Bar Mitzvah / Bat Mitzvah Tour & Itinerary
I have always wanted to go to Israel since I was a little girl. Having my Bat Mitzvah there with my family and friends was incredible. Israeli Celebration tours listened to what I wanted my Bat Mitzvah to be like and they could not have done a better job. It was a beautiful trip. - Caroline
A Bar or Bat Mitzvah in Israel can be the most exciting and meaningful experiential event of a young person’s life... imagine standing on a hill overlooking the City of Jerusalem, facing the Western Wall (Kotel), standing on the top of Masada as the sun rises, in an ancient synagogue on the shores of Lake Kinneret — or any one of scores of significant and highly symbolic sites that YOU can choose as your personal setting for your celebration...
Israel Celebration Tours offers a uniquely packaged program: Rabbi Lee Diamond will personally work with each family and their Bar or Bat Mitzvah to help prepare to celebrate this special moment. He will assist in selecting the appropriate site in Israel for the ceremony at which he will personally officiate.
Some special features of our Bar/Bat Mitzvah tour:
- Advanced contact and preparatory advice with each family regarding Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparations; flexibility in meeting individual family needs
- Selection of an appropriate site for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony, conducted by Rabbi Diamond
- Special youth-oriented itinerary with daily fun activities and action
- An exciting personalized telling of the story of Israel throughout the entire trip
- Special Bar/Bat Mitzvah adventure party — Bedouin tent, camel riding, other activities
- A state-licensed personal tour guide specially chosen and trained for family travel groups by Israel Celebration Tours
- Accompaniment of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony with a guitar and an amazing song leader
Remember, you can have a private tour designed specially for you – private tour guide, private driver and an itinerary to suit your needs. Contact us now.
Note: Actual locations, sites, times and details may change according to requirements.
11-day tour
Day 1, Thursday: Arrival and “Shehecheyanu”
To Jerusalem; first stop Mt. Scopus, the traditional “overview” of Jewish pilgrims who arrived in Jerusalem over the centuries. Check in at our Jerusalem Hotel, then take a brief discovery walk We join for a “falafel” dinner and return to our hotel.
Day 2, Friday: Digging into our Heritage
Depart to Bet Guvrin to participate in an Archeological Dig for a Day. Then the option of “spelunking” in the network of caves in this area. Next we move to Neot Kedumim, the Biblical Landscape Reserve in Israel which re-creates the physical setting of the Bible. Here we share a Biblical lunch and help prepare wine to use for Kiddush later. Return to our hotel to prepare for Shabbat, when we set out on foot to the Kotel or Western Wall, returning later for Kiddush and dinner. An Oneg Shabbat of singing, stories and games together follows.
Day 3, Shabbat: “Eternity Uttered a Day...”
We join our guide for a Jerusalem neighborhoods tour. Lunch in our hotel is followed by a Shabbat “snooze” and then join in a creative map session to learn about the geography of Israel and some basic Hebrew words. We then enjoy an evening at leisure in downtown Jerusalem — on the Ben Yehuda Pedestrian Mall. Shavuah Tov!
Day 4, Sunday: Jerusalem of Old – Jerusalem of Gold
Climb the ramparts of the Walls of the Old City; view the four quarters of Jerusalem — Armenian, Jewish, Moslem, and Christian. Then to the most ancient part of Jerusalem – the “City of David,” to hear the 3,000-year-old story of one of our favorite heroes and kings. The new Davidson Center at the Southern Wall Excavations presents an interactive story of King Herod: we visit to the excavations and climb the ancient steps of the Second Temple, once again underground through the Kotel Tunnels. Then a moment of prayer at the Kotel itself. Lunch on the street in the Jewish Quarter, and then on to the Herodian Mansion. Thereafter to the Israel Museum to Shrine of the Book, home of the Dead Sea Scrolls and concluding with the Holyland model of Jerusalem in Second Temple times. Back at the hotel, our Bar/Bat Mitzvah candidates meet with Rabbi Lee Diamond to review and do final preparations for tomorrow’s ceremony. Evening at leisure.
Day 5, Monday: Ein Gedi, Masada, Dead Sea
Bar-Bat Mitzvah Ceremony
Leave early for the Dead Sea area and Ein Gedi to arrive before the intense heat. At the Ein Gedi ancient 3rd century C.E Synagogue, we join in the chain of Jewish history in accepting our Bar/Bat Mitzvah into Jewish adulthood and responsibility. After completing this special moment we continue with a brief hike in the Ein Gedi Nature reserve. Then on to Masada and take the cable car to the top of this historic mountain. Thereafter we head off to float in the Dead Sea, and a camel ride. To celebrate your Bar or Bat Mitzvah, we join in a Bedouin “Hafla-Bash” Meal, served at a Bedouin campsite and tent. Then, we start our bus journey though the Jordan Valley to the Galilee where we will spend the night.
Day 6, Tuesday: Bet Shean, Tzfat – Ancient Cities
First to the ruins of the Roman City of Bet Shean, by bus to the famous 6th century Bet Alfa Synagogue and its amazing mosaic floor. We now drive up the mountains of the Galilee to the mystical city of Safed (Tzfat) — refuge for many of the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Safed also boasts a great artist colony which we will visit allowing some shopping time as well. We return to our Galilee hotel and then depart for a boat ride across the Kineret for fresh fish dinner of St. Peter’s fish (Amnon in Hebrew) at Kibbutz Ein Gev.
Day 7, Wednesday: The Golan Heights – Peace and Security
We ascend the Golan Heights, conquered by Israel in 1967, to visit some of the pre-1967 Syrian bunkers and hear the stories of residents from these difficult days. Next, we reach the snowy top of Mt. Hermon and look down upon Israel, Lebanon and Syria. On the way down we stop at Kalat Nimrod, an intact Crusader castle and then hike to the Banias waterfalls or go white-water rafting on the Hazbani River. A visit to Kiryat Shemona, one of Israel’s northernmost cities and then overnight at our Galilee hotel.
Day 8, Thursday: Defending the Homeland Destination Tel Aviv
Our story of Israel continues in the modern day period as Israel struggles for independence. Our first stop will be at an army base to meet some of our young and finest — Jewish boys and girls serving in the I.D.F. After an army style lunch we continue to the prison in Atlit, where illegal immigrants arriving from Holocaust Europe were interred by the British. Here we will meet with a member of the Illegal Immigration (the Exodus), an American volunteer who helped bring these “illegal immigrants” into British controlled Israel shares his personal testimony with us. . We continue driving to Tel Aviv. Evening free in the “Big Orange”!
Day 9, Friday: Tel Aviv, Rehovot, Nachalat Binyamin
Before we begin our day in Tel Aviv, we start with a visit to the “Table to Table” project where we will volunteer our help in providing food for the needy. We then visit Machon Ayalon, a secret pre-state arms factory hidden under a kibbutz. From there we return to Tel Aviv and visit the Friday arts and crafts market in Nachalat Binyamin. We then join for a group Kabbalat Shabbat service and a Shabbat meal in our hotel. After dinner we have a “Kumsitz-Oneg Shabbat” on the beach.
Day 10, Shabbat in Tel Aviv
Walking tour of the neighborhoods of Tel Aviv starting in Jaffa, then to Neve Shalom and Neve Tzedek, followed by a visit to the Tel Aviv art museum. Lunch at our hotel and the early afternoon free for walking along the beachfront boardwalk or resting. Our day closes with a discussion on Israel and its future in the Middle East and Havdalah. We then depart for our final banquet in a special restaurant in Tel Aviv.
Day 11, Sunday: Final Day
We return to Jerusalem starting our day at Yad Li Kashish — Lifeline for the Elderly where we see one of Israel’s most outstanding Tikun Olam projects in action. We then continue to Yad VaShem, the official memorial to the Holocaust of the State of Israel. At the conclusion of our visit, we will have a special ceremony of dedication for the Bar-Bat Mitzvah and their families. Then to Mt. Herzl and Israel’s national military cemetery to visit the graves of the founders and leaders of Israel and the military cemetery where young men and women who paid the ultimate price for the Jewish State and the Jewish people are buried. Then to the Knesset and Supreme Court. On our way to the airport we will stop at Mini Israel, the amazing miniature re-creation of the most significant sites in Israel.
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