“All things excellent are as difficult as they are rare.”
- Baruch Spinoza
The Abarbanel Summer Seminar is a three-week academic summer program for intellectually ambitious high school students based in Leiden, the Netherlands. Participants explore Judaism and the Challenge of Modernity through small seminars and extensive site-based learning.
Two morning seminars—“Jews and the Making of the Modern World” and “Baruch Spinoza between Judaism and Philosophy”—are supplemented by excursions to historic sites, curator-led visits to museums and library special collections, guest lectures, interaction with the local Jewish community, and an art-making program.
The sample itinerary below is based on previous years. Time for reading, sports, and relaxation is not always noted. Details are subject to change.
Day One
Group flight departs from a New York City airport. Students may also arrange independent travel to Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands.
New York City
Day Two
Arrive at Schiphol and settle into Hotel Rapenburg in Leiden. After lunch, collect bikes and explore the city through a treasure hunt. Welcome dinner and party.
Leiden
Day Three
Morning seminars on Spinoza’s Ethics and Jewish history in the Dutch Golden Age. Visit Museum De Lakenhal to explore Leiden’s cloth trade, then make art with Michelle Palatnik. BBQ dinner and “Survival Dutch.”
Leiden
Day Four
Leiden - The Hague
Morning seminars, then masterpieces at the Mauritshuis and climbing at Haagse Klimbos. Pizza-making at Chabad and a discussion of Jewish politics with guests from the Dutch parliament and International Court of Justice.
Day Five
Morning seminars, then explore historic science at Museum Boerhaave. Art or sports before Shabbat services and dinner with Leiden’s Jewish community.
Leiden
Day Six
Shabbat services and lunch with Leiden’s Jewish community. A relaxed afternoon of reading and board games, followed by a shiur, seudah shlishit, singing, and Havdalah.
Leiden
Day Seven
Train to Antwerp to explore Hebrew printing at the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Kosher lunch, a cathedral visit, and a walk through the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood—with a bakery stop.
Antwerp
Day Eight
Morning seminars, followed by Leiden’s historic botanical garden and art-making. In the evening, try to escape from Rembrandt’s atelier at Escaperoom Leiden.
Leiden
Day Nine
Leiden - Rijnsburg - Amstelveen
Morning seminars, then cycle to the beach for a picnic, stopping at Spinoza’s house in Rijnsburg on the return. Dinner in Amstelveen with students from Maimonides High School.
Day Ten
Morning seminars, followed by Hebrew manuscripts and early printed books at Leiden University Special Collections. Art-making and soccer with Maccabi Netherlands, then dinner, gelato, and karaoke.
Leiden
Day Eleven
Morning seminars, then a choice of paddleboarding in Leiden or a private viewing of Dutch Master drawings at Haarlem’s Teylers Museum. Picnic dinner.
Leiden - Haarlem
Day Twelve
Jewish treasures at the Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana with curator Rachel Boertjens, canal cruise lunch, and the Portuguese Synagogue. Check into Hotel Park Centraal; Shabbat services at Gerard Dou Synagogue and dinner at Chabad.
Amsterdam
Day Thirteen
Shabbat services and lunch with the community at Rav Aharon Schuster Synagogue. Rest or an optional Van Gogh Museum visit, followed by board games, seudah shlishit, and Havdalah.
Amsterdam
Day Fourteen
Amsterdam - Ouderkerk - Amstelveen
See Rembrandt’s The Night Watch at the Rijksmuseum, then visit the Portuguese Jewish cemetery in Ouderkerk. Kosher lunch and pizza dinner in Amstelveen before returning to Leiden for a movie night.
Day Fifteen
Final morning seminars and time to work on projects. Head to Delft, Vermeer’s hometown, for a picnic dinner and an evening stroll.
Leiden
Day Sixteen
Final morning seminars. After lunch, students will have time to work on their final projects. We then head to Delft, Vermeer’s hometown, for a picnic dinner and ramble around town.
Leiden - Delft
Day Seventeen
Browse Leiden’s market for gifts and souvenirs, then pack and finish projects. Celebrate with a farewell canal cruise, dinner, and student presentations.
Leiden
Day Eighteen
Leiden - New York City
Time to say goodbye to Leiden. Drop off bikes and head to the airport for our flights back to the States.
