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Teen Mission
Top Flight
Young Detroiters have a month
to discover Israel.
Greenberg Tournament
continues winning ways.
DETROIT
FEDE.,ATION'S
TEEN MISSION TO ISRAEL
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
T
oday, 214 teens left for an
adventure of a lifetime on
Federation's Detroit Teen
Mission 2006.
They hugged their parents and
boarded a chartered
plane bound for Tel
Aviv, where they will
join 23 teens from
Detroit Federation's
Partnership 2000
region in the Central
Galilee.
i h
Of the 214 teens,
157 will be traveling to
Israel for the first time.
"I've heard it's an amazing trip',' said
Sammi Haber, 17, of West Bloomfield,
who is a first-timer. "Everyone comes
back with an appreciation for the coun-
try. I don't know what to expect, but
I know I'll have a great time. I think
it will have a strong
impact on my life!'
The Jewish
Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit
has been sponsoring
Teen Missions every
two years since 1996.
Beth Margolin,
Tammy Betel
TMO6 chair, sent her
two daughters in 2004. "It was a life-
changing experience for them',' she said.
"This year's teens will connect to our
Jewish homeland and
will realize the impor-
tance of sustaining a
strong Jewish com-
munity here in Detroit.
They will make many
new friends while
strengthening bonds
Jennifer Schanes with their rabbis and
congregations."
The 118 boys and 96 girls represent
the spectrum of Jewish streams in
Detroit. With them for the entire month
will be rabbis Josh Bennett of Temple
Israel, David Castiglione of Temple Beth
El and Eric Yanoff of Shaarey Zedek. Six
other rabbis from various congrega-
tions will attend part-time.
Teens will use a communal prayer
book created by the rabbis that crosses
all denominations.
Lasting Impact
Twenty-four counselors — 12
Detroiters and 12 Israelis — also will
work with the teens. Eight are past par-
ticipants on a Detroit Teen Mission.
"Participating in Teen Mission 2000
was one of the best summers of my
"This year's teens will connect to our
Jewish homeland and will realize the
importance of sustaining a strong
Jew s community here in Detroit. "
36
June 29 • 2006
life," said counselor Jennifer Schanes.
"Friendships are formed, cultural
and social boundaries are crossed, a
relationship between communities is
fostered and, on top of all this, the teens
get to tour Israel and have fun! These
are connections I have maintained to
this day"
Parent Tammy Betel of Farmington
Hills is excited about the experience her
daughter, Michelle Budaj, 16, will have
in Israel.
"I am so proud she will be making
this trip',' she said. "She has grown up
with a strong Jewish identity, but to see
the history, to live in the shoes of the
Israeli teens, to have the sense of what it
is like to live in a different country with
all the challenges they face on a daily
basis, these are lessons we cannot teach
in schools.
"To live these experiences is to make
them part of who she is and who she
will become!" E
See JNonline.us for future updates.
Teen Mission 2006 sponsors
are the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit, the Jewish
News, Metro Detroit congregations,
Ayelet Tours Ltd., Traveler's World,
Tapper's Diamonds & Fine Jewelry,
Jax Car Wash, HoMedics and Say-
on Drugs.
N
Steve Stein
Special to The Jewish News
of even a sputtering economy
could put a damper on the
16th annual Hank Greenberg
Golf Invitational.
Even though financial information
is still being compiled by the Michigan
Jewish Sports Foundation, it appears
the invitational at Tarn O'Shanter
Country Club in West Bloomfield
should exceed its fundraising goal.
"We had 145 golfers, which was down
from last year, but we're confident more
money will be raised than last year,"
said Steve Simons, the foundation's
executive director.
Greenberg, the former Detroit Tigers
star who was arguably the best Jewish
major league baseball player of all time,
died Sept. 4, 1986, of cancer. Proceeds
from the invi-
tational named
in his honor are
used in the battle
against cancer in
the Detroit area.
Over the past
15 years, more
than $750,000 has
been raised by
the tournament to
purchase cancer-
fighting equip-
ment.
This year's invi-
tational proceeds Greenberg winners
Mike Sternfeld and
will fund a state-
of-the-art uro-
logic oncology procedure suite at the
Lawrence and Idell Weisberg Cancer
Treatment Center in Farmington Hills,
part of the Barbara Ann Karmanos
Cancer Institute. The money also will
help purchase a cone beam computed
tomography unit for William Beaumont
Hospital's Oncology Department for
use in the treatment of prostate cancer.
David Forbes, Tom Krempel, Allan
Sternfeld, Mike Sternfeld and Detroit
Pistons broadcaster George Blaha com-
bined for the lowest score at the June 12
invitational. The group shot 6-under-
par 66 in the scramble competition.
They received a trophy and had their
picture taken with Greenberg Memorial
Award winner Ozzie Smith, the former
St. Louis Cardinals shortstop.
Continuing the tradition of his late
father Dick Schapp, sportscaster
Jeremy Schapp moderated the invita-
tional's popular roundtable discussion.
This year's panelists included Baseball
Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey
and Smith.
Soccer Superstar
Stephanie Crawford gives her oppo-
nents nightmares. So it's appropriate
that the Novi junior forward was one
of 11 players named to the Division
1 All-State Dream Team by the
Michigan High School Soccer Coaches
Association.
Crawford scored 47 goals in leading
the Wildcats to their second consecu-
tive state championship. She tallied
all three Novi goals in its 3-1 win over
archrival Northville in the state title
Allan Sternfeld, Tom Krempel, David Forbes,
George Blaha.
game June 17 at Troy
After she completes her senior sea-
son next spring, Crawford will join the
University of Michigan women's soccer
team. She has verbally committed to
U-M.
Crawford has now scored 103 goals
in her Novi career. The Wildcats fin-
ished 24-0 this season and are 48-0-1
over the past two years. Their last
defeat was inflicted by Northville in the
2004 districts.
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