Sima Menora, the marathon mom

The first full Jerusalem Marathon took place in March 2011, not a full year after the tragic deaths of Sima Menora’s two daughters, Rebecca, 16 and Rachel, 14, as well as their cousin, Sara Klein, 17 and their grandfather, Moshe Menora, 73.

All four were in Moshe Menora’s twin-engine Beech 58, which crash-landed after a skewed takeoff. The only survivor was Sima’s son Yossi Menora, then 13, who was severely burned as he scrambled out the window of the plane.

A year later, in 2012, supporters of Dror, Rikki and Racheli’s Way — the nonprofit organization Sima Menora founded following her daughters’ tragic deaths — ran in the Jerusalem Marathon.

This year, 160 people will be running with Dror, the organization’s fourth year participating in the marathon. Runners include members of the Menora family, their friends, as well as some of the Dror girls and “kids I’ve never met,” said Menora.

“My girls would’ve loved it,” said Menora. “Their friends join every year and they sit around saying, ‘Rikki and Racheli would’ve loved this.’”

Dror aims to support girls who are having trouble in school by offering them help in education and sports.

The fact that her daughters played tennis together twice a week and participated in league tournaments gave Menora the idea of honoring their memory by using sports and team activities as a way to motivate other kids.

“Tennis is really a group effort. You cheer on your friends; you really do it as a group,” said Menora.

Dror currently operates in two local Beit Shemesh girls’ schools, Gila (which Menora’s daughters attended) and Ulpanat Noga.

The girls receive academic help after school, and participate in various sports, including training for the marathon. Tennis, however, has yet to be included, as most of the girls aren’t interested, said Menora.

“I had a dream that we would offer tennis lessons, but I had to drag the girls there,” she said.

What has developed, however, is the opportunity to make the students understand that people believe in their abilities, said Menora. The organization looks for students “with that spark in their eye,” she said.

There are now 64 girls participating in Dror, not all of whom are aware of Rikki and Racheli, the two teenage girls whose lives inspired the after-school program.

Menora understands that, although she does try to connect her daughters’ personalities and characters to the program.

“It’s one of the things I work on a lot,” she said. “While a lot of people know the story, there is a big disconnect.”

The work continues. Menora gets the participants’ parents involved, having them periodically meet with the school’s social workers, and making sure that language — about half of the Dror participants are Ethiopian — is not an issue.

“Everyone gains from this,” she said.