Aliza and Tamar run Northern Exposure Tours, a company whose mission is to connect you with all that the northern Israel has to offer. We are seasoned Anglo-Israeli tour guides who have each chosen the Galil as her home, and our greatest joy is to share our passion for the people, places and paths of our beloved region with others.
Aliza Avshalom:
I made Aliya 30 years ago from the USA. My degrees are in Land of Israel studies, Jewish History and Rabbinical Literature, and I'm a licensed tour guide. I love hiking and mountain biking as well as learning and teaching Jewish texts. I am awed by nature and am also a bit of a history geek. But what I love most is the way these all come together: when you finally really "get" the Jewish text because of the geography and the history of the site you are visiting. When archaeology illustrates the history you learned - and when we are bursting to tell how this historical story intersects with our contemporary personal one.
I live in a beautiful village in the Galil with my husband and children. I feel extremely blessed to live and work in the most amazing country; a country with deep diverse history, meaningful religious traditions, non-stop inspirations, a brave and idealistic people amidst stunning landscapes that reveal ever-changing nature. After guiding diverse groups of synagogues, families, youth groups, academic missions and Christian tourists for over 20 years, I've found that all people care about meaning, want to be challenged and to have experiences that move them. I love introducing people to this land and I love seeing it through new eyes each time.
I can't wait to share all this with you.
​
Tamar Weissman:
I’ve been a licensed Israeli tour guide for twelve years, now focusing exclusively on guiding my "home turf:" the northern stretches of Israel. I’ve spent the last two decades teaching Bible and Land of Israel studies in midrashot throughout Israel, as well as working on writing projects like my book Tribal Lands: The Twelve Tribes of Israel in their Ancestral Territories, which examines the essential connection between the individual natures of the sons of Jacob and the territory that each of the twelve tribes later called its own. With degrees in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Classical Jewish History, my passion has always been exploring the complex interplay of text, history and land.
​
I live with my husband Ira and our seven kids on our farm in Moshav Sde Ilan, a sweet little sleepy community nestled between Har Tavor and the Turan mountain range. We’ve just started our adventures in sustainable living, concentrating on turning our fields into viable sheep pasture, raising free-range poultry, and growing our organic produce aquaponically, with a twinned commitment to both the intricacies of halacha and to compassionate farming practices. Read more about our adventures here.
​
My greatest joy as a guide is seeing the land through your eyes — every tour is a fresh encounter with familiar landscapes. Legendary tour guide Yehuda Ziv advised us to “explore all the cracks and crevices of Eretz Yisrael, but do so barefoot -- for with every step you are treading on pesukim (biblical verses).” Though I do suggest sneakers on my tours, I also make sure to embrace the reverence and wonder of sharing the Land of Israel with you.
​