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

