[By Phyllis Shaikun]
Jonathan Lustig, a senior at DuPont Manual High School, returned last summer from six weeks in Israel and 10 days in Poland as part of a Ramah Seminar. This was his third trip to Israel, but the first time without his family.
A veteran camper from Ramah Camp Dorom in Clayton, GA, he was happy to make the trip with a “ton” of his Ramah friends.
The group visited a number of camps in Poland including those in Warsaw, Krakow, Treblinka, Majdanek, Auschwitz and Birkenau. “We even toured Schindler’s factory,” he said, “which is now a museum. We had a survivor with us and she told her story and shared his thoughts about the Holocaust.”
They began their trip in the north and made their way south through Tel Aviv and Eilat. Their visit to Safed, spending time in a kibbutz and sleeping in Bedouin tents were some highlights of the trip. During a free weekend, he spent time with a camp friend whose family made aliyah several years ago.
They were based in Jerusalem and took some day trips from there. They did, however, spend a week in Etgar and lived in the desert for four days. They woke up at 4 a.m., hiked until sunrise, built some shelters and hiked some more until nightfall.
He found his trip inspirational and feels every Jew should make time to connect with Israel sometime in his or her life.
Jonathan has always been Jewishly involved. He has served on various BBYO boards and attended several conventions. He also has played in the Drew Corson Basketball Tournament.
He plays basketball for Manual as well and takes AP microeconomics and government and politics classes and business law.
Pursuing something in “E” business sounds appealing to him, but at the moment, pursuing favored colleges is first on his list.
Wherever he attends college, he will definitely be involved in Jewish activities and looks forward to joining a Jewish fraternity.
