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HILARY DANAILOVATravel Writer

If kids could invent a perfect vacation spot, chances are it would have pizza at every restaurant, along with ice cream on every

corner. There would also be royal palaces, super-cool ruins where the gladiators once caroused, fountains convenient for splashing younger siblings, and canals with singing gondoliers.

Wait — that’s not your idea of adult fun? How about glorious Renaissance art, a rich, 2,000-year Jewish history, stylish kosher restaurants … and canals with singing gon-doliers?

All that and more is on offer in the classic Italian itinerary: Venice, Florence and Rome. From the Eternal City to the Grand Canal, Italy’s blockbuster trifecta is an ideal family adventure: everyone will find lots of things to enjoy in this tasty, richly Jewish corner of the Continent. And with the strongest dol-lar in over a decade, there’s more pizza for everyone. (There’s even a kosher carbonara — seriously! Read on.)

The downside of Italy’s greatest hits: crowds are inevitable, especially during summer, when Italy swelters under a broil-ing sun and the lines at Florentine museums resemble Disney World. But with some advance planning, you can minimize both wait times and heat. Remembering to ask for rooms with air conditioning is the single smartest thing you can do to circumvent kvetching. The second smartest is to reserve your museum visits online in advance, al-lowing the family to skip blithely into the galleries and come out in time for lunch.

Between the Internet, Chabad and the in-crease in Jewish tourism, it’s also easier than ever to eat Jewish in Italy. Rome is justly proud of its autochthonous Jewish cuisine — a distinctly Mediterranean, artichoke-and-eggplant-rich tradition distilled in its legendary ghetto — and visitors will find a pleasant variety of kosher and traditional-Jewish trattorias, both dairy and meat.

Kosher dining is also available, if more limited, in Florence and Venice, while vegetar-ians (and kids) find it easy to thrive on Italy’s spaghetti, pizza and salads. A few tips: If kosher meals are part of your plan, always phone or email in advance for reservations. Italy’s ko-

sher establishments are used to English-speak-ing guests, and, as a rule, they are friendly and helpful. Be aware that kashrut standards and terminology vary widely abroad, and kosher suppliers are in constant flux.

VENICEIf a city full of canals and palaces won’t

charm kids, nothing will. Few attractions anywhere can rival the

palazzo-lined Grand Canal and an al fresco pause amid the pigeons and crowds of St. Mark’s Square. Those darkly atmospheric back-alley canals are the coolest side streets your American children have ever seen, while the armor, dungeons and imperial pageantry of the Doge’s Palace make that attraction the closest you will come to a guar-anteed hit. With the possible exception of a gondola ride — pricey, to be certain, but just think about the selfies.

As in Rome, an historic Jewish ghetto was established in Venice in the 16th century in a neighborhood that today is one of the city’s most charming. The Jewish district of Cannaregio, where five historic synagogues are preserved for viewing by the Hebrew Museum, retains a 17th-century ambience. Any of the guided tours offered through the Hebrew Museum — which typically include the museum and three or four synagogues — are worthwhile for the context they give to both city and ghetto. The splendid Baroque interiors of these Venetian shuls will enchant many kids, and everyone will enjoy learning about a proud community that works so hard

to maintain and share its heritage.Families can stay right in Cannaregio at

that rare and cherished overseas luxury: the kosher guesthouse. On a peaceful piazza near the Hebrew Museum, Giardino dei Me-lograni promises guests a mikveh, Shabbat elevators, a night entrance and kosher din-ing; you can even reserve a bottle of kosher champagne upon arrival.

The new kosher eatery Ghimel Garden serves up vegetarian fare with an Italian-Jewish twist, and its airy, sunlit courtyard has made it a popular lunch spot.

FLORENCEDreamily romantic in the haze of a Tuscan

afternoon, Florence shimmers in Renaissance splendor — but very young museumgoers are much more likely to be charmed by Botti-celli’s ladies if they don’t have to stand in line for three hours first. Nowhere else in Europe is it more critical to reserve your museum visits before leaving home.

You can go online to buy advance tickets for the Uffizi Gallery, home to the world’s greatest collection of Italian Renaissance paintings, from Caravagio’s “The Sacrifice of Isaac” to Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus.” The small, in-timate scale of the equally popular Accademia — where lines form early for Michelangelo’s “David” — makes it a manageable introduc-tion to Renaissance art for kids.

Most tourists then head to the Duomo … but you’ll find fewer crowds and the same Florentine-spumoni color scheme in the city’s

The Italian Trifecta, Through A Jewish LensVenice, Florence and Rome: An ideal family adventure (an even a kosher carbonara).

The Grand Canal in Venice. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

continued on following page

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Great Synagogue, a reminder of how influen-tial Florence has long been as a nexus of Tuscan Jewry. One of the grandest and most beautiful buildings in northern Italy, this Moorish-style landmark leaves a strong impression.

There are scores more sights in Florence, many of them heavy with Catholic iconog-raphy and mobbed with tour groups. Escape across the Arno to the Palazzo Pitti, a grand, inviting real-life castle in a peaceful garden setting that houses a variety of entertaining collections. These include Italy’s only mu-

seum of fashion history, a fun showcase for vintage opera costumes, and a modern art gallery, which is only modern by Florentine standards — it ends around World I. After so much time indoors, everyone enjoys a frolic in the formal Boboli Gardens outside.

What about dinner? The city’s favorite ko-sher eatery is Ruth’s, a pescetarian bistro on Via Farini that is perpetually packed. The stylish, modern-Tuscan dining room features stone-and-wood décor and walls lined with bottles of Sangiovese. Ruth’s menu is a crowd-pleasing mashup of Italian standards — pastas, salads, four-cheese pizza and lots of fish — and Jewish classics like falafel and couscous.

ROMEFor kids, the key to enjoying Rome is

romping among the ruins. Leave most of the indoor art for other cities (or a more mature age) and let the family loose amid the Forum, the Colosseum, the Campo dei Fiori and the atmospheric lanes of Italy’s longest-enduring Jewish ghetto. Then spend your evenings sampling Roman-Jewish cuisine in the an-tique ghetto, Italy’s top spot for kosher dining.

Most of Rome’s iconic sights are within walking distance in the historic center. The

Forum — the ancient core of modern Rome — was cool even before “Braveheart” and “Gladiator” glamorized the ancient world. Squint your eyes as you wander through the well-preserved arches, and you can imagine the ancient city in the age of the empire.

It’s an easy stroll from the Forum to sev-eral other sights guaranteed to captivate all ages: the Colosseum, whose crowds only enhance its grandeur; the Pantheon, a cool, soaring marble oasis; and an assortment of al-luring fountains and piazzas — the Trevi and Navona, respectively, being the most famous.

All these are just a cobblestone’s throw from the Jewish Ghetto. Home to Europe’s

Italian Trifectacontinued from previous page

The Great Synagogue in Florence. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The Via Portico del Ottavia, in the Jewish Ghetto. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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oldest Jewish community from the mid-1500s until the 1870s, this district is still the heart of Roman Jewry. Today the ghetto, a picturesque quarter near the River Tiber, is also one of Rome’s hippest neighborhoods, drawing legions of foodies as well as visitors to the glorious alabaster Great Temple (Rome’s central synagogue and com-munity center) and the Jewish Museum.

A mouth-watering selection of kosher restaurants, along with non-kosher cafés that cook tradi-tional Roman-Jewish recipes, are found along the Via del Portico d’Ottavia, an elegant main thor-oughfare. Notable among these are Ba’Ghetto and the nearby Ba’Ghetto Milky, meat and dairy branches of the same upscale Roman-Jewish restaurant, serv-ing up favorites from carcciofi alla giudia — artichokes Jewish-style — to parve gelato. There’s another kosher branch near the

Sapienza University Campus in northeast Rome.

Ba’Ghetto is one of a handful of Roman eateries with a Shab-bat lunch menu. Another is Bella Carne, whose focus, as you might expect, is on kosher Italian-style meat dishes — as well as other local specialties, meaty and oth-erwise; Bella Carne promises that anything is possible, including kosher carbonara.

Get your pizza fix at the dairy restaurant Yotvata, named for a kibbutz in the southern Ne-gev. The menu, which features pizzas made with locally pro-duced, artisanal kosher cheeses, includes Roman-Jewish special-ties and local classics like spa-ghetti cacio e pepe.

For dessert or just to keep the kids happy in between history les-sons, stop for a round of kosher, dairy-free cookies at Il Mondo di Laura, a pink fantasy of a pas-try shop owned by a young, local Jewish entrepreneur. ◆

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NATHAN JEFFAYContributing Editor

It’s easy to walk straight past Ika Choco-late without realizing what you’re miss-ing. After all, it’s a small shop in an

unassuming Tel Aviv neighborhood, on a street where the smell of a hummus factory dominates.

But this adds to the charm of the place, and the satisfaction of finding a real culi-nary gem — not a choreographed food-themed “experience,” but a place where one woman is innovating and inviting people to watch, learn and taste.

It is remarkable to think that such a small workshop is creating such an im-pression in the chocolate industry. In Lon-don last December, it won a gold medal in December’s International Chocolate

Awards. Visitors enter to a small shop, and are

met by the cold air necessary to keep the chocolate at its best; the smell of hummus is effectively blockaded outside. A large cabinet holds the different filled choco-lates, and various other products are on shelves on the walls. The confectioner Ika Cohen, who set up the company three years ago, is happy to chat about choco-late, her production processes, her vision and her achievements.

The best part is that the shop gives a full view of the workshop through glass, so you can see the actual process of choco-lates being made and packed. With only a couple of people working alongside Cohen most of the time, you can see that this is truly a boutique business.

Cohen’s flair is found in her fillings,

not the actual chocolate, which is made by the French company Valrhona. But if fil-ings don’t seem like major players, spend five minutes talking to her and you will end up with a whole new perspective.

A marine biologist by training, Cohen studied the art of confectionary in France. She is wide-eyed with excitement about what she is achieving — she proudly re-veals a French chocolate guide that lists her shop, and speaks excitedly about the shops abroad that are selling her products.

What is getting her noticed in the chocolate industry is the fact that she isn’t just making classic chocolates with a high level of proficiency, but also in-novating. And some of her creations are specifically Israeli. For example, it was her experimentation with the herb-mixture za’atar, widely used in savory dishes in Is-

Foodie Tourism Just Got SweeterA gold medal-winning Tel Aviv chocolatier, quality craft beer

and gourmet takeout, all in or near Tel Aviv.

The innovative chocolatier Ika Cohen in her Tel Aviv shop, Ika Chocolate. COURTESY IKA CHOCOLATE

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rael, that won her the gold medal last year. The medal went to her “za’atar ganache,” which plays with the taste buds by present-ing a warming savory flavor in a sweet chocolate. Indeed, Ika Chocolate is one of the many treats awaiting foodie travelers in central Israel.

Anyone with culinary interests must pay a visit to Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market. Enjoy the kaleidoscope of colors and the glorious wafting of different smells, and observe the the Middle Eastern bustle and the lively rivalry between the different shop owners.

Here is the place to buy your edible souvenirs from Israel — Middle Eastern herbs and spices to enjoy long after you return home. The shops turn over large quantities so you know that what you are getting is fresh, and certain spices like tur-meric and saffron are of a very good qual-ity. If you have a sweet tooth, pay a visit to one of the stores with sticky Eastern treats piled high.

At the market, look out for Joliat and Ha-lavi Pero, an Arab husband-and-wife from Haifa who make their own kind of flat laffa breads to order and top them for you with olive oil, sour cream and/or spices.

For many foreign visitors, one of the most surprising stalls at the Carmel Mar-ket is Beer Bazaar. Over the last few years Israelis have started to fall in love with quality beer, and there are now boutique breweries dotted around the country. Beer Bazaar is a celebration of this growing sec-tor, serving some 90 Israeli-brewed beers.

If the growth of Israeli boutique beer interests you, consider a trip to Jem’s Beer Factory in Petach Tikva, a 30-minute drive from Tel Aviv.

You can book a brewery tour, and then sit down to a feast of hearty (kosher) food. There is beef capriccio, homemade beer batter tempura, and a citrus-wood char-coal drill that turns out dishes including a “Meatball Hero” and an entrecôte steak. There are homemade sausages and kebab skewers, and side dishes include bar favor-ites like potato wedges and onion rings.

Jem’s was set up by two American immigrants to Israel — Jeremy Welfeld and Dan Alon — who share a passion for beer. Its Petach Tikva brewery has proven so popular that it has two other branches with more limited menus, in Ranaana and Kfar Saba.

Even if you are headed to do some gen-eral sightseeing, you can indulge your foodie sensibilities by picking up excellent food to

continued on following page

Cohen’s flair is found in her fillings. COURTESY IKA CHOCOLATE

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take with you. A new Tel Aviv business just made this easier than ever. Lunchbox sells boxes with freshly cooked meals and snacks that can be slipped into a carry-ing bag.

Unusual ly for Israel, the boxes are labeled with full nu-trition information, and many of the items are all natural and/or vegan. There are also meaty op-tions, such as a box with two succulent meat skewers and whole wheat couscous, and another meal with chicken breast. Some are microwavable, and some are designed to be eaten cold.

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Food Tours continued from previous page

The exterior of Ika Chocolate.COURTESY IKA CHOCOLATE

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HILARY DANAILOVATravel Writer

After a career traveling widely and often, Marshall Katz retired from the U.S. Air Force and a series

of high-level government posts — and embarked on a new odyssey of sorts: re-searching the lost Jewish heritage of Sub-Carpathia, his ancestral homeland. Katz now makes regular trips between Penn-sylvania, where his father was a kosher butcher near the West Virginia border, and Eastern Europe, where the Katz fam-ily’s forbearers had lived in what is today part of Hungary.

Undaunted by language barriers and unfazed by “atrocious” roads, Katz has since logged trip reports — along with practical travel advice, cemetery photos and recovered Jewish history — for hun-dreds of villages throughout Hungary, Western Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He posts them on the website JewishGen.org, an encyclopedic Jewish-genealogy resource with a half-million registered users worldwide.

“I’m trying to make a contribution,” Katz said recently by phone from Ukraine. In addition to cataloguing copious amounts of data for the Sub-Carpathian Special In-terest Group site, which he founded on JewishGen, Katz communicates person-ally with many of his fellow heritage seek-ers — searching out a family’s tombstones or vital records in a particular village he plans to visit, for instance, or advising travelers on everything from hiring a car service to reliable tour guides.

A few decades ago, Katz’s travels would have been virtually impossible, or at least extremely difficult. But Jew-ish travelers today have access to myriad online resources — and a global com-munity of fellow genealogy enthusiasts — that have transformed heritage travel. Whereas a “roots” trip might once have been an informative but generic orga-nized tour of Jewish districts, major cem-eteries and Holocaust sites in Poland or the Baltics, today’s travelers are going online to zero in on a great-grandparents’ shtetl, family tombstones and the very streets where the European Jews of yes-teryear prayed and shopped.

“People today want to be more spe-cific,” said Avraham Groll, director of business operations for JewishGen. “They want to know where their grandfather was actually from.”

Numerous factors have converged to make that possible. “Travel is so easy these days,” noted Ruth Ellen Gruber, the renowned journalist and coordinator of the web portal Jewish Heritage Eu-rope, who also writes the Jewish Heritage Travel blog and has explored Jewish sites across the Continent for decades. “When I started out, nobody knew what was there. Nobody knew where these places are.”

Gruber pointed out that most ances-tral Jewish homes were located behind the Iron Curtain — so prior to the early 1990s, travel would have been difficult or outright impossible, and archives were sealed under Communist rule. Today Americans not only travel freely within Eastern Europe; they frequently do so without the need for visas or even border checks. Infrastructure is also vastly im-proved (though Katz has horror stories about Ukrainian roads), with discount airlines making it cheap and convenient to hop between cities. A generation ago,

Americans would have struggled with a near-insurmountable language barrier — but today, many Europeans speak Eng-lish, so it’s far easier to hire a driver or query locals about Jewish sites.

And most obviously, the Internet has opened up a world of information that was previously inaccessible. Everything from vital records and historical data to detailed maps and trip-planning services is literally a click away.

JewishGen — which was launched in the 1980s and is now affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City — remains an invaluable re-source for travelers. The website orga-nizes the research of more than 80,000 volunteers worldwide; online archives (some 22 million records and counting) help families find relatives, ancestral hometowns and each other. JewishGen also has a Holocaust database of victims and survivors, including ghetto records and census lists; special area groups, like Katz’s Sub-Carpathian site, with maps, photographs and local travel links; and a portal called KehilaLinks, with a detailed website for each community — kehila in Hebrew — where Jewish

‘Roots’ Journeys Getting Ever-More SpecificThe Internet has opened up a world of information for a ‘very emotional adventure.’

Clockwise from top left: A JewishGen heritage traveler in Ukraine, and ones in Eastern Europe; a German prayer book rescued from a defunct synagogue; and a Sub-Carpathian record book pho-tographed by Marshall Katz. PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEWISHGEN

continued on following page

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June 19, 2015

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members’ families once lived.Beyond this, travelers have more so-

phisticated tools at their disposal than ever before. Unsure of how a family name or town was spelled? Special pho-netic-matching technology can match surnames or places by sound. Not even sure of the town’s name? “Let’s say you don’t know exactly where the town was, but it was within a day’s horse ride from a major town,” said Groll. “If you look at the right side of our page for a city, we

list every nearby Jewish community.” Not even sure which part of Europe

you come from? Those with questions about their origins may start — or com-plement their research — with DNA test-ing services such as 23andMe or Family Tree DNA. For a fee typically in the low three figures, these online companies analyze saliva samples to determine na-tional and ethnic origin. Jewish users can confirm ties to particular countries or Ashkenazic roots, then take advantage of online community resources to connect with others from similar backgrounds.

All of which points to new dimen-

sion in heritage travel: modern sojourn-ers seek to connect not only with their ancestors, but also with each other. On sites like Tracing the Tribe — a popular genealogy blog that recently relocated to Facebook — virtual communities have formed; distant relatives or de-scendants of neighbors find each other, Europe-bound travelers recommend custom tour guides for far-flung shtetls, and returning heritage pilgrims get help translating tombstones.

“People make recommendations and write about their own experiences,” said Gruber, who advises that such networks are the key to lining up reliable ser-vices overseas. “There’s a tremendous amount of research, and people who can help you.”

A lot of that research has been done by Gruber herself for Jewish Heritage Europe, arguably the most comprehen-sive web portal for guidance on Jewish destinations, historical sites and cultural events throughout the Continent. The site — a project of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe — is constantly up-dated with country-specific information, links and news from Lisbon to Minsk.

For the many American Jews with roots in modern-day Poland, there’s also the Virtual Shtetl. The bilingual Polish-English website is the online community-and-research extension of the recently opened POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, which has quickly become one of Europe’s scholarly hubs for Jewish heritage.

An up-and-coming r e source i s World Jewish Heritage, an organization launched four years ago that describes itself as “a cross between UNESCO, Wikipedia and Fotopedia” connected by Jewish heritage and culture. WJH is in the process of launching a smartphone travel app that allows users to locate sites of Jewish interest in major cities around the world; a new series of eBooks and online articles highlighting topics such as Israel’s top 10 restaurants or Jewish historical sites throughout Spain. As with other travel portals, WJH hopes to draw on user input as it grows.

Online resources are, of course, too numerous to mention here — and as tech-nology expands, so does human connec-tion. That connection, concludes Gruber, is what remains at the heart of Jewish roots travel: “It’s a very emotional ad-venture.” ◆

‘Roots’ continued from previous page

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NATHAN JEFFAYContributing Editor

If the couch at 20 Maresfield Gardens in London could speak, it would have sto-ries to tell. It was, for years, the consult-

ing couch of Sigmund Freud — and it sits in his immaculately preserved study.

Freud was Austrian, but after the Nazi annexation of 1938, he moved to this house in London, where he continued to write, re-search, and see patients on the couch that he shipped from home. It was in this study that he wrote his book about the biblical charac-ter Moses, called “Moses and Monotheism.”

The house is now the Freud Museum, and offers visitors much more than a chance to see his study. You can see the largest re-maining collection from Freud’s library, and more than 2,000 historical artifacts which he collected from across the world. There are displays about his work and his legacy, and special exhibitions.

On June 24, the museum will begin its three-month Festival of the Unconscious

to mark the centenary of his important es-say, “The Unconscious.” A special exhibi-tion will “encourage visitors to think and learn about the unconscious mind and how it influences our behavior.” It will focus on Freud’s essay, and also display art that explores the idea of the unconscious.

The Freud Museum is also dedicated to his daughter, Anna, who lived there for four decades, and made an important contribu-tion to the field of children’s psychoanaly-sis. For anyone interested in psychology, in the importance of London in sheltering Jews feeing Nazism, or both, the Freud Mu-seum is well worth a visit.

For a completely different foray into London’s Jewish history, sign up to a walk-ing tour of the East End, north of the River Thames. It was there that huge numbers of immigrant Jews settled in the early 20th cen-tury, and much of the culture of Jewish Lon-don was formed. Though most Jews moved out, the Jewish imprint on the East End is everywhere, from telltale signs of buildings’ pasts as synagogues or cheders to place

names. In one case, even a street name bears testimony to the area’s Jewish past. Chick-sand Street is the only British street named after a halachic requirement — the biblical injunction to cover blood after slaughter. On this street, chickens were slaughtered and their blood covered with sand.

Some of the best tours of the East End are run by JW3, the new JCC facility that opened in London in 2013. JW3 also runs a wide range of cultural, arts and kid’s activities.

Among the Jewish children of Britain, one of the all-time favorite daytrips is Cad-bury World in Birmingham, a 90-minute train ride from London. This is because it is a large visitor center dedicated to Britain’s favorite chocolate brand, Cadbury — and because unlike many other popular confec-tions, virtually all Cadbury products are kosher, meaning there’s little self-restraint required when it comes to tastings … at least from a kashrut point of view.

Staff thrust chocolate bars into your hands as you enter, so you’re tasting from the first

Freudian TripsTaking in Jewish London, from the great shrink’s couch to the old Jewish East End

(plus, the Cadbury’s kosher chocolate in Birmingham).

Cadbury World in Birmingham, England, where virtually all of its products are kosher. COURTESY CADBURY WORLD

continued on following page

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June 19, 2015

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moment, and the exhibition holds the atten-tion of the whole family. It starts with the beginnings of chocolate, and then takes you through to the start of Cadbury, which was es-tablished by idealistic Quakers. You are con-stantly moving, and being stimulated by chic displays, actors playing historical characters, and glimpses of production equipment.

The presentations are designed to de-light children — for example, in one movie, seats shake to make you feel like you are one of the cocoa beans being shaken on the screen. Last year Cadbury World opened a new $3 million section called 4D Chocolate Adventure — a 4D movie that gives you a whole set of chocolate-related sensations as you watch, including the sense of diving in to a big pot of chocolate. It also opened another section last year, its Chocolate Making Zone, where visitors can enjoy tra-ditional chocolate making demonstrations, and choose from a range of sweet treats to add to a pot of warm liquid Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate.

Cadbury World is a cultural as well as a chocolate experience, with vintage ads and other displays delving in to Brits’ love for their own particular strain of milk choco-late. Cadbury is such an important cultural institution in Britain that even the royals

go crazy for it — the company produces special batches, using a secret recipe, for the Queen. And the newest exhibit at Cadbury World is a baby carriage made from choco-late, crafted to celebrate the birth of the new royal baby, Princess Charlotte. ◆

Freudian Tripscontinued from previous page

The Freud Museum in London and Freud’s famous couch.WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

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MICHELE CHABIN Israel Correspondent

Israel, like other countries, has an abun-dance of hotels, and that can make it dif-ficult for tourists to choose the property

best suited to their needs. Hoping to distinguish themselves from

the pack, many Israeli hoteliers have tried in recent years to carve out a niche in their crowded industry.

Oren Drori, head of the marketing divi-sion of the Israel Ministry of Tourism, said the ministry has been developing niche tour-ism — what he calls “concept tourism” — for a decade.

“Travelers today are more sophisticated and they are pursing an experience. It can be culinary or related to eco-tourism, cycling, bird watching, going to a spa. Travelers want

to get out and experience their surroundings. Their accommodations can be part of that experience.”

Drori said that “there are still plenty of consumers who want traditional hotels and there is room in the market for everyone. Our goal has been to diversity our product and market.”

One of Israel’s most popular niche hotels, the Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel, situ-ated atop the hills of Zichron Ya’akov, offers upscale accommodations in an artistic set-ting (elma-hotel.com).

The Elma provides all the amenities ex-pected of a good hotel: an outdoor swim-ming pool and indoor lap pool, a fitness center, treatment rooms, Hamam Turkish bath, and gorgeous views of the Mediterra-nean. Some of the best beaches in Israel are just a few miles away.

In the main building, guest rooms of vari-ous sizes all offer sea views. Separate from the main building are freestanding cottages, each of which can serve as either a two-floor unit with two bedrooms or as two indepen-dent units for different guests.

What distinguishes the Elma is its com-mitment to the arts. It boasts two profes-sional concert halls (one with 450 seats) designed by the New York design firm Arup/Artec that offer an average of four concerts per week. There are two large art galleries with more than 500 pieces of art, both paint-ings and sculptures, created by Israeli and international artists.

Throughout the year, and especially dur-ing festivals, dancers, musicians, actors and authors hold interactive master classes, some of them at one of the resort’s four outdoor

Small Hotels, Big ReturnsNiche or ‘concept tourism’ on the rise in Israel.

The lobby and exterior of the Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel in Zichron Ya’akov. COURTESY OF ELMA HOTEL

continued on following page

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June 19, 2015

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amphitheaters. Unlike most other Israeli hotels, the Elma

does not offer a meal plan. Rather, guests dine à la carte at the resort’s restaurants.

“Our hotel is a bit of everything,” says Bruno de Schuyter, the Elma’s general man-ager. “A lot of people come because the hotel is self-sufficient. It is an attraction in and of itself. It’s impossible to be bored here.”

The concerts, Schuyter says, range from classical “to rock-y to bluesy to jazzy.”

Bayit Bagalil Spa Hotel (orchidhotels.co.il) is for luxury travelers who want to get away from it all. Located in the verdant upper Galilee in northern Israel and part of the Orchid Hotel chain, it offers big-hotel amenities (outdoor pool, spa, tennis courts, private jacuzzis and high-quality cuisine) but, with only 34 rooms, also a feeling of intimacy and privacy.

The hotel “is in the heart of a forest, and the atmosphere is infused with nature,” said Sharon Gideoni, the hotel’s sales and mar-keting manager. Thanks to Bayit Bagalil’s imposing stone buildings, she said, “guests feel like they’re in a castle.” The rooms are

elegant and unusually large, with adjoining sitting rooms.

The resort’s town of Hazor Haglilit is a short

drive from Rosh Pina, a small town filled with good restaurants and boutique shops. It takes 20 minutes to drive to Safed, the home of Jew-

Niche Hotelscontinued from previous page

The Market House, a boutique hotel in Jaffa, was built atop the ruins of an eighth-century church that are visi-ble beneath the glass floor in the lobby. MICHELE CHABIN/JW

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ish mysticism. That white-stone city is filled with picturesque winding alleyways where renowned Judaic artists live and work.

The hotel accepts children 15 and under only during summer vacation and certain holidays.

The Market House Hotel (atlas.co.il/market-house-hotel-tel-aviv-israel) in Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv, is a hot destination for locals and tourists; it offers small-hotel comfort in a picturesque urban setting.

One of the Atlas hotels — the leading boutique hotel chain in Israel www.atlas.co.il — it draws on Jaffa’s dual Arab/Jewish identities and on its importance as an ancient port city.

It was through Jaffa that King David and King Solomon, his son, brought the cedars used in the construction of the First Temple. The port was subsequently a strategic strong-hold for the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Phoenicians, among others.

The Market House Hotel was built (in an archaeologically respectful way) atop the remains of an excavated eighth-century Byz-antine church, which are visible through the hotel’s clear-glass floor in the lobby.

The hotel’s décor manages to be both modern but evocative of the past.

“It was designed by clever people who studied in the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design,” said Uri Kronkop, the Atlas chain’s marketing and sales director. “The many col-ors evoke the market, which is right outside, but there is also a lot of cream coloring, a lot of wood, and the ceiling is open.”

Kronkop said the Market House was built “to give guests the soul of Jaffa.” The com-plementary breakfast, he said, “is full of the tastes you would find in Jaffa’s streets and restaurants.”

The breakfast includes the hotel chef’s own green shakshouka (a delicious tomato, vegetable and egg dish), a specially blended humous, locally inspired desserts and a wide variety of fish.

The fish is a tribute to the fishermen who can be seen fishing every day in small boats docked in Jaffa port.

Venturing out of the hotel, guests can use the beach-front promenade to walk or cycle up to Tel Aviv: better still, explore Jaffa’s many restaurants, clothing boutiques and art and jewelry galleries.

Jaffa is part Arab, part Jewish, part work-ing class and part gentrified. In short, a worthwhile place to explore. ◆

The writer was a guest of the Market House Hotel.

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June 19, 2015

MICHELE CHABIN Israel Correspondent

Tel Aviv — If anyone needed proof that Tel Aviv is emerging as a world-class luxury destination, the InterContinental

chain of hotels has provided it. The chain recently designated the Da-

vid InterContinental Tel Aviv as one of just three Intercontinental properties worldwide to begin offering a service called the Insider Experience: tailor-made tours and encoun-ters that allow a small number of guests to explore the local dining scene, nightlife, culture, design, architecture or fashion in-dustry with the go-to people in each field.

The Tel Aviv service, called Senses of Tel Aviv Insider Experience, is part of a new corporate marketing campaign launched by the InterContinental chain in February. Two of the chain’s most well-known properties — the London Park Lane and Paris Le Grand — were also chosen for the promotion.

Only guests who stay in the Tel Aviv Suite — Madonna and Richard Branson have both slept there — can avail themselves of the Insider Experience. The suite, which is more than 1,000 square feet and includes a private sauna, panoramic views of the Medi-terranean Sea and 24-hour butler service, costs an eye-popping $3,500 per night. The Insider Experience, which enables guests to see a side of Tel Aviv usually reserved for locals, costs an additional fee.

The David is located in the vibrant Neve Tzedek neighborhood of southwest Tel Aviv. The first neighborhood built outside the ancient port city of Jaffa, its charming alleyways boast gracious gentrified homes, clothing boutiques, restaurants, bars, art gal-leries, the Suzanne Dellal Arts Center and a museum devoted to the paintings of the renowned Israeli artist Nachum Guttman.

Jaffa itself, a mixed Arab-Jewish neigh-borhood on the sea with an ancient Old City, galleries, great eateries and boutiques, is a 20-minute seaside walk from Tel Aviv along

the promenade. The Insider Experience the hotel ar-

ranged for a handful of journalists included a tasting tour of the nearby Carmel Market, a private tour of the Bauhaus Museum by curator Estee Cohen followed by a seminar in the striking rooftop home of architect Hanan Pomagrin, who described how Israel is encouraging builders to protect buildings against earthquakes.

Later we were treated to a night of res-taurant hopping through the neighborhood and beyond.

At the start of the market tour, lo-cal guides handed out shopping carts and glasses of wine and shepherded us through the colorful, noisy shuk where South Tel Avivians shop every day. One shop of-fered 15 flavors of halva, another 20 kinds of spiced olives. We sampled falafel and a wide variety of rare spices.

In the one-room Bauhaus Museum, housed in an original Bauhaus building, we learned that Bauhaus was a German school

Taking In Tel Aviv, As An ‘Insider’A new level of luxe and ‘immersion,’ courtesy of the InterContinental chain.

The Bauhaus Museum in Tel Aviv, one of the stops on the Insider Experience tour, features furnishings designed in the Bauhaus style. MICHELE CHABIN/JW

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of design, not a style of architecture. (Tel Aviv has the largest number of Bauhaus buildings in the world.) We were surprised to learn that the modern-looking furniture and housewares on display were actually designed in the first part of the 20th century.

The rest of the evening was spent first at Jajo Bar, then at Hatraklin and Social Club, both trendy South Tel Aviv restau-rants. The restaurants weren’t kosher so the hotel provided a full dinner-on-the-go from the InterContinental’s Aubergine Restaurant for those who requested it.

Kosher guests must request meals at ko-sher eateries ahead of time.

Sample tours for actual guests include a tour to a wide range of specialty food mar-kets as well as the Farmer’s Market at the trendy Tel Aviv Port; a fashion tour in Neve Tzedek; and wine tastings paired with din-ner (by a personal chef) at an historic home in Old Jaffa or on the rooftop of the gor-geous Ilan Goor home-museum.

Other options are a Segway or walking architecture tour of Tel Aviv’s White City lead by an architect; a tailor-made tour of design studios; or a private party with one of Israel’s leading modern-dance troupes; bar-hopping and clubbing with a “nightlife expert,” includ-ing VIP access to some of the city’s hottest night spots — and in Tel Aviv there are many.

Even those of us who have lived in Israel for years found the Insider Experience an eye-opener. Living in Jerusalem, I had no idea just how vibrant and frenetic Tel Aviv is in the wee hours, and the one-on-one en-

counter with architect Hanan Pomagrin gave us valuable insight into how the city was built, from the green spaces between residen-tial buildings to where windows were placed.

Over breakfast David E. Cohen, the InterContinental Tel Aviv’s general man-ager, said his marketing team convinced the chain’s decision makers to include its hotel in the Insider Experience by highlighting Tel Aviv’s unique vibe and character.

“We were debating among ourselves what is it in Tel Aviv that blows people away? We realized it appeals to the senses.”

Cohen said he asks hotel guests to de-scribe the city in a tagline or one-liners and collects the responses in a book.

One called it the “Capital of Cool,” an-other “The Little Big Apple.” Another “The Smallest Mega-City,” while someone else called it the “Best Kept Secret in the World.” Cohen’s favorite: “Tel Aviv is the Love Child Between New York and Miami.”

Cohen, who has lived in several coun-tries over the years, is excited about the new promotion because he loves Tel Aviv.

“Our goal is to introduce you to the people and places that make Tel Aviv so special. We feel true luxury lies in immer-sion, not in escape. Israel should be the No. 1 touring country in the world,” he said. “You can’t replace Jerusalem or the Dead Sea. Or Tel Aviv.” ◆

The Insider Tel Aviv Experience offered by the InterContinental Tel Aviv provides clients with cus-tomized tours related to the city’s nightlife, cuisine and design. MICHELE CHABIN/JW

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June 19, 2015

STEVE K. WALZSpecial To The Jewish Week

With last summer’s Gaza war in the rear-view mirror, Israeli hote-liers are looking ahead, with two

words in mind: renovation and expansion.And with them has come a guarded

sense of optimism about this summer’s travel season. The Inbal Jerusalem and the Ramada Jerusalem have upgraded their fa-cilities, as has the Dan Hotel chain, one of Israel’s biggest chains. Taking advantage of the mood of optimism, the country’s other major chain, Fattal Hotels, is set to open four new hotels by the end of the year, ac-cording to published reports.

“We have used this time [between last summer and now] to improve our product; this is an industry-wide trend at other ma-jor Israeli hotels,” said Alex Herman, vice president of sales and marketing at the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel (inbalhotel.com). “With

new online and mobile technologies avail-able to customers, reservations, which used to be made months in advance by couples and families etc., rarely exists anymore ex-cept for the major holidays such as Pesach and Sukkot. The trend is more towards last-minute reservations. … There is renewed interest among American travelers to come to Israel. Business will pick up again, as long as things stay quiet.”

As a stand-alone property competing against local and international chain brands in Jerusalem, the hotel, whose owners re-side in the New York area, has undergone a top-to-bottom transformation, “while pre-serving its Jerusalem character,” empha-sized Herman.

By mid-July, all of the hotel’s rooms, Herman said, will have been completely renovated, including new bathrooms, LED televisions with streaming capability from handheld devices and free high-speed Inter-net. The culinary offerings have also been

upgraded; the hotel’s Italian-themed Sofia restaurant features a new menu prepared by Chef Nir Elkayam, while the Inbal Grill in the hotel’s courtyard offers a Brazilian Steak-house experience with a selection of Israeli prime cuts of steak, chicken and kebabs.

Across town, the Ramada Jerusalem Ho-tel (ramadajer.com/en) just completed a $2 million renovation project, which included the entire ground floor and all of the guest floor hallways. The noted interior designer, Galit Avinoam, created a new modern look in the lobby, which now appears larger, brighter and more inviting.

Over at the Dan chain (danhotels.com), Rafi Baeri, its vice president of marketing and sales, said the chain is spending “$20 million to $30 million a year in renovating and updating properties.” Hotels that are in the midst of upgrading, he said, include the Dan Eilat and Dan Caesarea, which is located next to Israel’s only 18-hole golf course; the upgrades will take about a

Optimistic For SummerHoteliers sprucing up and expanding ahead of new season.

ISRAEL HOTEL ROUNDUP

The Ruth Rimonim in Safed has been turned into a “story hotel,” focusing on the city’s unique history.

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year to complete, he said. The swimming pool area at the Dan Caesarea has already been reno-vated and features three differ-ent pools, including one for kids and a half-Olympic-size one.

In the last year, many of the chain’s other hotels, which attract significant numbers of American tourists, have been spruced up, Baeri added. At the King David in Jerusalem, the fifth and sixth floors have been renovated, “resulting in even more luxury accommodation,” he said. The Dan Panorama Je-rusalem has introduced a new category of “Deluxe Rooms.” And the Dan Accadia in Her-zliya Pituach has recently opened a new restaurant, The Accad, which offers a seasonal menu with ingredients sourced from selected growing regions.

Fattal Hotels, Israel’s larg-est home-grown chain (34 and counting), is in the midst of rapid growth; by the end of the year, the chain is looking to

open at least four new facilities, under its various brand names (fattal-hotels.com). The Israeli business daily Globes reported that the cost of the openings will be at least $125 million.

The chain, according to Moshe Elazar, its director of sales for North America, has opened a new property, the 250-room Herod’s Herzliya, in Herzliya Pituach, which is lo-cated on a peninsula adjacent to the marina and surrounded by water. A little further north, the chain has recently opened the Leonardo Plaza Hotel along the beachfront promenade in Netanya.

In Tel Aviv, Fattal is poised to open two upscale facilities, Leonardo Midtown and Roths-child 22. The Midtown, Elazar said, “will be aimed at business people as it is located in the heart of the city’s commercial district and high-tech hubs.”

“Rothschild 22,” he contin-ued, located on Rothschild Bou-

levard, “will be a high-end hotel aimed at what one would call a ‘yuppie’ crowd. Rothschild Boulevard is attracting tremen-dous interest in the hotel indus-try because it’s booming with posh restaurants and pubs.”

The Rimonim hotel chain has recognized the growing po-tential among American tourists who wish to explore mysti-cal Safed and the nearby lush Derech Hayayin (wine route)

Galilee and Golan Heights regions. During the past few months, it has transformed its Ruth Rimonim facility into a “story hotel” (English.rimonim.com/ruth-rimonim-safed).

“This is the first ‘story hotel’ in Israel, where we are retell-ing the story of Safed within the context of the hotel’s own history,” said Keren Amir, Ri-monim’s sales director.

There are six historical cor-ners in the hotel, tracing the city’s history back to the 17th century. When guests check-in, they get a map of the hotel with stories about each corner.

The hotel also offers free tours of the historical city, which are led by an English-speaking professional guide. The hotel is ideally located near the town’s renowned art gal-leries and ancient synagogues and highlights include its own wine cellar, stocked with local wines. ◆

A newly renovated family suite at the Inbal Jerusalem Hotel.

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June 19, 2015

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7th - 9th JULY 2013Price: £350**plus Flights

For more information or to book your place on this historic journey,contact Eli: 020 8457 2121 or email: eli@jroots.org.uk

JRoots has had many years of success in taking groups on compelling Jewish heritage journeys and guarantees the best in logistics, comfort and guiding so that participants can focus exclusively on absorbing the once-in-a-lifetime JRoots experience.

For more information on JRoots trips,email: info@jroots.org.uk www.jroots.org.uk

*Itinerary subject to change ***Terms and conditions apply

THE JOURNEYOF A LIFETIME

Skiing in SwitzerlandWeds 30th January - Sun 3rd February 2007From £299 all inclusive • Ages: 18 - 22

An inspiring Jewish break, combining Alpine Exhilaration with chilled aprés-ski talks

For more details contact Simon on: snissim@aish.org.uk or Tracey on: (020) 8457 4436 or email: tgolstein@aish.org.uk

www.aish.org.uk/skiing *Dates subject to change

JRoots Presents

An Uplifting Shabbosin Krakow Leading up to the Yahrzeit of רבי אלימלך מליזשענסקUnder the guidance of a JRoots guide and Rabbi Dr. Chanan Tomlin MBE.

Experience an unforgettable, atmospheric Shabbos in a luxury hotel in the old Jewish district of Krakow including Soulful Tefillos in the Shuls of our ancestors and delicious meals accompanied by some interesting guests.

Experience the opportunity to visit the towns of Chassidic giants and to be mispallel by their Kevarim..תוספות יום טוב and the ב”ח ,רמ”א include: The shul of the Rema and the Kevarim of the מקומות הקדושיםThe original בית יעקב building and Kever of Sarah Schenirer. The Shul of the Bobover Rebbes and the Kever of רבי שלמה מבובוב. The Kever of the דברי חיים in Sanz and רבי מנחם מנדל in Rimanov.

Friday 1st - Sunday 3rd March 2013 - Only £299 Plus flights

Book early and save

For more information, call Eli Schryer: 020 8457 2121 or email: eli@jroots.org.uk

In partnership with the Tlalim Group

FLIGHTS FROM

LONDON & MANCHESTER

MEN &

WOMEN

WEL

COME

+

OPTIONAL T

OUR

OF AUSCHWITZ

A JourneyTo Rememberfor the 80th of the

A Journey through the world of Lithuanian Yeshivas

Featuring Rabbi Shraga Kal lus& Rabbi Yoel Gold

After last year’s succes s, JRo ots are offering you the op portunity of a lifetime to travel back in time to Radin on the Yahrzeit of the Chofetz Chaim. Experience the inspiration of walking in the steps of the spiritual giants of previous generations & the chance to daven by their kevarim in an uplifting and comfortable atmosphere.

28th - 30th August 2013Price: £220 + flights & visa For more information, cal l Eli on +44 (0)20 8457 2121 or email: eli@jro ots.orgFor Men and Women (Separate Seating Available)Glatt Kosher Menu / Superior standard Hotel and Transport

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Join an unforgettable JRoots journey to PolandThe Journey taken by millions of Jews during the Holocaust will forever reverberate through Jewish life.The trips organised by JRoots provide an informed, stirring and inspiring experience that you will remember forever.

Accompanied by a remarkable Auschwitz survivor*, this unique trip will help you to absorb a real sense of the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people and of its remarkable story. This trip will be led by one of JRoots’ renowned guides.

This powerful experience includes: Walking tour of Warsaw - the Rappaport memorial, Mila 18, the Umschlagplatz, the Okopowa cemetery and the ghetto wall. Lublin - Majdanek concentration camp. Krakow - a tour of the Jewish quarter, the Rema Shul, the Krakow ghetto and Schindler’s factory. Auschwitz-Birkenau - the Yude ramps followed by a powerful memorial ceremony.*

Thursday 19th- Sunday 22nd February 2015**

For sixth-form students (Years 12-13)Price: £249*** includes flights, accommodation, food and tours.

For more information or to book your place call on this historic journey,contact Dani: 07967 822 284 or email: dani@jlink.org.uk

www.jroots.org.uk

*To Be Confirmed **Date & itinerary subject to change ***Limited to first 25 places, after which price goes up to £499.Terms and conditions apply

JRoots presents

A Journey to Poland

Feb Half Term Week!

- Limited Places -

Sunday 31st May - Wednesday 3rd June 2015

Retrace the roots of the Sephardic world; visiting Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes, Fes, Ourika and the Atlas Mountains. Experience Morocco richness, culture and history.

Visit the gravesites of the great Rabbis and the righteous martyr Sulika and many other areas of Jewish interest including: the Shuls, the Jewish Quarters, the Rambam’s house and an opportunity to meet with dignitaries and leaders of the Jewish Community. Experience the magic of the Medina of Fez, the richness of the Souks, the breath-taking Mausoleum of Mohammed the fifth and so much more..

Staying in luxury 5* & 4* accommodation.Price - £643 excluding flights(Initial flights and deposit to be paid. If we have more than

30 participants the price will come down substantially).Price includes food, hotels, security, accessto sites and museums, transport and guide.Based on double room occupancy.Single room supplement: £120

To book, please call: Michelle Shalom - 020 8457 2121michelle@jroots.orgFor more information, please callRabbi Garson - 07966 105 609Itinerary may be subject to change. Terms and conditions apply..

Morocco2015

JRoots in conjunction withOhr Yisrael invite you on another Jewish Journey to Morocco led by renowned JRoots Director Tzvi Sperber andRabbi Raphy Garson.

www.jroots.org

JRoots and HGSS present

A JOURNEY NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN

Join a 3-day trip to Poland that’s not to be missed.The passage taken by millions of Jews during the Holocaust will forever reverberate through Jewish life. This Journey will be an informed, stirring and inspiring experience that you will remember forever.

This powerful experience includes: Walking tour of Warsaw - the Rappaport memorial, Mila 18, the Umschlagplatz, the Okopowa cemetery and the ghetto wall. Treblinka, Lublin - Majdanek concentration camp. Tarnow, Krakow - a tour of the Jewish quarter, the Rema Shul, the Krakow ghetto and Schindler’s factory. Auschwitz-Birkenau - the Yude ramps followed by a powerful memorial ceremony.*

5th - 7th July 2015Price: £400 + flights

For more information about this historic journey, contact Gayle on 020 8455 8126 (ext 211) or gayle@hgss.org.uk,or to book your place contact Michelle on 020 8457 2121or email michelle@jroots.org

*Itinerary subject to change

In partnership with the Tlalim Group

JRoots in conjunction with Project Inspire are proud to invite you to an

UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY TO POLANDזכור ... לא תשכחDeepen your understanding of the בין המצרים by bearing witness to the חורבן that took place just seventy years ago. Experience the destruction first hand and appreciate its implications for Klal Yisroel today.

We are fortunate to be joined by Dayan Yonasan Abraham שליט’’א, London Beis Din. The Dayan is a renowned תלמיד חכם and a highly inspirational speaker. His presence on this journey will bring the Shuls, Yeshivos and Gedolei Yisroel back to life and will help connect us to the legacy of the Kedoshim of the Ghettos and Concentration Camps.

This powerful and inspiring experience includes:• Warsaw Ghetto • Majdanek concentration camp • A chance to learn in Yeshivas Chachmei Lublin • Tefillos in Lizhensk & other Chasidic Chatzeros

• Tarnow • Shabbos in Krakow • Remoh’s Shul • Visit Auschwitz-Birkenau

accompanied by a Survivor.

16th - 20th July 2014 / 19th - 23rd TammuzPrice: £549For more information or to book your place on thishistoric journey, call XXXXXXX on XXXXXXXXXor email XXXXX@jroots.org www.jroots.org

*Itinerary subject to change

In partnership with the Tlalim Group

J R o o t s p r e s e n t s a n

UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY TO POLANDJoin us together with Rabbi Billet, Rabbi of the Young Israel of Woodmere, for an uplifting and inspiring journey through hundreds of years of Jewish history and heritage. We will be visiting the major cities of Warsaw, Krakow, Lodz and Lublin as well as the Chassidic centres of Gur and Lezajsk. We will also tell the story of the Shoah visiting Auschwitz, Treblinka and Majdanek.*

12th - 19th July 2015

Price: $ 2995 excluding flights

Single supplement: $500

For more information or to book your place on thishistoric journey, call Michelle on 646 448 0348or email michelle@jroots.org www.jroots.org

Registration deadline: Thursday 12th MarchProgram subject to minimum number of participants*Itinerary subject to change

In partnership with the Tlalim Group

DELUXE PROGRAM

בס״ד

Join an unforgettable JRoots journey to LithuaniaFollow Rabbi Boruch Boudilovsky to experience a glimpse of the Jewish World that was Lithuania. The journey follows the glorious heights when Lithuanian communities were throbbing centres of Jewish life as well as the harrowing depths of destruction when the Jews met their untimely end at the hands of the Nazis.

This powerful experience includes:

Vilna - the magnificent choral synagogue, the Jewish cemetery including the Vilna Gaon’s grave,Ponary execution site, an audience with a local Holocaust survivor, visit the Jewish Orphanage,and a walking tour of Jewish Vilna including the Vilna Gaon, the ghettos, and the Judenrat.Kovno - the 9th Fort execution site, Sugihara House Museum and the choral synagogue.The former partisan base in Rudnicki Forest.

Friday 19th - Sunday 21st April 2013*

Price: £299** plus flights

Book early & save

For more information or to book your place on this historic journey,email: david.harrisberg@dsl.pipex.com or rabbiboruch@borehamwoodshul.org

For more information on JRoots trips, email: info@jroots.org.uk www.jroots.org.uk

*Date & itinerary subject to change **Terms and conditions apply

JRoots together with BES present

A Weekend in Lithuania

JRoots Presents

Join an unforgettable JRoots journey through PolandThe passage taken by millions of Jews during the Holocaust will forever reverberate through Jewish life. The journeys JRoots organise provide an informed and inspiring experience that you will remember forever.

This unique trip will help you to absorb a real sense of the indomitable spirit of theJewish people and of its remarkable story. This trip will be led by one of our renowned guides.

Spend a weekend with one of the most inspirational people alive, Mrs. Eva Neumann,from Manchester, who spent nine months in the Auschwitz-Birkenau. Hear her storyand experience an incredibly unique weekend that will never be forgotten.The trip will include tours of Krakow & Auschwitz-Birkenau.

An opportunity to extend the journey through Lublin & Warsaw is availableon Monday & Tuesday.***

Weekend of 22nd June 2012*

Price: £499** includes flights, accommodation, food and tours.

For more information or to book your place call on thishistoric journey, contact Aaron Kampf: 07791 188 006 or email: akampf@aish.org.uk

For more information on JRoots trips, email: info@jroots.org.ukwww.jroots.org.uk

*date & itinerary subject to change**terms and conditions apply***subject to demand and additional costs

JRoots presents

A Journey Never to be Forgotten

A unique opportunity to spend time with a survivor

LONDON

SPAIN

MOROCCO

GIBRALTAR

PARIS

ROME

FLORENCE

VENICE

POLAND

BERLIN

VIENNA

MOSCOW

ST PETERSBURG

BELARUS

LITHUANIA

ROMANIA

PRAGUE

UKRAINE

ISRAEL

AMSTERDAM

BUDAPEST

NEW YORK

MAJDANEK

AUSCHWITZ

LIZHENSK

LUBLIN

KRAKOW

WARSAW

BELZEC

JERUSALEM

USA+1 646 448 0348

UK+44 (0) 20 8457 2121

Israel+972 (0) 7321 97851

UK Charity Number: 1136532 ● UK Company Number: 07114903 ● US EIN Number: 46-4571313 (501c3)

JRoots is a non-profit educational organisation, whose expertise and purpose is to facilitate inspiring and informativeJewish journeys for Jews of all ages and affiliations to international destinations of Jewish interest.

JRoots specialises in crafting bespoke trip itineraries to create memorable lifetimeexperiences for family, school, university and community groups.

jroots.org/journeysinfo@jroots.org

Inspiring Jewish Journeysin partnership with Tlalim Tourism Group