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Border Crossings

Local students are preparing for an emotional and
educational experience in the lands of their
ancestors.

JULIE EDGAR STAFF WRITER

M

ichael Simon could be a
poster child for Jewish
federations around the
country that are biting
their collective nails over indif-
ference to Israel and Judaism
among younger Jews.
Michael thought very little of
Israel, much less his Jewishness,
until he participated in last sum-
mer's Federation-sponsored Teen
Miracle Mission to Israel. Today,
he's an aspiring vice president for
the North American Federation
of Temple Youth and the reli-
gious and cultural vice president
at Temple Beth El.
And, perhaps most telling
about his newfound identity, he's
taking off two crucial weeks from
school to participate in Detroit's
first Teen Unity Mission to
Poland and Israel.
Michael, a Birmingham Sea-
holm High School sophomore, is
one of 60 teen-agers who will par-
ticipate in the Federation-spon-

sored mission, which will incor-
porate elements of the interna-
tional March of the Living
program. The journey will take
the group through the death
camps and old Jewish sites in
Poland and the Holocaust memo-
rials and other historical sites of
Israel from April 30 to May 14.
His parents, he says, were
against him leaving school before
semester's end — until they saw
a videotape made by a Canadian
delegation that participated in a
previous March of the Living pro-
gram.
"Then they gave me full back-
ing. They thought my teachers
would definitely understand,"
Michael says.
Although Michael has scant
connection to Poland — his
grandparents were born in the
United States — it has become
essential for him to see for him-
self both the former breadth of
Jewish life there and the devas-

tation the Nazis wrought on the and heritage," Amy says. She
Jewish community.
plans to keep a journal and take
"The main reason I wanted to plenty of photographs.
go is to see these things firsthand.
The group will travel with
You get taught a lot in Sunday Agency for Jewish Education
school and public school about (AJE) Executive Director Howard
what happened, but numbers are Gelberd, Rabbi Steven Weil of
really hard to conceptualize," he Young Israel of Oak Park, Rabbi
says.
Leonardo Bitran of Shaarey
Amy Flatt, an Akiva High Zedek B'nai Israel Center and
School junior, is
PHOTO BY DANIEL LIPPITT Rabbi Paul Yed-
among the 20 or so
wab of Temple
students in her
Israel. Universi-
class also cutting
ty of Michigan
short their school
history professor
year for the expe-
Zvi Gitelman will
rience.
continue his pre-
"All of my class
mission lecture
except for three
series for the stu-
people are going,
dents in Poland
so I'm not missing
and Israel.
anything," Amy
The lectures,
says.
Mr. Simon says,
She's been to Is-
have been fasci-
rae111 times as an
nating. This
"insider" — she's
week, Professor
got lots of family to
Gitelman talked
visit — but never
about the evolu-
as a tourist. Trav-
tion ofJewish cul-
eling with an orga- Seaholm High School sophomore
ture in Poland.
nized group of Michael Simon
Sixty pages of
peers excites her.
reading is re-
So does the prospect of getting quired of the students before each
closer to her European roots. Her of the six lectures.
grandparents emigrated to the
"He's a really good guy and a
United States from Poland, Rus- good teacher," Mr. Simon says.
sia and Hungary .
"It's interesting to see the differ-
"I'm excited to go to Poland and ence in knowledge between those
learn about my family history of us who go to public school and

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those who go to Akiva. While I
have a basic knowledge of He-
brew, they're able to pick up on
it [easily]. While I thought I was
learned in Jewish history, I feel
like an idiot, essentially."
An essential part of the Teen
Unity Mission, in fact, is bring-
ing together Jews who otherwise
would not have much contact
with each other.
`This is the first time we're see-
ing Reform, Conservative and Or-
thodox kids in one group," the
AJE's Mr. Gelberd says.
During the first week, partic-
ipants will meet day-school stu-
dents in Warsaw and a
government minister and may
spend part of a day cleaning up
the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw.
As they make their way from
Auschwitz to Birkenau on the ac-
tual March of the Living, they
will meet up with counterparts
from 40 other countries. And,
they'll continue to study with Pro-
fessor Gitelman. The group will
tour the Majdanek death camp
and the city of Krakow.
In Israel, the students will stop
at the Yad Vashem Holocaust
museum and tour Tel Aviv and
other sites. They'll also meet up
with a group of Russian young-
sters in the Central Galilee, the
Jewish Federation of Metropoli-
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