Joburg’s Merit for Young Shlucha

By COLlive reporter

What a glorious day it was out on fields of the Torah Academy day school in Johannesburg, South Africa, in honor of Lag BaOmer, the festive yartzeit of the sage Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

From the youngest to the oldest, the entire student body came out to celebrate this special day together. Music blasted as the children took their seats, clapping and cheering.

Rabbi Pini Pink, Youth Director of Chabad House in Johannesburg, welcomed the crowd and explained the importance of the Rebbe‘s Lag BaOmer rallies.

The rally was convened in the merit of Menucha Rochel bas GIla Elka, a young Shlucha in California who needs a speedy recovery. She is the daughter of Rabbi Elly and Gilah Andrusier, Directors of Chabad of North Irvine in Irvine, CA.

Rabbi Pink then called on Boruch and Yaacov Rabin, two of her cousins, to lead everyone in Kapitel 20 for a Refuah Shlemah. The children answered, verse by verse, with all their might.

Emceed by JJ Duchman, the first pesukim were recited by students from all three divisions of the school, the Nursery, Primary and High Schools. We were then all wowed by the “warm-ups” of the acrobatic Krinsky Brothers.

The vibe was exciting and the children’s faces lit up with each flip and jump, during their main routine. The Shluchim then raffled of the Grand Prize–a 10-inch bicycle, won by a very happy nursery school student.

The rally concluded with something very special. Shlucha Yael Rabin, an aunt of Menucha Rochel introduced the “Rochel’s Walk for a Mitzvah” program, encouraging everyone to take on a new mitzvah, and/or to donate to the walk, towards the girl’s treatment.