Danny Siegel and Ziv Tzedakah Fund Go to Israel!!!

HeroIsrael VI ~~ Jewish Educators’ Mitzvah Encounters in Israel A Trip Unlike Any Other

Sunday, February 18, 2007--Thursday, March 1, 2007

"Charismatic leaders make us think, 'Oh, if only I could do that, be like that.' True leaders make us think, 'If they can do that, then...I can too.'" --John Holt

Danny Siegel’s Ziv Tzedakah Fund has been conducting successful group trips to Israel for the past five years. The trips concentrate on face-to-face encounters with Israel’s Mitzvah heroes, Giants of Human Action (as well as of the Human Spirit), ordinary people who found their path into Mitzvah work. We believe that these people are our best teachers.

Educators who participated in last year’s trip have returned home inspired to engage in individual acts of tikkun olam and also have become the spearhead for group activities. Each of them has shared that this was a life-altering experience which they will never forget. We believe that teachers will return to their schools and their communities energized and better equipped to teach Jewish Values, Tzedakah and the exploration of Jewish heroes in their own curriculum. Educators taking part in the Ziv HeroIsrael Tour will become an incredible resource for Jewish schools in America.

The trip includes the study of primary Jewish sources about Tzedakah, Mitzvahs, and Tikkun Olam. All participants will be given abundant source material in addition to Danny Siegel’s considerable writings. Unique to this trip, however, is intensive study about the centrality of the Mitzvah hero, as teacher and role model. By hearing their stories and seeing firsthand the impact their work, the messages of the text will come alive. There will also be an opportunity for the educators to be engaged in some hands-on Mitzvah work.  

Participants will be selected on the basis of application. Applicants should indicate their commitment to enhancing moral development in their schools/agencies and their willingness to bring their experiences back to their community. This trip is a unique experience! Educators return with a heightened sense of the power of the individual to change the world and will also see how Tzedakah can change lives.

The cost of the trip will be $2450.00 per person from Newark International Airport. SCHOLARSHIPS ARE AVAILABLE AT A PROPOSED $1150 PER PARTICIPANT

Travel costs to and from Newark International Airport are the responsibility of participants.

The 10-day trip will be based at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem. Rates are based on double occupancy. Single supplement applies.

Included:

Airfare/Continental Airlines
Transfers to and from the airport in Israel
Hotel
All breakfasts
Gratuity for bus driver
Shabbat dinner and lunch

Not included:

Lunches and dinners (with the exception of Shabbat)
Travel to and from Newark International Airport
Incidentals and personal expenses  

THIS IS A SAMPLE OF LAST YEAR'S ITINERARY, FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY

Depart Sunday, 2/18

3:30pm Continental Flt. 84

Monday, 2/19

arrive Tel Aviv, 8:45am. Proceed to the Tayelet. On to the Dan Panorama Hotel-Jerusalem. Check in.

Introduction to Mitzvah Heroes

Dinner as group at The Village Green Restaurant.

Tuesday, 2/20-

8:00-9:30am Breakfast in Dan Panorama dining room.

10:00-Noon-Meet with Barbara Silverman, founder of A Package From Home. Deliver items we have collected and prepare packages for an IDF unit. Meet some soldiers picking up for their unit.

LUNCH ON EMEK REFAIM INDIVIDUALLY

1:00pm Travel to Kiryat Ono to meet with Phyllis Heimowitz, founder of The Amuta for the Support of Girlfriends and Fiancees of Fallen Soldiers.

3:30 Return to Jerusalem

'Taking it Home...from Trip to Techniques, Principles to Practice...'

Dinner on own.

Wednesday, 2/21-

The Treasures of Jerusalem

9:00am Leave for Tova’s Kitchen, a small feeding program in the Bukharan neighborhood in Jerusalem. Meet Tova Cohen, the diminutive Mitzvah hero who single-handedly has taken it upon herself to feed poor people in her neighborhood.

10:15am-12:15 Alice Jonah and the Diplomat Hotel –The Forgotten Russian Olim and their new lives. Visit with individuals in their small apartments and enjoy the talented choir.

12:15-Leave for Old City. Quick lunch, Tunnel Tour, Cardo, Kotel, Davidson Center, Burnt House

3:45-Depart for Hotel

Dinner on own.

Thursday, 2/22

Israel and Animal-Human Interaction- A Day at the Dogs and the Races!

(PLEASE NOTE- if you want to ride a horse, weather-permitting, please wear comfortable clothes) 8:30am Depart for Beit Oved-Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind.

9:30-11:00 Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind-Noach Braun

Lunch on the road

1:30-3:30 Anita and Giora Shkedi Israel National Therapeutic Riding Association (INTRA)-Beit Yannai

3:30 Leave for Old Jaffa/ Tel Aviv –Dinner--Maganda

Friday, 2/23

Breakfast 8am- Jerusalem’s Angel and Israel Prize Winner

Depart 9:15am-Visit with the Rabbanit Bracha Kapach in her home. The group will split in two, first group leaving at 9:15am. Second group to depart from hotel at 10:15 to arrive at 10:30.

Return to hotel or go to town

Afternoon-free and prepare for Shabbat.

Kabbalat Shabbat services at any of the local synagogues or walk to Kotel.

Shabbat Dinner-hotel

Shabbat 2/24

6am Optional Walking Tour of parts of the City with Danny Siegel with stops at several small synagogues representing the Iraqi, Janina, Greece, and Aleppo (Syrian) communities. Attend services at any of the local synagogues.

1pm Shabbat Lunch as group at hotel,

Sunday, 2/25

9:00am-Depart for Bayit Cham-Bnei Brak. A Successful Approach to Treating Mental Illness-Meet with Shmuel Munk and Yoram Mordechai.

Lunch on the road

1:00pm-HAMA (Humans and Animals in Mutual Assistance) Avshalom Beni Learn about animal assisted therapy from this incredible master and observe techniques used by him and his co-therapists while working with learning disabled students or with Shoah survivors (depending upon schedule)

Return to Jerusalem for dinner on own.

Monday, 2/26

Meet with Joseph Gitler, founder of Table to Table, Israel’s fastest growing food recovery project. Take part in the biblical tradition of Leket, gleaning the fields. Dress for gardening!

Schwarma Party with IDF-visit a nearby base and deliver schwarma and other treats to the soldiers stationed there. Play Jewish geography and schmooze.

Gift of Comfort-meet and hear Ruth Shlossman, founder of A Gift of Comfort. Her response to the war that started 5 years ago—providing free massage therapy to survivors of terror attacks and their family members.

Evening-Mevasseret Zion Ethiopian resettlement Yaacov Maimon Volunteers. Visit in the homes of individual Ethiopian families who have been recently resettled in this suburban Jerusalem absorption center and hear about their new life in Israel.

Tuesday, 2/27

Am Meet Lev Ramot founder Moshe Kot and hear about his work recovering leftovers from the city’s catering halls and partake in food packing for families he delivers to.

Meet Clara Hammer, Jerusalem’s Chicken Lady. This 95 year old legend has made providing Shabbat food for hungry people her passion for the past 25 years. She will sing and dance for us, and make you laugh as you hear her moving story.

Wednesday, 2/28 Meet Caryn Green, who runs Crossroads - the place that takes of English-speaking teens and young adults who get into trouble on the streets of Jerusalem

And Meet Menachem Gottesman, who runs the Meled School - a high school for teens who have either dropped out of several other academic institutioins or have been expelled. Menachem gives them lessons in life and in finishing high school.

Thursday, March 1

Our Final Day—wrap up and group discussions/last minute shopping

Closing Dinner

Proceed to Ben Gurion Airport

For further information:

Ziv Tzedakah Fund, Inc.
Naomi K. Eisenberger Managing Director
384 Wyoming Avenue Millburn, New Jersey 07041
(Tel.) 973-763-9396 - (Fax) 973-275-0346
naomike@aol.com

Travel arrangements by Mabat Tours, Rishon LeZion, ISRAEL