Dec 3 – 15, 2025
From Delhi and Agra to Jaipur, Mumbai and Pune, take a Jewish Heritage tour of India. It’s more than just a vacation. It is the opportunity to visit not only the “traditional” sites and learn about the history, people and culture of India, but also to explore the country’s Jewish past and present within that larger context. You’ll meet with members of Jewish communities, hear people’s stories and learn of the challenges they face. You’ll visit synagogues, Jewish schools, and institutions in India and celebrate Shabbat on Friday night dinners.
Itinerary
On arrival at international airport, you will be met and transported to the hotel.
Overnight at Hotel Jaypee Vasant Continental.
Breakfast at the hotel.
Proceed to visit Old Delhi.
Old Delhi pulses with energy and color, bursting with the sights, sounds and aromas of the Indian sub-continent. Enjoy thronged bazaars and a maze of narrow lanes which twist and turn between tall, leaning houses. In Old Delhi drive past Red Fort, surrounded by shops and bazaars (built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, the builder of Taj Mahal), In Chandni Chowk (Old Delhi’s business nerve center), the hustle-bustle of everyday Indian life all around you, complete with chattering voices. Visit the Jama Masjid Mosque with its tapering minarets and wonderful marble domes.
Muhammed Sa’id, more popularly known as Sarmad Kashani or Sarmad Shahid, was a 17th-century Sufi saint and poet of Armenian heritage. Famously beheaded by Aurangzeb for holding non-orthodox views on love, religion, and spirituality, Sarmad lies in a tomb is just outside the Jama Masjid (in the spot where he is believed to have been executed), near Meena Bazaar.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Later proceed for a short sightseeing tour of New Delhi, visiting Rashtrapati Bhawan (from the outside), Government buildings and the India Gate. Rashtrapati Bhawan, the official residence of the President of India, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and boasts 330 acres of grounds. Once the awe-inspiring residence of the British Viceroys, it is now the Presidential Palace. A majestic 42-meter arch, the India Gate, was built as a memorial to the Indian soldiers killed in World War I.
Return to the hotel.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Jaypee Vasant Continental. (B, L, D)
Breakfast at hotel.
Visit the Synagogue Judah Hyam Hall established in 1956 in response to the small Delhi Jewish Community who used to hold prayers in their residences; prayers for the high holidays were held in the house of Mr. Baruch B. Benjamin, the First President of the Jewish Welfare Association of New Delhi. The hall also serves as a center for Jewish and interfaith studies. Later visit to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, one of the most prominent Sikh temples in India, and known for its association with the eighth Sikh Guru, Guru Har Krishan. It was rebuilt as a small shrine by Sikh General Sardar Baghel Singhin 1783.After lunch, enjoy a free afternoon.
Celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat and enjoy Shabbat dinner and overnight at Hotel Jaypee Vasant Continental.(B, L, D)
Sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal.
Return to the hotel for breakfast.
Later proceed to visit Agra Fort.
Emperor Akbar built Agra Fort, the maze of courtyards, mosques and private chambers of the fort echo the story of the Mughal Empire. Construction of the massive fort began with Emperor Akbar in 1565, and additions were made until the time of his grandson, Shah Jehan. During Akbar’s time, the fort was principally a military structure, by Shah Jahan’s time the fort had become partially a palace.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Free afternoon and evening for own independent activities.
Overnight at Hotel Jaypee Palace. (B, L)
Breakfast at hotel.
Check out and drive to Jaipur, visiting Fatehpur Sikri in route.
Perched atop rocky ridge twenty-two miles west of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri came into being four centuries ago when the Emperor Akbar created the first planned city in Indo-Islamic style. The city was built with great energy but was completely abandoned a little more than a decade later. Fatehpur Sikri is built in red sandstone and is a beautiful blend of Hindu and Islamic architectural elements. The sandstone is richly ornamented with carving and fretwork.
On arrival, check in to the hotel. Jaipur is the rose-pink capital of Rajasthan is surrounded by rugged hills crowned with forts. Enclosed by once-embattled walls, the city was built early in the eighteenth century. The Maharaja’s palace stands in the center of the city amidst lovely gardens. Houses with latticed windows line the streets, their rose-pink color lending enchantment to the scene and almost magical at sunset. Jaipur is aptly called the “Pink City of India.” It takes its name from the famous Maharana Sawai Jai Singh, who founded the city in 1728. A keen astronomer, he built an observatory which still exists and is equipped with masonry instruments of remarkable size. Lunch in route.
Jaipur is famous for its garnets and rubies and its craftsmen, skilled in the art of cutting precious stones. It is equally well-known for brass inlay work, lacquer work and the printing of muslins. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Rajputana. (B, L, D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
After breakfast, proceed to the excursion to Amber Fort.
The fort-palace of Amber, located eight miles from Jaipur, is a fascinating blend of Hindu and Muslim architecture. Built in the 16th and early 17th centuries by Raja Man Singh and his successor, Jai Singh I, it sprawls dramatically on a hillside overlooking Maotha Lake. The white marble and red sand stone complex are
laid out on four levels, each with its own courtyard.
The stunning Sheesh Mahal (Hall of Mirrors) in the Jai Mandir, the Jas Mandir, Sukh Niwas, and the shimmering gateway Ganesh Pol justify the ten-minute climb up the hill. The less energetic can make the journey riding a caparisoned elephant, in the manner of former kings and queens.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Later in the afternoon, tour Jaipur, visiting City Palace, The Observatory, and the Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal).
The City Palace now houses a museum containing rare manuscripts, paintings, and an armory. The Observatory, built in the 17th century by Jai Singh, features a 90-foot-high sundial; the Museum amidst the Ram Niwas Palace Gardens was founded in 1876 and boasts an enormous collection of antiques. The Palace of Winds, a landmark of Jaipur, is made of pink sandstone and is of unique design. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Rajputana. (B, L, D)
Early breakfast at hotel.
Head for the airport for our flight to Mumbai. Lunch at a local restaurant.
Take a city tour, visiting Prince of Wales Museum and Mani Bhawan.
The Prince of Wales Museum was built to commemorate King George V’s first visit to India in 1905 while he was still Prince of Wales. It was designed in the Indo-Saracenic style and has sections for art and paintings, archeology, and natural history. Among the more interesting items is a fine collection of miniature paintings, images, and bas-reliefs from the Elephanta caves, and Buddha images.
Mani Bhawanis the building where Mahatma Gandhi stayed during his visits to Mumbai between 1917 and 1934.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Trident Naridam Point. (B, L, D)
After an early breakfast, drive to Pune.
On arrival in Pune, proceed to see the Jewish sites.
The area has an interesting Jewish history–in the early 19th century, Bene Israel military pensioners settled in Thane and Pune. Gradually, Baghdadi Jews shifted to Pune in small numbers including the well-known philanthropist, David Sassoon. He built the magnificent synagogue with its tall, red spires rising high above the surrounding buildings. He passed away in 1864 and lies buried in the tomb here.
Visit Succath Shlomo Synagogue, established in 1921, the foundation stone of which was laid in 1919. Ohel David Synagogue, established in 1867, was built by the Sassoon family. The Sassoon Hospital,
built in 1867, still stands in its Gothic splendor.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
At the end of the day visit the Raja Kelkar Museum, with its impressive assortment of about 17,000 artworks, bizarre musical instruments, strange locks, carved wooden doors and more.
Return to Mumbai and enjoy a free night.
Overnight at Hotel Trident Naridam Point (B, L)
Early morning, we’ll have tea and then visit Sassoon Docks, built by an influential family of Baghdadi Jews. The docks are bustling with activity in the mornings, as the day’s catch is bought and sold. It’s a great introduction to Mumbai’s traditional fisher-folk, an interesting community where the men fish, and the women manage the commercial transactions (they are expert negotiators!).
Return to the hotel for breakfast.
Check out and proceed to visit the synagogues. Drive to the Gateway of India and see the Fort Heritage District and the Kala Ghoda Art District. Among the beautiful buildings that we will visit in this district are the Knesset Eliyahu Synagogue, with its beautiful interiors, and the David Sassoon Library. Continue to the Chabad Center and learn about their work in India and the infamous terrorist attack on the center in 2012.
Next, visit the oldest synagogue in Mumbai, the Shaar Harachamim (Gate of Mercy) Synagogue, built in 1796 by Samuel Ezekiel Divekar, a Bene Israeli. The street on which the synagogue is housed is also named Samuel Street after him. Lunch at a local restaurant.
From here, we will drive to the Magen David Synagogue, a tall blue building with a Gothic feel that towers over all the other buildings in the area. We will visit the Sassoon Children’s school in the same compound. From Magen David, drive to Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai’s unique outdoor laundry system. Attend Shabbat service and enjoy Shabbat meal with community members.
Overnight at Hotel Trident Naridam Point. (B, L, D)
After breakfast, excursion to Navagaon.
The Bene Israel story starts 2100 years ago after a shipwreck stranded seven Jewish families from Judea at Navagaon near Alibag, just south of Mumbai. They were engaged in pressing oil and were nicknamed the shanivār telī (“Saturday oil pressers”) by the local population as they abstained from their work on Saturdays, Judaism’s Shabbat. Bene Israel communities and synagogues are situated in Pen, Mumbai, Alibag, Pune and Ahmedabad, with smaller communities scattered around India. Lunch at a local restaurant.
Mumbai had a thriving Bene Israel community until the 1950s to 1960s, when many families from the community immigrated to the State of Israel. The Bene Israel community has shrunk with many of the old synagogues falling into disuse. In Mala, Thrissur District, Jews have a synagogue and a cemetery. The bodies that washed ashore from the original shipwreck were buried in this Navagaon cemetery. There are no headstones, just a memorial that was constructed centuries later. Return to Mumbai.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Trident Naridam Point. (B, L, D)
Lunch at a local restaurant.
COCHIN post-trip extension
Breakfast at hotel.
In time you will be transferred to the domestic airport to board a flight to Cochin.
Lunch at the airport hotel. Visit to the Chendamangalam, located an hour from Cochin’s main town, Chendamangalam consists of a church, a temple, a mosque, and the remains of a Jewish synagogue, all near, an ideal example of the ancient Indian tradition of religious tolerance and peaceful co-existence. At Chendamangalam, apart from these historic sites, the place also a singular geography of three rivers, seven inlets, hillocks and vast expanses of green plains. Drive to Trident Hotel and check in.
In the afternoon visit Parur, the largest of Kerala’s synagogue compounds, is the most architecturally distinctive of the seven extant buildings and is truly worthy of a visit. In the mid-1950s, most of the congregation immigrated to Israel, and the synagogue has not been an active place of worship since the mid-1970s.The building and property were not adequately maintained for the next thirty years, yet it represents the most complete and elaborate example of a Jewish house of prayer incorporating the many influences of building design and construction from this region of India. As its architecture was also shaped by various Jewish building traditions, a distinct and remarkable style of synagogue architecture can be experienced at Parur.
Dinner and Overnight at HotelFragrant Nature.(B, L, D)
After breakfast, we’ll take a city tour, which includes the Dutch Palace, St. Francis Church, and the Chinese fishing nets. Cochin’s historic Mattancherry district bustles with traders in tea, jute, rubber, and spices, and is the area called Jew town, where we can see Mattancherry Palace, locally known as the Dutch Palace, built by the
Portuguese, and given as a gift to the Rajas of Cochin. The interior is adorned with fantastic and richly detailed 16th century murals that
illustrate stories from the Ramayana.
Visit the Paradesi Synagogue, Mattancherry: More than 400 years old, the synagogue’s interior has curved brass columns, an intricately carved teak ark, Belgian crystal chandeliers and Torah crowns of solid gold set with gems. The floor has hand-painted porcelain tiles from Canton, each tile with a different pattern. The most prized possessions are two copper plates with details of privileges granted to the Jews during the reign of Bhaskara Ravi Varman in the 10th century. The four dials of the 45-foot clock tower have numerals in Hebrew, Latin, Malayalam, and Arabic.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Visit the Kadavumbhagam Synagogue located at Broadway Market Ernakulam (city center), in the center of the crowded market area on west side of Market Road, this is one of two former synagogues in Ernakulam once serving the Malabari Jews. Like other Kerala synagogues, the building is constructed of locally quarried laterite stone, with block walls veneered in white-washed chunam (a polished lime plaster). The building’s two corners facing the street are broadly chamfered, so from the front Kadavumbhagam Synagogue is half-octagonal in form. The angled wall intersections are demarcated by rusticated quoins that for years have been painted a rust color. The building’s ground floor was used as a social hall and for overflow seating during Jewish high holidays and special occasions. On the second floor were rooms that served as a Jewish school when the congregation was active.
Visit St. Francis Church, which may have been built by Franciscan friars from Portugal, St. Francis was the model for many Christian churches in India.
Finish the day seeing the Chinese fishing nets, a fixed land installations for an unusual form of fishing: shore-operated lift nets. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of sixty-five
feet or more across. Each structure is at least thirty-five feet and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea, with large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. Enjoy the sunset view.
Dinner and overnight at Hotel Fragrant Nature. (B, L, D)
Breakfast at the hotel.
Check out, and transfer to the airport to board the flight to Mumbai. Arrive in Mumbai and transfer to Trident Bandra Kurla Hotel. In time you will be transferred to the international airport to board a flight for onward destination if your flight is at night. (B)
Transfer to the airport if you have a morning flight. (B)
Guest Speaker: Fred Rosenbaum
Founding Director Emeritus of Lehrhaus Judaica is an award-winning educator, teacher, and author. He has written eight books on modern Jewish history, including Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the Bay Area, published by the University of California Press in 2009, and co-authored the memoirs of six Holocaust survivors. Fred has been the traveling scholar for more than twenty study tours on five continents.
National Guide: Rajeev Salomon
Rajeev graduated from Agra University in Agra. He has been working as a freelance tour director and tour guide for the last 20 years. In India, he has worked as Guide/Tour Leader and escort for luxury trains –
Maharaja Express, Palace on Wheels, Bengal Ganga Cruise, American Jewish County People, National Geographic Tours, and the Archaeological Institute of America. He had worked for outbound tours to Europe, USA, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.
Tour Leader: Ariel Goldstein
Ariel Goldstein, CEO at Tiyul Jewish Journeys, was born in Uruguay, studied Latin American history in Montevideo and then studied tourism at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has led tours throughout Israel, Europe, the Persian Gulf, Latin America, China, India, Africa, and the United States. He traveled throughout India for three weeks and later organized and led an India Jewish trip. He is the author of From Moses to Moisesville published in March 2024.
Packages & Prices
Packages |
Prices |
|---|---|
|
Per person in double room |
$7,135 pp/dbl |
|
Per person in a single room |
$8,525 pp/sgl |
|
India + Cochin ext per person in double |
$8,630 pp/dbl |
|
India + Cochin ext. in a single room |
$10,380 pp/sgl |
*Prices quoted are in US Dollars. A $900 deposit is required.
