New flights, now with El Al!

Here's our new flight plan:

February 25, 2013 - depart New York's JFK on El Al flight 8 at 11:50 pm, arriving the next day in Tel Aviv at 5:20 pm

March 8, 2013 - depart Tel Aviv on El Al flight 1 at 1:00 am, arriving at 6:00 am in New York/JFK.

El Al is a great way to travel to Israel!

Here's the flyer for the trip

New dates, and flight information!

We've adjusted the dates a bit to take advantage of optimal airfares. Here is the current flight info:

• February 25, 2013 - We leave on Delta flight 879 from Boston to New York/JFK, departing 4:15pm and arriving 5:55pm. 
• We continue on Delta flight 268 from New York/JFK to Tel Aviv, departing 8:55pm and arriving 2:40pm on February 26. 

• March 8, 2013 - We leave Israel on Delta flight 269 from Tel Aviv to New York/JFK, departing 12:05am and arriving 5:15am. 
• We continue on Delta flight 867 from New York/JFK to Boston, departing 8:20am and arriving 9:44am. 

The cost remains $3100, based on current fuel surcharges from the airline.

More photos from our last trip

Some photos from our last trip...

Rabbi Steven Schwarzman, Co-leader

Rabbi Steven Schwarzman is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Worcester.

He previously served as rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Bangor, Maine, and as student rabbi at congregations in New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, and Indiana.

Rabbi Schwarzman was ordained in 2008 by the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he was a Neubauer Family Fellow, a Kaplan Fellow, and a Rabbi Bernard Lipnick Endowment Fund Scholar, in addition to having served as a teaching assistant in the Rabbinical School. He was awarded the Raymond Mark Wintrob Memorial Prize for outstanding work in Bible and History in 2008.

Rabbi Schwarzman also has an M.A. cum laude in Contemporary Jewry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he specialized in the study of American Jewry, and a B.A. in Oriental Studies (with honors) and Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania.

He previously worked as a writer, editor, and translator in Israel and in the United States in organizational, academic, and corporate settings, and is the editor (with Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins) of Enveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook. His writings and translations have appeared in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the National Jewish Post & Opinion, the Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, Qedem, and Biblical Archaeology Review.

Rabbi Schwarzman lived in Israel for nine years. He is married and the father of four children.

Fr. Tomasz Borkowski, Co-leader

Fr. Tomasz Borkowski is a native of Poland. He is a Catholic priest of the Worcester Diocese in Massachusetts and has been serving as a chaplain at Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 2010. Prior to that he was a pastor of two parishes in Clinton, MA for seven years. And before that, he served as associate pastor at St. Joseph’s Basilica in Webster and St. Stephen’s church in Worcester. Fr. Tomasz was ordained to the priesthood in 2001 at St. Paul's Cathedral by Bp. Daniel P. Riley. 

In addition to ministering at WPI, Fr. Tomasz is currently pursuing his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. His theological interests lie in New Testament, Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity. Since his seminary years he always was interested in interfaith relations.

Fr. Tomasz’s first visit to Holy Land took place two years ago when together with Rabbi Seth Bernstein and Barbara Kupfer he went on an interfaith pilgrimage to Israel, which is a birthplace and spiritual home to both Jews and Christians. He is looking forward to joining Barbara and Rabbi Steven Schwarzman from Beth Israel on the 2013 Interfaith Trip to Holy Land next year. He invites anyone to join them on this spiritually enriching journey to the land rich in history and religious traditions to learn more about its past and present.