On Monday night, July 10, Teaneck’s Silver family ran in the annual Maccabiah Jerusalem Night Race to raise money for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel’s national Red Cross organization. Participants in the run and fundraiser included Tzvi Silver; his parents, Itzy and Leah; his siblings, Avital, Margalit, Liat and Pinny; and Avital’s husband, Eli. Tzvi (JLNJ’s Israel correspondent), Avital, Eli and Margalit all live in Israel, and the rest of the family plans to join them there in the future. They managed to raise over $8,000 to support MDA, which will be used to buy three new defibrillators. They also will visit MDA soon to donate blood.
The Maccabiah Night Run is an annual collection of three short marathons of 5 km (3.1 miles), 10 km (6.2 miles) and 21.1 km (13.1 miles). It was inaugurated last year by the Maccabi World Union (MWU), a Jewish sports organization that has 400,000 Jewish members across 70 countries around the world. According to the MWU website, “MWU is a Zionist organization that utilizes sports as a means to bring Jewish people of all ages closer to Judaism and Israel in addition to various informal educational activities in a manner that surpasses politics and sectarianism.”
The Night Run serves its own purpose within the framework of MWU—its location in Jerusalem introduces Jews from around the world to their homeland and capital city. The Night Race’s website says, “The Maccabiah Night Race in Jerusalem brings together the love of sports and the love of the country, with the aim of strengthening the relationship between Israel and Diaspora communities.”
The Silvers’ enterprise combines the Zionism and Jewish unity of the race with support for the vital services of Magen David Adom. MDA’s website states: “The Organization initiates the construction and management of hospitals; trains nurses; organizes clinics for collection of blood donation; helps the disabled, the needy and the elderly; and provides ambulance and rescue services at sea, in the mountains and on the roads. In addition, the National Organizations are committed to providing assistance and first aid in cases of natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, tsunami, etc.), tasks which are carried out with the help of millions of volunteers worldwide.”
Tzvi Silver and his family greatly appreciate the good that MDA does in Israel and around the world. Tzvi said: “While none of us has, thank God, been treated firsthand by MDA, living in Israel, we all appreciate how much they do for the Israeli public and the Jewish people as a whole on a daily basis. I have seen their work firsthand at nearby scenes of attacks and accidents and have friends who volunteer and work at MDA, so I know how tremendous their work is. Also, I’m an O-positive blood type, which is the universal donor, so I feel it’s my privilege and responsibility to donate blood as often as I can, and I try to make my way to donate blood at MDA’s donation stations four times every year. So far, I’ve donated blood 13 times with MDA (this will be my 14th!), and I’ve been notified that my blood donations have already been used to save patient’s lives at least three times, thank God.”
The Silvers were impressed by the overwhelmingly positive reactions of friends and family who heard about their endeavors. “This is our first time running this type of campaign,” Tzvi said, “but we’re awed and amazed at the outpouring of support and funds we’ve received from our friends and family in New Jersey, Israel and beyond. We’d like to thank everyone involved for doing their part to support our campaign to save Israeli lives through the donation of these three defibrillators to MDA.”
To donate to Magen David Adom, visit afmda.org.
By Tani Greengart
Tani Greengart is a rising senior at TABC and editor-in-chief of Kol Torah. He is currently a summer intern at The Jewish Link.
