Students at AMIT Ashkelon Bet Junior and Senior high school decided to undertake a double mitzvah recently: Raising funds to renovate the synagogue located on their school grounds and dedicating it to the memory of fallen Israel Defense Forces soldiers who attended the school.
Families of the fallen soldiers joined with the students and said they would donate the Torah arks for the refurbished shul. The students had worked furiously in their effort for months, spreading the word about their fundraising campaign throughout the city, reaching out to family, friends, and alumni.
Despite a recent terrifying rain of rockets in the South and the closing of their school on the first planned day of their fundraiser, the students, undeterred, carried on with their efforts. They had planned this campaign for months and involved all 500 students, recruiting them to fundraise actively through a two-day marathon of telemarketing and door-to-door community appeals. On the day of the attacks, the school already had set up headquarters with phones and computers ready to take donations. They also heard moving words from family members and close friends of the fallen soldiers. Just as they finished, the rocket attacks began, and school was canceled.
What did the AMIT students do?
From their homes, the students made telemarketing calls and went door-to-door in between code-red sirens and dashes to bomb shelters to raise the money. “We are doing everything in our power to honor the memory of our school’s fallen soldiers,” Michal D., an 11th grader and council president said on Facebook. “We are collecting every last coin to help build a shul in their memory.”
“We set out to fundraise, we recruited every ounce of manpower, and then it began! The siren that sings high and low and causes your heart to beat 200 times fast. We will not give up! We will raise money for this cause even while under attack! We will knock on doors, go out to the streets, nothing will stop us,” Michal wrote. The students raised nearly half of the money.
They have no intention of stopping until they reach their goal.
Principals Rafi Maimon and Michal Peleg urged Ashkelon residents to help the students and praised them for their dedication and caring.
Maimon said the students were especially moved that the bereaved families are supporting their effort. “We constantly teach our students to contribute to society and their community, and from the stories we have heard about the fallen soldiers, it is clear they were contributors to their families and community.”
Peleg said the idea to dedicate the renovated synagogue came from “the students’ desire to commemorate graduates of our school in a meaningful way. They were all dear to us and loved, and they are all worthy of our prayers in their memory.”
