Tours
Continued from Page 29
iors, Living and Learning promises free time to explore
Israel and use your Hebrew in context, along with social di-
versity: Israel Road Scholars are typically split 50-50 between
Jews and non-Jews…and 45 percent of them are single.

Prefer to roll up your sleeves and get dirty? Another Road
Scholar offering, which begins this July for active adults
over 50, invites participants on a two- or four-week archae-
ological dig in Tel Dor, a village on the Mediterranean near
Haifa. Two dozen Road Scholars will join students and re-
searchers from a local university for early morning digs, af-
ternoons at the affiliated museum, and weekends in
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv (cost without airfare: around $3,400).

Herbal tea, meditation and Midrash, too: A stay at
Midreshet B’erot Bat Ayin, which describes itself as a holistic
Torah retreat for Jewish women of all ages, is the antithesis
of your typical Israel tour. Seniors are in the minority, men are rare,
participants commit to anywhere from two weeks to a year of full-
time study — and it all takes place in the green Judean Mountains,
far from the intensity of Jerusalem or the cosmopolitanism of Tel Aviv.

On a hilltop amid burbling natural springs, Midreshet B’erot Bat
Ayin aims to be a spiritual oasis for an international community of
women whose ages range from 18 to the late 80s. “We find so many
older students bring a certain wisdom for our younger students,”
said Elana Roth, the midrasha’s administration director (who is orig-
inally from Minnesota, but warned that the damp, underheated
Judean winter feels just as cold). The women are united by a desire
Name: PNC Wealth Management
Width: 3.625"
Depth: 4.75"
Color: Black
Comment: good life -1/4pg
to plunge deep into Jewish learning in a nurturing, female-centered
environment — whether for a two-week Passover “renewal,” a year-
long conversion journey or an immersive summer ulpan.

Activities include classes in Jewish mysticism, meditation and
classical philosophy; partner textual study; one-on-one spiritual
mentoring; and workshops in herbology using Biblical plants from
the garden. Few programs take the concept of going back to the
land so seriously — or interpret it on so many levels. And if village
life gets confining, Jerusalem is less than an hour away. l
Hilary Danailova is already packing for the culinary tour of Israel.

Name: Cranmer & Cranmer
Width: 3.625"
Depth: 1.75"
Color: Black
Comment: business card
Name: Filler
Width: 3.625"
Depth: 2.809"
.com/ Color: Black jewishexponent
Comment: -
.com/ jewishexponent
.com/ jewishexponent
30 DECEMBER 17, 2015
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM