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Settling In

Jordyn Waterstone, 14, of Farmington Hills says

goodbye to her emotional mom, Carrie, while Josh

Fishman, 18, of Farmington Hills looks on.

Israel beckons
Teen Mission
goers to go forth
and explore!

On June 29, 214 energetic teens

left Detroit for a month in Israel on

Federation's Teen Mission 2006. They

arrived tired and jet-lagged, but now

they're on the go, exploring Israel,

taking in the history, the culture and

the people, including 23 Israeli teens

who joined them from the Central

Galilee. As a mission co-sponsor,

the JN will provide weekly updates,

including stories from teens wanting

acqueline Taub, 15, of

armington Hills grabs some

challah as Kevin Liberman, 17

of West Bloomfield waits his

turn behind her.

to share the experience. So, go ahead,

live vicariously.

— Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor

Sammi Haber
Special to the Jewish News

Sammi Haber

_

Chillin': Jake Barnett, 15, and Jordan Yellen, 16, both of Bloomfield

Hills; Josh Forman, 15, of West Bloomfield; Joe Linden, 16, of

Birmingham; Austin Brooks, 16, of West Bloomfield

it

Photos by Debbie Hill

very year during the
Passover seder, we
read, "Next year in
Jerusalem." For me, Teen Mission
2006 (TM06) has made possible
that hope. In fact, we began our
trip by experiencing Shabbat
this year in the holy city.
After a tiring 11-hour plane
ride, 214 jet-lagged Detroit
Jewish teenagers stepped off
the IsrAir airplane and pre-
pared to head to the Old City in
Jerusalem for Shabbat. We were
hungry, hot and, most impor-
tantly, sleep deprived. The last
thing on our minds was getting
on a bus to celebrate Shabbat
away from our hotel. Yet some--

how, we pulled ourselves togeth-
er and engaged in a beautiful
Shabbat service using our TMO6
siddur (prayer book) that was
created by our rabbis so that we
can pray as one community.
Our Friday night prayer ses-
sion took place on the excavated
southern steps of the Second
Temple. It was here that we were
truly able to begin to witness the
impact our Detroit Jewish com-
munity has had in Israel. We all
know the owner of our Detroit
Pistons is Bill Davidson. We were
impressed to see his role in the
excavation there. With 11 syna-
gogues represented on TMO6
— Conservative and Reform
and more — we all united as

Settling In page 18

July 6 • 2006

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