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Diggin' Israel

Shalom Street brings a kid-friendly archaeological site to the JCC for families to explore.

tel, an artificial mound made of the
dirt, where staff will bury the arti-
facts — pottery vessels, beads and
coins — for children to excavate.
The site will simulate the ruins of a
Jewish home of the Second Temple
period, about 2,000 years ago.
Young guests and their families
will visit the site' in groups of 45 or
less and experience four different
stations under the tent.
The stations include digging and
sifting for the artifacts; washing,
then discovering designs and inscrip-
tions on pieces; restoration and glu-
ing their findings; and a daily life
station "where children and parents
will decipher a few ancient texts
with different levels of difficulty,"
Greener says.
On Sundays, the Shalom Street
Players will perform a scene, written
by a member of Melitz, which relates
to the story behind the dig.
"I hope the children learn how to
dig and experience how a dig is.done
in Israel," Greener says. "We also
connect them to the way Jews lived
years ago around the time when the
Second Temple was destroyed."
Beller adds that the partnership
between Melitz in Israel and Shalom
Street also is an important creative
connection between the JCC and
Israel.
Diggin' Israel is supported by the
Charles H. Gershenson Trust Fund,
which underwrites traveling exhibits
for Shalom Street. ❑

SHARON LUCKERMAN

Staff Writer

E

mbarking on their most
ambitious programming since
opening in December,
Shalom Street staff will bring a sim-
ulated archaeological site to the
Jewish Community Center, in West
Bloomfield July 4-Aug.1 for children
ages 5-12 and their families.
To create this special exhibit, titled
"Diggin' Israel," the staff and an
archaeologist on loan from Israel will
cart more than 900 square feet of
dirt, a 40-by-60-foot tent and repli-
cas of real artifacts to a site near the
pond near the JCC.
"We wanted to take the kids out-
side during the summer and expand
their horizons," says Jonathan Beller,
Shalom Street director. "We also
want young participants to gain a
basic knowledge of archaeology in
Israel, and we want them to consider
their Jewish connection to Israel
through archaeology."
For professional assistance, Beller's
group contacted several museums
including the Kelsey Museum of
Archaeology at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor, which
helped them find replicas for the
project.
Most important was contacting
Melitz, a nonprofit educational
agency in Jerusalem, which sent
Aaron Greener, 27, of Jerusalem, to
Detroit to help authenticate the pro-
gram.
Greener, who is getting his mas-
ter's degree in archaeology from Bar-
Ilan University in Ramat Gan, has
taught ecology and other subjects to
elementary school students in Israel.
He also is part of the excavation
team that, for the past three years,
has been digging at Tel Safi, site of
the ancient Philistine city of Gath,
where the biblical giant Goliath was
born, he says.
"I want to bring a hands-on expe-
rience to the Detroit Jewish commu-
nity," Greener says.
To do this, Shalom Street created a

Reservations are recommended
for Diggin' Israel, which runs
from 10 a..m.-6 p.m. Sundays-
Thursdays, July 4-Aug.1, with an
evening program on Tuesdays.
Tickets are $4 a person or $18
per family. Group rates available.
Register at the JCC front desk or
call (248) 432-5465.

Aaron Greener, senior archaeologist with Melitz in Jerusalem, cleans off one of the
artifacts that will be part of the "Diggin' Israel" exhibit at Shalom Street beginning
July 4.

6/25
2004

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