APRIL 6 • 2023 | 43

highest priority on assisting 
groups and populations 
in Jerusalem in need of 
support, according to the 
Marathon’s website. 
“Incorporating a social 
and communal dimension 
in the race gives added 
value to the runners’ 
experience,” Leon said.
Rothstein, 40, has 
participated for 12 years. 
He made aliyah in 2007 
with his wife, Leezie 
Strauss, who hails from 
Queens, New York. An 
occupational therapist at 
Orchaos Ish, the largest 
Talmud-Torah in Har Nof, 
and in private practice, 
Leezie and Ellie have six 
children, ages 1 to 17.
Levitz, 30, who grew 
up in Southfield, knew 
Rothstein, who went to 
school and was good 
friends with his older 
brother, Shimi Pesis. He ran 
the 5K run for Kav Lanoar 
for the second year. 
“I’m not a serious runner, 
but I did good for what 
I was expecting, and I 
enjoyed it,” said Levitz, 
who completed the run in 
under 38 minutes. “I always 
have a lot of fun at the 
Jerusalem Marathon, the 
only one I’ve ever run in, 
and I raised $380 for Ellie’s 
organization.”
Levitz, a customer 
success manager at 
CauseMatch, plans on 
running again next year.
He and his wife Tova, 29, 
a freelance graphic designer 
from West Hempstead, New 
York, made aliyah in 2019, 
with their daughter Adina, 
now 5. They live in Beit 
Shemesh, and now have a 
younger daughter, Esti, who 
is 1 year old.

My wife, Shaina and 
I participated in the 
Marathon for the second 
time since making aliyah 
in 2019. The event was 
canceled in 2020 and 
2021, owing to the COVID 
pandemic lockdown.
We live in Efrat and 
participated with our 
four children, ages 4 to 8. 
“The children always love 
coming to Jerusalem, where 
we lived for a year, and 
playing at Sachar Park,” 
Shaina said.
We moved from Oak 
Park to Jerusalem our first 
year in Israel. We were 
preceded in aliyah by 
Shaina’s older brother, Avi 
Shevin, his wife, Aviya, and 
daughter, Sarah Nechama, 
11, in 2012. Their younger 
sister Tova Jacobovitz 
and her family, husband 
Danny and children Akiva, 
11, Yael, 8, and Rafi, 4, 
followed in 2020 from Oak 
Park. Their parents, Lisa 
and Elliott Shevin, made 
aliyah, also from Oak Park, 
in 2021 with their daughter 
Chana. They all live within 
walking distance in Efrat.
“We intend to participate 
again next year,” Shaina 
said. “Our children love 
hiking, as do we.”
We often are joined 
by our oldest daughter, 
Madeleine Truitt, 28, who 
moved to Israel in 2013. 
She lives in Jerusalem with 
her husband, Abraham, and 
daughter, Dalia. 
Next year’s event is 
scheduled for Friday, March 
8, 2024. “Kav Lanoar will 
participate next year,” said 
Rothstein, “and we hope 
that more Detroiters will 
walk for our team and 
agency.” 

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