Israel Trip Enrichment Alternatives and Resources

As schools and organizations are being forced to rethink their Israel travel programs, CIE is here to help with this set of resources that will bring Israel to your learners.  

• TRAVEL Have students engage in a “virtual” trip.   Students can create an itinerary, research and write about their visits to different places, and use virtual apps and a green screen to photograph them in the locations.  Below are resources for taking virtual trips.  You can see an example here: http://virtualisrael2009.blogspot.com/
• COOKING Create an Israeli cooking challenge, where each student posts about a recipe and videos themselves creating and eating it.  Explore ethnicity through recipes and discuss Israel as an immigration country.
• MEDICAL Research Israel innovations that aim to treat, vaccinate, and tackle the challenges of the epidemic https://www.israel21c.org/israel-confronts-coronavirus-with-innovation-and-chutzpah/
• MUSIC Create a class playlist of students’ favorite Israeli music playing on the radio these days.  Visit http://hebrewsongs.com/ for lyrics and transliterations/translations, download Apps like Radio Israel to listen to different stations.  
• MUSEUMS Visit virtual museums and post blog reflections or go on a virtual scavenger hunt. Several Israeli museums offer “virtual” experiences through Google Arts and Culture including:
  • The Israel Museum – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-israel-museum-jerusalem
  • National Library of Israel – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/the-national-library-of-israel 
  • Yad Vashem: https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/yad-vashem 
  • Menachem Begin heritage Center: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/menachem-begin/QRUJ1xVS
  • Yitzhak Rabin Center: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/yitzhak-rabin-a-life-of-public-service/QRSGlrt6
  • Einstein Archives at Hebrew University – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/einstein-archive
  • Suzanne Dellal Centre for Dance and Theatre – https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/suzanne-dellal-centre-for-dance-and-theatre-tel-aviv-israel
• GEOGRAPHY Using Google Street View and cardboard VR 3-d glasses, “tour” neighborhoods in Jerusalem/Tel-Aviv etc.  

Helpful websites:

• 3D virtual tours by city in Israel and by site: http://www.3disrael.com/
• Virtual tours of Israel through a multicultural tourist perspective: https://samsungvr.com/
• Israel’s most recent Innovations, including health and epidemic relief: www.Israel21C.org 
• Our homepage, with interactive timeline and links to articles and educational resources, including videos and lesson plans  www.israeled.org

Virtual Israel Trip: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/about-vie

Overview Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tFXPbh3RC4 (watch in highest resolution if possible)

• Jerusalem: Old City https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jerusalem-the-old-city
• Jerusalem: “New” city: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jerusalem-the-quot-new-quot-city
  • 360 degree Virtual Reality Tour of Jerusalem! (students can turn their mouse to explore 360 degrees of each place in the video) https://samsungvr.com/view/Wv_0tcndBOG
  • More virtual reality of Jerusalem: http://www.3disrael.com/jerusalem/
• Shuk Machane Yehuda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBC1vwQX2jE (part 1), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhKaJYe1knA (part 2)
• Har Herzl:
• Masada: https://samsungvr.com/view/iRWICtjZH8F
• Kotel: https://english.thekotel.org/kotel/kotel_cameras/ (look through all 3 cameras on the left hand side)
• Tel Aviv: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/tel-aviv-and-jaffa
  • 360 degree Virtual Reality Tour of Tel Aviv! (students can turn their mouse to explore 360 degrees of each place in the video) https://samsungvr.com/view/XZCJObVww2y
  • http://www.3disrael.com/telaviv/
• Eilat: http://www.3disrael.com/eilat/ (requires flash!)
  • Look at a few of these to get a sense of what Eilat looks like
• Mitzpe Ramon (Ramon Crater): http://www.3disrael.com/mitzpe_ramon/
• Bahai Gardens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZX2Q7scTN8
  • Activity:  researching religious diversity in Israel, or exploring Haifa as a multicultural city with many different religions
• Northern Israel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cgzzSx7KpQ
• Akko: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3H5je6ZpjA
• Kfar Hanokdim Bedouin Village: https://www.kfarhanokdim.co.il/en/virtual-tour/ (look through all of the images to get a sense of what this Bedouin village/guest house looks like – this is where you would be spending a night if you were in Israel)
  • Read this to learn more about the Bedouin community in Israel, their way of live and some of the challenges they face: https://www.knesset.gov.il/lexicon/eng/bedouim_eng.htm
• Visit David Ben Gurion’s home in Sde Boker in the Negev: www.Ben-gurion.co.il 
• Tower of David in Jerusalem and a virtual tour of the city: www.tod.org.il

Flyovers and Drone videos of Israel:

Israel sites with historical narration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prLNst12du4

60 second of drone images over Tel Aviv: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilv2nRKQstE

4 minutes of drone images over Jerusalem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzUicVmXR-k

From Facebook: 

For anyone who is in quarantine and/or teaching remotely due to Coronavirus, my colleagues and I at the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv would like to offer a live virtual museum tour, run over Zoom and led by one of our amazing museum educators, to you and your students. Each tour is anywhere from 30-50 minutes (depending on your schedule), can be accessed by students from home as long as they have a computer/tablet/smartphone, are engaging and funny, and can include any special points you’d like us to cover (special Hebrew words, concepts about Jewish history, peoplehood, etc.). Each tour is only for your school and you have a guide (via Zoom) to yourself to talk with. This is normally a paid tour for schools, but due to the situation many are in, we would like to offer the first 20 schools a free tour. 

Feel free to contact me for more information at lindsay@bh.org.il. Hoping this situation improves sooner rather than later for us all.