Luxury Jewish Heritage Touro Itinerary

Subject to change

Monday, June 30

Arrive in historic Warsaw and check in to our luxury accommodations at the Radison Warsaw, centrally located within walking distance to prime sites of Jewish interest.
Afternoon walking tour of medieval Jewish Warsaw, featuring a visit to the historic Nożyk Synagogue and on-site remarks by Dr. Shnayer Leiman.
Evening Opening Session with Dr. Alan Kadish, President of Touro University
Cocktails and light buffet followed by dinner and an introductory lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson

Morning tour of selected sites, including the historic Warsaw Jewish Cemetery, the Korczak Orphanage, with on-site remarks by Dr. Leiman, followed by a bus departure to Lublin.
Lunch in Lublin, followed by a walking tour of medieval Jewish Lublin and a visit to the Yeshivat Chachmei Lublin, home to the famed Rabbi Meir Shapiro, initiator of the Daf Yomi Program
Return to Warsaw with a lecture by Dr. Abramson on the Origins of Jewish Civilization in Poland and Lithuania

Memorial visit to Treblinka, notorious Nazi Death Camp, with a lecture by Dr. Abramson on “The Spiritual Heroism of the Piaseczno Rebbe.”
Departure to Tykocin and visit to its magnificent 17^th century synagogue, which remarkably survived the war.
Return to Warsaw with a lecture by Dr. Leiman: “Rabbi Menachem Ziemba and the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.”

Visit to the deportation site of Warsaw Jewry (the Umshagplatz) followed by a guided tour of the newly opened Polin Museum of Jewish Culture
Departure by air to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania
Evening lectures by Dr. Abramson (“The Birth of Modern Jewish Politics”) and Dr. Leiman (“The Day Vilna Died”)

Morning walking tour of medieval Jewish Vilna, including the Ghetto, the home of the Vilna Gaon and his Bet Midrash, the Great Synagogue and the Strashun Library, followed by a bus tour to the gravesites of Vilna luminaries including the Gaon, the Haye Adam, and others.
Afternoon optional walking tour of modern Vilnius, with free time for shopping.
Kabbalat Shabbat at the historic Choral Synagogue.

Shabbat celebration and rest, with scheduled optional walking tours, lectures, and a special late-night Seudat Shlishit with Dr. Leiman leading a discussion of “Visionary Leaders of Lithuania.”

Visit to Trakai and the remarkable Karaite Museum, with a lecture by Dr. Abramson (“Jewish Life in the Shadow of the USSR”)
Departure for Kovna (Kaunas) and a visit to the Salanter Bet Midrash, the Sugihara House, and the Ninth Fort.
Return to Vilnius, lectures by Dr. Leiman (“Faygel dem Rovs”) and Dr. Abramson (“The Revival of Jewish Life after the Fall of Communism”)