Messianic school in Galilee threatened with closure prays petition to reverse decision will result in breakthrough

The Peniel Learning Center, a Hebrew-speaking Messianic elementary school in Tiberias, is fighting for its survival and hopes public pressure may turn back attempts to close it down.

“Parents are getting letters now, inviting them to a committee meeting where they are told that they’ll face criminal charges if they don’t enroll their children in the public school system right away. We are in the middle of the school year and it is very damaging to uproot a child and enroll him into a totally new environment,” explained Daniel Yahav, leader of the Peniel Messianic congregation.

For over 35 years, the Peniel Learning Center has been the only kindergarten and grade school in the Eastern Galilee region honoring the biblical principles of both the Old and New Testaments. It not only celebrates the feasts of Israel according to the Hebrew calendar, but also explains how Yeshua (Jesus) is featured in each one, for example, teaching how Yeshua is the Passover Lamb. 

While teaching the standard Israeli curriculum in Hebrew, it has seen some 500 students successfully graduate to seventh grade, at which time they enter the regular Israeli system.

The school has been working with the local authorities and the Department of Education for decades, submitting the names of the students, taking part in local programs, including visits to the city library and computer projects, having the school nurse visit as part of her rounds, and so on. “Our school was included, we had a good relationship,” said Yahav.

In an interview with ALL ISRAEL NEWS, Yahav explained that the initiative of the Ministry of Education to close down the Peniel school started back in 2021, claiming that the school has no license to operate. From the beginning, the Peniel Learning Center, including kindergarten and primary school grades 1-6, operated as a branch of the Anglican School of Jerusalem, and it was not required to have its own license.

In response to the closure order, the school petitioned the court, which ruled that it had the right to apply for its own license. “We did everything to meet all the standards and regulations that the Ministry of Education demanded,” Yahav emphasized.

“The school spent $200,000 on their facilities, building a new bomb shelter, updating the classrooms with the latest technology, and making the whole building wheelchair accessible to comply with all the government requirements. In spite of all efforts, we have been rejected. The main reason given was, the number of our children does not meet the requirements of at least 44 children in two classes of 22 each,” he continued.

“Failing to recognize the uniqueness of our relatively small community of faith, the closure order, which was hanging over our heads, added to the problem. Intimidating parents from enrolling their children at the school, led to even lower numbers. Peniel Learning Center is now down from having an enrollment of up to 45 children to some 26 children in the kindergarten and all six grades that they serve.”

“We’re a private school. We’re not taking a penny from the government, so why do they care about the low number of children in our school? [The] Lower number allows each child more attention from their teachers,” Yahav said.

Even though the rights of minorities are protected by the freedom of religion enshrined in Israeli law, Messianic Jews often face persecution in Israel.

The Peniel school was established following a spate of violent attacks against the Peniel community. In the 1980s, their meeting place was set on fire and a young child once returned from school bleeding, having been beaten by other children with a rod because of her Messianic faith. Unable to guarantee the safety of the children, a judge, back then, granted the right for parents to homeschool their children. In 1989, the developing network of home schoolers came under the supervision of the Anglican School in Jerusalem and became a school. Legally, everything has been above board, Yahav noted.

“We really feel – not feel – we know it’s our right by law to teach our kids according to our faith, and closing it just really is unfair, unjust,” Yahav said. “We’re not a new kid on the block that’s starting something weird, we’ve proven over 35 years that it’s a legitimate school. The number of kids is low, but so what?”

Every morning the school begins with half an hour of prayer and devotion, with a message from the Bible about principles such as love, patience, not fighting with one another. “We are teaching them to behave differently, not like in this world,” Yahav explained. “The atmosphere is much quieter, much better, because it’s smaller and so each kid gets much more attention.”

Indeed, the difference was even noticed by the judge during previous court proceedings concerning a license to operate independent of the Anglican School last April.

“During one point in the deliberations, after the Education Ministry accused us of being anarchists for not obeying the law, the judge responded: ‘They are not anarchists. I have never seen such well-behaved children in all of my life. It is clear that this is a very special community.'” Yahav told ALL ISRAEL NEWS.

“The judge saw us with mothers, kids and had compassion, they gave us permission to submit a request, he opened the door for us to pursue our own permit license. The ministry of education said we had no license and that we were an illegal school, but they refused to admit we were a branch of the Anglican School despite letters from our lawyers to explain, but they ignored it. They just totally ignored it.”

Having now met all the legal requirements, the only remaining issue is the number of children, which Yahav argues is not a valid reason to shut down a private school. Yahav hopes that by raising awareness among the wider Evangelical community, public pressure can be exerted on the Israeli Ministry of Education to treat their school the same way they treat other religious schools and allow them to remain open.

“Israel is getting so much support from the evangelical world today, and now they’re closing the only school in the entire Galilee for Messianic Jews and evangelical children that live in our region here, and this is not right – here in Tiberias, on the shores of Galilee, where Jesus ministered 2,000 years ago.”

To sign the petition to reverse the closure order against the Peniel Learning Center, click here.