When teens from Boca Raton to Miami Beach joined together today to demonstrate their unwavering support for Israel, history was made. On Monday, October 19, 2015, Scheck Hillel Community School hosted students from Donna Klein Jewish Academy, Rabbi Alexander S. Gross Hebrew Academy and Yeshiva High School of Boca; the first time that more than 1,000 South Florida students have come together at a shared school event in solidarity for Israel. With one heart and one soul, teens banded together to raise awareness of the intensifying situation in Israel, to pray for peace around the world, and to declare loudly and proudly: AM YISRAEL CHAI!
The morning’s student-led, student-focused assembly of solidarity and strength was MC’d by Scheck Hillel Student Government Co-Presidents Ilana Woldenberg (Grade 12) and Joseph Wolf (Grade 12). “Our beloved Israel – we are here for you, we are standing strong with you, we want you to know that South Florida Jewish students care about you,” said Woldenberg. Students from all four schools participated in leading prayers of peace and hope, including the Prayer for the State Israel/Tefilah le Shalom Medinat Israel, the Prayer for the Israel Defense Forces/Misheberach l’Tzahal and chapters of tehilim.
The crowd was moved by the messages of guest speakers: Deputy Consul General of Israel to Florida and Puerto Rico, Mrs. Revital Malka, Daniel Miller and Gabriel Groisman (Hillel ’98). Daniel Miller, a survivor of a suicide bomb attack on Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street 18 years ago, shared his words of gratitude with the crowd. “As a victim of terror I can personally tell you how important what you are doing today is. It gives us the strength to get up and fight another day. So I personally thank all of you.”
Hillel alumnus Gabriel Groisman (’98), a board member at FIDF and AIPAC, architect of the 1,000 Flags Project, a blogger for the Times of Israel, and a councilman for the Village of Bal Harbour, charged the group with a fourfold mission: to visit Israel, to get involved with Zionist groups in their communities and on college campuses, to empower themselves with information about Israel current events, and to be a light unto the nations.
In addition to gathering and praying together, the four schools will be showing support for our brothers and sisters in Israel by learning together. Over the next two weeks, in a collective effort, students will complete the study of the entire Tanach: a statement that expresses the values that bind us together as one community.
The assembly concluded with song and dance; a moving and emotional scene, as students proudly waved Israeli and American flags. By gathering all together today we declared to the world that we, here in South Florida, stand as ONE with Jews all around the world in support of the State of Israel and peace around the world.
Special thanks go to Heads of School Rabbi Khan, Rabbi Kroll, Helena Levine and Dr. Ezra Levy, Scheck Hillel’s own Rabbi Joshua Spodek, and all faculty and staff for making this morning possible.
Click here for photos and videos, including special ‘thank you’ messages from Israel. Be sure to share with friends. #AmYisraelChai!
Filming by IgalMr Films (IgalMr.com)