Dancing Tin Night

Above: Like our ancestors when they came to the
land of Israel, Rita Frurnin of Shaarey Zedek
turns the water wheel at Neot Kudumim.

Left: Shelly Weiss of Shir Shalom gets on her bus at
Ben-Gurion Airport.

Top left: Eugene, Susan and Barbara Zweig of
Shaarey Zedek planted trees in the JNF forest in
Modiin.

10-day trip that will take the group to
a variety of urban and rural sites and
will include a sharp focus on the area
of central Galilee that Detroit Jewry
assists through the Partnership 2000
initiative. The Mission returns to
Detroit April 28.
On behalf of the JNF, Israeli board
member Orit Noked said the tree
garden not only Would commemorate
the fallen soldiers of Israel's wars on
Yom HaZikaron but also Israel's inde-
pendence on Yom HaAtzmaut.
"There is something very special and
symbolic in planting trees close to the
site of Modiim," she said, "close to
the graves
• of the Maccabees, the
b
place where the Maccabees started
their war of independence."
You are a great people coming
over to Israel and planting trees," said
Peres, sporting a blue shirt and tie but
no jacket under warm, gray skies.
"It's so meaningful," he added.
"Each tree is a like a child of ours. It
makes our country greener and makes
our land more hope-filled."
Peres, a Ben-Shemen Agricultural
School graduate, closed his 10-minute
speech by saying how proud he was

"for you to be here — cementing a
bond, a cooperation, as deep as our
history."
Afterward, Penny Blurnenstein,
president of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, which spon-
sored the mission, said planting a tree
in Israel "creates an enduring connec-
tion for Detroiters that can help the
land there grow and prosper for gen-
erations to come."
Adat Shalom Synagogue member
Phil Minkin, who with his wife Edna
will dedicate the Leo and Lilly
Spector Memorial Grove in JNF's
American Independence Park near
Jerusalem in her parents' memory on
April 27, liked what Peres had to say
about helping create woodlands for
the Palestinians.
"We need to bridge the gap, the
animosity, that has existed between us
for centuries, so why not try that
through trees?" asked Minkin, who
dedicated an Israeli grove in his par-
ents' memory a few years ago. "After
all, trees are a symbol of growth and a
signal of hope that, in the end, just
might make life a little better for both
countries." ri

Jaffa, Israel
Detroiters on Michigan Miracle Mission III kicked up their heels in cele-
bration of Yom HaAtzmaut Tuesday night in this historic part of Tel Aviv.
For Andy and Tammy Brenner of Temple Israel, the blue-and-white-
theme.d party at the Loft in Jaffa commemorating Israel's 51st birthday
marked the high point of a day on which they rode an emotional roller
coaster.
In the morning, during Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day, they
unexpectedly encountered Leah Rabin at the historic site of her assassinat-
ed husband, Yitzhak, then prime minister when a rabidly right-wing Jew
opposed to his peace policies shot him at a rally on Nov. 4, 1995.
"We went from tears to rejoicing, from very low to very high," said
Andy who with his wife Tammy, on their first trip to Israel, rode the
young leadership bus.
Robert Aronson, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit executive
vice president, said the dinner party in Jaffa resembled "a giant bar mitz-
vah party, except, in this case, it was like a whole community being on the
dance floor." For Bert Stein, with his wife Marion on their third. Miracle
Mission, was struck by the patriotism on Yom HaAtzmaut. "It's wonderful
being a Jew from Detroit in Israel for this special day," said the B'nai
Moshe congregant.
"Israelis are so upbeat," he added. "I'm a little jealous of their excite-
ment toward their country The only thing missing for us is not having
David Hermelin here. He gets everyone going at these celebrations like no
one else can." Hermelin, one of the Miracle Mission architects, is home in
Bingham Farms recuperating from brain surgery.
You could feel the electricity in the warm breeze blowing in from the
Mediterranean Sea during the nonstop dancing at the Loft, said Rabbi
Stephen Weiss of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
"If this energy level, this enthusiasm, is any indication of what Detroit
Jews might take home with them, then this night will prove to be real
encouraging." 17
.Robert A. Sklar

View

Shimon Peres also addressed
these topics in his address to
mission goers:
• On Israel's population spurt
to more than 6 million resi-
dents — "We now have more
Hebrew-speaking people than
there are Danes in Denmark.
That's been our goal for a
long time."
• On the religious pluralism
question involving conversions
in Israel — "Every rabbi is a
rabbi just like every Jew is a
Jew. If a rabbi decides who is a
Jew, then we the people will
decide who is a rabbi. We're a
democracy, after all."
• On the next 50 years — "I
hope to see a Judaism, and an
Israel, that lives on in the
fiber of our moral heritage
and the resourcefulness of us
as a people."

Former Prime Minister Shimon Peres talks
trees to Detroiters in the Ben-Shernen Forest.

— Robert A. Sklar

4/23
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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