Elad Riven
Elad RivenIsrael news photo: (file)

The Ministry of Education announced on Monday that it will be holding a central youth assembly in Haifa in memory of Elad Riven who perished in the blaze on the Carmel last weekend. The assembly will take place at the conclusion of the shloshim (mourning period) for Riven.

Riven, 16, was the youngest person to die in the devastating fire, the worst one in Israel’s history, that raged on the Carmel Range and which claimed the lives of 43 people. An only child, Elad was a volunteer firefighter who studied at the Re’ali High School in Haifa.

His classmates said that when Elad saw the flames in the Carmel, he called his mother and asked her to bring his uniform and take him to join his unit at the site of the fire. He was killed while trying to rescue the IPS cadets who were trapped on a bus which was taking them to evacuate prisoners in the Damon Prison.

The special assembly in memory of Elad Riven will be conducted in conjunction with Israel’s national youth movements and will emphasize and encourage volunteering among youth. The ceremony will be attended by Elad’s parents, Emil and Tzvia, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar, and Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav. Also in attendance will be large numbers of teens who regularly volunteer in different organizations.

Minister Sa’ar has also ordered that following the Chanukah vacation, all school educators dedicate one classroom hour to study the character of Elad Riven, with an emphasis on the values embodied in his personality and circumstances of his death.

In addition, the Ministry of Education announced that it intends to establish memorial projects which would be dedicated to Elad Riven z”l.