and Negev Adventure Prep

Overnight: M​itzpeh Ramon Field School

​

Sunday, July 4 NEGEV ADVENTURE

• Breakfast at hostel.

• Café Dilemma activity

• Lunch at hostel and Depart

• Begin Negev Hiking Adventure

• Games, check-in

• BBQ Dinner

• Evening: ​Discussion on Why Was the Torah Given in the Desert?

Overnight: N​ahal Gevanim Campground

​

Monday, July 5 NEGEV ADVENTURE

• Breakfast and Sunrise departure for Negev Hike in Nahal Zaharonim

• Desert Meditation Activity (in the shade)

• Lunch and afternoon shelter in an enormous cave in the Machtesh

• A Still, Small Voice: Elijah the Prophet shares a powerful message in the Desert

• Afternoon hike to Be’erot campground

• BBQ Dinner

• Kumsitz

Overnight: B​e’erot Campground

​

Tuesday, July 6 NEGEV ADVENTURE

• Sunrise hike to Har Ardon

• Breakfast

• Pack up campsite and depart for the north

• Check-in and rest

• Swimming in the Kinneret Dinner at hostel

• Evening: PLAY Groups and desert experience summary

Overnight: O​halo Guest House

​

Wednesday, July 7 PIONEERING SPIRIT

• Breakfast at hostel

• Introduction to Halutzim-the early pioneers of the First and Second Aliyah

• Havat Kinneret

• Lunch at in the active kibbutz dining room of Sde Eliyahu

• Bio Bee ecological tour

• Swimming in the Sachne pools

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: Movie Night

Overnight: O​halo Guest House

​

Thursday July 8 TORAH IN THE GALILEE

• Breakfast at hostel

• Introduction to the Rabbinic Sages at Talmudic Tzippori. Learn about Rabbi Yehuda Hanassi’s forward thinking and decision to put the Oral Law into the written form of the Mishnah. See some of the most beautiful mosaics in the Middle East and the ancient synagogue.

• Picnic Lunch

• Zaki or Hatzbani Water Hike

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: Introduction to Kabbalah

Overnight: O​halo Guest House

​

Friday, July 9 MYSTICS AND MOUNTAINS

• Breakfast at hostel

• Explore the mystical city of Zefat

• Visit the synagogues of the mystics

  • Art & Kabbalah program with local artist o Candle Factory

  • Cash Lunch and Shopping Time

  • Challah Baking

• Check-in and prepare for Shabbat

• ReLeSH-Ruach Lifnei Shabbat Pre-shabbat singing and dancing with snack.

• Candle lighting:

• Kabbalat Shabbat as a group or with the local Carlebach community.

• Festive Shabbat Dinner

• Tisch and Oneg Shabbat with music and stories

Overnight:  Z​efat

​

Shabbat, July 10 MYSTICAL SHABBAT-PARSHAT MATOT-MASEI

• Breakfast at hostel

• Shabbat services

• Lunch at hostel

• Chanich Stories-- personal stories of spiritual experiences of staff and students

• Kabbalah and art with artist David Friedman

• Seudah Shlishit experience with Zefat families

• Havdalah with music and dancing

• Evening: Pizza, ice-cream and falafel

Overnight:  Z​efat

​

Sunday, July 11 GOLAN HEIGHTS 360

• Breakfast at hostel

• Ascend the Golan Heights

• Outlook from Gadot Outlook and introduction to the Six Day War

• Learn about the 2,000 year Jewish connection to the Golan at the ancient synagogue of Ein Keshatot

• Voucher Lunch in Katzrin

• Water hike in Nahal Jilabun/Devora

• Check-in and dinner at hostel

• Evening: Reflection program on the day

Overnight: H​ermon Field School

​

Monday July 12 MT. HERMON

• Breakfast at hostel

• Screening of the first segment of a new Israeli series on the Yom Kippur War.

• Visit to the Hermon and meeting with Israeli soldiers stationed there. Program on military ethics with Capt. Ya’akov Se-Levan.

• Meeting with the commander of Israel’s Syrian Field Hospital established during the civil war.

• Kayaking in the Upper Galilee

• Eve: Imagining Jerusalem- preparation for Jerusalem based on art, music and our own “memories” (images).

Overnight: H​ermon Field School

​

Tuesday July 13 BIBLICAL JERUSALEM

• Breakfast at hostel

• Depart for Jerusalem

• Begin at the Mt. Scopus, overlooking the Old City.

• Descend to the City of David, the original Jerusalem founded 3,000 years ago by King David.

• Grab a flashlight and wade through Hezekiah’s water tunnel, built 2,700 years ago to protect Jerusalem’s water supply from invading armies.

• Check-in at hostel and dinner

• Evening: Brief Kotel Visit and letters activity.

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Wednesday, July 14 SHOAH L’ TEKUMA

• Breakfast at hostel

• ​We learn and remember at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Complex including visits to the historical museum, Children’s’ Memorial, and Sculpture Garden.

• “Shuk Bites” Lunch in the Machane Yehudah market.

• Nachlaot tour and meeting with residents

• Evening: Processing Yad Vashem

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Thursday, July 15 THE STRUGGLE FOR PEACE

• Breakfast at hostel

• Seminar on the Jerusalem conversation including political topography tour and encounters with a range of Israeli perspectives.

• Late afternoon visit to Mt. Herzl

• Evening: “Enemies and Friends”: ​​Meeting with Issam Sa’ad, a former Gaza based refugee and peace activist who fled the wrath of the Hamas and is now involved in a unique Jewish-Palestinian dialogue project.

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Friday, July 16 FACES OF JERUSALEM

• Breakfast at hostel

• Introduction to Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox) community

• Encounter with the Belz Hasidim or Rav Bombach

• Neighborhoods-- an exercise in observation- photography workshop in the context of walking tours in Jerusalem neighborhoods.

• Rest and prepare for Shabbat.

• ReLeSh and pre-shabbat snack.

• Candle lighting:

• Kabbalat Shabbat at the egalitarian Kotel

• Festive Shabbat dinner at the hostel.

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Shabbat, July 17 SHABBAT IN JERUSALEM-PARSHAT DEVARIM/EREV TISHA B’AV

• From the Four Corners of the Earth: ​Shabbat morning services at local synagogues

• Shabbat lunch at the hostel

• Introduction to Tisha B’Av

• Rest time

• Walking Tour

• Seudat Shlishit dinner at hostel

• Havdalah

• Evening: Aicha Program

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Sunday, July 18 TISHA B’AV

• Breakfast for non-fasters at hostel

• Program on historical memory at the Herodian Mansions in the Jewish Quarter.

• Meeting with Jewish and Arab residents.

• Lunch for non-fasters at the hostel and rest time

• “Jerusalem today” presentation of the results of the photography workshop

• Reconvene for clay activity based on Aicha (The book of Lamentations)

• Break-fast dinner at hostel

• Evening: Ice cream party- introduction to community Service and packing time

Overnight:  J​erusalem

​

Monday, July 19 TIKKUN OLAM-COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Breakfast at hostel

• Community Service project near Pardes Hanah at Neve Michael Childrens’ Home

• Lunch

• Check-in at Yemin Orde

• Dinner at Yemin Orde

• Evening; Walking tour of the campus

Overnight: Y​emin Orde Youth Village

​

Monday, July 19 TIKKUN OLAM-COMMUNITY SERVICE

• Breakfast at hostel

• Community Service

• Swimming in the Mediterranean

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: Vipassana Silent Activity

Overnight: Y​emin Orde Youth Village

​

Wednesday, July 21 TEL AVIV

• Breakfast at hostel

• Community Service

• Continue to Tel Aviv

• Lunch

• Outlook over cosmopolitan Tel Aviv from the Azrieli Tower and discussion on Zionism with Yitzhak Sokoloff

• Learn some Hebrew and about issues in modern Israeli society through a Graffiti/Street Art tour in Tel Aviv.

• Check-in at hostel

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: Performance and encounter with dancers Jill and Amnon Damti. Amnon is deaf and the former lead dancer of the Kol Demama Dance Company.

Overnight: Tel Aviv

​

Thursday, July 22 THE FIRST HEBREW CITY

• Breakfast at hostel

• Walk along the Independence Trail and Rothschild Boulevard to learn about the founding of Tel Aviv and the Declaration of the State of Israel.

• History of Refugees

• “Shuk Bites” Lunch in Jaffa Flea Market

• Program with the secular Yeshiva “BINAH” which combines social action with studying Jewish sources

• Beach time

• Dinner at hostel

• Evening: “Jaffa Stories & Coffee” encounter. Meet Doris Hiffawi in her home in the Ajami neighborhood to hear her personal story of a Christian girl growing up in a Jewish, Muslim and Christian area over coffee and snacks (baklava). ​

Overnight: T​el Aviv

​

Friday, July 23 NAHALAT BINYAMIN/DISPERSRAL TO FREE WEEKEND

• Breakfast at hostel

• Stroll through the weekly arts & crafts fair at Nahalat Binyamin.

• Cash Lunch

• Dispersal for Home Hospitality

• ​

Shabbat, July 24 HOME HOSPITALITY SHABBAT

• Free Shabbat to visit relatives

• ​

Sunday, July 25 TO BE A FREE PEOPLE IN OUR OWN LAND

• Pickup from home hospitality shabbat and return to Tel Aviv

• Program on contemporary start-up culture in Tel Aviv including meetings with young entrepreneurs

• Visit to Save A Child’s Heart- where children from all over Africa and the Middle East receive heart surgery for free.

• Check-in at hostel

Overnight: T​el Aviv area

​

Monday, July 26 PERIPHERY

• Breakfast at hostel

• Encounter program in Kiryat Gat with Rabbi Sharon Shalom, leader of the Ethiopian Jewish community,

• Meet with recent immigrants from around the world at the Kiryat Gat Absorption Center

• Continue to Arad

• Sunset camel ride and Bedouin “hafla dinner” at Kfar Hanokdim Camel Ranch

• Early to Bed!! Sleep out in a Bedouin tent.

Overnight: K​far Hanokdim Camel Ranch

Tuesday, July 27 WHAT PRICE FREEDOM?

• Early wake up and ascent of Masada by the Roman Ramp in time for sunrise.

• Between Masada and Yavneh. Explore why the Jewish rebels chose to live here after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE and that decision’s historical implications.

• Descend by the Snake Path or cable car.

• Breakfast at the Visitor’s Center.

• Float in the Dead Sea.

• Lunch and check-in at the hostel

• Rest time

• Opening to Final Projects

• Dinner at hotel

Overnight: E​in Gedi Field School

​

Wednesday, July 28   FINAL PROJECTS

• Breakfast at hostel

• Work on final projects

• Lunch

• Work on final projects

• Dinner

Overnight: E​in Gedi Field School

​

Thursday, July 29       FINAL PROJECTS

• Breakfast at hostel

• Work on final projects

• Lunch

• Presentations

• Dinner

• Presentations

Overnight: E​in Gedi Field School

​

Friday, July 30             FINAL PROJECTS

• Breakfast at hostel

• Presentations

• Lunch

• Presentations

• ReLeSh and pre-shabbat snack.

• Candle lighting:

• Kabbalat Shabbat

• Festive Shabbat dinner at the hostel.

• Oneg Shabbat

Overnight: E​in Gedi Field School

​

Shabbat, July 31 SHABBAT IN EIN GEDI-PARSHAT EIKEV

• Breakfast at hostel

• Shabbat services and program*

• Shabbat lunch and summary conversations

• Seudat Shlishit dinner

• Havdalah

• Evening: Musical program

Overnight: E​in Gedi Field School

​

Programs for the final Shabbat are purposely left undefined so that staff and participants can plan them jointly.

Sunday, August 1 BASHANA HABA’AH

• Breakfast at hostel

• Written evaluations and summary discussions

• Lunch at hostel

• Check-out and load bus

• Last minute shopping time in Jerusalem

• Last Kotel Visit

• Farewell dinner

Overnight: Neve Ilan

​

Monday, August 2 ARRIVAL IN US

• Breakfast at hotel

• Check-out

• Transfer to airport for departing flight

• Departure on United Flight 85 at 12:00 noon

• Arrival in Newark at 5:15pm

 

Itinerary is subject to change.

​

In 2015 Nesiya became part of Keshet and since then our summer youth programs have incorporated Nesiya’s creative programming into our itineraries and staff training.