The Jews of Cuba. Jewish Uruguay. Treasures of Turkey. “The idea is to experience Judaism in a different way,” said Ariel Goldstein, director of the JCC of San Francisco’s travel program.
Goldstein, who has led tours throughout Israel, Europe and Latin American, has shaped the JCCSF travel program since its inception in May 2007, taking almost a year to get it off the ground. The number and breadth of trips have steadily expanded ever since.
“This is the only [JCC] that has a program with a full-time travel manager,” said Goldstein, 40, who was born in Uruguay, moved to Israel at 22 and stayed there for nearly a decade.
Goldstein leads many of the tours himself, and he often brings along local experts, such as historian Fred Rosenbaum, the founding director of Lehrhaus Judaica, and Lehrhaus executive director Jehon Grist.
Slated to join the next trip to Cuba — the JCCSF’s seventh — is Michael Krasny, host of KQED’s “Forum.” On the island, the JCCSF groups are always met by tour leader Manuel Castillo, a wellspring of information on the Cuban Jewish community and Cuban life in general.
The JCCSF’s missions to Cuba usually sell out well in advance, and each itinerary is varied. The next trip, for example, will be the first to meet with the tiny Jewish community in Cuba’s third-largest city, Camaguey. Spots in the May 18 to 25 trip are still available.
An upcoming January trip to Egypt and Israel is sold out, but slots are still available for Argentina and Uruguay, April 4 to 14, a trip that Rosenbaum will be on.
Also on the horizon are Treasures of Turkey, May 27 to June 4; the Baltics, Sept. 8 to 18; and an Israel family trip from Dec. 19 to Jan. 1, 2012.
Goldstein, of Berkeley, envisions more new itineraries on the horizon.
“We have no borders,” he said, “but always it’s a combination of the Jewish theme with the most important attractions of the country.”
For more information on the JCCSF travel program, visit www.jccsf.org/travel or call (415) 276-1506.