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Israel

The Land of Israel: Past, Present and Future : A Journey of Discovery

Program No. 14876RJ
Set out on the adventure of a lifetime as you learn the story of Israel, a land as ancient as the City of David, as complex as its underground caves and as buoyant as the Dead Sea.

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Price will update based on selection
Prices displayed below are based on per person,doubleoccupancy.
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Feb 4 - Feb 18, 2024
Starting at
5,899
Mar 3 - Mar 17, 2024
Starting at
6,099
Sep 8 - Sep 22, 2024
Starting at
6,099
Oct 27 - Nov 10, 2024
Starting at
6,349
Nov 10 - Nov 24, 2024
Starting at
6,349
DATES & starting prices
PRICES
Feb 4 - Feb 18, 2024
Starting at
7,219
Mar 3 - Mar 17, 2024
Starting at
7,579
Filling Fast!
Sep 8 - Sep 22, 2024
Starting at
7,579
Filling Fast!
Oct 27 - Nov 10, 2024
Starting at
8,029
Filling Fast!
Nov 10 - Nov 24, 2024
Starting at
8,029

At a Glance

King David swam here. Herod the Great sought its healing waters, too. Farmers used its minerals as fertilizer and the Egyptians used it in their balms for mummification. As you float in the Dead Sea, consider this region as a cradle of cultures and birthplace of world religions. With local experts and scholars to lead you, discover the holy sites, history and modern life of Israel and learn how the past informs the nation’s present and future.
Activity Level
Let's Go!
Walking up to two miles per day; some cobblestone streets and stairs. Hot, dry weather in Dead Sea region.
Small Group
Small Group
Love to learn and explore in a small-group setting? These adventures offer small, personal experiences with groups of 13 to 24 participants.

Best of all, you’ll…

  • Join thousands of Israelis at the Western Wall to welcome the Jewish Sabbath.
  • Journey to the lowest point on Earth, the Dead Sea, and float in its buoyant and therapeutic waters.
  • Stay on a Kibbutz and talk with residents about their life in a collective community.
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
The Routledge Atlas of Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Complete History of the Struggle and the Efforts to Resolve It
by Martin Gilbert
A Daughter of Many Mothers: Her Horrific Childhood and Wonderful Life
by Rena Quint & Barbara Sofer
“A Daughter of Many Mothers” is the story of Rena Quint, a Holocaust survivor who, after her birth parents and brothers were murdered by the German Nazis, was fortunate to be cared for by other “mothers” in the concentration camps and afterwards, finally being adopted by Jacob and Leah Globe in the United States. To this day, Rena Quint continues to give testimony in Israel, the United States, and South Africa. This book explores not only her personal experience, but addresses the social and psychological effects on many of the remaining survivors of those horrific years.
Israel: A History
by Martin Gilbert
Martin Gilbert is a prolific writer. He is an historian whose style is clear, comprehensive and interesting. Includes lots of maps.
O Jerusalem
by Larry Collins, Dominique LaPierre
This is a classic and gives a great overview of Israel's War of Independence, before, during and after.
At the Entrance to the Garden of Eden: A Jew's Search for Hope With Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
by Yossi Klein Halevi
Islam: A Short History
by Karen Armstrong
From Time Immemorial:The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict Over Palestine
by Joan Peter
The Prime Ministers
by Yehuda Avner
Jewish Sources in Early Christianity
by David Flusser
My Life
by Golda Meir
A moving autobiography by former Prime Minister of Israel, Golda Meir.
The Innocents Abroad
by Mark Twain
(Especially Chapters 51-56)
Ancient Israel: A Short History from Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple
by Hershel Shanks, editor
Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East
by Michael B. Oren
Ambassador Oren is the Israeli Ambassador to the United State and regarded historian on the Middle East.
My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel
by Ari Shavit
Israeli journalist Ari Shavit illuminates the issues and threats that Israel is currently facing and uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. The result is a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today's global political landscape.
Jerusalem: The Biography
by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Walking the Bible: A Journey Through the Five Books of Moses
by Bruce Feiler
Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews -- A History
by James Carroll
Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present
by Michael B. Oren
Ambassador Oren is the Israeli Ambassador to the United State and regarded historian on the Middle East.
Once Upon a Country: A Palestinian Life
by Sari Nusseibeh with Anthony David
Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers Who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided a Nation
by Yossi Klein Halevi
"Like Dreamers" interweaves the stories of a group of 1967 paratroopers who reunited Jerusalem, tracing the history of Israel and the divergent ideologies shaping it from the Six-Day War to the present. This book gives insight into where Israel and Israelis are politically, socially, economically, and religiously.
Hannah Senesh: Her Life and Diary
by Hannah Senesh, Roberta Grossman, Marge Piercy, and Eitan Senesh
The Source
by James A. Michener
The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood
by Rashid Khalidi
Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle
by Dan Senor and Saul Singer
Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism: A Parallel History of Their Origins and Early Development
by Hershel Shanks, Editor
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor
by Yossi Klein Halevy
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor is one Israeli’s powerful attempt to reach beyond the wall that separates Israelis and Palestinians and into the hearts of "the enemy." In a series of letters, Yossi Klein Halevi explains what motivated him to leave his native New York in his twenties and move to Israel to participate in the drama of the renewal of a Jewish homeland, which he is committed to see succeed as a morally responsible, democratic state in the Middle East. This is the first attempt by an Israeli author to directly address his Palestinian neighbors and describe how the conflict appears through Israeli eyes. Halevi untangles the ideological and emotional knot that has defined the conflict for nearly a century. In lyrical, evocative language, he unravels the complex strands of faith, pride, anger and anguish he feels as a Jew living in Israel, using history and personal experience as his guide.
The Case of Israel
by Alan Dershowitz
The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem
by Dan Bahat
Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World
by Seth M. Siegel
Let There Be Water illustrates how Israel can serve as a model for the United States and countries everywhere by showing how to blunt the worst of the coming water calamities. Even with 60 percent of its country made of desert, Israel has not only solved its water problem; it also had an abundance of water. Israel even supplies water to its neighbors-the Palestinians and the Kingdom of Jordan-every day.





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