February 2007
Regional News
East Bay
Around the Bay Area, high school sophomores are considering an annual teen trip to Israel. Each year more than 100 teens spend a month in Israel together under the guidance of the East Bay Jewish Community Federation’s “Let’s Go, Israel!” staff. Last year 111 teens traveled to Israel, and came home exhilarated.
Our current shliach (emissary) from Israel, Tali Lipschitz, arrived the summer before my son, Jesse, started high school. Jesse loves Israel, loves being with other teens and would like to be fluent in Hebrew – if it could happen in a completely effortless way. So the trip is perfect, right? Right! However, I knew that the real issue of whether my no-sleep-away-camp-I-prefer-my-own-bed son would go on the trip was based on whether he hit it off with the trip leaders, Tali and her husband, Yaron. So I did what any self-respecting mother would do, I plotted. I invited them over for Shabbat dinner. They were charming, engaging, funny and (most important to any self-respecting teenager) cool!
After they left I asked Jesse, “What did you think of them?” “Bad news, Mom,” he answered, “I want to live with them.” “Great!” I said. “You can do that for a month in Israel.”
Yes, seeing Israel, bonding with the people, and increasing his Jewish identity are the core reasons I want him to go. But there is an added bonus – this trip will demand some maturity of him, some added independence. I expect to get back a son who is just a bit more mature than when I sent him.
Your teen doesn’t have to be a member of a synagogue, or have had a bar or bat mitzvah to go. This could be his or her first toe in the water of Jewish exploration. If you have a child who is a sophomore in high school, who wants to explore Israel and his or her Jewishness, this is a great way to do that. And this trip is not just for East Bay teens; any Bay Area teen can go.
Call Tali at (510) 839-2900 x255 to learn more.
Dawn Kepler
Building Jewish Bridges: Outreach to Interfaith Couples
www.jfed.org/interfaith.htm
510-839-2900 x347 | 925-943-1484 | dawn@jfed.org
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