firsthand experience
get involved
by Jamie Gorosh
_Jewish youth groups have a blast!
from death to freedom
March of the Living an unforgettable trip of extremes.
- froze. I had been walking, arm-in-arm with a
friend under the cloudy sky until suddenly I could
not take one step further. It happened when I was
about 50 or so feet in front of this huge, strange-look-
ing dome-shaped building. I knew exactly what was in
this building, which is precisely why I froze.
I literally could not bring myself to look at the
mound of ashes I was about to face in the mausoleum
at Majdanek in Poland. When I finally did muster up
that courage, my mind went a little numb with the
view. "All those people ...," I thought.
March of the Living participants enter Auschwitz.
I was fortunate to be one of the 8,000 worldwide
participants in the March of the Living 2008. Dur-
ing this trip in May, we spent one week in Poland to
commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day and the
next week in Israel, lucky to be a part of Israel's 60th
anniversary celebration of independence.
This trip was filled with extremes. I can barely find
the words to describe how it felt to participate in the
March from Auschwitz to Birkenau, and a picture
can hardly capture the image of thousands of people
linked together wearing the same blue jacket. People
came from around the world but there was only one
flag, the Israeli flag. Proud, I guess, would be the one
word to sum up the feeling of being a Jew able to
march for the living, and to show that we will never
forget those who had to march to their death.
Just a few days after the March, I arrived in Israel,
which provided yet another extreme emotion. This
time, though, it was happiness. I had been to Israel
twice before this trip, but never before had I felt so
relieved to be there. It was a transition from darkness
to light. Coming from such an awful place made see-
ing the thriving young country that much more spe-
cial. Not to mention, being there for Yom Hazikaron
(Israel Memorial Day) and Yom Ha'Atzmaut (Israel
Independence Day) on the 60th anniversary made the
experience unique.
I feel so lucky to have participated in this trip and
my hope is that many others can have the same ex-
perience I had. Learning about the Holocaust is one
thing, but seeing where it happened was quite a differ-
ent story. I have no doubts my Jewish identity has been
strengthened because of this trip. The
March of the Living was an unforget-
table experience.
Jamie Gorosh, 17, recently graduated from
Bloomfield Hills Andover High School.
Helping out at Farmington Hills-based JARC's annual
Spring Elation, this year held for the first time at the
Detroit Zoo In Royal Oak, are Extreme Teen volunteers
Ben Arnovltz, Bradley Zucker, Joey Leshman, Alex
Steinberg and Max Unger.
Zachary Br*, 13, of West Bloomfield created a special
mosaic with some help from Dan! Katsir and Gail Kaplan,
local Judaic artists. The 42-inch mosaic depicts the logo
of Young Judaea, Hadassah's Zionist youth movement,
which Zachary has been involved In since first grade.
He will give this piece to Camp Young Judaea Midwest
in Waupaca, Wisc., where he has spent his summers since
age 7. Zachary contributed to the project with some of
his bar mitzvah gift money. He also has volunteered to
help seniors making a mosaic in the Hechtman Jewish
enterprising teen
Apartments in West Bloomfield.
by Sara Smoler
savage colors
mazel toy, seniors 2008!
Teen designer launches her own clothing line.
Seniors> your contributions have helped make
Teen2Teen a success. We wish you well next
arissa Berman, 17, of West Bloomfield
has a passion for fashion that was fu-
eled by selling costume jewelry, acces-
sories, perfume bottles and more in her dad's retail
furniture store and by reading fashion magazines.
Now she's gone a step further by creating her own
casual clothing line. She began by drawing the designs
on her computer. She then met with a printing com-
pany. After seeing the material she chose, they decided
to use silkscreen, flock and foil printing methods.
She named her brand Savage Colors and created
the logo and tags for the line launched in March. Sav-
age means wild arid fierce, which is exactly what she
wants to express. The designs in her "Tranquility Col-
lection" relate to a free spirit and are filled with images
of Buddhas, peace signs and doves.
year at college, in Israel or wherever you land.
And keep writing for us — you'll still be teens
Marissa Berman with her Savage Colors clothing
Along the way, Marissa learned about budgets and
time management, especially when it came to keep-
ing up with her busy school schedule. She also learned
about the industry she hopes to work in later in life.
Marissa will be a senior at Bloomfield Hills Andover
High School.
Her clothes range from $30 to $45,
and are sold at Rear Ends in West Bloom-
field, Utopia Salon and Spa in Northville
and at w-ww. savage c ol o rs. corn.
Sara Smoler, 16, Mil be a junior at
Bloomfield Hills Andover High School.
for another year of two, y'know.
Birmingham Seaholm: Hadas Corey, Grace Klein,
Jacob Rosen, Spencer Wayne
Birmingham Groves: Arlel Mann
Bloomfield Hills Andover: Jamie Gorosh, Alexa Eisenberg
Farmington Harrison: Hannah Cohen
Frankel Jewish Academy: Raquel Cohen, Danielle DePriest,
Rachel Goutman
North Farmington: Morgan Pomish, Scott Scher,
Stephanie Steinberg
West Bloomfield: Kale Davidoff, Allie Gold, Allison Shipper
Yeshivat Akiva: Davidi Lehmann
teen2teen June • 2008 B3