Chabad of Venice
Florida
Land & Spirit · The JLI Israel Experience

Embrace your people.
Discover your land.

March 29 – April 5, 2027

Eight days in Israel with a Chabad of Venice group — the Bible and the Talmud where they happened, the people building and defending the country today, and a Shabbat in Jerusalem you will not forget.

Join the group See where we go

You have learned about it. Now stand in it.

Land & Spirit has run every March since 2008, and our community is joining this year's delegation. First-time visitors see the sites nobody should miss; returning visitors choose tracks that take them somewhere new.

Dates March 29 – April 5, 2027 Based in The David Citadel, Jerusalem Our group Rabbi Sholom & Rebbetzin Chaya Rivka
Land & Spirit participants walking above the Dead Sea
Why this trip

Not a tour of Israel. A week inside it.

Land & Spirit is the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute's annual journey to Israel, and it is built the way JLI builds a course: real sources, real scholarship, and no assumption that you arrive knowing any of it. You will meet soldiers, ministers, scientists, farmers and survivors; you will learn Torah in the places it describes; and you will eat extremely well doing it.

Chabad of Venice is travelling as a group, with Rabbi Sholom and Rebbetzin Chaya Rivka, alongside delegations from communities around the world. You will know people on the bus before you land.

60+
Communities travelling together
85+
Sites across the country
2008
Running every year since
The journey

Eighty-five sites. You choose your days.

A sense of what the week holds. The full day-by-day itinerary lives on the official trip site, and it is worth reading.

The land and its story

Three thousand years, underfoot

The Bible and the Talmud stop being texts once you are standing where they happened.

Ancestors

Where the Bible happened

  • The City of David and what remains of biblical Jerusalem's main street
  • Tel Shiloh, where the Tabernacle stood, and Nebi Samuel
  • The Cave of Machpelah, Rachel's Tomb, and biblical Hebron
  • Mount Carmel, where Elijah faced the prophets of Baal
Antiquity

Temple and Talmud

  • The Southern Wall excavations — the steps up to the Temple
  • The Western Wall Tunnels and the scale of the Second Temple
  • Caesarea's Roman port and hippodrome
  • Masada by cable car, and the story of the last stand
Survival

War and miracles

  • Ammunition Hill and its preserved Six-Day War trenches
  • The 1948 battle for the Jewish Quarter, ending at the Last Defenders Museum
  • The Museum of Underground Prisoners in the Russian Compound
  • The armored corps at Latrun
Nature

Desert peaks, ocean breeze

  • The Judean desert and the Carmel mountains
  • Floating in the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth
  • The Mediterranean coastline and Caesarea's aqueduct
Israel today

The country being built right now

Ministers, scientists, soldiers, vintners and farmers — the trip puts you in the room with them.

Modernity

Israel's founders and leaders

  • A tour of the Knesset with lawmakers on the country's challenges
  • Chief rabbis, ministers and public figures over meals
  • Talbieh, home to the president's and prime minister's residences
  • Tel Aviv's Independence Trail, ten sites that tell the founding story
Security

Defending our home

  • An insider briefing overlooking the Gaza border
  • Time with IDF combat troops on the front lines
  • The Marcus MDA national blood bank, built to survive attack
  • The security barrier, walked with its chief architect
Technology

The high-tech boom

  • OurCrowd on battlefield technology and care for the wounded
  • The Weizmann Institute of Science
  • Israel's latest aviation and defense engineering
Cuisine

Taste the culture

  • Psagot Winery, and cheese and yogurt at Givot Olam Farm
  • Carmel Market in Tel Aviv — produce, bakeries, everything
  • Olives, oil, honey and tahini at Meshek Achiyah
  • Gourmet kosher dinners by some of Israel's best chefs
Standing with our people

Since October 7

This part of the trip is not easy, and it is the reason many people go. You come as a witness, and you do not come empty-handed.

Solidarity

Showing up

  • Visiting wounded IDF veterans in rehabilitation
  • Volunteering with Leket Israel, the country's largest food rescue
  • Mount Herzl, at the graves of Israel's fallen soldiers and leaders
  • Yad Vashem
Witness

The places themselves

  • Sderot, and residents who live in range of the rockets
  • The Nova festival site, and the field of burnt-out cars outside Re'im
  • Ofakim, with survivors and the neighbors who defended it
  • Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, with families and returned hostages
Connect

Song and prayer

  • Shabbat at the Western Wall and in Jerusalem's historic synagogues
  • Shabbat meals, lectures and prayer with leading scholars
  • Chasidic musicians, and the kind of dancing that follows
Your itinerary

Three tracks a day. Pick yours.

Most days split into three tracks, each built around a theme — biblical sites, food and wine, modern Israel, and so on. You pick a track per day, so no two people on the bus have to want the same thing.

Before the trip, JLI and our group coordinator ask what you want out of it and build your itinerary from your answers. First time in Israel? Take the not-to-be-missed track. Fifth time? Go somewhere you have never been.

A moment of prayer at the Western Wall
Trip participants riding camels in the Judean desert
The Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem
The fine print, plainly

What the fare covers.

Included

  • Guided educational touring, with all entrance fees and itinerary activities
  • Seven nights at the David Citadel Jerusalem, a luxury hotel beside the Old City walls
  • A full Israeli breakfast every morning, plus the itinerary's lunches and dinners — most with a guest speaker
  • Airport ground transportation on March 29 and April 5 for groups of ten or more arriving together
  • VIP airport service with a group arrival: met at the plane, walked through customs, luggage delivered to your room

Not included

  • Airfare — book through Joy Travel (details below) or on your own
  • Gratuities — about $100 per participant, split among guide, driver, hostess and coordinator
  • The hotel night of Monday, April 5 (fly home late that night or early Tuesday)
  • Travel insurance, and meals not on the itinerary — there is excellent kosher food all around the hotel
Cost

Eight days, all in.

Double occupancy
per person
$5,499
Single occupancy
per person
$7,299
  • A $1,000 deposit per person is charged at registration; the balance is processed by January 1, 2027.
  • Installment plans are available — just ask.
  • Children's rates are listed on the registration page. Families choose the more child-friendly tracks with the group leader.
Registering

Start with a call to Rabbi Sholom.

Registration asks for a community invitation code — that is how you get counted with the Chabad of Venice group rather than travelling as a stranger. Rabbi Sholom has ours, and can talk you through dates, tracks, and whether this is the right year for you.

(941) 493-2770 Email the Rabbi

Have the code and ready to book? Registration and the full itinerary are on the official Land & Spirit site.

Register at landandspirit.org → Trip site & itinerary

Flights and travel insurance: Joy Travel — Elisheva, 848-352-7286, [email protected].

Questions

Before you commit.

What are the exact dates?
The tour begins Monday morning, March 29, 2027 and ends the evening of Monday, April 5. Fly out of the U.S. Sunday, March 28; the recommended return is late Monday night, April 5 or early Tuesday, April 6.
Where do we stay?
All seven nights at the David Citadel Jerusalem, on King David Street beside Jaffa Gate and the Old City walls. One hotel the whole trip — you unpack once.
How do I register through Chabad of Venice?
Registration asks for a community invitation code. Contact Rabbi Sholom for ours before you register, so you are counted with the Venice group — that is also what makes the group airport transfers and VIP arrival work.
How do I book flights?
Joy Travel handles flights and travel insurance for the trip: Elisheva, 848-352-7286, [email protected]. Book with the group where you can, so you arrive with everyone.
What is the cancellation policy?
Cancel before November 1, 2026 and a 10% per-person fee applies. Between November 2, 2026 and January 1, 2027 it is 50%. After January 1, 2027 there is no refund. There is no refund for sites or events you choose not to attend.
I'm coming alone — can I share a room?
You can arrange your own roommate: register as "Double Occupancy 1 Adult" and name them. If they don't confirm, the single rate applies. Talk to Rabbi Sholom — there may be someone else from our community in the same position.
What should I pack?
Comfortable walking shoes and clothing, plus head coverings for holy sites. Business casual for Shabbat and the closing banquet, and a light jacket for evenings — Tel Aviv averages 65–70°F in late March, Jerusalem a few degrees cooler.

More answers — payment plans, mobility, security, extending your stay — are on the trip's own FAQ. Anything specific to our group, ask Rabbi Sholom.

Learning about Israel this winter?

The Missing Piece, our JLI winter course, starts January 26 — and then, in March, you can go stand in it. See this year's JLI courses.

Join the group