JULY 7 • 2022 | 35

.
TOP: Having fun on the hiking trail. ABOVE: Walking through 
Jerusalem

uates who missed their opportunity to participate the past two 
years, and a number of students entering 10th and 11th grades.
The participants are part of the post-Corona resurgence 
of Israel-bound travelers, which peaked at 4.5 million tourist 
entries in 2019, according to the CBS. The pandemic caused 
that number to drop to only one out of five (or by 82 percent) in 
2020 at 830,000, and a further 48 percent year-to-year drop to 
396,500 last year.
The TM22 travelers are joined by another 21 teens from 
Detroit’s Partnership2Gether region in the Central Galilee.
“One of the special things about the teen mission is that we 
travel with seven Israeli teens on each bus,” said Rabbi Jen Lader 
of Temple Israel, who is leading one of three mission buses and 

Promised Land

DAVID ESTRIN OF ESTRIN PRODUCTIONS

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