JULY 7 • 2022 | 37

staff, formerly known as Teen Service Staff (TSS). The counselors
will be supervisors, reporting to Sara Frost, 27, Teen Mission
Coordinator, who will oversee TLV.
The teens will be joined by an equivalent number of Detroit teens,
who also are on the mission, to become TLV
counselors. One of the Israeli teens is Harel
Shachar, 16, who attended Camp Tamarack
in 2019. A native of Shimsheet in the Central
Galilee, he is excited about seeing old friends on
the Mission and returning to spend his summer
with them. “I think it is a good thing to meet
American teens; we become good friends and
visit each other,
” he said.
“One month tripping in Israel and then
to camp in Detroit is a great way to make
friends,” agreed Yonatan Aswiia, 16, of Midgal
HaEmek. He and his brother were on the
Partnership2Gether leadership program, and
he is a Tamarack veteran from 2019.

A WHIRLWIND GOOD TIME
Maddy Iwrey, 20, of Farmington Hills, is a
counselor on one of three mission buses. She
is enjoying the “nonstop” pace of the mission, which began by
experiencing the spiritual connection to the Land of Israel at Neot
Kedumim with a tree-planting ceremony. They then bused south
to David and Paula Ben-Gurion’s tomb at Sde Boker, overlooking
a breathtaking view of the Tsin Canyon and the Avdat Highlands
in the heart of the Negev.

Following the solemn event, they drove further south to Mitzpe
Ramon for a couple of days, before returning to Jerusalem for
Shabbat. “We’ve been super busy here,
” she says excitedly. “We went
on a boat ride and went swimming. We went on a sand dune hike
in the morning. Iit was amazing but hot!” she
added. Accuweather.com reported the high was
106◦F with a low of 79◦F.
They explored and overnighted at Mitzpe
Ramon, sometimes called “Israel’s Grand
Canyon,
” and enjoyed Ben Midbar Bedouin
hospitality, complete with an authentic tent used
for community events. They experienced how
traditional Bedouin bread is made under the fire
and how pots of chicken are placed underground
beneath the fire in a natural impromptu oven.
They sat on pillows on the ground during the
cultural meal.
The connections create many personal rela-
tionships between Detroit and Israeli teens
from the Partnership Region, agrees Rabbi
Lader, noting that Detroiters learn about how
their Israeli counterparts live, and they, like-
wise, learn about American Jews. “The rela-
tionship doesn’t just go one way,” she said. “It’s an amazing oppor-
tunity for the Israeli kids to learn about liberal Judaism, meet a
woman rabbi and see girls read from the Torah.”
The six-member clergy delegation includes Rabbi Lader, who is
with the Mission for the entire time, Rabbis Jennifer Kaluzny, also

Participants enjoyed Ben
Midbar Bedouin hospitality.

continued on page 38