Bar mitzvah tour of Israel
TRAVEL agent Mark Chaskiel celebrated the bar mitzvah of his son last year with a ceremony at the Kotel in Jerusalem.
DANNY GOCS
TRAVEL agent Mark Chaskiel celebrated the bar mitzvah of his son last year with a ceremony at the Kotel in Jerusalem. Family and friends from Australia travelled to Israel for the simcha and it proved to be such an enjoyable experience, that it gave Chaskiel the idea to develop bar and bat mitzvah tours for Australians.
“My son Mickey had a ceremony at the Kotel on the Thursday, which made it easy for everyone to travel by car from the hotel, and then a Shabbat service at a small shul in Jerusalem,” said Chaskiel. “We had about 80 people there for the simcha. About 20 travelled from Australia, but many friends live in Israel or were on holidays at the time. My daughter Janie was on an Israel program and many of her friends came to the bar mitzvah.” Chaskiel, who is managing director of FBI Travel of Caulfield North, said Americans have been taking bar and bat mitzvah tours for several years, but the concept is new to the Australian Jewish community. FBI Travel is organising a 10-day bar and bat mitzvah tour in January 2010 designed for several families. The tour starts on January 5 in Jerusalem with a visit to the biblical garden at Neot Kedumim followed by a drive to Be’er Sheva in the Negev and a visit to the Anzac Forest. The tour will include a visit to the mountain fortress of Masada and the Dead Sea, followed by a few days in Jerusalem, spending time exploring the Old City and reflecting at the Western Wall and Yad Vashem. There’s also a visit to the bustling Machaneh Yehuda open-air market and the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Meah She’arim. It is during the Jerusalem stage of the tour that the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony will be held at the Kotel. Chaskiel said that individual or group bar or bat mitzvah services can be organised. On Sunday January 10, the tour will head to northern Israel to Beit Shean, Lake Kinneret and the mystical city of Tzfat, followed by a jeep ride on the Golan Heights. Accommodation is at the luxury Kibbutz Lavi Hotel in Tiberias, before exploring the crusader city of Acre and the excavations of ancient Caesaria. The final days of the tour are in Tel Aviv, culminating in a farewell dinner in a private room at the hotel. The cost of the bar/bat mitzvah tour is US$1925 per person twin share (land content only) with reductions for a third person. Participants can spend longer in Israel and combine it with other tours, such as a visit to Petra in Jordan or a holiday in Eilat. Enquiries: www.fbitravel.com.au.
In addition to the bar mitzvah celebrations, the family toured around Israel.
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