EPS & Israel

Our Zionist Identity

As a Zionist school, we affirm the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral homeland and believe in a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. We affirm Israel’s right and responsibility to defend its citizens and its existence. We teach our students to love the State of Israel and to translate that love into informed engagement, care, and commitment to its citizens and their well-being. As Jews living in the Diaspora, our students also inherit the responsibility to support Israel and to help build a more just, secure, hopeful, and flourishing future for Israel, the Jewish people, and the wider world.

Belonging, Engagement, and Thoughtful Dialogue

We want our students to feel and know that the State of Israel is theirs—a vital part of their Jewish identity and inheritance. We want our students to build living, lasting ties with the State of Israel. We seek to cultivate in every student a personal, active, and meaningful relationship with Israel. Loving and supporting Israel does not require agreement with every decision made by the State and its leaders. Rather, students should know that they may question, reflect, advocate, and participate, and that their voices matter to the State of Israel and to the Jewish world.

Thoughtful study and sincere questions strengthen—not diminish—our students’ love for Israel. Because discussions about Israel are often complex, we create respectful, age-appropriate spaces where students can ask questions, encounter diverse perspectives, examine reliable and unreliable information, and develop the skills to engage thoughtfully with difficult issues. Through this process, we guide students toward a meaningful and enduring connection with Israel that is informed, compassionate, responsible, and grounded in Jewish values.

Living Our Connection to Israel

We celebrate significant moments in the life of the State of Israel, such as Yom Ha’atzmaut, and commemorate events that have profoundly shaped its people and the wider Jewish community, including Yom HaZikaron and October 7. This connection is further strengthened through our Shinshinim program, which brings young Israelis to our school before their service in the IDF. By bringing Israel into the daily life of our school, they build meaningful relationships with students and staff and help our community develop a more personal connection to Israel. Throughout the year, we also follow current events in Israel and respond in age-appropriate ways, coming together to commemorate difficult moments or celebrate meaningful ones. Through learning, reflection, celebration, and communal observance, we honor memory, recognize resilience, and express our deep care for the people of Israel. Together, these experiences help students build an informed, meaningful, and lasting connection to Israel as an essential part of their developing Jewish identity.

Learning About Israel’s Diversity

We introduce students to the rich variety of cultures, traditions, experiences, perspectives, and communities that shape Israeli society. Students encounter Jewish communities whose practices may be unfamiliar to them and learn about celebrations such as Sigd and Mimouna, deepening their understanding of the many ways Jewish identity and tradition are expressed. They also learn about Israel’s non-Jewish communities, which are an integral part of the country’s population and character. Through these encounters, students come to understand Israel in its richness and complexity and learn to approach all its people with curiosity, respect, empathy, and a sense of shared responsibility.

Mutual Responsibility Between Israel and the Diaspora

We believe that the relationship between the State of Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora is reciprocal, essential, and enduring. Israel needs the support, engagement, and partnership of Jews throughout the world, while Diaspora Jews need a meaningful connection with Israel as a vital center of Jewish peoplehood, history, culture, and collective life. This connection gives Diaspora Jews both the right and the responsibility to engage with, support, and care for the State of Israel and its future. This two-way relationship calls on both communities to listen to one another, care for one another, and take responsibility for our shared future. We are connected across distance and difference by the Jewish principle that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה—all Jews are responsible for one another.