Jewish Agency for Israel chair Isaac Herzog visited Durban, South Africa, on Thursday, meeting with visiting agency volunteers who are assisting disadvantaged people as part of tikkun olam initiatives to “repair the world.”
He told a group of young Africans that “you fill the heart of the entire Jewish people with warmth and love when we see you receive the tools you need for a successful life from young Jews who have traveled across continents and thousands of miles to come here and help in the name of the Jewish value of tikkun olam.”
Herzog stopped by a local school, where he heard about a chess-study program developed by Durban Volunteer Center director Natalie Moyal and education coordinator Meshi Hazan. He also a learned a traditional dance, as well as how to play soccer without a ball.
“We strive to develop Jewish social activists and leaders who promote the Jewish value of tikkun olam,” Herzog told the volunteers. “Your faces are the beautiful faces of the State of Israel in the most difficult areas of the globe, and in countries where Israel and the Jewish people are struggling to maintain a good name.”
The Jewish Agency operates volunteer centers in areas of distress and poverty around the world as part of its Project TEN international development program.
In Durban, it partners with South Africa’s Jewish community, the Victor Daitz Foundation, and other local leadership in the Inanda township.
