|
August 10, 2001/Av 21, 5761, Vol. 53, No.44
Mission offers teens taste of Israeli life
BETH OLSON
|
 AZ Cool participants visited important religious sites in Israel. The teens are pictured here in front of the Western Wall. Back, from left, are Mallory Grossman, Noah Weinberg, Jeremy Lato, Jeremy Lawson, Shmulik Lahar, Kyle Teitelbaum, Bryan Grossman, Sara Mitchem, Zachary Colick and Phillip Barr. In front are Jason Rankin and Erica Grossman. Photo courtesy of Gayle Grossman |
Lahar began his AZ Cool program last year, taking 29 high-school students from the Valley to Israel for four weeks. The program continued this year, but with only 12 students participating. Lahar says the reduction in participation was "definitely" due to parents' concerns about the current situation in Israel, but he also points out that no one expressed to him that they thought the trip should be canceled entirely.
While many of the parents of teens who went on this year's trip say they experienced trepidation about sending their children on the mission, Gayle Grossman was so concerned that she nearly pulled her teens, Bryan, 15, Erica, 15, and Mallory, 14, out of the trip.
While Grossman thought it important to show support for Israel, she adamantly says, "I don't need to show support with my children's lives."
She says her rabbi, friends and family discouraged her from sending her children on the trip. Even an Israeli friend, who originally supported Grossman's decision to send her children to Israel, changed his mind after the bombing at the Dolphinarium disco, a Tel Aviv nightclub, on June 1.
On the other hand, Grossman says she found support from Lahar and the federation. Only one week before the trip, Grossman decided to let her children participate, despite her own concerns.
"There are so many things you can't control in life, when you can control it, why involve yourself in something that's dangerous?" she questions. "I let them go even though that was my philosophy because I didn't want to put my own fears on to them. They were very at ease with the situation. They never felt there was anything to fear."
Linda Lato was also nervous about sending her son, 17-year-old Jeremy, to Israel, but she felt it was important that he go before he finished high school. Both she and her husband, Alan, took trips to Israel as teens.
"I thought it was such a great experience - a learning and growing experience," she says. "I hated for him to miss that."
While Grossman says her children were not worried about going to Israel, Lato says that Jeremy "was so nervous to go to a place where he thought he was going to die."
Ironically, Grossman says that when her children arrived in Israel, they were not nearly as concerned about their safety as they were homesick. Upon their arrival in Israel, the teens were all sent to separate host families. The first night they were away, Mallory called her mom at 2 a.m. crying. Only a few minutes into the phone call, Grossman's second line rang and it was Erica equally upset.
"They're in someone else's house, in a strange place. They don't know the language - the kids in the household spoke English, but the parents didn't," she explains. "They were having trouble adjusting."
Fortunately, the Grossmans adjusted, and after only three days, all say they felt comfortable.
The Grossman children say that they did not feel any concern for their safety while they were on the trip.
"When we were there we didn't even think about any danger. It felt safe to be there. The army was always around," says Erica. "When we'd go to the mall there were always security guards checking everyone's bags and stuff. It always felt comfortable."
Zachary Colick, 17, agrees, "It was perfectly calm wherever we were."
During the four-week trip, the teens stayed at youth hostels during the week and with host families on the weekends. Lahar thought staying with the Israeli families was an important part of the trip - each week they had three days to experience real Israeli life.
Mallory Grossman was particularly impressed with the preparations for Shabbat. "It was a whole feast like Thanksgiving every Friday," she says.
Erica Grossman says the mothers of the host families would spend all Friday cooking, and the girls in the family would help with the preparations - while the boys watched television. For Erica, the best part of staying with the host families was getting to know the teens in the families.
"Their lives are a lot different. They're more independent," she recalls. "They do things on their own - their parents don't drive them everywhere."
The Grossmans have been in touch with some of their Israeli friends by phone and by e-mail since their return.
Lahar sees the development of friendships - both with the Israeli teens and with the other teens on the trip - as an essential part of the mission. "These are friends for life," he says.
Mallory Grossman thinks the friendships came easily to the group because of the common religious bond: "Everyone was accepted because everyone was Jewish."
While the group did tour important Israeli sites, such as the Western Wall, Masada, the Dead Sea and major cities including Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, they also spent a good deal of time having fun. The itinerary included rappelling, kayaking, swimming, rafting and hanging out at the mall and nightclubs. Mallory Grossman was surprised that teens of all ages spent evenings - until the early hours of the morning - at nightclubs.
Despite the hours spent having fun, Lahar is insistent that "all of them came back with a stronger Jewish awareness."
Colick was particularly moved by the group's visit to the Western Wall.
"There were various bar mitzvahs there the day we went," he says. "I felt a stronger feeling of Judaism at the Wailing Wall."
Lahar has returned to Israel, as his tenure as shaliach has ended. He expresses hope that the federation will continue the program he founded.
"I think it's in the interest of the Jewish federation here and our community in Phoenix to have such a program. We are a very widespread community," he asserts. "It's very important for Jewish kids to know there are Jewish kids all over the state."