Teachers Jodi Gross (front) and Elissa Berg, both of Adat Shalom in Farmington Hills, and Marilyn Wolfe Barry Levine, a teacher at Temple Israel in West Bl000mfield,
of Jewish Parents Institute in West Bloomfield place butterflies at Terezin made by their students.
enjoys the children at the PACT program in Netanya.
Bringing History Home
Mission to Israel enhances teachers' skills.
Cheryl Jerusalem
Special to the Jewish News
I
had been there, done that, and, of
course, knew just what to expect.
This would not be my first trip
to Israel or to the Czech Republic. Nine
years ago, I had also gone to Israel via
Prague and the former Terezin concentra-
tion camp. This June, however, I traveled
as part of 61 Detroit-area supplemental
Hebrew school teachers on an educational
trip organized by Federation's Alliance
for Jewish Education and sponsored
by the Hermelin-Davidson Center for
Congregational Excellence.
My colleagues and I had attended
numerous workshops and conferences over
the past two years in preparation for this
TEAM (Teacher Education Advancement
Model) trip. Yet no matter how much I
prepared, once again I was struck by the
stubborn spirit of the Jewish soul.
Visiting the ancient synagogues and
cemeteries of Prague was amazing. The
synagogues' ornate architecture reminded
me of how delicate Jewish life was before
World War II. To close my eyes and imag-
ine what it must have been like to pray in
these synagogues in the 1930s and '40s
and how quickly it came to a halt in WWII
sent chills down my spine.
Yet, even today the synagogues have
been restored — albeit most of them as
museums rather than as houses of wor-
ship. At a dinner with members of the
local community at the Jewish Center, I felt
that, despite the passage of its glory days,
Jewish life in Prague continues.
As the school year ended in Detroit, we
partook in a worldwide representation of
how many children died in the Holocaust.
20
July 26 w 2007
Our students colored paper butterflies for
us to deliver to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
Before leaving the Czech Republic, we
visited Terezin. After touring the Terezin
Museum, we gathered for a memorial
service at a hidden synagogue. There we
briefly placed the butterflies on the ground
and sang "Ani Ma'amin" (I Believe).
This was how we transitioned from the
ashes of Eastern Europe to Israel, arriving
in there at sunrise. Israel would prove to
be a new experience even for those of us
who have been there before. We would see
the land from a new perspective, touring
with people we never knew before, going
to places we have not been before and, of
course, shopping with new friends.
We were taken straight to a Holocaust
memorial at the Modi'in Forest, where
we were welcomed by Bingham Farms
resident Doreen Heremlin. We davened
Shacharit together and had breakfast in a
beautiful forest overlooking a valley, ener-
gizing us despite our lack of sleep.
On the way to Nazareth Illit in the
Federation's Central Galilee Partnership
Region, we stopped at one of the most
inspiring experiences of our trip — the
PACT Program (Parents and Children
Together) in coastal Netanya. We watched
occupational therapists helping Ethiopian
children learn skills to better integrate
themselves into Israeli society.
These families had come from a society
that did not accept them as equals. For
example, the therapists teach the children,
through games, to walk with their faces
upright instead of looking down at the
ground as they did in Ethiopia.
As we listened to the harrowing sto-
ries of their own aliyah to Israel, a group
of Ethiopian women served us freshly
Cheryl Jerusalem,
a teacher at
Temple Emanu-El,
Jodi Gross, asso-
ciate director of
education at Adat
Shalom, and Rabbi
Robert Morias,
education director
at Temple Israel,
relax on a Tel Aviv
beach their last
day in Israel.
ground "Buna" coffee, grinding the beans
right in front of us. It is similar to a strong
Turkish coffee served in small cups. They
displayed some of their traditional art-
work and pottery. It offers a certain charm
and beauty, infused with special meaning
stemming from where they once were and
where they are today. I felt that just like the
Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews who came
before them, these Jews will also add to
the recipe that is Israel.
On our way to Jerusalem, we stopped
in Migdal HaEmek to hear a dynamic
speaker, Rabbi Yitzchak Dovid Grossman,
the founder of Migdal Or. He told us
the inspiring story of how he founded
his organization for deprived, poor and
abused children and young adults. He told
us wonderful stories of the accomplish-
ments and well being of his students.
Some of us were so inspired by his excel-
lent work that our classroom mitzvah
projects next year will focus on Migdal Or.
We toured Jerusalem from the Temple
ruins and the City of David excavations,
and later the Tel Aviv hall where Israeli
independence was declared. And we
released our students' butterflies at Yad
Vashem. Our trip culminated with a din-
ner at the lovely Badolina Restaurant at
the Tel Aviv port, after which we spent our
last night in Israel reminiscing while sit-
ting in the sand on a Tel Aviv beach.
Even though I knew just what to expect,
our trip far exceeded anything that I could
have imagined. I am honored to have
been able to participate in this experi-
ence. I would like to thank the Alliance for
Jewish Education and Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit for organizing this
amazing journey.
We went on this trip not really knowing
each other, but by experiencing Israel with
my colleagues I can incorporate much
of what we have seen and learned in my
classroom. It does not matter what subject
you teach, the indomitable Jewish spirit
has so much to offer. It is our reliving and
understanding our history that will have
the greatest impact in the classroom.
Cheryl Jerusalem of Oak Park teaches seventh-
grade and high school classes at Oak Park's
Temple Emanu-El.