together with his family who came to cheer him on.
In late January, Team Yachad gathered 220 runners, its largest group to date, to run for the cause of Inclusion in the annual Miami Half-Marathon. Yachad, the National Jewish Council for Disabilities, is a program of the Orthodox Union for individuals with special needs. The cohort that arrived for the Sunshine State’s 13.1 miles race included families, students and working professionals from across North America and Israel. Each Team Yachad runner undertook the responsibility of fundraising $3,000 for Yachad, which for more than three decades has ensured its mission of facilitating the participation of special needs individuals in the full spectrum of Jewish life through its vocational programs, summer camps and schools the United States, Canada and Israel. Highlights of the race follow below:
Going bananas: Team Yachad runners fuel up before the big race. Teaneck NJ’s Chani Herrmann, right, director of NJ Yachad, approaching finish line together with her 13-year-old daughter Atara. Dov Levine of West Hempstead, NY, and Yeshiva University’scross-country team, was the first Team Yachad runner to cross the finish line. Zev Lafer, a Fasman Yeshiva High School student from Chicago
exults in glory as he completes the ra
Eight New York University students ran with Team Yachad in support of Inclusion. NYU student Kendra Meisler from West Hartford, CT, raises her arms in triumph as she dashes the 13.1 miles of the Half-Marathon.