Isaiah’s Expanding Tent

ISAIAH’S EXPANDING

TENT: Secular Israeli Schools Join the AMIT Network

BY WENDY ELLIMAN

It is shortly before eight o’clock on a Sunday morning in Rehovot, and most of the Ron Arad High School’s 735 seventh- to twelfth-graders are streaming into class — all but those currently quarantined for COVID-19.

They are a fairly typical Israeli high school population: boys and girls, almost 600 of whom live locally, from families that range from privileged to disadvantaged, with academic abilities from very strong to its 37 mainstreamed special education students.

What sets this school apart, however, is that while its pupils, its curriculum and most of its teachers are secular, it is part of the religious Zionist AMIT Network — an incongruity that may at first seem startling to Israelis, for whom the secular/religious educational divide predates the birth of the State.

Some parents were apprehensive about the association, but they quickly saw that AMIT is happy for us to define Judaism for our own school.

“We joined AMIT last September because it’s an educational and pedagogic leader,” says Ron Arad principal Keren Shachal, 55, herself secular. “Some parents were apprehensive about the association, but they quickly saw that AMIT is happy for us to define Judaism for our own school.”

A chemistry teacher by training, Tel Aviv-born Shachal came to Ron Arad (then run by the city) five years ago, following seven successful years at the helm of another Rehovot high school. “The Ron Arad School was then three years old and hadn’t found its way,” she says tactfully. “I was appointed to put it on its feet.”

She replaced 80 percent of the school’s 70 teachers, introduced electives ranging from social skills and theater arts to volleyball and pre-med, and added matriculation tracks such as sciences, visual arts, diplomacy, social initiatives, and communications. “I see my job as attracting and nurturing the best pupils, giving those from underprivileged backgrounds an equal chance, and making our school a second home for its students and staff,” she says.

It took Shachal five years to stabilize the school, academically, socially, and in the community. “It was then time to move it up another level, and for this we needed help,” she says. “Together — teachers, pedagogues — we agreed that AMIT, with its 97 years of expertise, could provide this help. We haven’t been disappointed.” religious Zionist schools to one that reaches out to all Israel — secular to haredi — accepting of one another’s differences while focusing on our broad common denominators.”

In September 2021, the Ron Arad Junior & Senior High became one of three secular schools to count themselves among the 110 educational institutions that AMIT operates with Israel’s local and national education authorities. (The Nachshon Junior & Senior High in Hevel Modi’in joined AMIT at the same time as Ron Arad, and the large Beer Tuvia High School in Kiryat Malachi came on board the year before.)

The decision to expand into Israel’s secular population was triggered by a heartfelt appeal to AMIT from the IDF’s Chief of Staff. “For him, the country’s social divisions are a greater threat to Israel’s future than any external enemy, and he urged us, as educators, to address this,” says Dr. Amnon Eldar, AMIT Director General for the past 20 years. “Our Board of Directors approved our transitioning from a network of solely

While AMIT remains a religious Zionist movement, he clarifies, the academic values based education in all its schools creates a rare meeting-point between the riven sectors of Israeli society. “Educating and nurturing children from diverse backgrounds within a framework of academic excellence, Torah values, and Zionist ideals, can only strengthen our people,” he insists.

AMIT has adopted Visionary Education as its motto to reflect this change, but its core values remain rock-solid. They are first, enumerates Dr. Eldar, love and respect for Torah ideals (honesty, integrity, tolerance and openness, Zionism and its connection with Jewish culture, keeping mitzvot from choice); second, Jewish peoplehood (living together in mutual respect, and addressing differences and disagreements positively and civilly); and third, striving toward excellence and fulfilling potential. “We’re walking in the footsteps of the prophet Isaiah Isaiah [54:2],” he smiles. “We’re expanding and broadening our tent while strengthening our base.” “Our overall aim,” he continues, “is to make Israel’s schools hubs of values-based education that instill openness, tolerance, religious commitment by choice and Jewish heritage. By nurturing academic excellence in both Judaic and academic studies, AMIT pupils graduate with the skills, values, knowledge, and tools that open a world of opportunity.”

Expanding and broadening is an understatement. AMIT intends to take more secular schools into its network until a full quarter of its student body is secular. More than that, at the request of the Education Ministry, it plans to replicate its model high school alternative to traditional yeshiva — the 10-year-old Menorat Ha’Maor High School in Petach Tikva — as needed, as well as enter schools in Israel’s Druze sector.

The Ron Arad School’s pupils are clearly happy to be within the network. Tenth-grader May Bersano, 16, eagerly goes to school each day. “I know that I matter there, and learn things I can’t learn elsewhere. I want to be an actress and they Educating and nurturing children support that. I’m just starting a theater elective from diverse backgrounds within a and am really excited framework of academic excellence, about it!” Torah values and Zionist ideals can Naama Sameach, 18, two grades ahead of her, has only strengthen our people. chosen computer science and diplomacy as her electives “because I want to do something significant with my life,” she says. Meantime, she too “love[s] coming to school. If I have difficulty in my studies, my teachers work with me till I get it. If I have a request or complaint, I go to the principal, know I’ll be heard, and the issue addressed.”

“We’re taking the lead in redefining Israel’s educational landscape to give all young Israelis the best educational opportunities both for themselves and for their country,” says Dr. Eldar. “The Education Ministry has named us its leading education network, and we’re also one of Israel’s largest school systems. So we see ourselves as a role model, guided by AMIT’s values, responsive to changing educational needs and emphasizing educational and pedagogical innovation.” Ariel Regev, 15, came to Ron Arad following a difficult time in elementary school, socially, and academically. “The personal attention here has helped me get over all that,” he says. “My English and history, which I really wasn’t good at, have picked up. And the enrichment courses here, like the science programs with the Weizmann Institute, are just wonderful!”