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To date, nearly 150 students have taken part in two clean-up campaigns run by Nikayon Zion (Cleanliness of Zion), a student-run grassroots initiative that each week focuses on cleaning the streets of another of the city's neighborhoods.

Hailed by local residents as "tzadikim" (holy men and women), applauded, hugged and kissed, the students have obviously struck a chord in this trash-filled city.

But when overseas students decide that volunteering to clean up Jerusalem is a project of major importance, and are able to fill some 150 garbage bags in two hours of work in the upscale Rehavia/Nahlaot neighborhood, then something stinks not only in our streets but also in Safra Square.

Nikayon Zion launched its first Jerusalem neighborhood clean-up in Rehavia/Nahlaot on December 2, 2005, with the participation of 50 yeshiva boys and 80 seminary girls.

Divided into two groups (boys in Nahlaot and girls in Rehavia), the volunteers went through parks and along city streets, picking up trash.

Last week, the group repeated its efforts in the German Colony with around a dozen students. This time, it was a coed undertaking. To make the project more attractive to participants, Nikayon Zion combines the clean-up efforts with a guided neighborhood tour.

"When we started, we thought we would have a clean-up once a month," relates Nikayon Zion organizer, Minnesota native Alexander Chester, who is currently an intern at Bar Ilan University. "But after the first clean-up, 250 students signed up. We can't work with such a large group all at once. So we decided to do a clean-up every week on Friday morning with a group of around 50 students in order to be able to include everyone who wants to take part." The idea for Nikayon Zion originated last year with Chester's brother, Sammy, when he was a one-year student at the Har Etzion Yeshiva in Gush Etzion.

"On Jerusalem Day, Sammy took part in the march through the city," Chester recounts. "He was upset by the filth he saw along the route. So Sammy took a plastic bag and started cleaning as he marched. People noticed. An old Arab man came up to him and in halting Hebrew thanked him for helping to make the Holy City more beautiful." Sammy decided it would be really nice if more students could be organized to clean up Jerusalem. When Sammy returned to the US, Chester decided to carry through with his idea.

"Alex had this vision," states Batel Meshel, Chester's co-organizer and a student at Simhat Shlomo in Nahlaot. "I came on board to help. Now, I am in charge of the women's groups." Nikayon Zion was set up with assistance and seed money from Shomera Lesviva Tova (Guardian for a Good Environment), a non-profit organization specializing in environmental education and activism. Chester and Meshel contacted various yeshivas and seminaries to recruit volunteers, selected the initial neighborhoods and found volunteer tour guides.

So far, students from 18 yeshivas and seminaries have taken part in the two clean-ups. They include both national religious and liberal Jewish institutions.

"The message of cleaning up Jerusalem is an apolitical one that appeals to students across the religious spectrum," Chester notes. "We want students from all the streams to feel comfortable. That is why we did separate groups for the more Orthodox schools and a mixed group for the more liberal. I would really like Nikayon Zion to be able to bring people of different backgrounds together, as well as giving overseas students the opportunity to learn about Jerusalem's various neighborhoods and experience them on a personal level." Avi Rovinsky, a student from St. Louis studying at Netiv Aryeh, took part in the first clean-up in Nahlaot. "We started at Gerard Behar and found tons of garbage in the shrubbery. The place really needed a cleaning. Then, we proceeded to the alleys and streets of Nahlaot. All along the way, residents kept coming up to us and asking what we were doing. When they heard, they thanked us. One man, from outside of Nahlaot, asked us if we could come and clean his neighborhood." Melissa Tisck, who hails from Las Vegas and is studying in the Conservative Yeshiva, took part in both the Rehavia and German Colony clean-ups.

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