Cycling for Jerusalem - and for Israel's children with special needs

The Goodhardts

Jerusalem Day – in Hebrew, Yom Yerushalayim, יום ירושלים‎‎ - marks the anniversary each year of the day in 1967 when Jerusalem was reunited under Israeli sovereignty following a tragic period of nineteen years starting in 1948 during which the military forces of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan had occupied its eastern half, destroying ancient structures, synagogues and cemeteries.

For almost a generation, the Jordanians made it impossible for Jews to enter the city that has been at the heart and focus of Jewish religious, philosophical and national attention for more than two thousand years.

The 49th Yom Yerushalayim is going to be observed this coming Sunday, June 5, 2016. It's a day of national and religious celebration.

Rabbi Ian Goodhardt, the congenial spiritual leader of Melbourne's Blake Street Hebrew Congregation, has announced he is going to get on his bike and ride exactly 49 kilometers to celebrate 49 years of Jerusalem's reunification - while turning this into a way to encourage practical support for the work of the Malki Fundation among families of children in Israel challenged by serious disabilities. (To be clear, Rabbi Goodhardt's Jerusalem Day ride is taking place in Melbourne, where he did the same last year and with great success.)

As a mail-out to supporters from the Malki Foundation office in Jerusalem explained earlier today:

This is not the first time Rabbi Goodhardt has put his legs and bike to work for Keren Malki. Thanks to his efforts and his many supporters, we were able to provide a years worth of paramedical therapies to 5 children, who would otherwise not have received the essential therapy. Rabbi Goodhardt's target for this year's ride is $10,000 in order to purchase three new Rifton Gait Trainers (a specialised walking frame - see "Mobility is for everyone"). These will be added to the Malki Foundation's Equipment Lending Unit, a successful joint venture with the Yad Sarah Organization that has been lending essential home-care equipment to Israeli families since 2003.

From the Rifton website

There's a fairly constant back-log in our Equipment Lending Unit - a sure indication that families who make the difficult decision to keep their child with special needs at home are unable to solve the problem of expensive equipment on their own. It's our pleasure and privilege to help. And as with all the activities at the Malki Foundation, you can be sure the cost structure is modest and the work is done with maximum efficiency.

Running successful programs like this one of course requires the help of supporters. We therefore want to encourage our friends and supporters to get right behind Rabbi Goodhardt and provide tangible encouragement for his very welcome initiative.

To do that, please click here to go to The Great Jerusalem Charity Bike Ride secure page. There you will find all the necessary details explaining how to get behind his fantastic effort - and how to join his team of cyclists, if that's potentially on your agenda. (Short answer: click here.) All proceeds go to Australian Friends of Keren Malki, an all-volunteer body that has been a leading provider of support for the Malki Foundation since it was established in December 2001.

For Twitter users, please click here to help us encourage friends and contacts to get behind Rabbi Goodhardt's Great Jerusalem Charity Bike Ride. Facebook users can share and post from this link.