Metro

Food For Thought

Schnitzel, schnitzel and more schnitzel on Teen Mission.

Teen Mission 2004, sponsored by the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
Sam and Jean Frankel and the Detroit
Jewish News in partnership with metro
Detroit congregations, left June 30 for more
than a month of travel and study in Israel.
Special Writer Nathan Greenberg, 16, is
one of several teens sharing his experiences
from the mission.

I

n my opinion, Teen Mission 2004
can be divided into three metaphor-
ical categories.
The first being religion and faith, then
our physical and emotional experiences
and finally our ever-growing relation-
ships with schnitzel.
Schnitzel, for those of you who don't
know, is a pounded chicken breast that
is heavily breaded, deep fried and then
lightly sprinkled with sesame seeds (if
you're lucky). If your -opinion of Israeli
food was based entirely on what we eat
on this trip, then you would think that
schnitzel occupies as least three of the
places on the Israeli food and nutrition
pyramid.
Schnitzel for dinner? Fantastic! Lunch?
Even better! Although we have not been
served schnitzel for breakfast yet, I'm
sure that if we were, no one would com-
plain. Schnitzel is the "hot-pocket" of
Israel; its Israel's default meal.
So what exactly does this mean? What
does being served and enjoying schnitzel
mean for the teens of Teen Mission
2004?
Well, fo- r starters, people aren't losing
as much weight as they thought they
would after hiking in 120-degree weath-
er. But beyond that, I believe the
schnitzel can be seen as a perfect .
metaphor for our trip so far. On the out-
side, we have the fried coating --- shop-

ping, touring and getting to spend time
with friends, for example. While that is
all delicious, it's the chicken, what we
have learned about our faith and the
appreciation that all of us have come to
have for Israel, that is the meat of our
trip. Plus, the sesame seeds are nice, too.
To say though that we have only been
served schnitzel is unfair. It's only been
mostly schnitzel. We had one meal in a
Bedouin tent as well as another in a
Druze village, and both were culturally
and literally delicious.
It has been more than two weeks into
the trip and I know that I speak for
almost everyone when I say that it just
hasn't been the schnitzel that has opened
our eyes to Israeli life and culture. This
trip has broadened our viewed of Israel
by showing us just how much this coun-
try really means for us — and all Jews.
Our trip has hardly been easy and,
much like schnitzel, it can get soggy. Yet
if there is one thing we know about
deep-fried processed meat, it's that it can
absorb huge amounts of water and stay
dry. There have been some long hikes
and some excruciatingly hot days, but,
in the end, we come back to our room
feeling accomplished and proud.
I wish that I could go into more
details and give a day-by-day picture of
the trip but I don't have the room. I
would hope, though, it is evident from
what I have written that there is plenty
of good schnitzel to come as this coun-
try never seems to run out.

,

❑

— Nathan Greenberg, 16, of Franklin

For more photos, check the Web site

vvwvv.detroitjevvishriews.com on

Monday afternoon.

Top: Danny Shelden, 16, of Bloomfield
Hills repels off the cliff in Mitzpe
Ramon.

Right: Jeff Simon, 16, of West
Bloomfield paints a mural with an
Ethiopian child at the PACT Summer
Day Program in Netanya.

Left: Temple Israel Rabbi Josh Bennett
helps Sarah Kahan, 17, of Bloomfield
Hills with her tent in the Negev.

7/23
2004

23