By Alex Rubin
This past Sunday we went to learn about a new educational model in Israel at the Yachad School in Modiin. While there, we had the opportunity to meet with the school’s principal, Jewish studies director, and community programs director, a school parent, as well as some students to learn why Yachad is a unique school within Israel’s educational system.
Most schools in Israel for Jews are either secular or religious schools, with Jewish schools adding Jewish content to the normal studies of secular schools. The Yachad School, however, is a school for both religious and secular families. Yachad bridges the gap between religious and secular neighbors and really makes an effort to unite the community. Its curriculum includes elements which are typical of religious schools but presented in such a way that it is meaningful to secular and religious students alike. For example, students in art class might read a story from the Tanach before learning a new artistic technique to represent it.
Yachad is also unique because it offers programs not just for students but also for their families to fully integrate its mission into the wider community. For example, Yachad runs a parent-written magazine, a basketball team, and a choir, among other activities. The school strives to keep the entire family involved with school life so that when a secular student comes home talking about bible class, their parents can contribute to their learning, or when a religious student becomes best friends with a secular student, their parents feel comfortable inviting friends over to their home. Aside from providing a world-class education, Yachad is able to build connections in its community, and help its students and their families live b’yachad, together.
For many of the Nachshon fellows, the concept of a pluralistic school seemed very normal. I, for one, grew up in a public school with Jews and Christians, and Asians and African-Americans, and people from many different socio-economic statuses. By Israeli standards, most American schools are pluralistic in that people from all walks of life all come together to learn the same curriculum. The fact that such an inclusive school in special here really taught us a lot about the education system in Israel and helped us understand the need for Yachad’s community programming. That a school goes out of its way to impact its local community spoke volumes to me. It shows that Yachad is not just concerned for the students it teaches but also for their future as members of a larger community. It allows students to want to talk about school with their parents, and for parents to want to be involved in the education of their children.
I think Yachad’s model for a pluralistic school has implications that spread far beyond providing a new style of Israeli education. This past fall I interned at an organization that runs a sports-based mentoring program in underserved Chicago-area high schools. The populations in many of these schools consisted of students from a wide array of ethnic backgrounds and familial situations. Even knowing that these schools lack the resources Yachad is blessed with, I think it would be incredible if they were somehow able to provide the kind of community support that Yachad provides to its diverse community. Perhaps if parents were more invested in their children’s education the way parents are at Yachad, fewer students would drop out or commit violent crimes. Seeing the success of Yachad has inspired me to bring its lessons and its model to schools in America and perhaps be able to create a system where a school is able to create positive change and peace in communities around the world.
