Grunt
Work For
A Cause

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Michigan college students
spend two weeks on an Israeli
army base, volunteering their
bodies and souls.

DON COHEN

Special to the Jewish News

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6/7
2002

28

Tiberias, Israel
early 30 college students from Michigan
who followed their hearts to Israel to get
their hands dirty proved the truth of a
major concept of Zionism: building the
land builds the person.
- Working on an Israeli army base is no summer
vacation, yet these students welcomed the opportu-
nity to "serve" in the Israeli armpaillel of
Metropolitan Detroit and the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit worked with the Israeli Army
and Sar-El (Volunteers for Israel) to create the two-
week "Volunteers for Israel" program, which was
open to students who had been to Israel before.
From May 19-30, the students refreshed, repaired
and restocked parts needed by combat units in the
Northern and Central Galilee.
And as they rebuilt, so were they rebuilt.
The experience "greatly strengthened my commit-
ment," said Loren Nosan of West Bloomfield, who
attends Colgate University in upstate New York.
"I wasn't active for Israel, I even hesitated to say I
was pro-Israel," she confided.
But clearly those days are gone as she enthusiasti-
cally described the educational seminars and the
Shabbat the group had shared — and the 400 tank
sprockets they had made ready for re-use by apply-
ing a lot of turpentine and elbow grease.
Ariella Goldfein, 18, of Southfield, who attends
the University of Michigan, participated with her
sister, Sarah, 23, a U-M law school student. Ariella
was pleased that her presence helped make it possi-
ble for soldiers to spend Shabbat with their families
instead of staying on the base near Tiberias.
Ron Sklar, a 23-year-old U-M student from
Cleveland, spent many late evenings hanging out
with the soldiers on guard duty.
"The first day, everyone mentioned 9/11 and