Mounting a Lofty Goal for Education

Danny Hill’s gratitude to his daughter’s school is propelling him to the top of one of the country’s highest mountains on a strenuous fund-raiser--and he is pulling three other fathers along.

The 40-year-old Hill is the father of three daughters, including 8-year-old Talia, who suffers from cerebral palsy, epilepsy and hearing and speech problems as consequences of an infection she contracted soon after she and her twin sister were born three months prematurely.

After a frustrating, months-long search for a school that would include his bright but multiply disabled daughter in mainstream classes, Hill found the Ohr Eliyahu Academy in Culver City three years ago. He says Talia is thriving at the Orthodox Jewish school.

To help the school, which is struggling to simultaneously fund its scholarship programs and acquire land, Hill and three others today will set out to climb 14,494-foot Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the United States outside of Alaska.

Says Ohr Eliyahu’s headmaster, Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg, of the four fathers: “Every one of them is a diamond. I have the greatest parent body that any principal could hope for.”

The Mitzvah Climb, as the fathers have dubbed their ascent, will begin 6,130 feet from the top of Whitney, a rugged peak in the southern Sierra Nevada where thunderstorms and snow squalls can bear down suddenly, even in summer. Mentally, the men have divided their climb into 10 segments of 613 feet each to commemorate the number of mitzvahs, or commandments, in the Torah. They solicited donations based on dollars pledged per 613-foot chunk, with the appropriately lofty goal of raising $20,000 for the school.

Joining Hill for the hike are Mike Rotenberg, 37, a marketing consultant; Rabbi Zvi Hollander, 40, of the Young Israel of Venice synagogue, who teaches at Ohr Eliyahu; and Ephraim Kossin, 39, a satellite communications engineer. Hollander’s oldest son, 15-year-old David, decided a few days ago to make the trip as well.

“I thought, why not combine my love of the outdoors with a really good cause and [make] it into something really unique?” said Hill, who manages commercial and residential properties. “When it struck me I was really excited. . . . The mountain is a symbol of achievement--reaching for a pinnacle is how I envision education.”

Ohr Eliyahu, which enrolls about 160 students from preschool to eighth grade, has just begun a campaign to raise $1.4 million, the asking price for the 4 1/2-acre hilltop parcel in the quiet Blair Hills area of Culver City, Goldberg said.

The land is owned by the Culver City Unified School District and once held a public elementary school.

Although Hill’s fund-raiser will make a fairly small splash in the campaign pool, he diligently distributed fliers about the hike on the last day of school, mailed nearly 800 letters and pledge forms, and asked his fellow climbers to sign up 25 sponsors apiece.

His oldest daughter, 11-year-old Eliana, planned to call every Ohr Eliyahu parent to ask for donations. By the middle of last week, she had raised $540, and vowed to keep dialing.

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In addition to changeable weather, the group will face numerous risks on Mt. Whitney: altitude sickness, bears and exhaustion among them. The climbers plan to start the 22-mile round-trip hike early this morning, then camp at about 12,000 feet tonight. They hope to reach the summit by 11 a.m. Monday and complete their descent before dark. Temperatures overnight are expected to be in the low 40s.

Hill, who has climbed in the Grand Tetons and elsewhere, has been riding a stationary bike for an hour every day to prepare for the trek. Kossin, an Eagle Scout and experienced backpacker, has been working out dutifully. Hollander has relied on his regular mountain-biking in the Santa Monicas to get him ready, and Rotenberg said he has been walking and hiking.

The four did a practice hike up 9,400-foot Mt. Baden-Powell in the San Gabriel range a few weeks ago. “We were climbing this mountain talking about not only Torah and religious things, but about raising our children and relationships with our wives,” said Rotenberg, who said he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Rabbi Hollander was also a regular guy who often hikes in T-shirts emblazoned with surfing designs. “It was like a men’s therapy group.”

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The four Orthodox Jewish men have also been studying a religious treatise about the coming Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, during the months they’ve spent preparing for the ascent. While they are at the summit Monday, they plan to take time to summarize what they’ve learned.

Talia expresses her appreciation slowly and haltingly.

“I’m so happy that my daddy decided to climb the mountain,” she said. “Because it’s most important, the money for the school. . . . It’s a good school.”