Left: Eden Reuveni, 16, of Nazareth Illit, Bella Wishnivetski, 16, of
Farmington Hills, Anat Baumkauler, 17, of Nazareth Illit, and counselor
Judy Margolin of Orchard Lake raft in the Jordan River.
Below: Israeli Itamar Wilf, 16, of Bet Lehem Hagelilit and Aaron Gabel,
15, of Novi climb through the Red Canyon in the Eilat Mountains.
,
-
-
New
Perspective
Israeli teens see their country anew
through TM10 participants' eyes.
by Itamar Wilf and Anat Baumkauler
M
y name is Itamar Wilf. I live
in Bet Lehem Hagelilit in the
Jezreel Valley and I was an
Israeli camper at Tamarack Camps in
Ortonville in 2008.
My name is Anat Baumkoler and I
live in Nazareth Illit. I went to Tamarack
as a camper in 2007 and as a TSS (Teen
Service Staff) in the summer of 2009.
We have participated in Mercaz Maaseh,
the young leadership program of the
Partnership 2000 region in the Central
Galilee, for three years.
This summer, we have been given the
opportunity to join the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit's Teen Mission
2010. To be an Israeli on this mission is a
special experience from many aspects.
At first, our goal was to let the American
teens see Israel from our point of view.
Because Israel is a small country and
we've already seen most of it, we thought
there would be nothing new for us to
learn and that we would pass some of our
knowledge about Israel to Detroit teens.
We thought that the whole experience
would be different, starting with the rab-
bis on each bus and also the cultural dif-
ferences between us — the Israelis and
the Americans. We imagined a rabbi that
looks like an Orthodox rabbi and then we
saw a rabbi who looks just like any other
32
July 29 2010
person; no special clothing. We simply met
a person with a big heart that was looking
forward to meeting us. Immediately, we
had a special connection that made us feel
part of the whole group; and without this
connection, the trip could never be the
same.
Also, it was fun to see how the American
teens were excited to meet us and that
they had a lot of questions to ask us about
the life and culture in Israel. It was really
interesting to hear their questions.
We, the Israelis, were happy to give back
to the Detroit Jewish community by host-
ing the Michigan teens here in Israel just
like we were hosted as campers. We have
made a lot of new friends; and we will no
doubt stay in touch them.
But the most interesting and surprising
thing of all of this trip is that instead of
showing them Israel through our point of
view, we began seeing Israel through their
point of view. The views that we were used
to before became new and exciting like it
was the first time to see them. This trip
has made us appreciate Israel more than
before.
This trip is a once-in-a-lifetime experi-
ence that taught us, the Israelis, about
our own country and about ourselves. We
thank the Detroit Jewish community for
this amazing opportunity!
❑
Above: Sam Nathan, 15, of West Bloomfield, Jonathan Kurjan, 17, of Farmington
Hills, Rudy Schreier, 16, of Beverly Hills, Hannah Eisenstein, 15, of Bloomfield Hills
and Jessica Kavieff, 18, of West Bloomfield stand on a Roman arch that they built
out of mud bricks at the Kibbutz Lotan desert ecology and environmental park.
Left: Nathan Krasnick,
16, of Franklin holds
ducks he made with an
Ethiopian child during
an art project at the
Federation-supported
PACT (Parents and
Children Together) pro-
gram in Netanya.
More photos: www.
jewishdetroit.org/teen
mission. The JN is a
co-sponsor of TM10.