Jerusalem School

In the bustling metropolis of Jerusalem, home to three major religions and where traditional meets modern, Max Rayne Hand in Hand Jerusalem school, an innovative yet unmistakably organic addition to the local educational landscape, entered a new campus in January 2008.  The architecturally innovative buildings and courtyards lies between the Arab Beit Safafa village and the Jewish neighborhood of Patt.  The Jerusalem Foundation raised $11,000,000 from European sources to build the impressive campus. The 460 children in this school, spanning grades K-10, hail from Jewish and Arab families across the city. The first 10th grade class, the start of the senior high program, opened in September 2008 and  accommodates the school's first graduating class.

History and Character: Celebration of Diversity      The frontier of bilingual education for the Jerusalem school was not only conceptual but also physical - with no school facility, the first 20 pupils learned in a single improvised classroom located in an established Jerusalem public school. Hand in Hand's Jerusalem school has since grown to over 460 pupils and has relocated to its brand new campus in the Patt neighborhood in southern Jerusalem.

The student body is a microcosm of Jerusalem's urban diversity, and the school strives to cultivate an appreciation for the diverse traditions represented. It is ethnically and religiously diverse (Arab Christian, Arab Moslem, Armenian Christian, Jewish secular, and Jewish traditional), and represents a range of politics, viewpoints and dreams. Arab pupils represent old Jerusalemite families and others whose parents migrated from the Galilee to attend university in the city. Jewish students also represent a diverse group, including grandchildren of Palmach fighters and Holocaust survivors, Eastern Jews, and Russian immigrants. Among the Jewish, Arab and Armenian students alike are families who have lived in Jerusalem for generations.  The socioeconomic backgrounds of the families range from doctors and accountants, to taxi drivers and small business people.

While the school retains the intimacy of a grassroots project, it is at the same time assuming the characteristics of a well-established educational institution. Dedicated and committed parents are still integral to the school's character, taking an active part in school life in the spirit of the school's pioneering vision.

The Jerusalem school benefits from a close relationship with the  David Yellin College of Education. The college's Jewish and Arab students are a regular presence in the school. Not only do they bring in new energy and contribute to the academic program through student teaching; they also learn the Hand in Hand model and will bring this experience with them as they embark on their careers in Israeli education.  Some promising young teachers go on to become part of the Jerusalem school faculty.

It is difficult to talk about the Jerusalem Hand in Hand School without mentioning its art program. Any visitor entering the school is dazzled by walls covered with ever-changing student exhibits: paintings, photography, sculpture, text. Art instructor Luna Etkes, an artist and a Jewish new immigrant born and raised in Germany, founded the art program. The vibrant imagination of the students - expressed all across the curriculum - is thus channeled, with Luna's creativity, into visual works that hang from the walls and ceilings, filling every square centimeter with color and enlivening our physical space.