Your Passover
Destination
Metro
Partnership 2000
THE JCC STEPHEN GOTTLIEB
FJA students, Israeli visitors discuss
contemporary Israeli dilemmas.
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Teens Band Together
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Israeli Ruthie Zamir listens intently to Frankel Jewish Academy seniors.
Debra Darvick
Special to the Jewish News
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12
March 25 • 2010
S
tudents at Frankel Jewish
Academy recently welcomed to
their school 15 Israeli partici-
pants in the Jewish Agency's Partnership
2000 program. The emissaries, who
were in Michigan for a five-day visit as
part of the Michigan Central Galilee
Partnership, met with FJA seniors
March 8 in advance of the students'
three-week trip to Israel this May.
FINs Chavaya-Senior Israel
Experience enables FJA students to
see firsthand the issues and challenges
facing Israel today as well as engage
on numerous levels with the country
they have studied in class.
After a general introduction, stu-
dents and Partnership participants
broke into three groups to discuss
contemporary dilemmas that play out
daily in Israeli society: the capture
of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad
Shalit; entering the IDF; and from a
U.S. perspective — making aliyah.
Students were called on to debate
the merits of exchanging 450 jailed
Palestinian terrorists for the captured
Shalit. In another session's discus-
sion, students were exposed to the
decisions faCing Israelis their age who
serve in the IDF after high school
graduation. A third group imagined
the arguments — for and against
— that might occur between parents
and their young adult child who has
decided to make aliyah.
"I was moved to discover how these
youths are involved in the Israel experi-
ence said Ruthie Zamir of Shimshit,
a new community in Israel's Jezreel
Valley. "I feel we have a lot to learn from
our partners in Detroit as far as educat-
ing for Jewish identity is concerned.
"In Israel, we take for granted that
we're Jewish and our children grow
up without a great deal of knowledge
concerning their Judaism. I wish that
in Israel, we had programs that enrich
us and bring us closer to the Jewish
religion!"
Stephanie Hoffman, director of
Jewish Student Life at FJA was instru-
mental in bringing the Partnership
2000 participants to the West
Bloomfield school. "It is important to
give our students a taste of the deci-
sions facing Israeli kids who are their
own age she said.
"They have been learning about
various facets of Israeli life and these
issues will be coming up during their
trip. The discussion sessions with the
Partnership 2000 participants gave
our seniors a context for the conversa-
tions they will be having with Israeli
youth during our home stays and
other programs!'
FJA senior Corey Rosen, 17, of
Farmington Hills participated in the
IDF discussion group. "It gave me a lot
of insight into what American parents
feel when their child says that they want
to go into the Israeli army and how they
debate the pros and cons about this life-
altering decision," he said. El
Debra Darvick is a local author and works
in communications at Frankel Jewish
Academy.
A
uditions will be held from
noon-2:30 p.m. Sunday,
March 28, at Temple Israel
in West Bloomfield for teen bands and
solo acts who want to perform at the
May 23 Banding Together event.
To schedule an audition, send an e-
mail to YFTI@temple-israel.org . Last
year, more than a dozen musical acts
performed, helping to raise more than
$50,000. The event drew more than 800
people, and raised money for Jewish
orphans.
The second annual Banding
Together will partner with the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's Stephen Gottlieb Music
Festival to raise funds to benefit Project
Chessed, a Jewish Family Services pro-
gram that assists the medically unin-
sured of our community.
Banding Together will be held at 7
p.m. Sunday, May 23, at the JCC in West
Bloomfield. The Detroit Jewish News is
the exclusive media partner of Banding
Together 2010. St. John Providence
Health System is an event sponsor.
A kick-off event for volunteers and
participating bands/artists will be
held from 1-4 p.m. May 2 at the JCC's
Wagner Teen Center. Teens interested
in volunteering should come to the
kick-off event or contact YFTI@temple-
israel.org . Volunteers will be needed at
the event for a variety of jobs.
The Banding Together concert idea
started with the rock band, Yom Sheini,
which means Monday. The name
evolved because the band practices at
Monday Night School at Temple Israel.
According to Rabbi Paul Yedwab, the
band members came up with the idea
for an event "where they could play
music, which is their passion, and raise
money!' FA