Page 30 - Jewish News_December-2020

30A December 2020 ISRAEL & THE JEWISH WORLD

Nine corona-proof ways to tour Israel

with a guide, from home

From scavenger hunts to interactive tours where you choose
the next stop, Israeli guides have cooked up some virtual fun.
By Abigail Klein Leichman, israel21c.org, October 29, 2020
e miss you here in Israel. It contains a trivia quiz, Israel ern Wall; an Arab bistro or a vegan team-based virtual ScaVentures you
And so do all the incredibly map search, Hebrew and English word restaurant; Birthright’s Tel Aviv Center can play at home with teammates from
Wknowledgeable Israelis who search, a lion story and quiz, a match- for Israeli Innovation or a local winery. anywhere, for ages eight to adult. Each
make their living as guides to Israel’s ing game, an “unmask the Israeli hero” You can surf in a Tel Aviv beach or game includes offline challenges each
unique tourist sites, cuisine and cul- game and more. float in the Dead Sea. team must complete and document.
ture. Since the end of July, orders have In each location, Navee introduces Quarantine Quest choices include
While hoping for a return of tour- come in from places including Chile, local Israelis to provide a deeper per- Israel Trail Dash, Yom Yerushalay-
ists – may it be soon! – many of them England, Canada, Philadelphia, New spective on Israeli culture. The tour im, Shavuot, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Birth-
have found creative ways to bring the York, Seattle, Miami Beach and De- takes about 10 minutes and you can do day, Corporate Group, Pesach, Yom
land alive from afar. troit. it again and again with different choic- Ha’Atzmaut, Lag Ba’Omer, custom
We review nine fun options be- Choose Your Own Adventure es each time. and more. Each game takes about 90
low. For eight more excellent ideas With its free 10-day guided tours of “Since mid-March we’ve reached minutes and is guided by a ScaVen-
on touring Israel from the comfort of Israel on hold, Taglit Birthright Israel 4.4 million people around the world,” tures professional.
your home, visit https://www.israel21c. offers “Choose Your Own Adventure,” said Noa Bauer, VP of Global Market- Virtual week-long mission
org/8-ways-to-visit-israel-from-the- ing at Birthright. Jewish National Fund-USA is offering
comfort-of-home/. “Today we invite virtual Israel missions led live by a
Tour in a Bag the thousands of Birth- staff of 27 licensed Israeli tour guides.
“I’ve been guiding for 20 years, and right applicants whose Each “busload” of participants ex-
suddenly I was all dressed up with no trips were cancelled, as periences a week of touring biblical
place to go,” Esti Herskowitz tells IS- well as past and future and modern Israel, famous tourist sites,
RAEL21c. Birthright participants, off-the-beaten-path sites, JNF projects
“I love to play and create, and so their families and loved and hidden gems.
I had to do something to connect my ones, to take part in a Among stops are the Old City of
passion for guiding with the people I virtual tour of Israel Jerusalem, the Ayalon Institute (War of
guide.” a first-of-its-kind interactive online using unprecedented technology.” Independence secret bullet factory) in
She and her husband Ben, a graph- tour created by Eko – the Israeli media Online/offline scavenger hunt Rehovot, Rosh HaNikra, Acre (Akko),
ic designer, invented Esti’s “Roaring & and technology company that teamed Over the past decade, 34,500 people JNF’s Sderot Indoor Recreation Cen-
Touring” Tour in a Bag. up with Procter & Gamble to make an have participated in one of Tali Tar- ter, Be’er Sheva and Timna Park.
The activity kit, with a Jerusalem interactive ad for last January’s Super low’s popular ScaVentures, engaging Your $50 Zoom experience in-
lions theme, includes supplies such as Bowl. and educational scavenger hunts in Je- cludes one hour of “travel” Monday
clay, fabric, puzzle pieces and yarn, The online tour led by Israeli guide rusalem, Tel Aviv, Safed, Masada and to Thursday followed by a break and
plus instructions to create a lion mo- Navee allows you to shape your itiner- other locations. then a social dinner/cocktail hour. Fri-
saic, mask and flag among other crafts ary in real time. For instance, you can Tarlow and her team now offer days feature a one-hour pre-Shabbat
designed for school-aged children. choose to “visit” Masada or the West- Quarantine Quest 2020, a variety of continued on next page

NEW to Sarasota/Bradenton/Lakewood Ranch
or The Jewish Federation?

NEWCOMERS BRADENTON/LAKEWOOD RANCH NEWCOMERS SARASOTA
Monday, December 21, 2020 • 5pm Monday, January 11, 2021 • 5pm
Via ZOOM
HOSTS: TOBY SIMON & SUSI STEENBARGER HOSTS: RONNA RUBEN & LEONORE TREIMAN

Come join us and meet Federation lay leaders and staff and most importantly, To register, visit
JFEDSRQ.org/events
neighbors down your street. Breakout rooms organized by zip codes.

QUESTIONS? Contact Jeremy Lisitza jlisitza@jfedsrq.org or 941.343.2113