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Solidarity with Young Victims of Terror

Almost four thousands teenagers gathered, recently, at the Dag Hammerskyold Plaza at the U.N. in order to express their solidarity with the young Israeli victims of Palestinian terror and of American victims of Arab and Muslim terror.

The event was organized by the Metropolitan Council of Yeshiva Students for Israel.

The Metropolitan Council of Yeshiva Students for Israel (MCYSI) is a grass roots, student founded and run, Jewish social action organization in support of the State of Israel and its citizens. "We began the organization in order to provide a powerful avenue for the American Jewish High School student to impact on the lives of our brothers and sisters in Israel who find themselves in need of various forms of moral and financial support," explained Benjamin Rubin and Baruch Danziger co-founders of the MCYSI and a High School for Junior in Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway. "By bringing together the voice of students from across the Eastern United States in a solidarity rally, we are empowered to build a bridge of reciprocal support for families in the United States and in Israel, who have suffered through the brutal hand of terrorism."

The Board of Jewish Education has been a staunch supporter of the organization and the February 5th solidarity rally from its initial planning stages, helping to establish the inter-school networking crucial to the efforts of the MCYSI. The most unique characteristic of this rally is that it is being planned by students for students and is generating an idealism not felt by our youth in a very long time. It is so inspiring to see our teens motivated to face the challenges of today with a call to decisive action. They have taken the initiative to unify their peers for a critical purpose during these daunting times in the world," exclaims Rabbi Ellis Bloch, Director of the Department of Yeshivot and Day Schools at BJE. "We are very proud of our students."

Caryn Friedman and Maital Friedman (no relation) are seniors at Westchester Hebrew High School and the lead coordinators of the February 5th Solidarity Rally. "It is our sincerest hope that this effort will allow the thousands of students in attendance to recognize their power to make the difference," they profess. "Silence means that the terrorists have won!! It is due time that the voices of the American Jewish youth are heard."

The rally is proudly co-sponsored by EIMATAL, a project of the Max Stern Division of Communal Services/ RIETS at Yeshiva University, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater New York, and the Israel Emergency Solidarity Fund.