Left: Rob and Ilene Klegon are reunited with their son, Doug.

Below: Merrick Goodman gets the big hug from his mom, Denise Goodman.

ith an hour
to kill
before the
El Al flight
from Israel brought their
sons and daughters
home, the parents at
Detroit Metropolitan
Airport fell to speculating
about what their children
would want to do.
Karen and Rick Fink guessed
that daughter, Lindsey, of North
Farmington High, would be
going out for dinner with
\ friends. Howard Kloc said he
/-) and son, Brian, a student at
Bloomfield Hills Roeper, already
had his return day planned out:
"He wants to play hockey with
his brother, and he wants some
form of meat. He said he ate
mostly vegetables in Israel."
Karen Katz knew she'd be dri-
ving son, Steven, of Bloomfield
Hills Andover High School, up
to a Keego Harbor store to stock
up on new comic books.
Little guesswork was neces-
sary, because — thanks to call-
ing cards and collect — most of
the 216 members of the Teen
Mission to Israel hadn't been
exactly shy about picking up the
phone while in Israel. Scott
Goldman, of Walled Lake
Western High School, tracked
down his mom, Barbara, on her
cell phone. "I was going to work
one day and my phone rings and
I thought it was my husband or
my other two sons, and it was
Scott from Israel, like he was
around the corner!" she laughed.
And North Farmington High
School student David Brown
even called his mom, Nancy,
from a factory outlet just to let
her know what he was buying.
Several parents said they were
a little worried about the yet-to-
be -received astronomical phone

bills, but that the fr6quent con-
tact had been well worth it. In
addition to phone bills, the trip,
which was heavily subsidized by
the Jewish Federation. of
Metropolitan DetrOikeost par-
ents $2,995 per teeri':.
When the plane toudied
down Thursday noon, fatnily
members crowded before the
sliding glass arrival doors and on
the balcony above, poised to
welcome their sojourners home.
After a few false starts (the dra-
matic opening of doors revealing
a mere airport employee),_ the
first teens — lookirig a_ little
overwhelmed -- tri.ckled out:
one by one, each greeted by the
applause of the entire terminal.
As the arrival area filled up
with returning teens, one girl
employed her Israel-acquired
skills, yelling "slicha" ."excuse
me" — to peers in her way.
"It was amazing," said
Amanda Putnam, of Garber
High School in Bay City, as she
and friend Zachary Landau of
Andover, looked for their par-:
ents. "I didn't want to come
back."
Her sentiment was shared by
others. Walled Lake Western stu-
dent Megan Rapaport, as she
was walking out with her par-
ents and brother, told them,
"I'm happy to see you all, but I'd
rather be in Israel." 111

.

8/7
1998

Detroit Jewish. News

23

