inion Editorials are posted and archived on JN www.detroitjewishnews.com Dry Bones ,szIAAP,,,Os' Mission With Meaning E yen if they've visited Israel with family members, teenagers won't find anything that compares with spending a summer there with peers — friends from home, kids from other synagogues, Israeli teens. It's a life-expanding, enriching experience, one with the potential to speak to teens in a way that makes Judaism more significant during an especially forma- tive time in their busy lives. So it is that planning has begun for Detroit Jewry's fourth teen mission to Israel next year. It promises to be fun and exhilarating, despite the heat of the sum- mer. Winds of spiritual change touch each partici- pant differently but always profoundly. The trip no doubt gives each teen a gold- en opportunity to deepen Jewish identity and strengthen commitment to Jewish con- tinuity. Learning about our history and her- itage as a people against the backdrop of our ancestral homeland is sure to stir even spiritually barren teens. Floating on the Dead Sea, snorkeling in the Red Sea and rappelling down a mountain provide the means to adventure. But seeing a Masada sunrise, praying at the Western Wall, digging up a historic find and tasting Israeli-style falafel are more likely to spur lasting impressions. The mix of travel and education keeps the focus sharp. Boredom isn't an issue and knowledge is plen- tiful. The Jewish News will join Jean and Sam Frankel in co-sponsoring Federation's Teen Mission Israel 2004 — just as we've co-sponsored previous teen missions. We're excited about the prospects. We want travelers to connect with the Jewish state and be proud of their religion. We want them to be drawn to Jewish tradition and become more involved in Jewish life. To level the field between first- timers and returnees to Israel, a pre- trip program will focus on Israel's land, politics and culture. With so many synagogues involved, the pro- gram also will be an icebreaker. Federation's Annual Campaign subsidizes the trip, lower- ing the cost for partici- pants. Many families tap into the Alliance for Jewish Education/Ben Teitel Incentive Savings Plan for teen trav- el to Israel. Others seek scholarship help through their synagogue, an organization or Federation. Some pay the unsubsidized cost to assure that no teen is turned away for financial reasons. If the mission is to be more than a subsidized vacation, participants must be inspired to stay in touch, explore their lineage, celebrate Jewish holidays and pursue Jewish study. They need to know that we as a community will nourish their faith when they return. Key sources of this nourishment are day, congrega- tional and supplemental schools as well as Jewish e- EDIT ORIAL The teen mission is June 30 to Aug. 2. An information meeting will be held at 7p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, at the West BloomfieldICC. Federation's Amy Neistein is mis- sion coordinator: (248) 205-2543. camps and youth groups. But nothing is more nour- ishing than families who put Judaism front and cen- ter at home. ❑ The Time Is Ripe I f Ariel Sharon is serious when he talks about unilaterally dismantling some of the outpost set- dements in the West Bank, that's good news. If he is just posturing ahead of his scheduled meet- ing with the new Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Queri,`it is a bad mistake. What the Israeli prime min- ister does not need is another excuse for the world to say that he is not serious about seeking some sort of de-escalation of the 3-year-old Palestinian-led intifada (uprisin In an interview with an Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, Sharon said he had been "thinking for some time about unilateral steps that will make things easier on Israel and will secure its interests — without answering the ques- tion of whether it is also good for the Palestinians." Considering that Sharon has been a staunch defend- er of the West Bank and Gaza settlements for decades, the statement is a remarkable about-face. Many American Jews, and a lot of the rest of the world, have said for years that in its own interest, Israel should stop encouraging the settlement growth. It should act firm- ly to shut down permanently several dozen isolated outposts that often are nothing more than one or two trailers or tents on the top of a hill. But Sharon, with the enthusiastic backing of a settler movement that claims all of the West Bank as an Israeli birthright as well as a bulwark against Palestinian mili- tarism, has insisted that dismantling settlements could only come as part of a negotiated peace pact with the Palestinians, and that he wasn't going to negotiate until the terror campaign was halted. Sharon may well be acknowledging that it is up to Israel and the Palestinians to get the violent impasse toned down. America has effectively backed out of the scene; President George W. Bush gave a fine speech in London about seeking "justice and dignity" for Palestinians and Israelis, but he neglected to say what the U.S. was actually going to do, if anything, to move the parties toward that goal. Sharon may also be feeling some pressure from the advocates of the "Geneva Accord," a peace plan of sorts negotiated by centrist Palestinians and out-of-office left- ist Israeli politicians. While the plan itself is woefully EDIT ORIAL inadequate, it has gotten a warm reception from lots of war-weary citizens on both sides of the Green Line, which marked the Israel-Palestinian borders before 1967. The signing of the Geneva document next week will increase the burden on Sharon to show that he is taking steps to reduce the friction. Removing the mobile homes will achieve that aim at absolutely no sacrifice to Israeli security. Indeed, if negotiations ever became positive, Israel down the road could consider substantially more dramatic action — relocating the residents of Netzarim in Gaza or the Hebron settlement — without endangering any strate- gic necessities. If Israeli soldiers weren't so tied down with defending these settlements from what has been continued terror attacks, they could concentrate more effectively on capturing the terrorists leaders and stop- ping would-be assailants at checkpoints. It's time for Sharon to seize a peace initiative. At the very least, such a move would either force the Palestinians to take some meaningful steps to curb their terrorists or else admit to the world that they aren't seri- ous about wanting to end the waste of the last three years. ❑ t:W 11/28 2003 33