Micah Families Set for Israel Mission, with Visits to Nature Preserve, Emergency Hospital
Youngsters, teens, moms and dads, grandparents and other adults, young and senior, will gather Dec. 19 at Dulles International Airport to embark on Temple Micah's first family-friendly mission to Israel. Some of the 33 participants are first-time travelers to Israel, others have been there many times before, either on their own or on previous Micah trips. Rabbi Zemel will lead the 10-day excursion.
The group will travel widely throughout the country to learn about the geography, history and people. Two stops of interest will be a visit to the Hula Nature Reserve, which is situated on a migration route used by billions of birds as they travel from Asia to Africa, and a workshop on Jewish symbols and art presented by a master artist in Safed. They also will visit the Galilee, and stop at the Jewish-Arab town of Akko and at an underground emergency hospital in Nahariah that was used during the war in Lebanon last year.
In addition to the educational aspects of the trip, the Micah travelers will spend time getting to know members of the Or Hadash congregation in Haifa and the Kehillat Yozma congregation in Modi'in. Temple Micah stays connected to both congregations--examples of the growing presence of Reform Judaism in Israel--through visits, a blog on the Micah Web site and contributions from the Temple Micah Israel Fund.
[From December 2007 Vine]