Atlanta Jews Ready to Travel to Israel Again

After a dizzying, stop-and-go two years, the Israel Ministry of Tourism is beckoning back tourists. COVID-vaccinated tourists, that is. And the Atlanta Jewish community is ready to go.

“I think there’s a pent-up demand” for travel to Israel, said Wendy Yaniv, founder of 5 Senses Tour.

“I think there’s a pent-up demand,” said Wendy Yaniv, founder of 5 Senses Tour, who stopped taking groups to Israel in March 2020 when the pandemic slowed, then nearly stopped, international travel. While COVID is still spreading widely throughout the U.S. and in Israel, the Sandy Springs resident said people “who have dreamt of going to Israel feel they just have to make it happen.”

Atlanta Jews seem to have decided that the future is uncertain and impossible to predict and they just have to take some risks to follow their dreams.

Israel has two big advantages as the world, hopefully, starts returning to a new normal, says Yael Golan, director of the Southern region for Israel’s Ministry of Tourism in Atlanta. “It is the only Holy Land and almost all year round, you can be outside. We’re really excited about this reopening. COVID is just a part of our lives now. I hope we can keep Israel open,” she said. “As long as you are vaccinated, it doesn’t matter if you’re Israeli or not.”

In 2023, Temple Emanu-El is launching a “highly subsidized 10-day trip to Israel for our teens who have completed confirmation,” said Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller.

Now that Israel has opened its borders to non-Israelis, Atlanta Jewish groups, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, the Jewish National Fund and several synagogues — The Temple, Congregation Beth Tikvah, Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation Etz Chaim, Congregation B’nai Torah, Temple Sinai and Temple Emanu-El — are filling up tours, mostly scheduled for this summer.

According to Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller, Temple Emanu-El has a “family bus” and an “adults-only” bus touring Israel this summer. And the congregation just announced that it is launching the Schiffer Teen Israel trip for the summer of 2023.

“This is going to be a highly subsidized 10-day trip to Israel for our teens who have completed confirmation,” Miller told the AJT. “The trip will run every other year, so two cohorts of confirmation classes will travel together. We believe we are the only synagogue in the city” to offer such highly subsidized teen trips.

Andrea Fineman, director of communications at Temple Sinai, says the congregation has 25 people scheduled to visit Israel on its seven-day “Cuisine, Culture & Art in Israel” tour in April.

The Federation’s last trip to Israel was a “Men’s Journey” that took place in November 2019. Now it expects to take about 40 men on its next trip, scheduled for April 28 to May 5. “We had to move the date once or twice” during the last couple of years because of the pandemic, said Kenny Silverboard, senior director of the Federation’s Business and Professionals division. “People really want to travel,” he said, noting that the next group to go will be based in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during both Yom HaZikaron (Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day).

Dates are still pending for the Federation’s 40 Under 40 Mission to Israel, but most likely it will be scheduled for early June. In addition, Atlanta youth will participate in two Birthright trips scheduled for May 22 to June 2 and July 24 to Aug. 4. The Atlanta chapter of the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project sent its group to Israel in November, added Renee Kutner, the Federation’s chief operating officer.
“While it may seem far off, we are also actively planning now for a community journey to Israel in April 2023,” Kutner said. “The last big community mission like this was in summer 2014.”

“As long as you are vaccinated, it doesn’t matter if you’re Israeli or not,” said Yael Golan, director of the Southern region for Israel’s Ministry of Tourism in Atlanta.

On a smaller scale, independent Cantor Debbi Ballard, who leads spiritual trips to Israel, said the tours she is taking this year “are those that didn’t travel in 2020 and 2021.” She has two trips planned for June, plus a private trip for a family of 16.

All of these tours out of Atlanta are scheduled to take place despite the fact that, on Jan. 18, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed Israel on its highest red-alert level, cautioning travelers against visiting due to COVID.

According to Golan, the ongoing pandemic has definitely altered the way Americans plan their travels. While Israelis are traditionally seen as more spontaneous, Americans have been known to plan their trips a year or more in advance. “We are seeing changes in booking trends,” Golan acknowledged. “People are booking much closer to their trips now.”

“While it may seem far off, we are also actively planning now for a community journey to Israel in April 2023,” said Renee Kutner, chief operating officer at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

That change may be based on necessity, given the constant shifts in travel restrictions put forward by Israel and the U.S. Even now, the Israeli Ministry of Health states that tourists are allowed into the country no more than six months after their third or fourth COVID vaccination.

But, so far, the U.S. isn’t offering a fourth shot, and by summer — when most of the Atlanta trips are scheduled to begin — it might be more than six months after individuals have received their third booster shot.

Golan said that the Israeli Ministry of Tourism is working with the Ministry of Health to change that requirement. “So much can change in six months,” she said. After all, “no one [was expecting] the Omicron variant” to further complicate pandemic planning.