Aviv Lis, 12, of Farmington Hills
and Zoe Lis, 13, of Bloomfield
Hills, celebrated their b'nai

mitzvah in Jerusalem. With
them are Aviv's parents,
Hannan and Lisa Lis, mission

co-chairs, Karen Grossberq
of Bloomfield Hills and Zoe's
grandparents Bernie and Betty

Lis of West Bloomfield.

Museum and took part in activities
with the families and volunteers of our
Partnership 2000 region in the Central
Galilee. Because of the situation with Gaza,
we had to cancel our trip to the Ramat
David Air Force base. We used the time
wisely and gathered with our host families
an hour earlier. These home visits, giving

Giving
Comfort

Young Detroiters help
fill gift packages for
IDF soldiers.

Keri Guten Cohen

Story Development Editor

E

Jerusalem

fight youngsters from
Temple Shir Shalom in West
Bloomfield were able to
perform a mitzvah unlike any other
among the nearly 400 participants on
Federation's Family Mission to Israel.
These eager, focused kids ages
7-10 helped Israeli volunteers in
Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood fill
bags with comforting essentials for
Israeli Defense Forces soldiers on the
front lines in Gaza.
Working through an organization
called A Package From Home, the kids
helped fill more than 90 bags with
wool socks, underwear, chocolate bars,
potato chips and more, including let-
ters in Hebrew, English, Amharic and
Russian.
"The Israelis were very apprecia-
tive of us as Americans doing this,"

participants the opportunity to
meet real Israelis and to have a
meal in their homes, always is one
of the highlights on Detroit Israel
missions.
Sam Sklar, 14, of West
Bloomfield said the most mean-
ingful experience on his first trip
to Israel was his dinner with our
Partnership 2000 families in the
Central Galilee. Sam is in Israel
with his parents Jimmy and Valerie,
and his younger sister Sophie.
"I loved the host family night
in the Partnership region:' he said. "It was
wonderful to share dinner with an authen-
tic Israeli family. The family's name was
Ludmir, and they have a 14-year-old boy
named Idan who is three days older than I
am. We even share the exact same bar mitz-
vah date. The Ludmirs also have a daughter

said Rabbi Michael Moskowitz of Shir
Shalom.
Barbara Silverman, program director,
explained each item's importance to
the young Americans. No one fidgeted;
all were attentive; no instruction had
to be repeated.
She also explained that although
you'd think the army would be able
to provide what's important in cooler
regions, the government had to make
a decision; and it chose bullets.
Then she read them a letter from
a 19-year-old soldier who had just
received a care package. He wanted
to personally say thank you and that
"it warms our bodies and warms our
hearts to know that you care and that
people are thinking of us."
The bags were assembled quickly, so
the children had time to make letters
and drawings of their own, filled with
such sentiments as "You're awesome.
Thank you for protecting Israel. Please
be safe."
"It made us feel special knowing we
could help Israeli soldiers," said Sophie
Sherbin, 7, of Bloomfield Hills and Ellie
Moskowitz, 10, of Bloomfield Township.
"It was good to do something we knew
was important."
Alex Varverakis, 10, of Farmington
Hills, said, "It felt really helpful."
The other kids involved were Asher
and Nathan Moskowitz, both 8, Noah
Sherbin, 10, Lindsay Steinberg, 10,
of Commerce Township and Skyler

Amit, who is 10, and although she does not
speak any English, Idan was able to trans-
late for her.
"I really liked meeting Idan and have
already added him to my Facebook account.
We both plan on keeping in touch. It was so
casual and so real. It actually felt like a day
in the life of what it would be like to be an
Israeli'
The Sklar family also started a blog that
was updated every day throughout the trip
with pictures and comments. The blog
averaged 100 visitors a day and allowed the
Sklars the opportunity to share their trip
in detail day by day with loved ones and
friends.
On Day 5, the mysticism of Safed
presented my own family with quite an
interesting and unexpected Detroit con-
nection. Several years ago, my wife, Susan,
saw a beautiful piece of art that represented
the 100 blasts of the Shofar created by a
Kabblistic artist who lived in Safed. The
artist's name is Avraham Lowenthal.
We entered his loft as the fifth Birthright
Israel group of the day was walking out. As
we introduced ourselves, Lowenthal lit up at
the sight of fellow Detroiters. It seems that
15 years ago, "Robbie" Lowenthal graduated
from Southfield-Lathrup High School and
began reading Kabbalistic texts. He was so
inspired that he picked up his things and

made aliyah to Israel, settling in Safed.
Susan immediately found the piece she
had admired from afar and, when we pur-
chased it, all Lowenthal could talk about
was how much it meant to him that a piece
of his art was now going to be displayed
prominently in Southfield, the city where
he grew up. My children Atara, 11, Micah,
9, and Elan, 6, posed for a photo with
Lowenthal that we will put on the back of
our print and remember forever.
The highlight of Day 6 was proceeding to
Jerusalem for a Shehecheyanu (the blessing
of thanksgiving), a l'chaim and lots of pho-
tos from the picturesque Haas Promenade
in Armon Hanatziv. Jerusalem is the city
that King David declared the capital of the
Israelite kingdom more than 3,000 years
ago.
Being New Year's Eve, or "Sylvester" as
the Israelites call it, we rang in 2009 with DJ
Kobi Mor and the very popular Ethiopian
Israeli rock group Cafe Shachor Chazak
(Strong Black Coffee).

Varied Memories
Sixty percent of the nearly 400 participants
on the mission were in Israel for the first
time. Among the first-timers were Steve
and Peggy Cohen of West Bloomfield,

Connecting on page A22

Noah Sherbin, 10, of Bloomfield Hills and Nathan Moskowitz, 8, of Bloomfield
Township place socks and long underwear in a bag for soldiers on the Gaza border

at a community center in Jerusalem's Talpiot neighborhood.

Forman, 7, of Albuquerque, N.M.
Each care package costs $10. The
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit made a donation, but so did
Bus 8. A collection was taken and
delivered to Silverman.
"We were in Israel during a difficult
time," Moskowitz said. "We were sit-
ting with a family at Kibbutz Gavit in
the Partnership 2000 region. Someone
asked the mother, Tali, if it's difficult
now with Gaza. She said, 'When is it
not in Israel? We're used to it:

"Our groups adapted that philoso-
phy. Our kids got it that something is
different now, and they wanted to help
out.
"All were appreciative of that expe-
rience," Moskowitz said. "Seeing my
own three kids involved was powerful
and meaningful. It was very, very spe-
cial." ❑

To learn more about supporting IDF soldiers,

go to www.apackagefromhome.org.

January 8 . 2009

A21