A Russian Jewish Journey 24 July - 2 August, 2018

Tour and experience Russia - past and present - with all of its magnificent and world- famous historical and cultural treasures. As a special feature of our Russian journey, we’ll delve into the Soviet-Jewish experience and living under Soviet Power. Witness the renewal of the post-Soviet Jewish community and the multi-faceted character of contemporary Russian Jewry.

Our Keshet Scholar-in-Residence will be Rabbi Jonathan Porath, one of the foremost experts on Jewish travel to Russia and the Former Soviet Union (FSU). Since his first visit to the Soviet Union in 1965, Rabbi Porath has visited Russia and the FSU 175 times, having led tours to Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union and served as senior staff of the Russian Department of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee from 1993 through 2008. He has visited Russian Jews in more than 50 cities, large and small.

Monday, July 23 Depart U.S. Tuesday, 24 July Depart Israel PART I: MOSCOW

Tuesday, 24 July Moscow: Political, Economic, Cultural, Scientific and Jewish Center of Russia  Morning arrivals in Moscow from the U.S. and Israel.  Pickup from airport and transfer to hotel  Kosher box lunch at hotel  Tour Red Square - an opening visit and first look at the world- famous symbol of Moscow and Russia including St. Basil’s Cathedral (outside), GUM shopping center, Alexandrovsky Gadren, the Kremlin walls.  Changing of the guard at the Eternal Flame.  Check in to hotel  Moscow’s St. Basel’s Cathedral on Red Square  Visit the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, one of the world’s newest state-of-the-art Jewish museums, which tells the story of the Jews of Russia (including many of our own families as well!)  Stop at the kosher Jewish supermarket to fill-up on nosh and things for the road.  Visit the Marina Roshcha Jewish Community Center in Moscow; tour and festive opening kosher dinner at Alef restaurant.  Evening: Optional additional visit to Red Square Overnight: Hotel Metropol, Moscow

Wednesday, 25 July Symbols of Russian History and Power; Russian Jewry Past and Present  Moscow city tour, including Poklonnaya Gora memorial campus: Museum of the Great Patriotic War and Memorial Synagogue/ Center for Holocaust Research; meeting with founder and director Dr. Ilya Altman.  Visit the Grand Choral Synagogue on Arkhipova Street, a site associated with Golda Meir’s epic High Holiday visit in 1948, Elie Wiesel’s Jews of Silence and Simchat Torah in Moscow.  Meeting with Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldsmith.  Lunch at the Rimon restaurant.  Kremlin and the Armory. An in-depth tour of the “heart” of Russia including the world-famous Kremlin Armory collection in the Museum of the Kremlin and the Diamond Fund, Crown Jewels.  Kosher dinner at Jerusalem kosher restaurant with Jewish leaders and personalities, past and present. Overnight: Hotel Metropol, Moscow Moscow Choral Synagogue

Thursday, 26 July Hidden Gems of Moscow  Visit the Tretyakov Gallery, the country’s greatest collection of Russian art.  Visit to the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments, a collection of former Soviet leaders, now in mothballs  Kosher lunch box.  Tour of the Moscow Metro, stopping at selected stations of special interest and beauty.  Visit Stalin’s Secret Bunker in Izmailovo, prepared by Stalin during the Great War (WWII)  Izmailovo Market—perhaps Russia’s greatest outdoor shopping venue, for souvenirs and other commodities. (Bargaining encouraged!)  Kosher dinner at Mestechko or Yaffa kosher restaurant with Jewish leaders and personalities, past and present. Overnight: Hotel Metropol, Moscow PART II: ST. PETERSBURG Friday, 27 July Preparing for Shabbat in Russia’s Imperial Capital  Morning transfer to train station for Sapsan Express to St. Petersburg (a ride of just under 4 hours through the Russian countryside.)  Arrival in St. Petersburg and transfer by private coach to our hotel.  Kosher lunchbox at hotel  Optional walk: Views of St. Petersburg; stop at the Neva River; views of the Hermitage and Winter Palace and Bronze Horseman.  Preparations for Shabbat  Early Shabbat services at the Progressive Community. (Drive back and forth from hotel and synagogue before official candle-lighting time]  Shabbat services at the Choral Synagogue. NOTE: official candle lighting time is 9:23 pm; services will take place earlier.  Shabbat dinner at the Lekhaim kosher restaurant. Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Experience first-hand the glories of Imperial Russia and explore the role of WWII in the Russian/Russian-Jewish psyche including the siege of Leningrad; Explore contemporary Jewish life and renewal in today’s Russia

Shabbat, 28 July Shabbat Parshat Ve’Ethanan in St. Petersburg with the Jews of Russia

 Optional morning services at the Choral Synagogue.  Shabbat lunch at the Lekhaim kosher restaurant.  Shabbat afternoon walking tour: Yusupov Palace to learn the saga of The Rise of Rasputin and the Fall of the Tsars.  Late Shabbat afternoon program - Seuda Sh’lesheet/dinner- Personal Stories of Soviet Jews: Past and Present. NOTE: Shabbat ends at 11:22 pm St. Petersburg Choral Synagogue  Late night option (included in price): Proceed to the Neva Canal to watch the “White Nights” bridges go up (1-2:30 am!). Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Sunday, 29 July One of the World’s Greatest Museums

 Early morning VIP entry visit to the Hermitage.

Hermitage and Winter Palace, St. Petersburg  Kosher lunch at the Choral Synagogue and meeting with Rabbi Mendel Pewzner, Chief Rabbi of St. Petersburg and tour the synagogue complex. Learn the story of the special role of The Jews in St. Petersburg during Tsarist and Soviet times, and during the Great War.  Visit to the Faberge Museum – The fabulous glory of Tsarist Court brought to life!  Take out on own from kosher store in Choral Synagogue for dinner on own.  Evening: Russian Folk Show in Nokolaevsky Palace. Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Monday, 30 July The Jews of Russia Create Their Past and Future and The Czars’ Face to the West  Visit YESOD St. Petersburg Jewish Community Home. This showcase JCC, built with help of JDC and international donors, houses key Jewish communal institutions including Hesed Avraham, ORT, Adayin Lo Family Center, Hillel, etc.  Kosher lunch box.  St. Isaac’s Cathedral. Climb to the top of St. Isaac’s for a panoramic view of the city.  Palace Square.  Church of Spilled Blood.  Dinner at Golden Kosher restaurant.  Sunset cruise in the Neva River. Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Tuesday, 31 July The Royal Palaces and Tsarist Glory Reflected Today  Depart by “Meteor” hydrofoil to Peterhoff, world-famous summer palace of the Tsars; visit its magnificent gardens, fountains and outside vistas.  Kosher lunch box.  Visit the Museum of Political History – An excursion to the Soviet past in living color.  Free evening.  Dinner on own.  Optional Mariinsky Theater ballet or opera (not included but must be ordered ahead of time. Offering has not yet been publicized). Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Wednesday, 1 August Russia and Russian Jewry in Historical Perspective  Depart for Tsarskoe Selo.  Visit Catherine’s Palace in Pushkin for the grandest Tsarist palace of them all, with its magnificent interiors including a replica of the world famous “Amber Room”  Kosher lunch box.  Free time to pack and make final preparations for journey home.  Visit the Pushkin Holocaust Memorial - the outer limit of German control and the Shoah on Soviet soil - for a brief Memorial Service.  Optional tour of the Russian Museum of Ethnography collection: “The Jewish People on the Territory of Russia”; Fortress of Peter and Paul and Revolutionary History.  Visit the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad at Victory Square for a tour facility and viewing the movie (a must!). Memorial prayers for the victims.  Russian Past and Future: Whence? Festive Closing Kosher banquet and final discussions at Lekhaim/Golden kosher restaurant. Overnight: Renaissance Hotel, St. Petersburg

Thursday, 2 August Do-Svedanya! (Farewell – Shalom!)  Departures for airport for travel to US and Israel

 Listed activities and speakers are subject to availability.  Program will be staffed by a Keshet Israel Tour Educator.  Underlined meals are included in the package price.