People To People

Missions On, Missions Off

Some trips to Israel are postponed, while others take place as planned.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

A

fter extensive planning, participants
signed on for the Odyssey 2000
Leadership Development program had
hoped to be in Israel this week, but
instead remain at home.'
"We made the decision in the heat of the crisis,"
says Andrew Echt, assistant campaign director for
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Annual
Campaign. "Given the fact that some in the group
have never been to Israel before, we want to
reschedule for a time when they can
get the most out of the experience,"
probably in the spring, he says. At this
time, some areas in Israel may be
restricted to visitors.
An end-of-November Jewish
Community Council trip for Michigan
dignitaries also was postponed because
of travel restrictions.

home Nov. 9, after joining a United Jewish
Communities-sponsored solidarity mission. (See
Cover Story on page 6.)

Future Plans

Missions and trips scheduled for the spring and
summer remain on schedule, including a March of
the LivingTeen Unity Mission trip. Applications still
are being accepted for this international program
that brings Jewish teens to Poland on Yom Hashoah
(Holocaust Memorial Day), then to Israel on Yom
Hazikaron (Israel Memorial Day), says Trudy Weiss,
missions coordinator for the Federation's

Participants who
attended the
dedication of the
Davidson Institute
for Science
Education on the
campus of the
Weizmann Institute
in Rehovot visit the
Israel Museum in
Jerusalem:
Daphna Ruby,
Sydney Ruby,
Eric Borman,
Jordan Orley,
Sally Orley,
Graham Orley,
Rudolph Newman,
Ann Newman,
unidentified,
Bernard Hartman,
Marlene Borman
and Paul Borman.

Still Traveling

Not all trips to Israel involve travel
changes. "We already have our flights
scheduled and are ready to go," says
Tanya Mazor-Posner, Federation's
Partnership 2000 director, who expects
to participate in a group trip next month.
Prepared to leave Detroit Dec. 3, she
will travel with 12 steering-committee
members to the central Galilee region
of Israel, a trip they take twice a year.
"The steering committee goes there to
collaborate with Israeli counterparts on
projects developing mutually for both
communities," she says.
Although participants on the three-
day trip have been to the region before,
general reservations and concerns about
safety surfaced at a recent meeting.
"Nora Barron, chair of the steering
committee with Douglas Bloom, talked to the
group," says Mazor-Posner. "She said when you have
family members who are not living in your commu-
nity, you pick yourself up and visit them and show
support for them."
Twenty members of the Detroit Jewish communi-
ty traveled to Israel last month for the dedication of
the Davidson Institute for Science Education on the
campus of the Weizmann Institute of Science in
Rehovot. A group of Detroiters also attended an
Oct. 22 dedication of the David B. Hermelin ORT
College of Engineering in Netanya, Israel.
Two representatives of Federation returned

daily visits with Israelis. (See realted story on page 11).
Birthright Israel, an outreach program targeting
Jewish young adults, has trips scheduled to include
Detroit-area participants in both December and
January. The free 10-day trip, including airfare, is a
program open to Jews of post-high school age, who
have never been to Israel on a peer-group education-
al program.
"We are in a holding pattern," says Temple Israel
Rabbi Harold Loss, concerning the family mission
he hopes to lead in December. "We are watching the
situation. There is great excitement about travel to
Israel in our congregation, but there has been no

Michigan/Israel Connection, which handles the mis-
sion locally. The trip is scheduled to leave April 16.
Any changes will be made by the March of the
Living organization.
The Federation Young Adult Division's Israel
Adventure 2001, for those from post-college to age`
35, is scheduled for July 1-11. Eighteen participants
already have registered for the trip.
Recruitment also continues for the Jan. 14-19
Michigan Unity Mission to Israel, sponsored by
Federation and the Jewish News. The trip includes
travel to Michigan's Partnership 2000 region and

decision made yet regarding this or the [temple's]
May adult mission, which is filled."
Some of those who had originally planned to join
the family mission next month have postponed their
trips, leaving 70 on the roster currently.
"As much as we are concerned about whether or
not we will travel to Israel, my greater concern is
what is going on there," says Rabbi Loss. "Tourism
and support for Israel are important. But we are all
watching. Our own travel plans are not the central
issue. The struggle for peace is."

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