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Megemeria








                                                 Tikkun Olam                                                                                     ‘It’s just the beginning’








                                            In  today’s  world,  ‘socially  responsible’   company  around  a  social  mission  may           Yvel,  the  Levy’s  would  always  give  preference  to   the art of jewelry making. The students would study
                Left to right:              businesses  and  companies  are  a  rapidly   sometimes  limit  profitability,  but  not          immigrants whenever employing staff.        for free and receive a monthly stipend. At the end
                                            growing  fashionable  movement.  When   everyone measures profitability according                 By the time Yvel had grown into a large internationally   of  the  course,  they  would  then  be  able  to  find  a
                Necklace inscribed          a  company  acts  in  the  best  interest  of   to a fiscal scale                                 recognized  brand,  it  was  home  to  almost  seventy   good job and support themselves and their families.
                with traditional            its  environment  and  society  as  a  whole,                                                     employees,  mostly  immigrants  from  over  twenty   The Megemeria School of Jewelry and Art opened
                blessings of health,                                            Orna and Isaac Levy have been building
                success, and love.          it  is  said  to  be  ‘socially  responsible’.  But   their  company  Yvel,  Israel’s  award-     countries  around  the  world.  Isaac  was  particularly   its  doors  and  twenty-two  students  began  full-time
                925 sterling silver.        this  concept  is  anything  but  new,  and   winning jewelry brand, upon the tenets of           sympathetic to Ethiopian immigrants as he felt that   studies. They were taught the art and craft of jewelry
                                            is  referred  to  in  Kabalistic  teachings,  as   social responsibility long before it was ever   they  were  the  most  vulnerable  members  of  Israeli   making  from  experts  in  the  field.  They  were  also
                Silver ring, 925 sterling   “Tikkun  Olam”,  quite  literally,  “repairing   fashionable. It was Isaac’s early childhood      society. Numbering more than 120,000 they struggle   given classes in math and Hebrew, along with other
                silver plated with 24k      the  world’.  Of  course,  repairing  injustice,   experiences  as  a  young  immigrant  from     to acclimate to modern life in Israel and face higher   life skills. For these students, it was a new beginning,
                yellow gold.
                                            prejudice and unfairness in ‘the world’ are   Argentina  that  roused  him  to  try  and          poverty and unemployment.                   a  new  opportunity.  Most  of  them  already  married
                                            beyond the scope of any one person. But   improve  the  lives  of  other  immigrants.             The success of Yvel enabled the Levy’s to embark   with  children  of  their  own  had  little  prospects  for
                                            to do this in our own smaller world, such   Having suffered himself, he wanted to offer           on  a  venture  that  would  allow  them  to  have  a   employment  other  than  menial  cleaning  work
                                            as  our  community  or  society  is  perhaps   an  opportunity  to  others  that  he  never       greater  impact  on  the  society  around  them.  They   mopping  floors  or  sweeping  streets.  For  them,
                                            something  within  our  sights.  Building  a   had. And so, from the very beginning of            would open a school to teach Ethiopian immigrants   Megemeria  was  a  new  start,  a  new  beginning.

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