You are here: Home » Spirituality/Tradition » Mitzvos »

Christians Help Israel’s Disabled Athletes

June 14, 2012 2:11 pm 0 comments

Author:

Ryan Jones

Share this Article

Tags:

Ramat Gan, Israel. Photo: wiki commons.

Jesus spent a good deal of his earthly ministry comforting and healing the disabled, both as a sign of his power and calling and out of a deep compassion for those whose handicaps had kept them from fully enjoying life. It is, therefore, proper that Christians who love and support Israel should likewise pay special concern to disabled Israelis. The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem is doing just that, and has been for some time.

On Thursday, a team of young men from the ICEJ set off on a 477-kilometer (296-mile) bike trek stretching the length of the Land of Israel in order to raise much-needed funds for the Disabled Sports Center in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.

Herbert Kelly from South Africa, Jani Salokangas from Finland and Emanuel Mfoukou from Sweden/Congo secured sponsorships from Christians around the world who pledged to pay a certain amount for every kilometer they travel over the course of the three-day trek that will take them from Metulla on Israel’s northern border to the Red Sea resort town of Eilat at Israel’s southern tip.

Dubbed “The 477 Quest” in reference to the distance the bikers will ride, the initiative is expected to give a significant financial boost to the Disabled Sports Center, which, in addition to providing general recreation for handicapped Israelis, is the training facility for Israel’s Paralympics team.

Media Director David Parsons told Travelujah that the ICEJ has “been supporting disabled athletes in Israel for about a decade, and has been helping the facility in Raman Gan for a number of years.”

The funds raised by The 477 Quest will help sponsor the Israeli team at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil, and go toward a desperately-needed new floor for the wheelchair league basketball court at the Ramat Gan facility.

Asked what the Israelis involved with the Paralympic team and the Disabled Sports Center think about such active support from Christians, Parsons said they couldn’t be more pleased.

While many Christians have a desire to support and help Israel, many fail to realize that it is often the little things that have the biggest impact. It is the hope of many that the efforts of these young men from the ICEJ will help more Christians to understand that even the simple act of supporting a cross-country bike ride can touch the hearts of Israel’s needy and aid in the healing of centuries-old wounds.

This article first appeared in Travelujah and Breaking Christian News.

Ryan Jones writes regularly for Travelujah, the leading Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. People can learn, plan and share their Holy Land tour and travel experiences on Travelujah.

Please note: comments may be published in the Algemeiner print edition.

Click here to cancel reply.

More...

Personalities Sports
NBA Finals a Time to Remember Legendary Jewish Coach Red Auerbach

JNS.org - At the start of each nationally televised game of the 2013 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat, ABChas aired a film-clip montage of basketball’s great players and coaches—a montage that includes Jewish coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach, the mastermind behind nine championship teams for the Boston Celtics. Red was one of four children of Marie and Hyman Auerbach. Hyman was a Russian-Jewish immigrant who left Belarus when he was 13. The couple owned a deli and [...]
Read more →
Arts and Culture Jewish History
The Marx Brothers and Jewish Identity

JNS.org - The sons of Jewish immigrants from Germany and France, the Marx Brothers became zany masters of stage and screen who continue to captivate audiences. But in addition to providing comic relief, their films captured the drama of the entry of their marginalized religion into the U.S. Wayne Koestenbaum, author of the 2012 book The Anatomy of Harpo Marx, explains that the Marx Brothers’ Jewishness as a family “was evident, marked, thoroughly legible.” “Within a family already marked as Jewish within [...]
Read more →
Arts and Culture Jewish Identity
SuperJew

For my shekels, the question of whether the comic book character Superman, is Jewish or not shouldn’t even be questioned. Born and named Kal-El by his father Jor-El, “El” is one of the ancient names for God used throughout the bible and found in great prophets such as Samue-el, Dani-el and angels Micha-el and Gavri-el and of course, Isra-el. As Simcha Weinstein in his entertaining book, “Up, Up And Oy Vey” points out, “Kal” is the root of several Hebrew [...]
Read more →
Israel Sports
Formula 1 Road Show Thrills Jerusalem

JNS.org – Some 100,000 people attended Israel’s first-ever Formula 1 Road Show in Jerusalem on Thursday and Friday. For several hours, the controversies that normally characterize Jerusalem were put aside, and a diverse mosaic of Israelis watched up close as the motor-sport stars temporarily conquered the city. “It was an amazing experience, the most fast and furious thing I have seen,” spectator Masada Porat told Israel Hayom. “It was a rare, extreme event that explodes in your face.” Spectator Irena [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Jewish Identity
Klara’s Journey Casts Jews in Fast-Paced Adventure Through Russian History

JNS.org – “If you’re sick, move away. Have some consideration for others,” a red army soldier scolds a slow-moving old man selling train tickets. “No, fires back the old man, proud, haughty, not realizing it’s a new country, a Bolshevik country where force heads the list instead of civility,” reads the following line in Ben G. Frank’s new novel, Klara’s Journey, released June 1. Reminiscent of Boris Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago—whose backdrop is also a train ride across the Russian frontier during the [...]
Read more →
Personalities Theater
Nora Ephron, Famed Jewish Screenwriter, Remembered Through Tribeca Film Festival Prize

JNS.org – For filmmaker Meera Menon, no honor could have been more fitting than winning the inaugural award named after famed Jewish screenwriter and novelist Nora Ephron, the woman whose work inspired her. At the recent 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, Menon was named the first recipient of the $25,000 Nora Ephron Prize, given to a writer or director whose work embodies that of the late Ephron, who wrote the scripts for a number of hit films, including “When Harry Met [...]
Read more →
Book Reviews Personalities
Book Review: ‘Jewish Jordan’ Memoir an Important Guide for Players and Coaches

JNS.org – Despite his friends’ and family’s doubts that a young Orthodox Jewish athlete could ever play college or professional basketball without compromising his religious values, between 1999 and 2009 the “Jewish Jordan” defied conventional wisdom and found his place on the court. In his new memoir, Jewish Jordan’s Triple Threat, Tamir Goodman describes his triumphs and disappointments in life, crediting his practice of Judaism for shaping his identity as an athlete and his understanding of basketball as a team sport. [...]
Read more →
Blogs Sports
Omri Casspi, ‘Jewish Jordan’ Partner on Basketball Camps to Inspire Youths On and Off the Court

Tamir Goodman (left) and NBA forward Omri Casspi—pictured on the court of the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls—together run basketball camps that seek to inspire youths on and off the court. Photo: Courtesy Tamir Goodman. JNS.org – Before last year, basketball camps for Jewish youths never had an instructor quite like Omri Casspi, a forward for the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers and the first Israeli-born player in NBA history. Casspi is a de facto ambassador for [...]
Read more →