Free Israel Tours Bolster Ties With Young US Jews

August 26, 2010

Author: Lisa Wangsness

Source: Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/08/26/free_israel_tours_bolster_ties_with_young_us_jews/?page=1

Michael Silverman, a 21-year-old Northeastern University student who grew up in Needham, had not thought about Israel much before this spring. An electrical engineering major, he was not interested in the political situation there, and he had not regularly attended synagogue through most of his adolescence.

When he got the chance to travel there for free, he signed up; it sounded like fun.

But he never anticipated that the trip would transform him into someone who cares deeply about Israel and whose religious practice now includes daily prayer.