$2.00 JUNE 20-26, 2013 / 12-18 TAMMUZ 5773
A JEWISH RENAISSANCE MEDIA PUBLICATION

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» Helping Others Jewish Family Service marks its
85th anniversary. See page 16.

» Snyder In Israel Governor's trade mission seeks
to sell Michigan as a trading partner. See page 18.

» Serial Entrepreneur Former Detroiter Jeff
Lawson leads another winning venture. See page 32.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

metro

Gov. Rick Snyder meets Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.

>> cover story

Bridging
The Gap

Pearlena and Jason Bodzin'b West Bloomfiel

Maale Adumim with their Israeli family: son-in-law

Noam Raz, grandchildren'Matan and Eliana and

their daughter, Beth, far right.

Religious organization inspires
Jewish unity in Israeli soldiers.

Stephanie Persin I Special to the Jewish News

W

Healing
TheWorl

W

Israel attracts
medical
tourists with
its advanced
treatments and
lower costs.

hen Shlomo, Shaul and Sasson Erez created
Darchei Avot in 1983, they had no idea that
bringing Jewish education to secular Israeli
soldiers was such a forward-thinking idea. Raised in
a traditional home by Iraqi parents, the Erez brothers
joined the Israeli Army in the late 1970s and found that
many of the soldiers in their units lacked even a basic
understanding of Judaism. They immediately set to work
bringing Jewish knowledge to the IDF.
Darchei Avot ("In the Paths of our Fathers") began as
a small operation in Jerusalem. It was so small, in fact,
that the Erez brothers started by simply bringing friends

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

Don Cohen I Contributing Writer

hat do you want to do on your next trip
to Israel? Float in the Dead Sea? Dance
all night in Tel Aviv? Pray at the Kotel?
Get a knee replacement?
While tourism to Israel rests heavily on its rec-
reational, religious, natural and historical offerings

that attracted a record 3.5 million visitors in 2012,
Israel is looking to make moves in the growing
international medical tourism market.
The number of people coming to Israel for medi-
cal procedures is a tiny fraction of overall tourism,
just some 30,000 people in 2012, but the draw is

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

1942 - 2013

Covering and
Connecting
Jewish Detroit
Eve y Week

8

Israeli soldiers say the blessing over the candles
during a Darchei Avot Shabbat.

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