Students Check for Bone Marrow

Students of Mayanot Men’s Program in Jerusalem participated Wednesday in a bone marrow drive for children and adults suffering from life-threatening illnesses such as leukemia and lymphoma.

The Mayanot Women?s Program also conducted the drive a week ago.

Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, “Gift of Life” is one of America’s largest public bone marrow, blood stem cell and umbilical cord blood registries.

“Gift of Life” has a dedicated team of volunteers in Israel who coordinate donor drives in order to find bone marrow donors for patients in need of their life-saving transplants.

The Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies works with “Gift of Life” on a regular basis. Participants from each of Mayanot?s Birthright Israel groups have the opportunity to enroll in the donor registry at donor drives held in Israel.

“Mayanot students were only too happy to help,” said Dove Kracoff, a student at Mayanot and participant in today?s drive. “It is so simple to check if you?re a match. With only four simple swabs from inside your mouth, you could potentially save a life.”

Halana Rosenfield, Gift of Life’s Israel Recruitment Coordinator, expressed her gratitude to Mayanot for their involvement in Gift of Life projects.

“It is wonderful to see how Mayanot takes the initiative by incorporating Gift of Life into all of its programs,” she said.

“They recognize the incredible opportunity that they are giving their students ? the opportunity to look beyond their own lives and change the life of someone else forever.

“We have seen first-hand how Mayanot students have stepped forward and saved lives.”

Photos by Matthew Tune-Cohen