ear during college. She was there when
odi Berger
Jodi lived in Israel foray
a ssassinated.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was
night
w alking
"I went to the Knesset the
remember , singing
around the grounds and seeing groups of
youth holding
group candles.
kids
group,
youth
songs
that
I sang
I was the
in funeral with Israelis at Hebrew Universi-
"The
next
day when
I watched
Y
alked out, going back to my
dorm;
I looked
at the there
sk, are
serene
sunset.
The up
sunsets
co mt?ination
ty. And I w
beautifu l and
and
there
was
the
most
cross
the
sky.
A serene
magnificent, but this sunset — imagine a paintbrush
a with a
hites,
just
slashed
w
f reds, purples, oranges and
o nding to an intense 48 hours. Everywhere around the country, you
e could hear a pin drop. For those two minutes, there was peace in Israel."

(Clockwise, from front left): Michelle Cohen, Donna
Traub, Jill Silver, Terri (Rosen) Trepeck, Nancy Singer,
Jon Berlin, Steve Ruzumna, Eli Saulson and Sandy
Rockind.

Kari Grosinger:

I hiked from the
Jodi Berger:
Mediterranean Sea to the
Kineret. It took three days. The
pring is
north in Israel in the s
magnificent; everywhere you go,
there are wildflowers, every vari-
I
ety and every color. Every step
took, I saw different flowers, dif-
ferent colors. It was so peaceful
and gorgeous.

Michelle Cohen plants a tree in Israel.

Eli Saulson;
"The most special
thing was a sense of
pride and the sense
of belongin g . And
also a sense of want-
ing to share that
with other people
my age in Detroit —
that's pretty much
what led m e to
accept the challenge
to lead a singles mis-
sion [in 1997] and
also to get more
involved in recruit-
ing for the next sin-
gles mission."

"Danny Sampson and I were staffing the Unity Mission last year, and we
were the last people getting on our plane from Pol
to we
Israel,
through the airport, collecting passports, collecting and
kids,
were running
so afraid
[because] I only had 59 passports, didn't know who
the plane, buckled our seatbelts, and
as the planee was missing. We get on
whole plane started cin
started to take ove
ry
g
and
singing
becau
ff, the
and we were leaving behind all
we wer e free to lea
Poland,
"It was unbelievably emotio the people who weren't free."
nal that this whole plane was
filled in with
Jewish
teens from all over the world, and they didn't have any language
commo
except for Hebrew, and they all knew the same songs."
n

Signing Up Singles

79001•61

Lee Trepeck and Eric Bronstein,
in front of the Kotel.

The annual UJA
singles mission
takes Jewish
young adults
to Israel with
peers from home.

5/1
1998

114

I

t happens every year.
The way it works: You can
room with a friend or go solo, as
past participants swear that you
make dozens of new friends on the trip.
There's usually at least one busload of
Detroiters who tour together.
Important info: This year's mission
(ages 25-40) departs from Newark air-
port on July 8 and returns July 19. Cost
is $1,999, which includes a $500 sub-
sidy from the Jewish Federation of Met-
ropolitan Detroit. Participants are
encouraged to contribute a recommend-
ed donation of $500 to the UJA cam-
paign. Airfare to Newark is not includ-
ed. Lisa Barson and Lee Trepeck are the
Detroit co-chairs. For information, call
Kari Grosinger or June Reed, (248)
642-4260.
Here, Lisa and Lee talk about why
they can't wait to lead a singles mission.

"One thing that really stands out is our
tour guide, Yossi," says Lee, 30. "We are
so fortunate to have Yossi return as the
voice of the trip. He told so many enter-
taining stories, and he truly put the land

learn, listen, enjoy and socialize. And to
in a unique perspective. He would
be with people who are in the approxi-
depict certain historical sites, explain the
mate range of your age. It's almost like
background of the site, provide us with
summer camp in Israel."
so much information that would make
the stops more enjoyable and insightful.
Lisa Barson, 29, had been to
"This trip, this mission, is really
Israel before, so she was
the perfect balance of educa-
admittedly reluctant to
tional and social interac-
return on a tour. "I'd
tion," he says. For Lee, the
been to Masada, I'd
best part is the new
been to the Dead Sea;
friendships.
[I thought] if I go
"To know that you've
back,
I want to see
come back home from so
places
that had more
far away and met so
meaning
to me, not
many interesting people
the
regular
tourist
that live in your own back-
places.
yard was a bonus," he says.
"But it wasn't like
"Everything else is left
that
at all. For people
with
Ehud
Lisa
Barson
poses
in Israel, but the friends
of
Jerusalem.
who
are seeing it for
Olmert,
the
mayor
return and through the
the
first
time, as well
new friendships, you
as people who've been there before, you
constantly relive that amazing experi-
get a different feel, because you're with
ence.
one guide, and he has all these personal
Lee visited Israel last summer for the
stories. And you're seeing it with this
first time, on the singles mission. He
group of people that you suddenly
went "with the highest of expectations."
become so close to. It was like seeing it
And he wasn't disappointed.
with
new eyes again."
"The participants' job is merely to