[PAR35]

Israeli teenager

Deport the troubled teen. In fact, a couple of years doing manual labor on a kibbutz might straighten him out.

[Vigilanteman]

Read to the end of the story. He turned out fine. If more churches went to the efforts of Rabbi Benny Zippel, there would be fewer youth gone off the deep end.

I read somewhere else that Utah was a favorite destination for troubled youth camps. It is big, broad and relatively uninhabited except in the narrow Wasatch Valley (8 miles or so on each side of I-15 from Provo to Ogden) where 80% of the population reside. Hard labor building trails, roads and campsites in remote areas is an effective cure for substance abusers.

[af_vet_1981]

Deport the troubled teen. In fact, a couple of years doing manual labor on a kibbutz might straighten him out.

Moving On

After six grueling months in Utah, Akiva returned to Israel, reconnected with his family and his faith, completed his military service in the IDF and got a postgraduate degree. Today, 19 years later, the 35-year-old lives in Jerusalem with his wife and three children, with a successful career as a clinical social worker that specializes in adolescents. And he stays in touch with the Zippels, visiting the family periodically.