Around 400 young Jewish participants from North America took part on Wednesday in a joint race at the Adi Negev–Nahalat Eran rehabilitation village in southern Israel, marking the closing days of Disability Awareness Month.
The annual event brought together visiting students involved in fundraising efforts with residents of the village, rehabilitation patients, staff, and volunteers. Organizers said the race was designed to both raise awareness of disability inclusion and support the village’s rehabilitation and trauma treatment programs.
According to the organizers, participants raised tens of thousands of dollars earmarked for trauma care for vulnerable populations, including IDF soldiers and civilians from the Negev injured during the war, as well as patients treated at the Kaylie Rehabilitation Medical Center at Adi Negev. The facility is currently the only rehabilitation hospital operating in southern Israel.
The race followed a fully accessible route looping around the Adi Negev campus. Participants from JNF-USA led the runners, joined by soldiers undergoing rehabilitation, members of Adi Negev’s wheelchair basketball team, and young people completing a year-of-service program while studying in religious education programs (yeshivot and seminaries) in Israel.
At the finish line, residents of the village, special-education students, rehabilitation patients, staff members, and volunteers gathered to welcome the runners, with many completing the final stretch together. Organizers described the atmosphere as emphasizing inclusion and shared participation rather than competition.
Integrating people with disabilities into Israeli community
The fourth-annual event acts as part of the organization’s broader efforts to integrate people with disabilities into community and public life in Israel.
Adi Negev–Nahalat Eran functions as an inclusive rehabilitation and community center, offering medical, therapeutic, educational, and residential services for people with disabilities, ranging from intensive rehabilitation care to long-term housing for individuals with complex intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Avi Wortzman, CEO of Adi Negev–Nahalat Eran, said the race was intended to foster direct interaction between groups that typically do not meet. “The shared run expresses the village’s values of equality and inclusion and allows for genuine, eye-level encounters between all participants,” he said.