Editor's Notebook

Community Views

An Airport, A Message
And A Journey

Missions To Israel:
Fond Remembrances

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

RABBI DAVID NELSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Jocelyn Frank al-
ready
seemed
homesick this day.
Neal and Chaya
Duchin and their
little children were
leaving for a new
home.
And thousands
of miles away in a
place most had never been before,
238 kids would soon land in the
Jewish homeland.
It was all happening before us
in the Metro Airport Internation-
al Terminal The juxtaposition was
odd. Just an open building with
a coffee shop serving flat pop, a
newsstand hawking magazines
and periodicals about events that
seemed out of place and time, and
a huge picture window overlook-
ing the runway.
Let's get back to Jocelyn. She is
a student at Temple Kol Ami. She
writes poetry and has an intelli-
gent and sensitive mind that a
teacher would love. I know that
because I have taught her at Kol
Ami. On this day, though, when
the kids in the terminal were

But I also remember just four
years ago sitting in the same in-
ternational terminal, having said
goodbye to my family on a Sunday
morning, getting ready to go to Is-
rael for just 10 days. I was home-
sick; I was nervous.
Yes, part of my role in the first
Miracle Mission was to interview
every Jewish Detroiter I could
find. But that's easy. When the
notebook was put away, I want-
ed to do exactly what Jocelyn is
probably doing right now in Is-
rael. I wanted to meet new peo-
ple.
Not 20 feet from where Joce-
lyn sat on the floor of the termi-
nal with three other girls she had
just met, a family was snacking
on some munchies.
They weren't wearing Miracle
Mission T-shirts or name stick-
ers with bus numbers. But the
Duchin family, now formerly of
Oak Park, talked with their
friends, Tzvi and Chana Sherizen,
who came to see the family off.
Neal Duchin was part of many
things Jewish in Detroit. He was
the man behind the video cam-

Some kids brought guitars; some
brought stuffed animals. Some
were plugged into their Walk-
mans; others leafed through pa-
perbacks.
They didn't know it, but the
next day Shaarey Zedek's Asso-
ciate Rabbi Bill Gershon would
lead them in morning services in
a hotel bomb shelter. All the oth-
er conference rooms were booked.
Later in the day, the kids would
dance and sing together on Ben
Yehudah Street in Jerusalem.
But let's not get too far ahead.
We have a month to talk about
what will happen in Israel.
When the kids were told to
board El Al Flight 014, Jocelyn
Frank got up and got in line. She
wasn't alone. You see, there was
a girl named Annie Lefkowitz in
line with her. Annie didn't know
anyone on her bus. Now she knew
Jocelyn.
The Duchins were the last ones
to get on Flight 014. They hugged
their friends and then walked
down the long runway to the
plane.
Now, the scattered few re-

In 1966, I was 27
years old and en-
ergetic. I was
closer to the ages
of the partici-
pants on the
USY On Wheels
trip than I was to
their parents'. I
identified with
the youngsters, with their ex-
citement for a summer of ad-
venture and discovery, with
their eagerness to conquer the
world.
I led many trips: USY on
Wheels across the United States
in 1966 and USY Pilgrimage to
Israel in 1970 and in 1977,
when my family accompanied
the group.
Today, I am at least as old as
the parents of the teen-age -par-
ticipants on Federation's Teen
Mission to Israel. My children
are adults and not participat-
ing in this journey; yet I find
myself packing my bags again,
seeking out my 220-volt con-
verter and dusting off my san-
dals.

to be their teacher.
Hopefully, upon our safe re-
turn, they will feel a bond and
a new comfort level with a rab-
bi, and they will understand
that the synagogue can and
should be a welcoming place for
them.
Over the years, I have heard
from many of the young people
who traveled with me and my
wife. That has been the best re-
ward — to receive regards from
others who crossed paths with

An opportunity to
form lasting
relationships.

these young people from our
past. They have reappeared in
our lives at unexpected mo-
ments, adding a special sense
of connection to another gener-
ation.
We've been introduced to a
spouse met on our trip or to
their children; some have re-

Rabbi Nelson and his family in Israel in 1977.

meeting one another and putting
on their coolest "how ya doin?"
face, Jocelyn wasn't buying it.
She admitted to me that she
had never been away from home
for more than a week. She was
concerned that she could be home-
sick. But she wanted so badly to
meet new people, to reach out.
You've been homesick, haven't
you?
I can remember being so home-
sick that it hurt. That first month
away from home at age 12 at
Camp Moshava. I remember how
it made it worse to see my parents
at the halfway point on visitors
day.

era, and he and his wife A goo dbye hug mainingipeople hanging
were as loved as one fami- betwe en Julie around the gate were
ly could be.
Cohen and her alone.
They were taking the mothe r, Carol.
The people on the
same flight as the Teen
plane — Jocelyn, Annie
Mission. Their children played and the Duchins — they were to-
with balloons, turning their little gether.
section of an airport into a happy
They were on their way home.
playground while the adults qui-
We cry because we miss them.
etly, nervously talked.
We're homesick for them.
There were many scenes to
For the Duchins, it is a new life
take in around the airport. The of aliyah.
chill we all experienced at seeing
For the mission members, the
that El Al jet land at Metro. The experience, in its own personal
kids wandering around, hugging way, will be profound. When the
their friends. Rabbi Efry Spectre teens get back to Detroit —
handing out Reese's Peanut But- well, that's when they'll get home-
ter Cups to everyone in sight. sick. ❑

Have I lost it? Is this a quest
to recapture the days of my
youth? Am I foolish enough to
think that I have the energy of
these teen-agers?
Not at all; yet I look at this
summer with the Federation's
Teen Mission to Israel as an op-
portunity to form lasting rela-
tionships with a new generation
of young Jews who will become
the Jewish leaders of tomorrow.
I hope to use this time to be a
mentor to some, to hear their
ideas, to learn from them and

Davidlelson is rabbi of

Congregation Beth Shalom
and is with the Teen Mission
in Israel.

mained close friends of ours to
this day. Whenever and wher-
ever, it is always gratifying to
make these connections, for
they are the most meaningful
experiences of my career.
Now, with grayer hair, I un-
pack the sandals which I rarely
wear because my orthotics don't
fit in them. I bring a fresh but
older perspective that will hope-
fully lend meaning to the won-
derful summer the Jewish
Federation has planned for our
teen-agers. I look forward to a
renewed vigor, an increased
sensitivity to the concerns of our
young adults and a fresh op-
portunity to teach. ❑