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FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1989
I
$360 Tour Of Israel
Offered Detroit Teens
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
A
visit to Israel for
an extraordinarily
low $360 per person is
being offered a select group of
Detroit-area Jewish
teenagers this spring by the
National Conference of
Synagogue Youth (NCSY).
Such tours often cost $1,000
or more per person.
The only requirement for
this tour is that participants
be either public or private
high school students in
grades 9-12, according to Rab-
bi Mark Cohn, NSCY Central
East Region director.
The 10-day spring-break
tour, entitled "The Jerusalem
Experience", will leave
Detroit on Sunday, March 26,
and return Tuesday, April 4.
The $360 includes roundtrip
airfare, insurance, lodging,
meals and all touring.
Rabbi Cohn said the pro-
gram will include extensive
touring of Jerusalem, with
full-day trips to Masada and
Ein Gedi and seminars by
Israeli experts.
"We are looking for the 20
finest kids in the Detroit area
— thoughtful, sensitive, well-
rounded Jewish kids who are
interested in learning more
about their Jewish heritage,"
said Rabbi Cohn.
"We don't care whether
they are Orthodox, Tradi-
tional, Conservative,
Reconstructionist or Reform
Jews — or none of the above,"
he said. "We want to provide
the kids with an intelligent
option to their quest for a
Jewish identity"
The majority of teenagers
who have participated in this
tour in other parts of the
United States are not Or-
thodox Jews, he said.
The other areas from which
the tour has originated are
New York, Boston, Miami,
New Jersey, Baltimore, Tbron-
to and Montreal.
"In each of the cities in
which, we've announced this
tour, we have gotten 250 to
300 calls from teenagers and
parents, many of them not af-
filiated with synagogues,
some not even members of
Jewish community centers,"
said Rabbi Cohn.
Those applying for a spot on
the roundtrip visit to the
Jewish state will be subject to
an elaborate screening to
determine the tour members.
"We're trying to put
together a very homogeneous
group that will complement
each other" because of the
limited time the youngsters
will be together, the rabbi
said.
He said "The Jerusalem
Experience" is part of
NCSY's outreach program to
Jewish teens, to identify
youngsters who might benefit
from NCSY programs.
"The biggest problem we
have is identifying these
kids," the rabbi said, "so we
are giving them an incentive
to identify themselves.
"We're doing it for the first
time in Detroit to see how it
works," he said. Other tours
will be announced later in
other parts of the region,
which includes Michigan,
Ohio, western Pennyslvania,
eastern Indiana and Ken-
tucky. The tour is sponsored
by the Kesser Torah Central
East Region and the national
office of the NCSY in conjunc-
tion with the American
Zionist Youth Foundation.
Rabbi Cohn said a grant from
an anonymous donor will sub-
sidize the tour, which costs
about $30,000. Rabbi Cohn
will travel with the group to
Israel.
$24.4 Million
For 1988
More than $24.4 million in
cash was collected by the
Allied Jewish Campaign in
1988, an increase of more
than $2 million over last year.
The United Jewish Appeal,
which receives a monthly
cash allocation from Detroit,
has collected a total of $357.8
million from across the U.S. in
calendar year 1988.
YAD Group
Hears Hermelin
Jewish Welfare Federation
Young Adult Division con-
tributors of $100 or more will
hear communal leader David
B. Hermelin at a reception on
behalf of the 1989 Allied
Jewish Campaign Feb. 21, at
the Skyline Club.
Set for 7:30 p.m., the even-
ing includes hors d'oeuvres
and dessert.
Hermelin is a past chair-
man of the Allied Jewish
Campaign and currently
serves as its major gifts chair-
man. He is a Federation vice
president.
There is a charge for the
evening, along with a
minimum 1989 Allied Jewish
Campaign pledge of $100. For
reservations, call Ken Mint-
zer at Federation, 965-3939.