Back to Israel with Rabbi Howard L. Jaffe

Travel: April 7 - April 16, 2019
RSVP Deadline: December 15, 2018

Rabbi Jaffe is excited to lead a group from Temple Isaiah on a trip designed primarily ― though not exclusively ― for those who have been to Israel before and want to experince Israel in depth and visit places that are off the beaten path.

We will take a deep dive into some of the most interesting neighborhoods and markets in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and take an urban culture tour. We will be hosted for dinner by locals in Tel Aviv and by our sister congregation, Or Hadash in Haifa, whom we will join for our Shabbat celebration. We will meet with journalists, scholars, teachers, and entrepreneurs; engage with activists struggling for LGBTQ rights; and tour the Palestinian capital of Ramallah and meet with key Palestinian personalities. We will visit a settlement and meet with a settler spokesperson, have a beer at the largest Palestinian brewery in the West Bank, try whiskey at Israel’s first distillery, and taste wine at a local boutique winery in the north. We will spend time in an Arab city in Israel proper and meet with the CEO of IsraAid, which provides disaster relief and rehabilitation assistance to crisis areas around the world. And along the way, we will visit Ein Hod, Israel’s most famous artist colony, and enjoy a Middle Eastern cooking workshop led by a local chef. In Jerusalem, we will take a hard look at the opportunities and challenges of being a multicultural city, taking a ride along the light rail through suburban, Arab, and ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods before arriving at the old city for an even closer look at those opportunities and challenges. And of course, there is much more. 

Rabbi Jaffe’s dear friend and tour educator extraordinaire, Koren Eisner, who has led several of our groups in the past, has signed on to be with us. For more information and to sign up, please go to arzaworld.com/IsaiahLexington2019.aspx.