We told you back in April about this kid in Jaffa, Rami Watid who won a History of Zionism contest sponsored by the city of Tel Aviv. As you may recall, he got a certificate and a trophy for his efforts. At the time we thought this kind of sucked. I mean an Arab-Israeli kid wins a Zionism contest and all he got was some crappy stuff? This kid is an example not just to all Israeli kids but to, like, everyone! At the time I suggested we get him an XBox game console but no one sent cash and everyone seemed to have forgotten about Rami. Some of the Jewlicious posters thought about maybe throwing a party / fundraiser but then the trip happenned.
So I was on the phone talking to Dov Charney, President of American Apparel. He was telling me about how he was about to open a new American Apparel store in Tel Aviv. I then told him about Rami and suggested we get him a better prize, like an XBox. Charney was all “Screw that. Let’s get a laptop. At least he can use that for school.” So sure enough, we purchased a laptop for Rami as well as for his partner Gai Gutherz and this past Tuesday we invited Rami to meet our birthright israel trip at the offices of Ha’aretz.
Rami had no idea what we were up to but we let his parents, Mirriam and Khaled as well as his principal, in on the surprise. When they came in, we started off by giving Rami a bunch of crap, like socks, a rubber giraffe, an egg slicer, an espresso cup etc. Rami I am sure thought we were nuts. Then when we were done with the crap, Laya popped up with the laptop. Rami, who has obviously never Googled his name because he does not own a computer, was totally stunned. His parents were on the verge of tears and everyone present cheered loudly.
This was a totally sweet moment. Jewlicious needs to thank Dov Charney, President of American Apparel for his generosity and awesome spirit. We also need to thank Danny Yona of hagaon.com for helping us get the laptops and setting them up, the staff at Haaretz Online for hosting us, Israel Experts for logistical assistance and the state of Israel for being such a cool friggin place!!
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