Page 54 - HaMizrachi Tu BiShvat 5782 - USA

RUACH YISRAEL

A Sefer Torah

from Plastic Bottles

Sivan Rahav Meir

hlomi Cohen wrote to me welcomed a new Torah scroll to the
the following with a photo Ort Ma’alot yeshivah.
attached: “For three years my
Sson and his classmates have “As a parent of one of the students who
been working towards an incredible participated in the project, I feel that all
goal. Their yeshivah high school, Ort of us learned a lesson about patience,
Ma’alot in the Upper Galilee, was lack- looking far ahead, and also about the
ing a Torah scroll, and the students honor that a Torah scroll deserves.
decided they were going to do some- And in a certain sense, this Torah
thing about it. Under the guidance of scroll serves as an additional diploma,
their mentor, Rabbi Avi Cohen, they even greater than the certificate the
decided to finance the acquisition of students received at their graduation.”
a Torah scroll from pocket money and
small donations, but mostly from plas- 1
In Israel, recyclable containers can be returned
tic bottle recycling. 1 to a store and exchanged for the money that the
“The students collected thousands container is worth.
upon thousands of bottles, to the point
where all the supermarkets in Ma’alot
couldn’t handle the quantity! A special
truck from a recycling conglomerate Sivan Rahav Meir is a media personality
stopped regularly at the home of Rabbi and lecturer. She lives in Jerusalem with her
Avi in order to load up the vast quan- contribute tens of thousands of shekels, husband, Yedidya, and their five children,
tities of plastic bottles that had been it would ruin the project. This was their and serves as World Mizrachi’s Scholar-in-
collected. project; they had to earn it. Residence. She is a primetime anchor on
Channel 2 News, has a column in Israel’s
“Although many people offered finan- “Just before the students graduated and largest newspaper, Yediot Acharonot, and
cial assistance, the students refused embarked on different paths – some has a weekly radio show on Galei Tzahal
A member of to accept large contributions. They going to a yeshivah, others to mechi- (Army Radio). Sivan was included by Forbes
the Mizrachi wanted to feel the effort of the proj- nah (pre-military academy) or regular magazine in their list of the 50 most
Speakers Bureau ect, the process of adding one shekel to army service – the students, their par- influential women in Israel, and listed by
mizrachi.org/ another, in the most literal way. They ents and the residents of Ma’alot and the Jerusalem Post as one of the 50 most
speakers felt that if a wealthy individual would the surrounding areas emotionally influential Jews in the world.

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