Daniel Ben Hemo, 16, one of the youngest firefighters to battle blazes in Israel’s recent devastating fires, was chosen to light the first Chanukah candle of the Boys Town Jerusalem rooftop menorah. The 11th grader, who has volunteered for the Israeli Fire Department for two years through the school’s community service program, was honored for his important role in fighting massive fires in the Jerusalem Hills.
Yet, at this ceremony Daniel could relax from any danger of a stray spark flying from the menorah to catch fire. The Boys Town Jerusalem menorah runs on “homegrown” solar power generated by the school’s pioneering solar-energy system. Both the photo-voltaic panels and the menorah are located atop the roof of Boys Town’s academic building, one of the tallest points in metropolitan Jerusalem.
As for Daniel, the memories of the terrifying force of the recent fires remain in his mind day and night. “It was exciting and exhausting for me to be able to join the first responders. But I’m most grateful that I witnessed a modern-day miracle in that no lives were lost in Israel’s most destructive fire in history. Chanukah is especially meaningful for me this year, for sure.”
Boys Town Jerusalem is one of Israel’s premier institutions for educating the country’s next generation of leaders in the fields of technology, commerce, education, the military and public service. Since its founding in 1948, BTJ has pursued its mission of turning young boys from limited backgrounds into young men with limitless futures.
{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}
