Fami ly contents Israel With Mishpacha Family vacations are among the many ways of appreciating the country. 4 LISA BRODY SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS restaurants that have been tested. In 10 days, you see the country with a red- carpet treatment." UJA sponsors five family missions a year, four during the summer months and one during win- ter school vacation. The family mis- sions are terrific for bar and bat mitzvah children, and their trip is free if it is tak- en during the year a boy is 13 and a girl is 12 or 13. Many other orga- nizations, such as Hadassah Travel B'not mitzvah are popular on family missi ons. and Israel Discovery Tours Inc., also t's a given. Parents worry sponsor family trips to Israel. about their children. Are Travel agents can arrange trips they eating right? Are they with private guides. hanging out with acceptable friends? How are they doing in school? And often, are they gain- ing a Jewish identity? For many parents, a way to ce- ment the last question is by tak- ing a family trip to Israel, or by sending their high-schooler on a — Susan Langnas teen trip to Israel. "Do not teach them about Masada, take them to Masada," "Bar mitzvah age is really says Susan Langnas, in charge great because the kids have of next summer's Miracle Mission learned a lot," says Susie Harold. for Teens. "A real benefit of a family mis- "Anything Jewish that be- sion is being with the family comes a warm memory is won- while the kids are also with oth- derful, but nothing is as special er kids," says Linda Aviv of Birm- to a Jewish child as experiencing ingham, who went on a UJA Israel, and visiting Jerusalem Family Mission last June with and having Shabbat there," says her daughter, Stephanie Etkin, Susie Harold of Bloomfield Hills, 13, husband, Joe, and his daugh- who with her husband, Dr. David ters, Sari, 16, and Rachel, 13. Harold, led a national United While she felt some of the chil- Jewish Appeal family mission in dren's activities were too juvenile, 1989. Traveling with them were the girls felt a connection to their their children, Danny, Stacy and Jewish roots. Jessica. "If memories help create "A defining experience for our us," Ms. Harold says, "then won- family was a tour of Jerusalem derful, strong Judaism can stay with a private guide," says Ms. with us." Aviv. "We saw an excavation in Leonard Milstone of UJA Fam- the Old City, and the guide con- ily Missions says everything is nected what the girls had learned done for its participants. for years in Hebrew school to the "You get your itinerary, show physical reality of it." up at air-conditioned buses with Dr. David and Ann Rosenberg guides who are exceptional, stay of West Bloomfield have twice in excellent hotels and eat in traveled to Israel with their fam- I . "Do not teach them about Masada, take them to Masada." ily, once on a mini-family mission and once with a private guide. "Each. time, my children got the pride in being Jewish, the connection to the State of Israel, and a feeling of Jewish and reli- gious continuity," Ms. Rosenberg says. "They had the feeling of re- living and rewalking history." UJA missions caution that children under 7 will not get much out of the trip, and the rig- orous schedule may be too de- manding. - Ms. Rosenberg, who has four children, left her youngest (at ages 1 and 4) home each trip. Son Kevan, who was recently bar mitzvah, was only 7 1/2 when they first visited Israel, and she had great worries about whether it would be worth it. "I chose to take him to connect hini with Judaism," she says. "At the end of the trip, I realized that everything we had seen and done he had understood from his He- brew at Hillel Day School." Jessica Harold was only 5 when the Harolds led their fam- ily mission, and her mother does not feel she retained much. "It was more of a-family vacation for her," said Ms. Harold. Sari Aviv stayed on in Israel last summer after her family's mission ended. She toured with Israeli Sports Challenge by YMiYWHA of Bergen County, N.J., playing tennis. "It gave a great flavor of Israeli life," said Sari. And Sari felt that traveling with her peers was a great way to meet "really cool Jewish friends." After her bat mitzvah, Sari and-her father, Joe, a native Is- raeli, traveled the country. . For Sari, each trip provided something special, as well as a desire to go back. "Next time, I'd like to go back to stay for a few months, or even a year abroad," she says. U For information about UJA Family Missions, contact Leonard Milstone at (810) 642- 4260, Ext. 250; Israel Discovery - Tours Inc., Ilene Wallerstein, (800) 362-8882; Hadassah Tours, (800) 363-2373. Kiddie Deco Tips for decorating children's rooms and styles they won't outgrow. Getting cozy in the Fischgrund house. First Day, First Time 8 Looking at the beginning of overnight camp through the eyes of a first-time - camper. 10 Teens Take The Road Teen-age driver Neal Hafner and his mother Ilene . 1 How parents survive the stress of young drivers behind the wheel. ,‘ A Camp for Jews, Or A Jewish Camp 18 Knowing what to expect from a summer camp. Winter Blahs Boredom busters for the deep freeze of a Michigan winter. Parents On Vacation With the kids at camp, some parents opt for a getaway.