Twins Matthew and Daniel Brenner – ignoring the onslaught of crying and cheering parents at Denver International Airport – embraced others in their traveling group as an Israeli flag was unfurled and they broke into a Hebrew song.
Back Monday from a six-week study tour of Israel and Poland that nearly put them at the heart of the Middle East hostilities, the 71 local Jewish teens were quickly swarmed by family and friends.
The group had last sung the song – “The People of Israel Live” – as they exited the Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
“We have a new appreciation for what it means to be free, to know what we have and what others don’t,” Matthew said, as his father, David, snapped photos of the family reunion.
The twins’ mother, Sue, couldn’t help but kiss, hug, cry and kiss her boys again. They had celebrated their 17th birthday in Israel.
“This was good for them,” David said.
The seven-minute spontaneous celebration of song and reunion culminated a troubling 11 days in which the group found itself in northern Israel just as violence broke out with the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Though the Colorado Agency for Jewish Education – which has organized the summer trip for more than three decades – swiftly shuttled the teens at night to the safer Negev region in the south, that didn’t stop parents from worrying.
“You always want things to go perfectly, but most people know it’s an ongoing thing in Israel,” said Michael Velez as he embraced his son, Ray. “But it’s important they see the history.”
Tour leader Wendy Aronson, 30, said this trip stands out from the five others she’s chaperoned.
“The kids were extraordinary,” she said. “They were actually upset when there was talk of coming home early. They didn’t want to run.”
The journey is part of a summer study program where students visit historic sites from the Holocaust and learn of Jewish European history.
Most of the trip is spent touring Israel and studying its history, culture, politics and religion.
Just as the attacks in northern Israel began and a day before they were shuttled to the south, 47 of the students were finishing a taste of military training.
The transition was sobering, said Brandon Green, “especially after firing the M-16 rifles.”
“I can sit at home and watch the news and it has no effect, the violence, the death,” said Green, 17. “Now that we have friends and we see them as the ones who might die, it makes it so real. It completely changes my perspective.”
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-820-1506 or at dmigoya@denverpost.com.
