My touring philosophy, in a nutshell:
Guide your home turf. The best guides are local residents. I live on a farm in the Lower Galil, and guide exclusively in northern Israel. This area is my home, where we’ve chosen to raise our kids…these are my country roads, taking me home to the place I belong and want to share with you.
Don’t waste travel time. My tours are designed to keep us out of the bus and car as much as possible. Concentrate your day in one area (my expertise is the Lower Galil), and don’t try to see sites that require long drives between them. The north is quite vast; divide up your trip by region.
Don’t use a guide if you don’t have to. There are plenty of attractions to do in the north that absolutely don’t require a guide. If you have your own vehicle, paying for a guide on top of workshops or activities is an unnecessary expense. Here’s my list of attractions/sites in the north that you can book yourself and easily enjoy on your own.
Choose your guide carefully. A tour guide is a teacher, a shadchanit (matchmaker) between you and the landscape, a companion for the day–you’ll want to find someone who suits. My role these last two decades, whether in the Bet Midrash, b’shetach (in the field) or through my writing, has been to nurture encounters with text and land. If you are looking to deepen your knowledge of the biblical landscape, if you are a history or archaeology buff who stays curious, if you have studied Talmud your whole life and wish to see the stomping grounds of the Tannaim and Amoraim, if the story of modern Zionism (in all its complexity) excites, or if you’re interested in seeing our modern Israeli farm which combines age-old Jewish values with cutting-edge agrotech, then let’s work together at designing an itinerary that will enrich and inspire.
Choose from these classic tours, or I’ll design a custom tour to suit your particular interests.
Old and New in the Northern Jordan Valley
A varied itinerary concentrated in one area: from the Bible to the bumblebee in the “Valley of the Springs”
Bet Shean, BioBee in Sde Eliyahu, Kochav HaYarden (Belvoir), Old Gesher/Naharayim
Up and Down the Gilboa
Has the curse of the Gilboa been lifted? Come see for yourselves…
Bet Shean, Bet Alfa, Bet Shturman, Kibbutz En Harod, Gidona, Maayan Harod, Ketef Shaul, Tel Jezreel
In the Footsteps of the Sanhedrin
A classic thematic tour following the Galilean stations of the Sanhedrin.
Usha, Shefaram, Bet Shearim, Tzippori
Lesser-Known Tannaitic-era Sites
A specialty tour for Mishnaic-period enthusiasts
Usha, Shefaram, Khirbet Ruma, Shichin, Arbel, Magdala
Shvil HaSanhedrin
Hike sections of this 120-km trail that winds between Galilean villages of the Second Temple and Talmudic era
Walking Tour of Tiberias
Unpacking the mystery of Tiberias, one of the four holy cities in Israel
Biblical Sites in the Lower Galilee
A dozen (or more!) biblical events, surveyed on site. Tanach-in-hand day
Mukhraka on Carmel, Megiddo, Tel Jezreel, Maayan Harod, Har Tavor, Khirbet Tzaftzafot
The Eastern Lower Galilee
Discover the hidden gems in my backyard — the most underexplored corner of the north.
En Dor Museum, Kfar Kama Circassian Experience, Kfar Tavor, Ben-Zvi’s Hut in Bet Keshet, Ilaniyah, Karnei Hitin, Nebi Shua’ib, Arbel, Tiveria Illit
HeHalutz l’man Avodah! Second and Third Aliyot in the Jezreel Valley
If you will it, it is no dream…The Pioneers of the Early Twentieth Century
Nir David/Tel Amal, Bet Shturman, Kibbutz en-Harod, Gidona, Merchavia, Kfar Yehoshua, Emek Museum, Leket experience in Nahalal
Synagogues and Sun Gods: Pagan Iconography in Ancient Jewish Holy Places
Complex Realities of Talmudic-era Judaism
Bet Alpha, Bet Shearim, Tzippori, Hamat Tiveria
Christian Sites around the Kinneret
A secular tour of Christian sites of interest.
Yardenit, Magdala, Boat in Ginnosaur, Mt. of Beatitudes, Tabha, Church of St. Peter’s Primacy, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Kursi
The Shevatim of the Lower Galil and their Nachalot
Explore these different tribal personalities within the contours of their nachalot — bayamim hahem, bazman hazeh (in those days, so it is in ours!). Want to do some advance reading? Buy the book!
Yissachar — Nachal Adami, Kfar Tavor, Ramat Yissachar, Nachal Yissachar, Kibbutz En Harod, Gidona, Tel Jezreel
Zevulun — Kaukab Abu al-Hija, Jotapata, Laura Netofah, Khirbet Ruma, Shichin, Tzippori, Mt. Precipice