Israel: On And Off The Tour

fission
orients

Most say it was
a trip they'll
always remember.
Here's why.

STORY BY PHIL JACOBS
PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST

On Friday just prior to Shabbat, the 1,300 Miracle Mission participants
marched as a group from the South Entrance to the Western Wall. (Above)
Anita Haddow and Debbi Rodman, emotional after seeing the Wall, hug
one another. Gail and Sheldon Lutz renewed their wedding vows on the
trip, after 45 years of marriage.

ilda Bloom was sit-
ting on a bench
just a few foot-
steps away from
the Western Wall
in Jerusalem.
Around her, men
in fur hats with
long black coats
hurriedly walked
by, some with .children in tow.
Buses and cars jammed the
entrance to the plaza. It was
almost as if honking horns
would signal in the Sabbath.
Hilda was awaiting the
Sabbath as well. She was also
waiting for the arrival of her
1,300 Michigan Miracle Mission
colleagues. In a few minutes,
they would walk en masse
through the southern entrance
of the Wall, again a sea of white
hats and gray Mission T-shirts.
Once at the Wall, candles would
be lighted and prayers said.
"This is my sixth time here in
Israel," said Mrs. Bloom. "And
it's been exciting. It's different
because so many people from
our neighborhoods back home
are running into each other.
I've heard people say, 'Oh,
you're here, and you're here. I
didn't know you were on the
Mission also."
Ronna and Lawrence Bassin
described it all as magical.
"To walk to the Wall, you feel
so many different emotions,"
said Mr. Bassin. "You feel both
happiness and sadness. It's
almost schizophrenic."
"You're in a foreign country,
but you're not," said Mrs.
Bassin.
That pretty much summed it
up for Terry Ellison of West
Bloomfield as well.
"We spoke different lan-
guages, but we all speak the

same language," said Ms.
Ellison. "It's interesting for me,
being with the people of Israel.
You see the land, you see them
living, and you can't forget that
we're learning a great deal
about our own people here. I
know beyond anything else that
I have to come back again."
Myrna Fischer, who was on
the Mission with her husband
Philip, said she was surprised
by how built up Israel. was.
Many people who
had not been to
Israel in many
years expressed the
same feelings.
Some can remem-
ber flying into Lod
Airport outside Tel
Aviv on dirt run-
ways.
Mr. Fischer said
he was most impressed with the
Russian children he met at an
absorption center. He said the
commitment the youths
expressed toward Israel was
discussed by the children at
length.
Another visitor, Florence
Schrader was equally impressed
with the Mission.
"I don't feel like this is a
vacation," she said. "I feel like
I'm coming home. Thank God
there's a State of Israel. There
is no anti-Semitism to worry
about here. You can feel proud
to be a Jew. there."
"I did a lot of things that I
always read about in Israel and
that I was told about," said
Jerry Lakritz. "Everything was
better than I expected, and I
was proud to be able to be here
on this Mission."
"It wasn't just a trip," said
Virginia Faber. "It was an expe-
rience." El

This is the second in a series of stories chronicled from the recently com-
pleted Michigan Miracle Mission. •