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Fog/Mist Helping to preserve Israel
Brandeis students raise $3,200 to plant trees in Mount Carmel
As part of the Jewish New Year for trees — Tu B’Shvat — the 217 students at the Brandeis School in Lawrence raised $3,200 in the past two months to plant 177 trees in Mount Carmel, Israel where four million trees were decimated in a December 2010 fire.
Principal Alese Gingold said two months ago a representative from the Jewish National Fund, an organization that has planted more than 250 million trees and educates students about Israel and the environment, visited the Brandeis School to show the students photographs of the devastating aftermath of the Mount Carmel fire.
After the representative’s visit, the students participated in a school-wide competition to see which person in each grade could raise the most money. Third grader Briella Kurtz and seventh grader Brielle Hoffman collected the most money throughout the entire school. “I was excited to work hard and raise the money,” Hoffman said. “I wanted to help plant trees and help the animals come back. In two years I hope the forest (in Mount Carmel) is green and full of animals running around.”
Kurtz said she raised money by asking her entire family and fortunately, many of them wanted to donate because they care about the trees in Israel. “It feels good,” she said about being one of the two students to raise the most money in the school. “I hope (the money) helps plant trees and helps the environment.”
Rabbi Eric Lankin, chief of Institutional Advancement and Education within the Jewish National Fund, was invited to the Brandeis School to receive the check for $3,200 on March 22. “Trees are really beautiful and it’s very special to live in a community with so many trees,” he said to the students. “Our homeland is ours and although we live in America, a part of our heart is there.”
According to Rabbi Lankin, the Jewish National Fund is an organization that many Jews have continued to support since it was founded in 1901. The JNF has also, built more than 210 reservoirs and dams, developed more than 250,000 acres of land, created more than 1,000 parks, provided the infrastructure for more than 1,000 communities and brought life to the Negev Desert.
When asked what the Brandeis School’s money means to the organization, Rabbi Lankin said, “It means these children are joining with their fellow Jews to preserve Israel. This is a tremendous sign of how great the students are and how great this school is.”
