Shinshinim in Schools: An Insider View
Shira Rafalovitz is from Kibbutz Hannaton, Israel. Shira spent her pre-army service year as a shinshinit in the Detroit Jewish community, where she discovered her passion for education, community-building, and strengthening the bond between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. She has been deeply involved in the NOAM youth movement as both a participant and staff member and has spent many summers in American Jewish camps—experiences that continue to shape her identity, values, and leadership.
The following interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Jewish Educational Leadership: Many of our readers are familiar with what a shinshin is, but not all. Can you tell us briefly?
Shira Rafalovitz: Sure. Shinshin is short for shenat sherut, a year of service. It is a year of volunteer work that some Israelis do before they start the army. Most people do their sherut in Israel, volunteering in lots of different places, but some of us choose to go overseas to work in schools or Jewish communities where we think that we can help build bridges between Jewish communities around the world and Israel. I got placed in Detroit, where I did most of my work at Frankel Jewish Academy, the high school. I also did some teaching in a Sunday school with younger kids and with a synagogue.
Were you there alone?
No, there were five of us in total in Detroit. Three went to other places, but I and one other guy were together.
What was the nature of your being there? What was the scope of your responsibilities?
So, I’m going to talk mainly about the high school, since that took up most of our time. In the synagogue and the Sunday school we did mostly teaching. In the high school, our main job was to connect with the teens in the school, to give them a real connection with Israelis and a reason to love Israel and to want to be in Israel.
How did you do that?
First, we would go into the Hebrew classes and do different activities about Israel, and we’d do Hebrew games and activities. That was how we got to meet many of the kids. But probably the most important thing was that we had our office, and people were allowed—encouraged—to come when they had a free period and just sit and hang out. That talking really provided a way for them to connect and hear from Israeli teens what life is like in Israel. You know, we were only a year older than the twelfth graders, so it was like a teen-to-teen experience. If you were to ask shinshinim who were in the elementary school, their job was much more about the actual activities that they helped to run, but for us, we saw a really big part in the informal part.
When you reflect on what you did there, which part do you think really impacted most on the students or on the school?
The one that always comes to mind first is those personal connections, they really made a big difference. Because we were with older kids and were able to talk about the more complex things. It was different from the classic, what you learn in Jewish school about Israel; we really had a chance to share our experiences. We were there during the second year of the war with Hamas. There was this one time—and I don’t remember exactly what was happening in Israel, but Israel was all over the news—and this 12th grader, who was just a year younger than us, he came into our office, and he said, “I heard this is what’s going on, and I want to hear from you guys, from the Israelis, who know and have experience with what’s going on. What does this mean for us and for Israel?” That was an example of a conversation which felt like we were really having an impact, that we had really accomplished something because we were able to talk things through and he was able to get a perspective that was very different from what he was hearing in the media.
There were times when we felt that we were opening lines of real communication. For example, we would have people coming into our office and just sit down to talk. Some of them came to watch Fauda with us. We helped them understand what was going on and they learned a lot about Israel’s culture and Shabak (Israel’s security service) and all kinds of things that you wouldn’t necessarily learn in a classroom.
One of the things we really wanted to accomplish was showing them that if they met Israelis teens it won’t be so different—they’ll know what they do, they’ll know the games they play, they’ll feel comfortable with them.
That doesn’t mean that we didn’t do any teaching. We were very involved in things like Hebrew Language Day, but it was the informal talking where we really felt like we were making a difference.
It was interesting, because I’m from a kibbutz and the guy who was with me is from a city in the center, so we were coming from different experiences and different cultures, and the kids had a chance to get to know us both and see different perspectives on what it means to be Israeli.
Let’s talk about the other teachers in the school. What kinds of interactions did you have with them? Were they helpful? Did you feel like the teachers welcomed you and appreciated what you were doing? Did they invite you into their classes?
We had great experiences with both the Hebrew-Judaics teachers and the other teachers in the school, but they were definitely different experiences. With the Hebrew and Judaics teachers, they would invite us into their classes and we’d be involved. If students needed help, we were able to help and we did projects with the students. I think that some students actually learned to like Israel more because of that.
When it came to the other teachers, we really enjoyed talking to them or joining the clubs they ran during lunch, sometimes we even joined their classes, like a computer science class. I actually think that we had really great connections with those teachers and that we had an impact on the way they viewed Israel. Many of them had not really met Israelis, some weren’t Jewish and didn’t necessarily know that much, so us being there and talking to them helped them understand better as well.
So, you spoke about the individual students, and even the teachers. Do you think you had an impact on the school or was that not part of what you were there for?
It’s hard to say if we did or not, but I think we did. We had a big part in the different kinds of programs in the school. For example, there was a town hall every week, and we were involved. Certainly for the different ceremonies, for Yom HaShoah, Yom Hazikaron, we played a big part. Look, as a shinshin, part of the job is to connect people to Israel. So, for Yom HaAtzma’ut, we were in charge of the program for the whole school; some of the other holidays, we were in charge of. And we brought Israel into all of it, to really encourage people to want to come to Israel. We were the living Israel that you could see walking down the hallways.
You were there during the second year of the Gaza war. Did that come up a lot?
Definitely. A lot. Especially in the town halls. We had lots of opportunities to make announcements in the town halls and there was always room for us to talk about what’s been going on. We would also talk about it in the classes.
What do you think this school did that was really good in terms of helping you to be successful?
I think that they let us show what we have to show, and that they encouraged us to be a main part of the school. I wouldn’t say that all shinshinim have the same experience, but we were very relevant in the school, and I think that that’s what allowed us to be as impactful as we were. In some places, the shinshinim do a lot of activities but they’re not really a part of the school. That was definitely not the case for us, and I think that that’s what really helped us. We really did feel it. We felt both part of the staff and part of the students, and that’s why we felt like we could reach our potential. We really could talk to anyone.
Can you give some specific examples of what the school did to make you feel like you were really relevant and really important and part of the staff?
First of all, on any holiday, we were part of the holiday committee, and we were sort of like students and sort of like staff. We were considered staff a lot of the times, but we were young staff, so we could also be more hands-on with the students. A lot of the organizing fell on our shoulders; the staff organizing the committee would first come to us, and they would say, “We know you guys do it best, so what is it that you can do to make this the best way to bring the holiday to the school. And anything that had to do with Israel, us with our supervisor, we were the ones planning it.
You mentioned a supervisor. Was this a teacher, an administrator?
She was a teacher, the head of the Hebrew department. She’s an Israeli who has been living in Michigan for a long time and she was directly responsible for us.
Did the things that you did revolve around Hebrew language, or was it mostly about bringing the voice of Israel and the culture of Israel into the school?
We certainly were involved in Hebrew language, and that was more in the classes. Most of the formal work we did was in Hebrew classes—activities that had to do with teaching Hebrew and having to do with what they’re studying in Hebrew class.
Truth is, when students came into our office to hang out, we made sure, to whatever extent possible, to speak in Hebrew. It was a great opportunity to improve and strengthen their Hebrew and gave part of the flavor. Of course, a lot depended on the Hebrew level of the students, and we adjusted for different kids so that they could have conversations with us. So, the novice students got a different Hebrew level of response than the advanced ones.
If you would be contacted by a different school, or even Frankel, and they asked you what you could recommend to make the shinshin experience even more effective for the school, what would you say?
Look, I think that Frankel did a great job in making the shinshinim and Israel relevant through us. To any school I would say to involve the shinshinim in as much as possible, in anything you can think of. For example, we went to every Shabbaton the school had and were involved in the activities. We went on school trips. And I just wish that we could have had more opportunities. More is better. The biggest contribution we could make is building connections with the students, so the more opportunities for connecting the better.
Is there anything that you want to add?
I suspect that most shinshinim are working in elementary schools. That’s great, but there is so much that can be done with high school students. Because they’re older, they can engage in more serious and more complex kinds of discussions, and having older peers around for that is so important. It can build stronger connections with Israel and improve their Hebrew on the way.
I just, I really think that this program is really worth it for schools.
Shira Rafalovitz is from Kibbutz Hannaton, Israel. Shira spent her pre-army service year as a shinshinit in the Detroit Jewish community, where she discovered her passion for education, community-building, and strengthening the bond between Israel and the Jewish diaspora. She has been deeply involved in the NOAM youth movement as both a participant and staff member and has spent many summers in American Jewish camps—experiences that continue to shape her identity, values, and leadership.
From The Editor: Spring 2026
By the time I entered the elementary school I attended, it had been around for nearly 50 years and was already in decline. Despite the challenges, there were two things which left a lasting impression. The Jewish studies, which occupied the first half of the day, were all conducted in Hebrew, Ivrit beIvrit; some of the teachers were dedicated, die-hard Hebraists who provided me with a very solid foundation. The Hebrew that I learned gave me access to Israeli songs popularized after the Six Day War and to classic Jewish texts—the siddur, Humash, and even to Gemara (yes, Aramaic and Hebrew are closely connected). The language enabled me to act as a translator when my father’s cousin came to visit from Israel, and even enabled me, years later, to attend a regular Israeli yeshiva—in Hebrew.
Aside from the Hebrew language, the school was suffused with Israeli culture.
Hebrew, Achievement, and Educational Leadership: The Process of Building Depth and Durability
בבתי ספר יהודיים בתפוצות, הוראת עברית נעה זה שנים בין שני קטבים: מחד, שפה של זהות, רגש וחיבור לעם ולמדינה; מאידך, מקצוע הנאבק על מקומו מול תחומי דעת הנתפסים כ”ליבתיים” ובעלי יוקרה אקדמית. כמנהל מחלקה לעברית וכמורה בבית ספר יהודי־ציוני, מצאתי את עצמי שואל לא פעם: האם תפקידי הוא להגיב לציפיות משתנות של תלמידים, הורים והקשר פוליטי, או שמא להציב חזון חינוכי ברור—גם במחיר של חיכוך, עומס ואתגר מערכתי. מתוך התבוננות בזהותי כמחנך עברי־ציוני ובחיבור לערכים שעליהם גדלתי, בחרתי לראות בעברית לא רק כלי זהותי אלא תחום דעת מלא: שפה חיה, תרבות עשירה, וספרות ושירה הראויות להילמד ללא התנצלות ובסטנדרטים אקדמיים ברורים.
When Hebrew Became a Lifeline: Teaching Language, Culture, and Identity After October 7
A few days after October 7, I received an email from the parent of one of my students. The message itself was simple: a link to a video of the prayer for the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, set to music. But it was the words, written by the student, that stayed with me:
I’m sure you’ll like this video because you are Israeli. It’s a good song, very encouraging. I hope Hashem will watch over all our soldiers and bring them home safely so there will be peace.
This was not an assignment. No one had asked her to do this. It was an instinctive act of connection—a student using Hebrew, prayer, and music to reach out to her teacher and to Israel. In that moment, it became clear to me that Hebrew in my classroom had changed. It was no longer only a subject to be mastered; it had become a lifeline.
Successful Shelihim
Jewish Educational Leadership: What do you see as the real value of shelihim?
Bini Krauss: Ivrit beIvrit has long been a central pillar of what we believe in. I know that there are fewer schools doing that today than there were twenty years ago, for sure, but it’s still something that’s very important to us. So the first thing is that if we want to do it properly, it’s probably good to have people who speak Ivrit as their native language. It’s not the only way to do it, but I believe that it is certainly the best way. Many years ago, I taught at the Yeshivah of Flatbush. I was not a native Hebrew speaker, but I think that I was pretty good. Nonetheless, it is much better for students to interact regularly with those for whom Hebrew is native.
From Exposure to Expression: A Schoolwide Model for Increasing Hebrew Production through Joyful Culturally Rich Pedagogy
Despite significant growth across nearly all curricular areas in recent decades, Hebrew language instruction remains a persistent challenge in many Jewish day schools. While schools throughout the diaspora have sought to address this issue by employing shelihim from Israel, this model has raised ongoing concerns, including a lack of continuity due to frequent staff turnover, uneven pedagogical training, differing cultural assumptions about teaching and learning, and questions of quality control. At the Moriah School (Englewood, NJ), these long-standing concerns converged with a broader question that many school communities face: How could it be that a child could spend twelve years in a Jewish day school and still struggle to speak Hebrew?
This urgent question became the catalyst for our recent initiative. The school’s leadership felt that the moment had arrived for a bold, systemic rethink. Student outcomes in many subjects were improving, yet progress in Hebrew remained stagnant.
Teaching Hebrew in a Changing World
אולי נתחיל בשאלה פשוטה מאוד. למה זה חשוב שיהודי בתפוצות ילמד עברית, ואיך זה משפיע על חייו?
אני חושב שהיא באמת שאלה מאוד מורכבת, מכיוון שאחד מהאתגרים הגדולים שיש היום בתפוצות הוא להתמודד עם השאלה “למה עברית?”. אני חושב שלכולם די ברור למה צריך לעסוק בתכנים יהודיים—בחלק מבתי הספר קוראים לזה מקצועות הקודש, בחלק מבתי הספר מגדירים את זה אחרת—אבל לכולם מאוד ברור שבית ספר יהודי צריך שתהיה לו זיקה ליהדות. אך מבחינת העברית יש היום הרבה מאוד סימני שאלה גדולים. ה”אני מאמין” שלי, והוא שלי בלבד, זה שאנחנו מלמדים עברית משתי סיבות. אלף, מתוך זה שהעברית היא חלק מהעולם היהודי. אי אפשר לנתק את העברית מכל ההיסטוריה היהודית. העברית היא הערך הבסיסי ביותר של היהדות.
Hebrew as an Identity Anchor in Diaspora Supplementary Schools: A Response to a Secular-Israeli-Jewish community
הוראת עברית כעוגן זהותי בחינוך המשלים בתפוצות: מענה לצורך הקהילה הישראלית-חילונית
מאת: אליאנה גורדון, נירית פריקורן וטל זילברשטיין פז
תקציר
מאמר זה מציג מודל פרקטי ליצירת תחושת שייכות וטיפוח זהות ישראלית-יהודית רב-שכבתית בקרב ילדים להורים ישראלים החיים בתפוצות, בדגש על קהילתיות ועל יחס ליהדות כתרבות חיה ומתפתחת. המאמר מתמקד באופן שבו בית ספר לעברית משלים יוצא מגבולות המוסד הלימודי וממסגרת השיעור הפרונטלי והופך לעוגן קהילתי, תרבותי, וחיוני עבור הקהילה המקומית כולה.
From Immersion to Deliberation: A Model for Hebrew Identity Education
In recent years, we have found ourselves returning to a question that feels both old and new: If early Zionist thinkers believed that reviving Hebrew could reshape Jewish life, how might they have imagined teaching it in communities far from the land where it would be revived? We are not historians of Zionist pedagogy, and we do not pretend to reconstruct their educational blueprints. But reading figures such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky alongside other early twentieth-century voices forces us to pause and plan intentionally. For them, Hebrew was never meant to function merely as a school subject. It was imagined as atmosphere, as music, as discipline, as shared inheritance. It was something that would seep into consciousness and form character.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky, founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Betar youth organization, is often remembered for his political writings and sharp polemics. Yet woven throughout his speeches and essays is a sustained concern with formation.
Language Defines Identity: A Literary Unit on Multilingualism and Multiculturalism
אירועי השבעה באוקטובר ומה שאירע בעקבותיהם היו שבר שהשפעתו עדיין מהדהדת בכול. לא רק שערעור תחושת הביטחון, האמון, והאמונה שלי עצמי הקשו עליי לעמוד בכיתה וללמד ״כרגיל״, גם תלמידיי בצפון קליפורניה הרחוקה והבטוחה חשו שמשהו נסדק. בימים הראשונים שלאחר הטבח, תלמידים אמרו לי שלראשונה בחייהם הם נחשפים לגילויי אנטישמיות וחוששים לביטחונם האישי, או לעסק בעל הנראות היהודית מאוד של משפחתם. הדהימה אותי העובדה שגם בתיכון היהודי הקטן שבו אני מלמדת (180 תלמידים), תלמידים, אנשי סגל ומשפחותיהם הכירו אישית חטופים, ניצולים, לוחמים וחללים.
בשנת הלימודים 2024-2025, תכננתי ללמד את ההקבצה המתקדמת שלנו (כיתות ט׳-יב) קורס בספרות עברית. היחידה שעמה החלטתי לפתוח את השנה עוסקת ברב-לשוניות ורב-תרבותיות, נושא שמעסיק אותי בחיי האישיים והמקצועיים כאחד.
What Would Jabotinsky Expect from a Hebrew Program Today?
In recent years, we have found ourselves returning to a question that feels both old and new: If early Zionist thinkers believed that reviving Hebrew could reshape Jewish life, how might they have imagined teaching it in communities far from the land where it would be revived? We are not historians of Zionist pedagogy, and we do not pretend to reconstruct their educational blueprints. But reading figures such as Ze’ev Jabotinsky alongside other early twentieth-century voices forces us to pause and plan intentionally. For them, Hebrew was never meant to function merely as a school subject. It was imagined as atmosphere, as music, as discipline, as shared inheritance. It was something that would seep into consciousness and form character.
Ze’ev Jabotinsky, founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Betar youth organization, is often remembered for his political writings and sharp polemics. Yet woven throughout his speeches and essays is a sustained concern with formation.
Resilience in Jewish Education Begins With Hebrew
כמעט שמונה עשורים מהווים בתי הספר “המלך דויד” (King David) ביוהנסבורג רשת של בתי ספר יהודיים, הפועלת תחת חסות ועד החינוך היהודי בדרום אפריקה. הרשת כוללת ארבעה קמפוסים ומציעה חינוך מגיל גן ועד תיכון, במסגרת משותפת לבנים ולבנות, ובה לומדים כיום כ־2700 תלמידים ומלמדים כ־385 מורים. בתי הספר פועלים ברוח אורתודוקסית-מסורתית, תוך פתיחות וקבלת תלמידים ממשפחות יהודיות מגוונות. לצד חינוך כללי ברמה גבוהה, מושם דגש משמעותי על לימודי עברית ולימודי יהדות, כחלק מתפיסה חינוכית הרואה בשפה, במסורת ובקשר למדינת ישראל מרכיבים מרכזיים בזהותם של התלמידים. במסגרת קהילה יהודית מגובשת ובעלת ציפיות ברורות, בתי הספר שואפים לחנך תלמידים בעלי זהות יהודית וציונית, תחושת שייכות, ואחריות כלפי הקהילה והחברה.
כאשר התחלתי להוביל את תחום העברית בבית הספר, הבנתי שהשאלה איננה כמה שעות עברית נלמדות (למרות שאף זו שאלה חשובה), אלא איזה מעמד יש לעברית בתרבות הבית ספרית.
Preparing Shelihim for Transformative Educational Leadership
Ben Porat Yosef (BPY) is an Early Childhood-8th grade Modern Orthodox yeshiva day school (Paramus, NJ). The school was founded 25 years ago, initially as a Sephardic educational institution, and shortly thereafter shifting to our current model as a dual-curriculum Sephardic and Ashkenazic school, where students who hail from either heritage and tradition are welcomed and celebrated. Moreover, the educational program trains our students in the laws, customs, and culture of the varied Sephardic and Ashkenazic traditions.
The other core element of our mission is to develop in our students a love for Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, and Medinat Yisrael. This is executed in a variety of ways, and two central components are our Hebrew Immersion model and our shelihim program.
Many Diaspora day schools aspire to effectively teach Judaic Studies in Ivrit, for both philosophical and educational reasons. However, there are several significant challenges that have likely contributed to less-than-ideal implementation in the broader field.
Cafe Ivrit: Hebrew Conversation & Connection for Supplemental School Students
In supplemental school settings, there is so much for our students to learn in so little time. With a focus on learning Jewish traditions and preparing for Benei Mitzvah services, students often interact with Hebrew as an ancient language used in prayer and the Torah. It can be challenging for educators to allocate additional preparation and class time for students to experience Hebrew as a modern, spoken language.
Congregation Beth Elohim (Acton, Massachusetts) is an independent synagogue of about 200 families. We strive to foster a warm, welcoming, and inclusive environment that fulfills the ever-changing needs of our Jewish community. Our supplemental Religious School includes students from kindergarten through 10th Grade. We seek to create a learning environment that is warm and engaging, and to create a love of learning and a strong Jewish connection that will stay with our students throughout their lives.
Critical Conceptual Tools with Practical Application for Strengthening Hebrew Language Instruction and Learning
Over the past several years, I’ve found myself in the same conversation again and again with teachers, department chairs, and school leaders who care deeply about Hebrew but feel stuck. Not stuck because of a lack of passion, and not even because of a lack of resources, but because of something harder to name: a lack of shared clarity.
The questions come in different forms: What is the role of Hebrew in Jewish day schools today? Why teach Hebrew? Why learn Hebrew? What is Hebrew meant to accomplish? What should a graduate of a Jewish day school know and be able to do in Hebrew? Who is an effective Hebrew educator? What does effective Hebrew language teaching and learning actually look like?
At first, these questions may sound abstract. However, strong frameworks can help shape very real decisions: how time is used, how teaching is approached, which curricula are chosen, and how educators are supported.
Hebrew 2.0- A Language that Shapes Reality: Hebrew as a Catalyst for Developing Thoughtful, Engaged an Influential Youth
The transformations of the 21st century bring with them fundamental changes in the way we understand second language acquisition processes. Social, cultural, and economic shifts are creating a reality in which intercultural and multilingual interactions are becoming central to our daily lives. In this reality, researchers and educators who teach languages are called upon to be attentive and open to change, and to adapt instruction to evolving contexts, to prepare learners to navigate a complex and unpredictable world. Accordingly, there is a growing need to adopt an updated perspective on second language acquisition, one that is suited to a dynamic reality and reflects the broad cultural and identity-related contexts within which language learning takes place.
Many education systems are now aware of the need for reforms and the renewal of content and teaching methods, so that these may incorporate, as an inherent part of the learning process, the new skills that students require in the 21st century: communication skills, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.
Reach 10,000 Jewish educational professionals. Advertise in the upcoming issue of Jewish Educational Leadership.
