MIRACLE MISSION

to think of the day-to-day in-
stead of what it will look like
when it happens. All I can
say is, when I got to the
Metro terminal and saw all
of the people singing after
Rabbi (Irwin) Groner's
prayer, I was overwhelmed."
Mrs. Sherman was ob-
sessed with the success of the
Mission — she cancelled oth-
er plans to work on it. Now
that the Mission is over, she
said it's going to leave a void
.in her life that at first might
be difficult to fill. She plans
to get back to work as a
board member of the Jewish
Agency for Israel, as chair of
its Rural and Urban
Development Committee.
"I don't want to look at this
as the end. I think we've got
to seriously look at this as
the beginning of something,"

she said. "We surely need to
see this as a way of involving
more people in our
Federation. I think we are
looking at involving 20 to 25
percent of the participants in
Federation who have not
been involved before."

Dividing the
group on 30
buses was the
toughest job.

Federation, she said, will
plan for a reunion and will
keep in touch with partici-
pants. The Agency for Jewish
Education will also be offer-
ing courses to mission par-
ticipants in Hebrew and on

Israel.
She doubts Federation will
plan missions of this size
again because of the logistics
involved. The toughest
Mission job, she said, was de-
ciding on which buses to
place people. She said that
next time, the bus captains
will be asked to recruit par-
ticipants for their buses.
"For me, one of the posi-
tives was a lack of complain-
ing. Everyone was on a high.
I think it can be done easier,
and I am hoping to put to-
gether a book on how it was
accomplished so we can look
at it all and plan again for
the future.
"Yes," she said, "I am sad
that it's all over, but I'm hap-
py with the way it all worked
out."

Mission leader Jane Sherman addressed the crowd.

❑

Pitching Baseball
To The Israelis

house in West
Bloomfield, a BMW in
the driveway and a
successful orthodontic
practice. If that's what hav-
ing it all meant, then Dr. Burt
Faudem wanted something
different, something simpler.
That's why he left it all be-
hind, all of it, and came to
Jerusalem as an oleh. Now,
he's got a nice home and the
orthodontic practice is doing
well. But he also has an in-
tangible that he was lacking
— service to Israel.
There was, however, one
huge part of his life that was
empty, even in the Holy
Land. It was his love for base-
ball. In 1980, while he and a
daughter were playing catch,
he realized just how much he
missed the sport and how
much he wanted it for then
12-year-old Michelle and his
three other children.
With those feelings in
mind, he founded the Israel
Association of Baseball, which
today is the country's largest
youth baseball organization.
The IAB, through Dr.
Faudem's efforts, is sanc-
tioned by Little League
Baseball in Williamsport, Pa,
and is also the governing
body of any Israeli baseball
team that would play against

A

Dr. Burt Faudem helps a youngster with his glove.

international or Olympic com-
petition.
Michelle, by the way, who
played baseball and women's
softball in Israel, is now in
rabbinical school in New
York.
The country-wide IAB pro-
gram involves both boys and
girls in several age groups.
On a cool, spring afternoon in
Jerusalem, there were fast-
balls being thrown from a
crafty young pitcher, and in-
field chatter (largely in
Hebrew), was within earshot
of the world-famous King
David Hotel, where world
leaders have stayed through
the years.
Players slid, tagged, threw
and hit on a makeshift dia-
mond on the YMCA soccer
field, a sight rather incon-
gruous for those who know
the area.
In between the boys and
girls throwing the old cadur
around the infield walks Dr.
Faudem in his regulation
Detroit Tigers warmup jack- C)
et. He helps one youngster C)
with throwing, another with
a batting stance, and still an-
other gets quick advice on po- -J
cc
sitioning.
a_
Dr. Faudem is a guy who
misses the Tigers so tremen-

BASEBALL page 30

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