Israel's For Families

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apartment through a real estate
agent or the classified ads in an
Israeli newspaper, including the
international edition of The
Jerusalem Post.
For those families who want to
join a pre-arranged trip, a survey of
various Jewish organizations is
recommended. B'nai B'rith offers a
program called LEVI — Living
Experience Vacation in Israel.
Families live and work in Nahariya,
a seaside resort town north of
Haifa. Adults and teenagers can
volunteer to work at the Jewish
National Fund forests and

Adults and teenagers can
volunteer to work at the
Jewish National Fund
forests and archeological
digs while participating in
Hebrew classes and
discussions on modern
Israel.

archeological digs while
participating in Hebrew classes and
discussions on modern Israel. Pre-
teens take part in 'a day camp.
Guided tours to Jerusalem, the
Negev and the Galilee are part of
this month-long program (July 1989).
N.A.A.M. —. The North
American Aliyah Movement — offers
a family travel experience in
summer 1989. The family-oriented
itinerary offers two weeks of
extensive sight-seeing. Participants
stay in five-star hotels and visit
Jerusalem, Massada, Ein Gedi, the
Dead Sea, Tel Aviv, Haifa and the
Galilee. Ulpan experience for
families also is offered by N.A.A.M.

The Jewish National Fund is
mainly in the business of
afforestation and reclaiming the land
of Israel. However, the JNF program
department offers an opportunity for
families with children to live in
Safed, the mystical capital of the
Galilee or Nahariya. Adults work in
JNF forests in the morning and
children age 3-11 spend their
mornings in summer day camp. In
the afternoon, the whole family
takes part in short trips.
Hadassah, the largest Jewish
women's organization, developed its
own family program. It includes 12
days of touring, followed by four
weeks of work and study in
Nahariya with the final three days in
Jerusalem.
Parents with teenagers (12 and
over) who are interested in studying
Hebrew while in Israel may join
Ulpan Akiva in the picturesque
coastal town of Netanya. Together
with other tourists from all over the
world and participating Israelis,
familis live on the ulpan campus or

rent an apartment in Netanya.
Classes take place every morning
and twice a week in the afternoon.
Varied evening activities are
frequently held for the entire family.
Participants can join a 3 1/2-week or
eight-week-long course during the
summer. Courses throughout the
year vary in length.
The Detroit Jewish Welfare
Federation offers missions through
the United Jewish Appeal, a unique
touring opportunity for parents,
grandparents and children to
explore Israel together. Four
separate trips will take place in
1989: in June, July, August and
December. Participants will join with
families from other American
communities. The mission will
include time to explore the beauty
of Jerusalem, take part in activities
that bring together American and
Israeli teens and special programs
for younger children.
Young families (adults up to age
40) who are able to spend a year in
Israel have the opportunity to do so
on a kibbutz. Through the kibbutz
Aliya desk office in New York,
Kibbutz Yahel near Eilat and
Kibbutz Hanaton in the Galilee offer
a combination of ulpan — Hebrew
study — and volunteer work. The
program mainly covers the cost of
airfare. Other costs are met by work
put in by the family.
Some Jewish communities put
together their own family programs.
Detroit is in the process of
developing such a program in
conjunction with the Volunteers for
Israel organization. Particpants will
spend three weeks in the summer
working as volunteers on a kibbutz,
hospital or an army base. Children

Israel is a pleasant and
convenient place for
families with children of
all ages.

will spend their mornings in a
summer camp with Israeli children.
The Denver Jewish Federation
has developed a family program
known as Kesher — connection or
relations. Participants live on a
moshav shitufi — cooperative
village — where they work in
various branches based on their
professional skills. In the afternoons
and weekends they tour the country.
Whether you design your own
trip or go on a family program,
Israel is a pleasant and convenient
place for families with children of all
ages. Additionally, where in the
world would your chldren feel more
at home than in the ancient/new
Jewish homeland?

Yefet Ozery is the community shaliach. He is
based at the Isr4e1 Program Center at the
Maple/Drake Jewish Community Center.

A must see in Israel: The Western Wall, Temple Mount and Dome of the Rock
in Jerusalem's Old City.

Off-The-Beaten-Track Israeli Sites

BY YEFET OZERY
First-time tourists to Israel on a
limited schedule will certainly want
to visit the major focal tourist points
in Israel. However, if your next trip
to Israel is not your first one and
you're going to be there more than
a few days then you may want to
consider staying "off the beaten
track" and visit sites the average
tourist doesn't usually see. You will
get acquainted with the real Israel
by doing so.
To get a sense of the real
heartbeat of Israel, you have to visit
Machane Yehuda Market at the
center of the city. You will find it
difficult to move through the crowd
but you are assured an experience
you wouldn't get anywhere here in
Michigan. Fruit stands on the
sidewalks with a large selection of
fruits, butcher shops with fresh-
killed goats and other kosher
animals dangling upside down on
display, pickle barrels, all these are
just part of the open air market
attractions. The smell, the hustle,
bustle, the merchants very loudly
inviting buyers to come and buy
from them is special for this market.
Customers may bargain at some
stands and stores.
If you have a means of
transportation to travel about 10
miles away from Jerusalem, you can
visit one of the most spectacular
monuments in Israel — the "Scroll
of Fire." Created by Nathan

Rapaport, it stands 30 feet high on
a mountain in the Judean hills.
Shaped in the form of a Torah
scroll, the figures, in relief, describe
the history of the Jewish people,
starting with the first Patriarch
Abraham and ending with the re-
creation of the State of Israel. The
monument and the platform on
which it stands overlook a
spectacular view of the Judean hills
and the coastal plain. On a clear
day, a visitor can see the
Mediterranean sea shore 30 miles
away, and from Ashkelon to Tel Aviv.
A few minutes away from the
"Scroll of Fire," near the town of
Beit Shemesh, hidden in a
mountain slope is a unique natural
phenomenon — stalactites and
stalagmites in Abshalom Cave.
Discovered accidentally in 1948
when a nearby quarry was blasting
rock, the cave offers a spectacular
view of various stalagmites and
stalactites formed in various shapes,
some resembling biblical stories,
while others remind visitors of more
modern sculptures.
Israel is full of sites of this kind
— off the beaten track. To learn
about them, do some research
before your trip or make inquiries in
Israel. On your next trip to Israel,
don't be satisifed with the common
sites. Allow a few days for the
places the average tourist doesn't
get to see.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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