June 23, 2017 29 Sivan 5777 Volume 73, Issue 13
S O U T H E R N A R I Z O N A ’ S A WA R D - W I N N I N G J E W I S H N E W S PA P E R
Home & Garden ........ 14-15 Restaurant Resource ... 8-10 Shop Local .................11-13 Classifieds ............................. 16 Commentary ..........................6 Community Calendar........... 17 Local ..............................3, 5, 11 National ..................................5 News Briefs .......................... 16 Obituary................................ 18 Our Town .............................. 19 Synagogue Directory........... 18
AJP SUMMER SCHEDULE July 7 August 11 • August 25
Long-awaited Israel trip full of wonder for THA eighth-graders KORENE CHARNOFSKY COHEN Special to the AJP
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eeing, hearing, smelling, actually being in Israel is magical for Tucson teens who spent years studying about the Jewish state at Tucson Hebrew Academy. It is a powerful experience for eighth-grade graduates to travel with classmates and teachers, building lifetime friendships and memories. Twentyone students made the trip this year, which took place May 14-25. THA has been providing this experience for 15 years. “I flipped out to be in Israel,” says Breanna Yalen, a THA graduate. “I’ve been waiting since first grade to go on this trip, and it was nothing compared to what I had thought before.” “The students learn about Israel, and Jewish history, culture and values,” says Jon Ben-Asher, THA head of school, who was one of the chaperones for the trip. “But in Israel everything is tangible — it is in the air, under your feet, in the language, and every experience we have makes Israel real and gives the students a feeling of the oneness of being Jewish.” Visiting Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center created some of the most meaningful moments for Yalen. “This was a sad experience for me, and some of the exhibits really spoke to me,” she says. Several of the other students had family members who were victims of the Holocaust, which made the experience more immediate. Some of the information presented surprised her. She had not known that often children were killed first in the camps. “I was especially moved by the memorials to the children,” she recalls. “I related because I am still a child.” Six candles illuminate one room at the Yad Vashem. “The sparks of just six candles are reflected in the room’s mirrors and windows, serving as reminders of the six million who died,” Yalen explains. While at Yad Vashem, the students also opened letters written to them by their parents. “It was a very emotional moment, and many of the kids were crying,” says Ben-Asher. He said their guide interpreted all the exhibits in a very profound way. Visiting the Western Wall also affected Yalen, who said it enabled her to feel more
Photo courtesy Breanna Yalen
INSIDE
azjewishpost.com
CANDLELIGHTING TIMES:
(L-R) Eliana Siegel, Ellah Ben-Asher, Elana Goldberg, Sigal Devorah (Tucson Hebrew Academy teacher), Breanna Yalen, Lily Isaac, Shira Dubin, Eliana Tolby, Dani Lee, Ava Leipsic and April Glesinger (THA parent) at the Western Wall.
connected to G-d and to her Jewish ancestors. Being there on a Friday night, she says, seeing so many people there praying and dancing and singing, children playing and the notes that people left in Wall, allowed her to feel the spirit of Shabbat in ways she had not expected. “It was an amazing feeling to be around so many other Jews and being there with my friends and teachers made it more meaningful,” she says. “The Western Wall was the most powerful experience by far,” says Aiden Glesinger, who attended THA for seven years. “It was magical and I loved it so much that I made a speech to the other boys about wanting to continue to be Jewish.” He says his fellow THA students agreed that they felt the same way. Sigal Devorah, who teaches Hebrew and Judaic studies in first grade at THA, was born and raised in Israel. This was her third time as a chaperone for the eighth grade trip. “It is the best reward seeing how amazingly they connect to what we have been instilling in them for so many years,” she says. “Going straight from the airport to the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, standing inside with a very tired group of kids that for 14 years longed to be in Israel, and singing HaTikva right there,
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where Israel was declared a state, is one of my moving moments on the trip.” “Taking a trip with your classmates is like traveling to a new place with your family,” says Devorah. “You feel comfortable sharing your feelings, crying at the first sight of the Kotel, and pushing each other up Masada at 4:30 in the morning. You care for each other and you share this lifetime Jewish experience with your friends and you suddenly connect and feel as an integral link in this long, Jewish nation’s chain.” “I have been an educator for 25 years and I have never seen this level of learning that happens on these trips, “ says Ben-Asher. “But even though our trip to Israel is like a walking THA classroom, there are also elements of it being a party.” Fun activities, he says, included swimming in the Dead Sea, shopping, riding donkeys and camels and meeting the students they have gotten to know through the Weintraub Israel Center’s Partnership2Gether school twinning program. Using Skype and WhatsApp, THA eighth-graders spent the year working and making connections with pupils from the Shikma Regional Junior High and High School in Hof Ashkelon. The first minute when the Tucson kids and See Trip, page 2
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