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For the 50th anniversary of the Hadassah Southern New Jersey Region, 15 people got an inside look at the women's Zionist organization's efforts in Israel during a memorable 10-day mission last month.

From Oct. 12-21, the group was the first Hadassah region in eight months to tour the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower construction site of the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, Jerusalem. The tower, scheduled for completion for Hadassah's centennial celebration in September 2012, will be an advanced 14-story healing and medical center.

Participants also visited Hadassah's Meir Shfeya Youth Village near Zikhron Ya'akov, an academic and agricultural school for 300 residential students and 200 external students from grades 7-12, among them at-risk and special needs children, as well as Beit Ar-El, a center for Hadassah's yearlong Young Judea course in Baka, Jerusalem.

Other stops on Hadassah's journey included Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Tiberias, Tzefat, and a five-night stay in Jerusalem that included touring the Old City, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, and the Jerusalem Archaeological Park.

For trip organizer Sherry Keller of Monroe, who traveled to Israel for a staggering 19th time, her most recent trip was about "realizing the enormity of Hadassah and the scope of what we do."

Unlike Keller, three trip participants were making their first venture to the Holy Land. Shelley Kaplan of Ocean Township, a Hadassah regional board member for 12 years and a national board member for four years, said the lasting memory from her fifth trip to Israel was witnessing her husband Sheldon's first.

"Seeing it through his eyes was incredible," Kaplan said.

All the men and women who went on the trip paid for themselves. Marcia Horn of Highland Park was amazed by how the Hadassah Hospital is researching the use of human embryonic stem cells to create retinal cells that can cure macular degeneration, the loss of vision in the center of the visual field. The hospital has run successful trials for the treatment on animals and expects human trials in two years, Horn said.

"You'd think we would think of it [in the U.S.]," Horn said.

Additionally, Hadassah's ambulances are equipped with digital cameras that take pictures of car accidents and send them immediately to doctors before the ambulances reach the hospital, so doctors can get a head start on diagnosing injuries, Horn explained.

A unique aspect of Meir Shfeya is that locals petitioned to let their kids study with at-risk children in the same school, Horn said.

"They take children at risk and make them indistinguishable from the upper to middle class children," Horn said.

Martha Rotter of North Brunswick, who made her fifth trip to Israel, said of Meir Shfeya's children that, "we give them a life and a future."

In the village's agricultural component, one child is responsible for the care of each cow, which may be the reason why Meir Shfeya's cows consistently win top prizes in quality-of-milk contests.

"They are the most cared-for cows probably on the planet," Horn said.

Horn last visited Israel 14 years ago, and said this time around the exhibits at historical sites had better explanations and were more user friendly. At the Palmach Museum in Tel-Aviv, dedicated to the efforts of the pre-state underground Hagana defense organization, Horn said, "you actually felt like you were part of the battles."

"The progress is just amazing," she said.

Rotter said that after the fact, she remains excited about the trip. She was glad to see that despite construction projects in Jerusalem, "the city retains its character."

"I love Israel," Rotter said. "A trip to Israel means a lot to me. It makes me feel better. It's exhilarating."

A member of this Hadassah region for 40 years, Rotter said, "I'm so proud to be a part of it all."

Keller said the trip left lasting memories not only because of what the group saw, but also because of the love of Israel and its people that participants came with.

"The highlight for me was to actually hear the participants' own individual personal experiences of being in Israel," Keller said.