ROBERT A. SKLAR
Editor

O

CS'

Jerusalem

0

"God is within us. We've just got to take
the time to listen," said Sally Ginn of
Temple Shir Shalom, waiting eagerly for
start of Kabbalat Shabbat on the Haas
Promenade overlooking the Old City. <
Jerusalem provided the holiest of back
drops for an outpouring of spirituality
among members of Michigan Miracle
Mission III. After welcoming in Shabbat April 23, the

blue-and white, T-shirted tourists headed to the Western W

That partial mount of the Second Temple goes back 2,000 r

Susan Kau an of Temple Beth El pays
respect to Israel's fallen soldiers at the
Wall of Remembrance at Latrun, now
a memorial but in 1948 the site of fierce
fighting during the War . ofindependence.

4/30
1999

28 Detroit Jewish News

"We've got to look into ourselves," said Ginn, who was o
her first trip to Israel. "I work at that back home, but it's a n
powerful sensation on the spot where Jewish history began."
Returning to Israel for the seventh time, Linda Blumberg
something similar. "You go to synagogue and talk about
Yerushalyim," the Young Israel of Southfield member said, "
when you actually come here, it makes the continuity of t
Jewish people very real. It creates a sense of awe."
Kabbalat Shabbat was not the only emotionally uplifting
experience for mission goers. The Yom Hazikaron observanc
Latrun in memory of Israel's fallen soldiers and the visit to Y
Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem, alsd
moved many to tears.
But it was Kabbalat Shabbat that aroused the deepest sens
of spirituality.
"Coming to Israel challenges how I fit in," said Paul
Silverman, who with wife Jenn co-captained the Young
Leadership bus. Both had been to Israel before.
For Jenn Silverman, the granddaughter of four Shoah sur-
vivors, visiting Israel is "a constant reminder of how my fami
suffered and struggled.
"I'm always emotional coming here, realizing how Fortuna
am to have family and health," she said. "It's why I pray so fc
peace.
While touring the ruins of the Second Temple, Congregat
Beth Shalom Rabbi David Nelson said he was experiencing
incredible feeling that makes me understand the teachings of
the Talmud.
"The Talmud teaches that the very air of Eretz Yisroel mal
one wise," said Nelson, who has been on all three Michigan
Miracle Missions and both Detroit Teen Missions to Israel.
"Well, the air here has invigorated me spiritually. It has
enriched me and allowed me to experience Israel in a way the
the Talmud would appreciate."
Shabbat united the 43 teenagers on the Detroit Unity
Mission/International March of the Living with the 610 ad iii
on the Michigan Miracle Mission.
Standing amid fervently Orthodox Jews of all ages as well ,
a diverse group of Jewish tourists, Amanda Plisner, 15, of
Temple Beth El, said she was struck by how passionately the
Western Wall stirred Jews of all streams.
"Especially after just coming from Poland where we saw cc
centration camps," she said, "I can say my outlook toward oti