and Evan Pomish,

avicitifelntraub, 18,
mfleld, snorkel at

Red Sea.

Eyal Falk of the Jezreet Valley; Matthew Katt, 15,

of Franklin, Darren Gross, 15, of Farmington Hills,

our plush Oakland County homes.

David Bleznak, 16, of Bloomfield Hills and Louis

Now the tables have turned with
the Israeli teens. We are in their
home, which we now know as our
homeland. The interaction between
Americans and Israelis depends
on the openness of the Israelis
as well as their ability to speak
English. Fortunately, most Israeli
teens selected to travel with us are
very personable and interact well
with Americans. An example of this
interaction was portrayed at a recent
dance celebration in Jerusalem:
Communication was through the
international language of dance.
So, as we focus our attention on
the remainder of our spiritual jour-

Rappaport, 16, of Farmington Hills play team

building games outside Mitzpe Ramon.

0 .14 r4v4,--

For more on the

Teen Mission, go to

JNonline.us and click on

the TMO6 logo on the left.

Michelle Budaj, 16, and

Jenna Behrmann, 17, both of

Farmington Hills, and Carly

Gordon, 16, of West Bloomfield

buy Shabbat challah at the

supermarket in Mitzpe Ramon.

28

july 13 2006

Lay Of The Land from page 27

ney, we must remember to learn as
much as possible from the Israeli
teens who have devoted their sum-
mer to us. And just as we focus on
the future of our magnificent trip,
Israel must continue to develop solu-
tions on how to preserve itself in this
threatening part of the world.
I suspect many of us are all
already planning to return to Israel,
to rekindle the spiritual connections
we are establishing on this life-alter-
ing excursion to our homeland.

Brandon Lebowitz, 17, lives in
West Bloomfield and is a member
of Temple Israel.