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THE JEV ifi gii NEWS

is

leek's To

Stories

A Learning Mission
For The Teen Mission

,Chanukah,
Oh Chanukah!

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Old and young celebrate
the season together.

B

efore 240 Israel-bound area
teens embark on a pivotal
summer journey, they will
launch an educational
voyage spanning 16 weeks of
thought-provoking Jewish learn-
ing.
Beginning next month, all par-
ticipants in the Miracle Mission
for Teens are scheduled to begin
a mandatory 16-week preparato-
ry course spanning an array of
topics, including Jewish identity,
Israeli culture, geography, histo-
ry, politics, Hebrew and religion.
The primary goal of the course
is to establish an educational foun-
dation upon which the June 23-
July 26 Miracle Mission For

weekly, will last for an hour and
is designed to encourage students
to examine their relationship with
Israel. The course will be offered
at Temples Beth El, Emanu-El,
Kol Ami, Israel and Shir Shalom,
Adat Shalom Synagogue and Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek.
Tuesday, during two separate
workshops, a total of 18 rabbis
and educators responsible for
teaching the curriculum became
acquainted with the preparatory-
course guide. Each received a
large binder filled with teaching
materials and lesson plans.
Temple Israel Rabbi Joshua
Bennett said the course materi-
als are among the finest pro-

The U-M Considers
An Israel Exchange

Will the Maize and Blue take part in a swap?

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

highly intelligent species
of animal has been in-
troduced to the central
Galilee region of Israel.
It's called the Wol-
verine.
Last month, nine
University of Michi-
gan professors and administra-
tors traveled to Israel to explore
ways of combining Ann Arbor
course work with studies
abroad.
One result of the trip is a plan
to send U-M business school stu-
dents to the central Galilee to help
scientists, inventors and entre-
preneurs market their products.
A U-M graduate student is
now in the region working on his
doctoral thesis about water con-
tamination. His professor back
in the States, Jonathan Buikley,
considers the overseas experience
a valuable one.
"Moreover, I think all the fac-
ulty on the recent trip see poten-

tial for more involvement," he
says.
The mission, sponsored and
funded by the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, holds sig-
nificance for community leaders
here because they consider it a
step toward redefining the Dias-
pora's relationship with Israel.
It is a trend occurring in Jew-
ish communities all over Amer-
ica. The buzzword has become
"Partnership 2000," a program of
academic, cultural and econom-
ic exchange aimed at modifying
the traditional role of U.S. Jews
as generous benefactors to Israel.
Nationwide, Jewish leaders
say they want to promote alle-
giances to Israel through a shar-
ing — as equal partners — of the
human resources in both coun-
tries.
Getting universities involved
is one way to accomplish this,
they .believe.
With possibilities of Middle

East peace and Israel's econom-
ic progress, 29-year-old Brian
Tauber considers it high time for
members of his generation to
reach out to the Promised Land
with more than their pocket-
books.
"Certainly from my perspec-
tive, being that of a younger gen-
eration, the U-M trip is very
important. It gives people a tan-
gible and immediate example of
the relevance Israel has to our
community," he says.
During the week-long mission,
Mr. Tauber — with other mem-
bers of the Partnership 2000
steering committee — accompa-
nied the U-M representatives to
schools, industrial sites and oth-
er places in Michigan's "sister"
cities: Nazareth Illit, Migdal
HaEmek and Emek Yisrael. (All
three are located in the central
Galilee.)
Professor Joseph White, dean
ISRAEL EXCHANGE page 10

Two hundred forty Detroit teens will descend upon Israel.

Teens will be built.
The mission behind the teen
mission, according to its chair-
person Jane Sherman, is no dif-
ferent than its adult predecessors,
Miracle Missions I and II.
"The idea is to create a Jewish
identity, foster a love of the peo-
ple and show the importance of
Israel. There is no better way to
accomplish this than by going to
Israel," Ms. Sherman said.
`The pre-program," said Robert
Nosanchuk, "is about getting
teens to wrestle with their own
Jewish identity and the connec-
tion between their community
and Israel." Mr. Nosanchuk is
teen mission educational coordi-
nator with the Agency for Jewish
Education.
Each learning session, held

gramming he has seen because of
the diversity of focus and incor-
poration of a formal and informal
teaching style. The foundation of
the curriculum is based on the
first unit, a section on Jewish iden-
tity. Mr. Nosanchuk said this in-
troductory unit forces teens to
define themselves and look at how
their Israeli counterparts see
themselves.
One exercise, called take a
stand, asks the teens to describe
themselves by standing in corners
labeled with various headings,
Jew, American, Citizen of the
World or Zionist, and discussing
their choice.
Another unit, the society and
culture section, places emphasis
on understanding the people of Is-

TEEN MISSION page 10