2018

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“When you take a trip to Israel the year
you become a Jewish adult, you experi-
ence Judaism all around you.”

— NOAH CHARNESS

with my families,” Hochheiser said. “A
travel agent is also your best bet when
booking flights, because if something
goes awry such as delays or missed
connections, the client has me on the
ground working to resolve things on
their behalf.”
Months before the trip, he meets
with families to customize their trips.
He said there is always something
new to see or do in the Jewish State,
but first-time travelers should always
prioritize the country’s traditional
tourist destinations. In addition to
the tried-and-true stops in Israel, in
recent years travelers have enjoyed
the opportunity of digging through
time at an archeological dig at Tel
Maresha, gain a better perspective of
what it is like to be visually impaired
at the Blind Museum in Holon or
go on a scavenger hunt for biblical
plants in Neot Qedumim to make a
make a Havdalah spice sachet.

PRECIOUS MEMORIES

TOP: Zoey and Noah
Charness celebrating their
b’nai mitzvah in Jerusalem.
MIDDLE: The Charness
twins at Masada.
BOTTOM: For Ashley
Kronenberg’s bat mitzvah,
the family traveled to
Israel. Here they pose with
a family friend serving in
the IDF.

C32

celebrate! • 2018

jn

Neal and Amy Charness of West
Bloomfield traveled for the first
time to Israel on a Temple Israel
Family Mission in December 2016
in celebration of their twins Zoey
and Noah becoming b’nai mitzvot.
Neal said he was initially skeptical
about traveling with a group, but the
camaraderie made it a more memo-
rable experience.
One of his favorite memories was
watching all the kids chant lines
of their Torah portion from a fully
unfurled Torah scroll at a group
celebration held at Jerusalem’s
Mercaz Shimshon — Beit Shmuel,
headquarters of the World Union for
Progressive Judaism.
“I have traveled around the world,
and I admit I bristle at the idea of
going on a big tour,” Neal said. “But
experiencing Israel for the first time
together with our children and other
Temple Israel families made it all the
more memorable and meaningful.
Plus, we stayed in top-notch hotels
and the tour was very organized.”
Neal said it was unique to be
in the world’s only country with a
Jewish majority during Chanukah,
where even a meal at a non-kosher
seafood restaurant in Tel Aviv was
punctuated with candle-lighting and
blessings sung by the waitstaff.
Noah, 14, said traveling on the
trip with other peers made the trip
more meaningful as they saw all

the things they studied in religious
school come to life.
“When you take a trip to Israel the
year you become a Jewish adult, you
are experiencing Judaism all around
you up close and personal,” Noah said.
“I admit as a Reform Jew I liked Tel
Aviv more than Jerusalem because I
did not like the very religious feeling
there. But the feeling of visiting the
Western Wall and going into the tun-
nels underneath is hard to put into
words. It made me think, ‘Oh, when
we face the Holy Ark in temple, this is
what we and all the Jews all over the
world are really facing when we pray.’”
Sandy and Alaina Kronenberg with
their daughters Brianna, 10, and
Ashley 12, also a Temple Israel fam-
ily, opted for a smaller, private tour in
November 2017 to celebrate Ashley’s
becoming a bat mitzvah. They
planned the trip with friends who split
their residencies between Montreal
and Tel Aviv and celebrated with a cer-
emony atop Masada.
Renting a Tel Aviv Airbnb, they took
day and overnight trips that explored
the complexities of Israeli life, such
as visiting with residents of Hebron
and sharing a meal with Israeli Arabs
in the northern city of Hadera who
bragged about having the highest
Arab literacy rates in the Middle East.
Through their connections, they
also had a special tour of the Knesset,
where they listened to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu speak and met
MK Miri Regev, Israel’s Minister of
Culture and Sport.
Most meaningful to Ashley was a
visit with soldiers at the Michael Levin
Lone Soldier Center in Jerusalem, for
which she raised funds as part of her
mitzvah project. Ashley, who proudly
wears her IDF sweatshirt on a regu-
lar basis, was surprised to learn that
these soldiers were not only Jews serv-
ing in the IDF from other countries,
but Haredi Orthodox Israelis who had
been disowned by their families when
they made the decision to enlist.
“Visiting the Lone Soldier cen-
ter was my favorite part of the trip
because I was able to see how my
donations were being used,” Ashley
said. “The center is a place for soldiers
who have no family in Israel to rest
and relax. Overall, a vacation like this
taught me so much about my Jewish
history and heritage and gave me and
my family memories of Israel that will
last a lifetime.” •