Education Minister Naftali Bennett announced Chaim and Miri Ehrental as winners of the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and special contribution to society on Tuesday."The Ehrental couple, through Zichron Menachem, deal with the Holy of Holies. Their mission is to do everything for the cancer patients and their families to get them out of the pain, fear and suffering and bring them to a happy and hopeful place," Bennett said as he presented the award to the couple. "Mazal tov Chaim and Miri, you both are an inspiration to us all."The two are founders of Zichron Menachem, an organization that provides support for young people living in Israel with cancer without parents or siblings.The organization was founded in honor of their oldest child, Menachem, who died of cancer (leukemia) when he was 15. When Ehrental's son was diagnosed at the age of two, the couple didn't feel like they had a place to turn for support."We do not have two things in the organization - politics and religion," the Ehrental's said to Bennett. "We do not distinguish between secular and religious, between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim - they are all the same, and we help all. We could not have been happier."In 2011, Zichron Menachem was behind the nationwide hair donation campaign, and since then, the organization, tried to ensure every cancer patient in Israel has a wig.
