Lefi• Scouts Yehonatan Honeybuch Rotem
Medan and Tzach Bushi sing at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Other shows were at JCCs in Oak Park
and Ann Arbor, Temple Israel in West
Bloomfield and Tamarack's Camp Maas in
Ortonville.

Below left. Camper SamantaWapnick, 5,
of Bloomfield Hills with Yehonatan
Honeybud at the West Bloomfield JCC.

Below right: Scout Enav Benoliel points to
Israel 012 a map for David Berman of
Ypsilanti and Elianna Shwayder of Saline,
both 7, at the JCC ofWashtenaw

Show Time

Israeli scouts connect locally through their love of music.

ROBERT A. SKLAR

Editor

0

ne year, Israeli scouts in the Tzofim
Friendship Caravan are singing and danc-
ing their way across North America. The
next, they're waiting to be drafted into the Israeli
army for two to three years of service.
But the change isn't traumatic.
"It's not a rude awakening," says Merav
Horsandi, 27, one of two counselors touring this
summer with Caravan Tavor — five boys and five
girls, all 16- or 17-year-old high school students.
"Military service is our normal life. We're so used
to it. It's part of our evolving. You know straight
out of high school that you'll go into the army."
Horsandi talked about life as a sabra, or native
Israeli, amid the five shows her troupe performed
in metro Detroit and Ann Arbor over July 28-31.

Greg Gabbara,

Manager

X cinguiar

WIRELESS

PAGERONE

•Trade-Ins •
• Cellular Accessories •
• Pagers •

8/ 6

2004

18

Crosswinds Plaza • Next to Kroger
Orchard Lake and Lone Pine
West Bloomfield
248-538-2100

846700

Tavor's hope was to share a taste of Israeli culture
through lively shows staged in Hebrew and
English. Tavor is nearing the end of its 100-show
run.
The Friends of Israel Scouts is the New York
arm of the Tzofim Friendship Caravan. Detroit has
been a caravan stop for four summers in a row.
Horsandi, a research assistant and political sci-
ence-Mideast history major at Tel Aviv University,
toured with the Tzofim in 1994 and dreamed of
returning as a leader. After high school, she spent
three years in the army as an educational officer,
including time instructing civilians in the Sar-El
military volunteer program.
"The army is a great experience," she said. "You
meet a lot of people. And you put yourself in a lot
of situations. So you find out a lot about your-
self."
Far from fearing the army, she said, the scouts

talk about serving since they're in the midst of tak-
ing tests prior to being drafted.
"Some of them want to serve in special units,
some want to be pilots and some want to be
instructors," she said. "All want to give more of
themselves."
Rachel Ruskin, 27, of West Bloomfield is
national director of the Tzofim Friendship
Caravan. The 1998 Michigan State University
graduate is thrilled "to get 30 of the most amazing
kids each summer."
"They travel in three troupes," she said, "and
shock me by their maturity and talent. They're
sweet and endearing, and make all our hard work
worth it."
They bring to the stage not what CNN or Sky
News report, she said.
"What they bring," she said, "is a little bit of the
energy of Israel." ❑

