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.