My Israeli Guide

Sukkot in Israel: what to expect as a visitor

Sukkot is the week-long Feast of Booths, a joyful, hospitable time when sukkahs pop up everywhere. Here's what it's about, and why the middle days are a good time to be touring Israel....

Sukkot in Israel: a visitor's guide What Sukkot is, the sukkah and four species, and how Tabernacles shapes a trip: the first day closes, the middle days are open and good for touring.

Yom Kippur in Israel: the day the country stops

Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year, and in Israel the whole country stops: no flights, no cars, no shops. Here's what it's about, and how to experience it as a visitor....

Yom Kippur in Israel: a visitor's guide What Yom Kippur is, why the whole country stops (no flights, no cars, no shops) and how to experience a day unlike any other in Israel, from a licensed guide.

Rosh Hashanah in Israel: what to expect as a visitor

Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year: two quiet days of apples and honey, the shofar and family. Here's what it's about, and what it means if your trip to Israel bumps into it....

Rosh Hashanah in Israel: a visitor's guide What Rosh Hashanah is, the traditions behind the Jewish New Year, and how the two-day holiday affects travel in Israel, from a licensed local guide.

What five days on Israel’s culinary tourism course taught me

Five days on Israel’s only culinary tourism course for guides, and one idea that stuck. What the week actually taught me, and how it turns up on my tours now....

Israel’s culinary tourism course: what I learned Five days on Israel’s only culinary tourism course for licensed guides: the one idea that changed how I guide, and who a food tour is really for.

The Carmel Market and the synagogue that never was

The last field day of Israel’s culinary tourism course was a morning in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market with Nurit Goren. How to read a market, why the hummus place with the ark is not what it looks like and what a horse’s saddle has to do with a herring....

The Carmel Market and the synagogue that never was Day five of Israel’s culinary tourism course: a morning in Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market, how to read a market and the hummus place that fooled everyone.

The Western Galilee: behind every dish there’s a story

The fourth day of Israel’s culinary tourism course was the long one, north to the Western Galilee. A social-enterprise kitchen, a widow’s olives in a Crusader village, a logistics manager turned baker, the country’s first boutique distillery and a hummus place named for a father who never saw it open....

The Western Galilee: behind every dish there’s a story Day four of Israel’s culinary tourism course in the Western Galilee: Madeleine’s olives in Mi’ilya, a Nahariya bakery, a Hanita distillery and Akko.

Zichron Ya’akov: w**e, b**r and a long lunch

Day three of Israel’s culinary tourism course was billed as a w**e day around Zichron Ya’akov. What I remember is a scorned grape, a brisket queue, a bar mitzvah spent in a brewery and a horse farm that turned into a restaurant....

W**e, b**r and a long lunch in Zichron Ya’akov Day three of Israel’s culinary tourism course: two Zichron Ya’akov w**eries, craft b**r in Binyamina and a farm restaurant where the meat cooks in a pit.

The Sharon: Israel’s quiet Tuscany

The first field trip of Israel’s culinary tourism course took us to the Sharon: an organic farm run by an ex-lawyer, a cheese-making family spread across the religious divide, olive oil and a boutique w**ery that revived a forgotten grape....

The Sharon: farms, cheese and w**e in Israel’s quiet Tuscany Day two of Israel’s culinary tourism course: the Sharon’s organic farms, a cross-divide cheese family, olive oil and a boutique w**ery.

The theory of a good food tour

Day one of the culinary course was in a classroom. It changed how I think about a food stop, and gave me the line I still use with guests: behind the food, there are always people....

Culinary guide course: the theory of a good food tour What Israel’s culinary tourism course teaches guides on day one: the numbers behind food travel, the food-tour types and how to taste olive oil.

Understandably, the Hamas massacres of October 7th and the ensuring war brought tourism to Israel almost to a complete stop. However, despite the ongoing war, the relative calm that we’ve been experience inside Israel over the past year or so has led to a welcome resurgence in inquiries about tours. It’s been interesting to note that now almost all the messages I’ve been getting have been asking for a tour to the area known as the Gaza Envelope (Otef Aza in Hebrew), the area which bore the brunt of the Hamas attacks....

How to visit the Gaza Envelope area in the wake of the October 7th massacre | MyIsraeliGuide Understandably, the Hamas massacres of October 7th and the ensuring war brought tourism to Israel almost to a complete stop. However, despite the ongoing war, the relative calm that we’ve been experience inside Israel over the past year or so has led to a welcome resurgence in inquiries about tour...