40 Students from Chabad High School in Johannesburg Bicycling 400 Miles for Charity

Jewish and black South African teens have come together for a joint, 400-mile bike ride to Durban under the auspices of the Cycalive outreach program, JTA reports.

Cycalive is an annual initiative that brings youth of different backgrounds together to raise funds for educational programs in need.

This year’s group of cyclists included 40 high school students from Johannesburg’s Torah Academy, two black schools in Soweto, five Israelis and one student from Durban, the report said.

The dean of Torah Academy Rabbi Dovid Hazdan has pledged to send 9,000 schoolbooks, donated by a sponsor, to nine underprivileged schools chosen by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, JTA reported.

Torah Academy dean Rabbi Dovid Hazdan pledged to send 9,000 schoolbooks, donated by a sponsor, to nine underprivileged schools chosen by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

“This sends a message to the youth of South Africa to become involved as real friends, not Facebook friends, not virtual friends, not virtual anything – to be young, active and embrace a wholesome way of life,” Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein reportedly said in a tribute to Hazdan, who founded Cycalive as a nation-building exercise 14 years ago.

When the Cycalive participants return from Durban, Hazdan said according to JTA, the Soweto cyclists would each be presented with a brand new bicycle courtesy of a local sponsor.