siness

Aboard Bus 5, a
Miracle reunion took
place.

Bus 11 tour guide
Menachem Wertheim
studied theater and Yiddish.

monitored by the Ministry of Tourism,
which receives feedback on them from
different sources: contractors, individual
tourists and undercover inspectors.
Tsion Ben-David is director of Israel's
Midwest American tourist office, based
in Chicago. He has worked as a guide and
an inspector. In the second role he often
posed as a tourist, unassumingly joining
groups to spy. He would eavesdrop on
guides' lectures and double-check their
decorum.
The government allows guides free
reign. No one scripts their schticks. But,
for the most part, guides steer clear of hot
political and religious topics unless they
are talking one-on-one with a tourist
who's interested in a certain issue.
In the past, Mr. Ben-David, when work-
ing undercover, would ensure that guides
were not soliciting tips from tourists. But
restrictions on tip-taking have since
changed. Along with passing a 7 percent
cost-of-living increase, the government is
loosening up on its gratuity prohibition.
"Tour guides are working harder and
harder. Every day we've got more dis-
coveries and the guides must learn about
them. More tourists are coming to Israel
and there are more and more demands,"
Mr. Ben-David says.
A tour guide's repertoire of facts and
figures must span from pre-biblical times
guides to speak, at the very least, Hebrew to the present, from Judaism, to Christian-
and English. It is preferable to achieve flu- ity, to Islam and other religions, too. In ad-
ency in many other languages, and some dition to knowing the who-what-where-
guides, like Eliezer Ayalon, who traveled with when-why and how of a site like Masada,
a tour guide must find a way of clicking with
the Michigan Miracle Mission, know six.
Tour guides also must take intelligence each audience. Rich or poor. Jewish or gen-
tests, psychological exams and a seminar on tile. Old or young. Every group differs.
So, whether through a song, joke or an
table manners. The latter prepares them to
anecdote,
the trick is to embellish each mo-
wine and dine with dignitaries.
Once licensed, guides update themselves ment and custom-tailor each lecture.
The goal: To make Israel jump out of a
yearly with mandatory, daylong refresher
tour book and come alive.
courses.
"What is more important than the data
The pay? It makes for a good living.
Guides are private freelancers working on is your ability to communicate with the peo-
a contractual basis with different tour ple," Mr. Wertheim says. "The things you
groups. Fees are regulated by the state, say from the heart penetrate into the hearts
which has legislated the following income of people listening to you. I believe every Jew
is connected to Israel and every Jew will feel
scale:
For groups of up to four people: $265 a that connection. Sometimes all you have
to do is wipe away a little rust."
day.
At least two busloads on metro Detroit's
For groups of up to seven people: $300 a
day.
• 10-day Miracle Mission last month com-
For groups of up to 11 people: $355 a 4 plained that their tour guides were wax-
ing long-winded at Masada, where hundreds
day.
Mileage also determines earnings. A day's of Jews killed themselves to avoid capture
journey that exceeds 200 kilometers merits and conversion by the Romans in 72 C.E.
By the end of the tour, however, members
more money. Overtime is considered any-
thing beyond a daily 10 hours, and guides of both groups were crying.
Implicit in their guides' mountain-top
receive extra pay if their groups venture
away from home base, generally Jerusalem speeches, which carried themes of freedom,
was the message that sacrifice continues to-
or Tel Aviv.
The job market for tour guides is cutthroat day among Jews who die fighting to _preserve
competitive, and many aspirants fail the their religion and homeland.
HAND page 38
training course. Once licensed, guides are

he Back
heir Hand

Israeli tour
guides make
it their business
to know the land,
inch-by-inch.

RUTH LITTMANN

STAFF WRITER

1

n modern times, the Promised Land
has come to tout a glamorous cadre
of singers, film stars and models.
But for the majority of American
travelers, the best-known among
Israel's celebrities are its tour
guides.
They are the men and women —
often called walking encyclopedias — who
proiiide tourists with an inch-by-inch ac-
count of the nation, its history, geography
and ethnically diverse population.
Regulated by the Ministry of Tourism, the
profession carries prestige for being high-
profile and highly pivotal to the country's
long-term welfare. It's through the words
and attitudes of their guides that many
tourists, especially first-timers to Israel, form
opinions about the land.
"For the people on the bus, you are the
State of Israel in many, many ways," says
Menachem Wertheim, a tour guide who
traveled with metro Detroiters on the recent
Michigan Miracle Mission. "Each guide is
not only representing himself, but also the
entire nation."
There are 2,000 licensed tour guides work-
ing in Israel today. All have completed a rig-
orous, two-year training course offered
through the government. Classes include
lessons on history, geography, geology, arche-
ology, zoology — anything that ends with
an "ology," Mr. Wertheim says.
The government also requires aspiring

