Several dozen students at the Amit-Hevruta yeshiva in Kfar Batya, Raanana, embarked on a unique mission on Tuesday, the First of Nisan: sprucing up of the homes of new immigrants in Yafo Dalet. The operation was carried out in partnership with Aviv HaTorah, a non-governmental organization headed by Rabbi Micha Halevi.
Amit Hevruta is guided by the belief that the most important thing in the world is to do something good to someone else. Before leaving on the Pesach break, the students and rabbis/educators decided to help needy Olim in Yafo.
Most of the Olim in the neighborhood chosen live in apartments that are in need of renovation and maintenance. The students came with brushes, paint and work tools, and went to work, under the guidance and supervision of professional handymen who were recruited for the project.
They fixed leaking pipes, broken windows, mirrors and shutters, and painted walls and homes.
But there was more to it than that. "The reality here is difficult," said Rabbi Avinoam Almagor, the school's principal. "When a child who is an Oleh learns Hebrew from an Arab kindergarten teacher and 90 percent of the kindergarten is made up of Arab students, the Oleh will grow up with a similar mentality. Our goal is to take him out of that social circle and bring him into a better social circle by renovating the home. The wall may be whiter in the end, but the heart will also be warmer.”