Setting foot in the homeland, Israel, is, for the most part, a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Not for Dr. Taub, though, currently a history teacher at my temple. In fact, he has been to Israel five times, and all of them a memory of their own. When asked, he says his most memorable moments were during his first and third trip.

How cool would it feel to be related to the one and only founder of international Hadassah?

"Pretty cool," says Elizabeth, age 9. Accompanied by her friend Sara and their parents, Elizabeth visited Israel last year. Elizabeth is the great-granddaughter of Bernice S. Tannenbaum, who is 95. On their trip, both girls got to celebrate Purim, saying that it was three days long and the best party ever. They even added that they saw men in drag. Although I found this quite funny, what I really wanted to know was about Bernice.