Religious public schools in Israel will begin classes a week earlier than planned, in order to properly prepare for the High Holidays. Rabbi Shimon Adler, head of the Religious Education Department in Ministry of Education, explained:
"Although the summer vacation is scheduled to end on Aug. 31, it turns out that that will be only about a week before Rosh HaShanah, and right in the middle of the month of Elul - the month of repentance and introspection. We feel that our students should be spending those days in school, studying the significance of this period and of the High Holidays." He said that because of the rules of the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Union, the municipalities, and the parents, "we can do nothing more than recommend. Most of the schools in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) have organized on their own to do this, while and elsewhere, about 20% of the [religious] elementary schools have so far agreed to open early, as have most of the high schools."
"Although the summer vacation is scheduled to end on Aug. 31, it turns out that that will be only about a week before Rosh HaShanah, and right in the middle of the month of Elul - the month of repentance and introspection. We feel that our students should be spending those days in school, studying the significance of this period and of the High Holidays." He said that because of the rules of the Ministry of Education, the Teachers Union, the municipalities, and the parents, "we can do nothing more than recommend. Most of the schools in Yesha (Judea, Samaria, and Gaza) have organized on their own to do this, while and elsewhere, about 20% of the [religious] elementary schools have so far agreed to open early, as have most of the high schools."