When Saul Lejtman decided to run in the Jerusalem Marathon, getting a chance to raise money for Chai Lifeline while visiting his daughter in Israel seemed like a good idea. Since then, he’s raised over $7,000, more than $2,000 over the fundraising minimum for Team Lifeline.

Dr. Lejtman, a dentist in Tenafly, merely mused about running a marathon at first. He would get to exercise and lose some weight while training, donate to a good cause and see his daughter at her seminary in Israel if he ran the Jerusalem Marathon on March 21 2014. The fact that Chai Lifeline had a major presence in Teaneck, where he lives, helped him to actualize these thoughts and register to donate his efforts to Team Lifeline.

With the money raised by Dr. Lejtman and other Team Lifeline runners, Chai Lifeline will be able to bring over 60 Israeli children with cancer from its Israeli counterpart, Chaiyanu, to the United States for Camp Simcha this summer. As a dentist, Dr. Lejtman admitted that he couldn’t help but think about the smiles of these children thanks to the donations by Team Lifeline supporters.

While Dr. Lejtman’s donation to Team Lifeline was originally going to be the minimum of $4,500, after nearing his limit, Dr. Lejtman realized how supportive the people around him were. He raised his initial goal to $7,500 and, with the help of his friends and family, Dr. Lejtman is once again close to achieving his goal. Dr. Lejtman is planning on raising his goal once again, since there are more than three months until the Jerusalem Marathon.

Until heading to Israel for the marathon, Dr. Lejtman will be spending a lot of his time training for the race. When weather has permitted, he has trained by running in the streets where he lives, but due to inclement weather and snow, he has been training primarily on the treadmill while listening to Daf Yomi shiurs and catching up on television shows.

Registration for running with Team Lifeline is still open at www.teamlifeline.org, where you can also find Dr. Saul Lejtman’s personal runner page.

By Tamar Herman