Greetings From Oslo
Jerusalem
U.S Ambassador to Norway David
Hermelin, back in Oslo following brain cancer
surgery in January, sent Kabbalat Shabbat greet-
ings to Michigan Miracle Mission III participants.
In a moving message read by Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit President
Penny Blumenstein at Kabbalat Shabbat services,
Hermelin, who helped conceive the notion of a
communitywide trip to Israel in 1993, said:
"Nothing but the impossible would have kept
me from being there with all of you, but my heart
is in Israel. I'm on every bus — sitting with each
of you, telling you where to shop, passing out
salamis. Remember, you each have aisle seat on
the way home and you get an extra 50 percent off
in the stores."
—Robert A. Sklar
Party
For
Jews has changed. I feel lucky after seeing how much
had been taken away from our people.
After touching the Wall, Annette Gajda, 17, of
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, thought about her
grandparents — all four are Shoah survivors. "I appre-
ciate being Jewish more than I ever have," she said.
During the 10-day Miracle Mission, Detroiters
encountered virtually no sign of the religious ten-
sions between Orthodox and other Jews that have
made headlines in Israel and the United States.
Seeing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform
teenagers pray alongside each other, if not together,
proved spiritually uplifting for Temple Beth El
President Marion Freedman. "It brings forth hope in
my heart for the future of our people," she said.
Miracle Mission goer Carolyn Levin said the
Kabbalat Shabbat experience in Jerusalem "is unlike
any feeling I've ever had in Michigan.
"I can't put my feelings into words," the Shir
Shalom member said, but I can say those feelings
didn't hit me until I got here." Fl
"
Partners
A kibbutz in Central Galilee
shows Miracle Mission
tourists the everyday,
informal facts of Israeli life.
DAVID JOSEPH
Special to the Jewish News
Above: At the Loft in Old City fa a, Mission
participants Bert and Marion Stein of Congregation
B'nai Moshe celebrate Israel Independence Day.
Robert Stoler of Congregation Shaarey Zedek prays at
the Western Wall during Kabbalat Shabbat.
Top left: Detroit Federation President Penny
Blumenstein is held aloft while celebrating
Independence Day.
Top right: Detroiters Stan Moretsky and Sandy Lax
get married on the banks of the Sea of Galilee as
members of the Mission cheer them on. Rabbi David
Nelson of Congregation Beth Shalom officiated.
Kibbutz Ein Dor, Israel
n the belief that ordinary Israelis and their
American counterparts have a great deal more
in common than either side realizes, 500 of
the former and 610 of the latter got together
April 21 for an afternoon celebration that affirmed
that belief.
The party itself was wholly organized by the
Israeli volunteer committee of Partnership 2000, a
still-developing alliance that links Israeli and
American Jewish communities for cultural, educa-
tion and economic interchanges. The event at
Kibbutz Ein Dor, falling on Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel
Independence Day, was an attempt to make every-
day Israel and everyday Israelis a vivid reality for
the 610 members of the third Michigan Miracle
Mission.
When Mission participants arrived in Ein Dor,
they were matched with local families for tours of
the kibbutz, singing and dancing, arts and crafts, an
Israeli-style barbecue and endless conversations that
discovered mutual interests and enthusiasms.
"When American groups come to Israel, the
only Israelis they ever talk to are their tour guide
and their bus driver," said Yair Hammer, head of
PARTY on page 32
4/30
1999
Detroit Jewish News
29