A Russian Jewish Journey July 24 - August 2, 2018

A Russian Jewish Journey

A unique historical and personal journey to Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition to visiting Russia’s famous national and historical sites, including the Kremlin, Red Square, the Hermitage, the Peterhoff Summer Palace and Catherine’s Palace, the trip will delve into Russian Jewish life today and during the recent Soviet period. We will visit synagogues, newly established Jewish community centers and world-class museums, plus meet with figures from the Jewish past and present of Soviet and post-Soviet Jewry.

Scholar-in-Residence Jonathan Porath has visited Russia and the Former Soviet Union over 175 times since his first visit in 1965, leading trips and serving as Senior Staff of the Joint Distribution Committee’s Russian Department.

Trip Highlights

Tour Moscow and St. Petersburg
Visit classical Russian landmarks including the Kremlin and Red Square, the Tretyakov Gallery, Izmailova Flea Market, the Moscow Metro, the Hermitage Museum and Winter Palace, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Yusopov Palace, Faberge Museum, Catherine’s Palace, Peterhoff (by hydrofoil)
Explore Russian Jewish history and contemporary Jewish life, with meetings with Jewish leaders and activist
In Moscow visit the JCC, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center, Kosher supermarket, Grand Choral Synagogue, Poklonaya Gora Memorial Synagogue and Holocaust Center
In St. Petersburg visit the Grand Choral Synagogue, State Ethnographic Museum Jewish Collection, YESOD JCC (including the senior’s Oneg Shabbat), Pushkin Holocaust Memorial
Visit off-the-beaten-path sites most tourists don’t get to see like Stalin’s Bunker, Graveyard of Soviet Fallen Monuments, the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, the Museum of Political History
Cruise on the Moscow River and night time Canal Boat Ride in St. Petersburg
Deluxe hotels
15 catered Kosher meals (lunches and dinners)
All this and more…