Kushner Students Compete in Jerusalem Half-Marathon

Eleven students from a Livingston high school and their teacher recently took part in an impressive charity fundraiser half a world away and raised more than $37,000 for disabled children in Israel, officials said.

On March 1, the students, who attend the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School, along with their teacher, Rabbi Motti Miller, ran in the Jerusalem half marathon to raise money for Shalva, the Association for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children in Israel.

Miller, who began running last summer to get into shape, decided to invite the students to run in the 13.1-mile race.

“I thought it would be the perfect way to combine health and fitness with tzedaka (charity), good deeds and spirituality, key lessons we teach the teens at school – and what better place for our student delegation to run than in Jerusalem,” Miller said.

Kushner students, the only American high school contingent to run in the race, trained for several months - even during the recent blizzards and Hurricane Sandy. The group met regularly at school to discuss training schedules, share techniques and exercises, compare diet suggestion and support each other. Several half-marathon runners had no prior running experience, school officials said.

All money raised by the students went to Shalva.