MIRACLE MISSION

Detroiters disembark from one of three El AI jets at Ben-Gurion Airport.

On The Fly

Detroit's
Miracle Mission
had a happy
10 days in
Israel.

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28

Stories by
PHIL JACOBS

Photography by
GLENN TRIEST

W

hen Mission co-
chair Jane Sher-
man approached
the opening cere-
mony microphone and saw a
sea of white Michigan
Miracle Mission hats, she
started to cry.
Those who know Mrs.
Sherman as a tough, get-it-
done person also know she
doesn't cry much, especially
in public, and especially in
front of 1,300 people she was
largely responsible for bring-
ing to Israel and Shimon
Peres, Israel's foreign minis-
ter.
Mrs. Sherman spent the
past nine months in a spe-
cial second-floor Federation
office, with flip charts map-
ping registration, and with a
telephone that almost never
left her ear.
Mrs. Sherman was the or-

ganizing force behind the
Miracle Mission, especially
when it became clear that
the enrollment was going to
be much bigger than the pro-
jected 200-400 people need-

ing one plane.
Instead, the Franklin res-
ident helped arrange for two
more planes and planned the
separate itineraries of 30
busloads of participants.

"It was something that I
was doing day to day," she
said. "There were goals that
had to be reached, and a lot
of work to do. And when you
are in the process, you tend

(

Shimon Peres welcomes the Mission at Modi'in.