Living We

Tour of

Israeli teens tour
the Holocaust
Memorial Center.

HARRY KIRS BAUM
Staff Writer

Teens

Above: Michal
Kahana, 16, of Migdal
HaEmek and Anna
Kreimerzak, 15, of
Nazareth Ilit, view the
HMC exhibit.

An exhibit wall at the
Holocaust Memorial
Center. •

T

he language of sorrow
proved universal as 44
Israeli teens visited the
Holocaust Memorial
Center in West Bloomfield on April
11.
The group from the central -
Galilee, Michigan's Partnership 2000
sister region, came to metro Detroit
to meet the 277 Reform,
Conservative and:unaffiliated teens
who will tour Israel with them this
summer.
The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and its
Michigan/Israel office sponsored the
get-acquainted mifgash (encounter),
held April 9-16.
David Bitan, group leader from
Migdal HaEmek, said Israeli teens
are taught about the Holocaust and
World War II for one year in 11th
grade.
Many teens either have family
members, or know someone, who
survived the Holocaust.
"It's very sad," said Ma'ayan
Arad, 16, from the Jezreel Valley,
after the one-hour tour. "I'm sensi-
tive about this, and I always cry.
I'm afraid to go to the [Polish con-
centration] camps on the March of
the Living next year." II]

Mit

4/28
2000

118

Left: Docent Gerald Gerger leads the group of Israeli teens through the Holocaust Memorial Center.