Pups for Peace was formed in the aftermath of the Passover Massacre in Netanya, where 29 Seder attendees were murdered; hundreds others injured. Reading about this atrocity in the newspaper was Glenn Yago, a member of Mishkon Tefilo in Venice.

Yago works for the Milken Foundation in Santa Monica, and teaches finance at an Israeli university each spring. He wanted to do something to help prevent more loss of life.

Yago, a committed Jew and Zionist, teamed with Mike Herstik, a dog trainer extraordinaire, who has trained numerous dogs to work security detail for, amongst others, the President of the United States. Together, Yago and Herstik (and several others) created Pups for Peace with the express purpose of training dogs to sniff for bombs and other explosives in Israel.

The dogs work with military, police, and civilian security to save lives in Israel. Our students were treated to a Q & A session with Yago and Herstik, and got to meet Nitro, one of the dogs in the program.

Nitro, a gorgeous black lab, was very friendly and enjoyed meeting all of the students present that Sunday morning.

KM Religious School will be piloting a tzedakah program for Pups for Peace. Students will be solicit donations for this worthwhile organization from family and friends.

If we can raise $10,000, our students will have a chance to actually name one of the dogs in the program (a lofty goal, indeed!)

I hope you'll help our students in their enterprise and help support Pups for Peace.