Five Day Touring Itinerary

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Leave JFK on Monday, Aug. 11 at 5:40 pm on KLM, Flight #642 arriving in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam at 7:15 am. We immediately head to the famous Spanish Portugese Synagogue to daven, eat breakfast and receive our lunch boxes while our suitcases are taken to the hotel. On this first day, we will accomplish the following: 

• The Esnoga Tour (Spanish-Portuguese Synagogue, 1675); Visit the most famous Jewish library in Europe and the oldest Jewish day school in the world, Etz Hayim (1614) in an adjacent building.

• Cross the square to the four Ashkenazi synagogues, including the Grote Sjoel (1671), displaying religious and ceremonial exhibits; Dritt Sjoel (Third Synagogue, 1700); Neie Sjoel (New Synagogue, 1752), now including exhibits tracing the subject of Jewish identity and Ogbene Sjoel (Upstairs Synagogue, 1686), where the bookshop and café are found. These four synagogues essentially constitute one of the the most important Jewish museums in the Diaspora.

• A three-minute walk through the former Jewish Market (Waterloo Plein ) to the house where Rembrandt used to live and work, Rembrandt House, displaying some famous biblical scenes.

• Walk another 10 minutes to the Roikin to board a water bus for a trip through the canals of Amsterdam to visit the Anne Frank house (on the Prinsengracht Canal). On our return , we will visit the Dam square and the Royal Palace, only a two minute walk from the boat. *Royal Palace and Dam Square (Situated in the heart of the picturesque Dam square, the Royal Palace is itself one of the landmarks of Amsterdam and a fine example of the classical Dutch architecture. Louis Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon I, made it his royal palace when he became King of Holland in 1808, though he abdicated only two years later. Severely simple outside, the palace is splendidly decorated inside).

• Then another 10 minute walk to the Roikin for excellent shopping at Amsterdam’s leading department stores Bijenkorf, Vroom and Dreesman, etc. all within a two-minute walk.

• Time permitting: Gassan Diamond factory Tour: There is no doubt about the contribution of the diamond industry for the integration of the Jews in Amsterdam. This impressive steam factory is located in the old Jewish quarter. Established in 1879, this used to be the biggest diamond factory in Europe.

Thrusday, August 14

Early morning:

• World’s largest flower auction in Aalsmeer Den Haag

• Guided tour of The Hague, viewing the Peace Palace government offices and embassies

• Welcome to Madurodam! For more than 55 years Madurodam has been the smallest city in the Netherlands. Canals, gabled houses and all kinds of other typical Dutch scenes: the miniature city offers you all the highlights of the Netherlands on a scale of 1: 25!

In the afternoon:

• Hollandsche Shouwburg: a very impressive Holocaust monument with exposition. Used as the Jewish theater before the war, during the persecution this place was where all the Jews rounded up by the Dutch Amsterdam Police and handed over to the Nazis. Less than 9% (the lowest percentage in the world) of Jews selected came back!

• Rijksmuseum: 16th and 17th century art)

• Van Gogh Museum – also known as the Stedelijk Museum

• Visit the Aharon Shuster Sjoel on Obrecht Straat, a very beautiful synagogue built just before WWII in Art Nouveau style. We will then pay our respects and visit the cemetery in Ouderkerk, the oldest jewish (Sephardi) cemetery in continuious use since 1602. Here are buried all the leading Rabbis of Amsterdam throughout the generations, like R. Menashe ben Yistrael, R. Shaoul Levy Mortaira, Hayim (from Fez) Sasportas and the Chacham Zvi. Their fascinating lives and contributions will be discussed by Ha’Rav Dr.Nosson Dovid Rabinowich.

• Shopping Stop at the famous Veluwe flea market in Beekbergen on our return to our hotel.

Friday, August 15

• Early wakeup to visit the most famous cheese market in the entire Holland, in Alkmaar, open only on Fridays.

• Volendam: So gorgeous and picturesque; fine representative of many Dutch traditions. As a result of its completely insulated location, this village preserved its character for six centuries, also because of the tough vitality of the fishermen. The characteristic small houses, which together with the canals and the drawbridges form the most picturesque spots, present the visitor an atmosphere of geniality and romance.

• Boat trip from Volendam to the peninsula of Marken

• Marken, a tiny, truly authentic fishing village built on a former island

• In the afternoon, time-permitting, a visit to the early medieval castle Muiderslot and the very pictorial harbor of Muiden.

Sunday, August 17

• Camp Westerbork: It was from this transit camp, established by the Nazis in May, 1940 as point of departure place to Sobibor and Auschwitz, that Anne Frank was sent to Bergen- Belzen. More than 103,000 Jews were transferred from Westerbork to Auschwitz or Sobibor (an extermination camp in Poland).

• Giethoorn is called the Venice of the north and many tourists flock to this little village to see its unusual scenery and layout. There are lakes (Wieden), only chest deep in the middle, that are connected with canals. The mode of transportation is flat-bottomed boats. Stop for a while and watch farmers taking cows to pasture on them. The spectacle is a popular one, and Giethoorn can get very crowded in July and August.

• Zaanse Schans: This is an open-air museum filled with windmills and, surprisingly enough, they are made of thatch. The windmill closest to the entrance is called “De Kat” (The Cat), and it crushes chalk into pigment. The second windmill you will see is called “De Zoeker” (The Seeker), and this one grinds nuts into oil. You will see lots of polders here (land that was under the sea and now has the water pumped out of), and also how they make the popular Dutch wooden shoes. These are very practical for the farmers when they work in the fields because they keep out the wetness. At the same place you can also see nicely carved shoes which were made by a groom for his bride to wear at their wedding.

Monday, August 18

Our hotel rabbi, the eminent Rabbi Binyamin Jacobs will take us on a fascinating tour of some of the most interesting synagogues in Europe (and some important cemeteries) to be found in some very quaint towns in Gelderland.

We will begin this insightful tour with Zutphen where the the old shul and Tamuld Torah were built in 1879, followed by the unususal Bronkhurst jewish cemetery in existence from 1811. Then onto Elburg, Aalten, Deventer, Dieren and Brummen. After a late picnic lunch, if the group is interested, we will take a long scenic route to tour Rotterdam, the home of the largest harbor in the world.

Dieren Synagogue (1884)

Elburg

The first Jews to settle in Elburg arrived in approximately 1700. Most were from Germany and Bohemia. By the middle of the eighteenth century, a Jewish trader, who also worked as a butcher, had risen to manage the local lending bank. By 1813, almost twenty Jewish families resided in Elburg. The majority of the community’s breadwinners were traders but few or none were well-off.

   
Synagogue in Aalten, ca. 1993

Wednesday, August 20

We leave hotel at 11:00 am for an approx. one-hour trip to Schipol Airport for our return KLM Flight # 641 at 1:30 pm, arriving in JFK International Airport at 3:20 pm

All shiurim and prayer sessions are voluntary!

Extensions to Israel possible,
before and after trip

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Rabbi Dr. Nosson Dovid Rabinowich: Rav and Scholar-in-Residence,is a noted historian and Talmid Chacham, author of ten critically-acclaimed books on topics varying from Jewish history to Geonic literature to Chassidus.

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