SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
November 19th - 26th, 2006

Sunday, November 19, 2006

11:00 am

Arrival at airport for check in

1:45 pm

Group departs LAX on flight #06

2:25 pm

Arrive in Tel Aviv

VIP Escort through customs

Drive to Jerusalem and Check into the David Citadel

8:00 pm

Dinner at Yo Ja

Visit the Kotel

6:30-8:00 am

Breakfast

8:15 am

Depart Hotel for the Shalem Center

8:30-10:00 am

"The Jewish People, the State of Israel, and the Power of Ideas" with Shalem Center President Daniel Polisar

10:00-11:30 am

"A Moment of National Introspection: Israel After Lebanon" with New Republic Correspondent and Shalem Center Senior Fellow Yossi Klein Halevi

11:30 am

Depart for Tel Aviv

En Route visit the site of the battle of Kastel and see a view of the Jerusalem Corridor from Radar Hill

Walking tour of Tel Aviv

4:00-5:00 pm

Visit the Re’ut Institute

5:30 pm

Tour the HaPalmach Museum

Meet with the director of the museum

7:30 pm

Dinner in Tel Aviv at Alhambra with Gidi & Betty Grinstein of the Re’ut Institute

8:00 am

Historical overview of the Gush – 1948 with Yisrael Neeman

8:30 am

Depart Hotel for Old City

9:00-10:00 am

Rabbi Eric Coopersmith "Becoming Wise"

10:00-11:00 am

Rabbi Eitan Feiner "Yaakov & Esav: Reverberations Throughout History"

11:30 am

Tour of Gush Etzion - Jewish perseverance from the 1920s to the present

— The southern road to Jerusalem from Hebron - Derech HaAvot

— The episode of Netiv HaLamed Hey (35 Palmachniks killed in 1948)

— Sound and Light Presentation

— Returning by way of the LACHISH

— Emek HaElah - David and Goliath

— Bet Shemesh area - Samson and Delilah

Lunch in Efrat

4:30 pm

Tour Mercas Moreshet Menachem Begin

Meet with the director of the museum

4:30 pm

Tour of Girls Town Jerusalem – alternate option

7:30 pm

Dinner at 1868 with Professor Asher Susser of the Dayan Institute

6:30-8:00 am

Breakfast

8:15 am

Depart Hotel for Old City

Learn at Aish HaTorah

8:45-9:30 am

Rabbi Yaakov Gibber "If He's Not Your Brother, I'm Not Your Father" The Pleasure and Responsibility of Loving Your Fellow Jew"

9:30-10:30 am

Rabbi David Lichtman "David and Bat-Sheva: Foundations of Mashiach"

10:30 am

"Memory in Ruins: The Challenge of Biblical Archaeology" with Azure Editor-in-Chief David Hazony

11:45 am

"Uncovering King David's Palace" a tour of City of David excavation with Shalem Center Senior Fellow and world renowned archaeologist Ruth Eilat Mazar

1:00 pm

Lunch meeting with leaders of Aish HaTorah and Udi Armoni (designer of the new World Center) to discuss building program. Walk around the building site with the designers.

3:00 pm

Tour of the Seam line neighborhoods, possible solutions as presented in Camp David - July 2000 and Clinton Outline - Dec. 2000.

6:00 pm

Dinner at Tiko House Restaurant with Shimshon Brigade Commander.

The Shimshon Brigade was adopted by students in Los Angeles. Meet the brigade commander and a selection of soldiers for first hand accounts of their anti terror unit.

6:30-7:30 am

Breakfast

7:45 am

Depart for Migdal Ohr for a visit with Rabbi Dovid Grossman

Rabbi Grossman who declined the nomination to be Israel's Chief Rabbi, received the 2004 Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement for Service to Society and the State. He is the Chief Rabbi of Migdal HaEmek.

2:30 pm

Return to hotel, prepare for Shabbat

4:00 pm

Meet in the Lobby to Walk to the Western Wall

4:15 pm

Welcoming the Shabbat at the Western Wall

6:30 pm

Dinner in David’s Village with Mr. and Mrs. Jason Cohen

Services in the hotel

11:15 am

Shabbat Lunch with Rabbi and Mrs. Nechemia and Dina Coopersmith

Visit with Rabbi Yaakov Hillel

7:00 pm

Dinner at the Hotel Sushi Bar

9:00 pm

Leave for the Airport

12:40 am

Depart Israel flight #005

6:25 am

Arrive at LAX

Arrive in Israel VIP clearance through customs.

Private charter flights to Eilat.

Dinner in Eilat with TBA

Breakfast and learning with Rabbi Ken Spiro Back to the Future - An Introduction to Jewish History and Destiny

After breakfast board a caravan of jeeps for the desert experience.

Drive to the Black Granite Canyon in the surrounding of Eilat, continue to the Red

Canyon for a short hike, drive to the white Mountains of Nachal Roded. 

Enjoy a picnic lunch in the desert.

Afternoon continue to Kibbutz Lotan – the environmental Kibbutz . Meet with members for a discussion and taste of some food.

Return to Eilat for overnight.

Dinner in Eilat

Breakfast and learning with Rabbi Ken Spiro -- The Actions of the fathers - The Book of Genesis as a Blueprint of Jewish History

After breakfast check out the hotel.

Drive to the Nature Reserve of Timna, which in ancient times was the source of copper.  See the special systems implemented to extract and produce this metal.  On to visit the huge red cliffs called "King Solomon's Pillars”.

Return to Eilat and fly in small planes along the Arava Valley to Beer Sheva.

Board a bus and tour the Biblical city of Tel Beer Sheva. Lunch with Avishai Braverman, former President of Be'er Sheva University.

Continue to Jerusalem and check into the David Citadel Hotel.

Dinner at Canela Restaurant in Jerusalem with and Gidi and Betty Grinstein of the Reut Institute.

Morning learning in the hotel with Rabbi Ken Spiro -- Judaism and Islam -- The Roots of Conflict in the Modern Middle-East

Tour of the New city of Jerusalem:

Special guided tour of the “seam line”

Visit the Machon for Science and Halacha.

Lunch with Prof. Uriel Reichman, President of Interdisciplinary Center in Herzeliya (IDC)

Visit Bayit Lepletot Girls Town Jerusalem

Continue to visit the Palmachim Air Force Base

Dinner in Tel Aviv with Itamar Rabinovich, president of Tel Aviv University

Morning learning in the Old City with Rabbi Ken Spiro -- Zionism and Judaism -- Convergence and Divergence

Tour the Old City of Jerusalem: Southern Wall Excavations Tour Ir David, continue to visit Samuel's Tomb.

Return to hotel – preparations for Shabbat.

Walk to the Wall for Kabbalat Shabbat

Shabbat dinner at Aish HaTorah

Day at Leisure - Walking tour of the Old City
Lunch at Aish HaTorah

Class with Ken Spiro -- The Jewish Roots of Christianity and the Vision of Redemption

Dinner at the hotel – Sushi Bar

Leave for the Airport