Students at Yeshivat AMIT B’Levav Shalem in Yerucham this week demonstrated solidarity with the employees of Negev Ceramics, who have set up a protest tent in the southern Israeli city to fight the closure of their factory and widespread layoffs.
Management closed the factory after the Sukkot holiday, but negotiations—mediated by senior government officials—are continuing between them and more than 100 employees in an effort to find a solution. In the meantime, as they await their fate, the factory workers are staging a protest in the tent they erected.
The AMIT students, many of whom have relatives employed by Negev Ceramics, felt they could not ignore the workers’ distress. Every day, one class from the yeshiva sits in the tent with the workers, listens to the stories of their struggle, asks thought-provoking questions and works to think of solutions.
An uncle of one of the students thanked them for supporting the workers and their cause.
“Kol Hakavod to the staff and the students of Yeshivat AMIT B’Levav Shalem, who devoted their precious time and came to the protest tent to identify with us, the workers, and support us at the height of our struggle,” he said.
Rabbi Aner Leshem, the principal of the yeshiva, said he educates students to understand the concept of mutual responsibility. “The students identified with the pain of people struggling for the basic need to earn a decent living,” he said.
