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Harlem Hebrew, decade-old bilingual charter school in Manhattan, to shutter next month
(JTA) — A charter school in Manhattan that taught Hebrew to a diverse population of students will close at the end of the school year.
Families with children enrolled at the school learned in February that Harlem Hebrew Language Academy Charter School would close at the end of the academic year in June, and the school’s board of trustees finalized the plan during its April 26 meeting. The decision leaves families scrambling for new schools with just weeks before the start of the summer break.
The decision to close marks an abrupt fall for a school that was seen as a promising new model for language learning and racial integration when it opened in 2013. Its board and charter network, Hebrew Public, were so confident of its success that they undertook a costly building renovation several years ago.
Now, it’s unclear what will occupy the building where Harlem Hebrew has operated since 2013. The school, located in the historically Black uptown Manhattan neighborhood, and near the heavily Jewish Upper West Side, currently enrolls 370 students from kindergarten through eighth grade — about 70% of the total number of students it is permitted to enroll.
The school’s board of trustees cited low enrollment at the school and across New York City’s public schools when unanimously approving the closure resolution last month.
The decision to close was “difficult but necessary,” Jon Rosenberg, president and CEO of Hebrew Public, said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Hebrew Public is a network of Hebrew-language charter schools with locations in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Philadelphia; there are also affiliated schools in several other cities, with efforts underway to open more.
“The combination of lower enrollment and high facilities costs has made the school’s future operation untenable, to the point where the [school] board, Hebrew Public, and school leadership all agreed that it would not be responsible to operate the school for another school year,” Rosenberg said. “Instead, we have prioritized using the school’s resources to give students and families a strong finish to the current school year.”
A representative from Harlem Hebrew declined to comment.
The school was founded in Harlem in order to attract a racially and socioeconomically diverse and inclusive student body. When it opened, it and other tuition-free Hebrew-language charter schools across the country were seen as an alternative of sorts for some Jewish families who sought to expose their kids to Hebrew without the price tag of a Jewish day school education. Hebrew Public has run trips to Israel for some of its eighth-graders, in which it aimed to show them the country while steering clear of religious education.
The Harlem school and its counterparts in New York City have experienced bumps in the road. The first Hebrew-language charter school, which opened in 2009 in Brooklyn, narrowly evaded closure early on because of low test scores. Harlem Hebrew, meanwhile, experienced its principal being charged in 2020 with assaulting a 7-year-old student with autism.
School staff will be paid through Aug. 15 and receive health care through the end of August, according to the meeting agenda. It said Harlem Hebrew is also helping its staff access job placements and opportunities at other charter school networks.
Harlem Hebrew is also scheduling two school fairs for families to meet with Manhattan and Bronx charter, city-run and private schools and created a database of school options for families to explore for the upcoming academic year.
“The teachers and leaders and social workers and culture and operations team members have been unbelievably dedicated,” Rosenberg said in the statement. “We are deeply saddened about the closure, but are grateful to all of the children and families and staff colleagues who have made the school such a special place.”
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The post Harlem Hebrew, decade-old bilingual charter school in Manhattan, to shutter next month appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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High-Stakes US Special Forces Mission Rescues Airman From Iran After F-15 Crash
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft takes off for a mission supporting Operation Epic Fury during the Iran war at an undisclosed location, March 9, 2026. U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
US forces staged the audacious rescue of an airman behind enemy lines after Iran downed his fighter jet, officials said on Sunday, resolving a crisis for President Donald Trump as he weighs escalating the war, now in its sixth week.
The airman rescued by special operations forces, who Trump said was a colonel, was the weapons-systems officer on the downed F-15, a US official told Reuters.
“Over the past several hours, the United States Military pulled off one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in US History,” Trump said in a statement, adding that the airman was injured but “he will be just fine.”
The officer was the second of two crew members on the warplane that Iran said on Friday had been brought down by its air defenses. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said several aircraft were destroyed during the US rescue mission, Tasnim news agency reported.
Reuters reported on Friday that the first crew member had been retrieved, triggering a high-profile search by both Iran and the United States for the remaining airman.
Iranian officials had urged citizens to help find him, hoping to gain leverage against Washington in the war Trump and Israel launched on February 28.
Trump has threatened to escalate the conflict in the coming days with attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
Had Iran captured the airman, the ensuing hostage crisis could have shifted American public perception of a conflict that opinion polls show was already unpopular.
Trump said the airman was rescued “in the treacherous mountains of Iran” in what he said was the first time in military memory that two US pilots had been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.
The official told Reuters that as the weapons-systems officer was moved from near a mountain to a transport aircraft parked within Iran, US forces had to destroy at least one of the aircraft because it had malfunctioned.
U.S. AIRCRAFT HIT
The rescue effort, involving dozens of military aircraft, encountered fierce resistance from Iran.
Reuters reported on Friday that two Black Hawk helicopters involved in the search were hit by Iranian fire but escaped from Iranian airspace.
Separately, a pilot ejected from an A-10 Warthog fighter aircraft after it was hit over Kuwait and crashed, the officials said, though the extent of crew injuries was unclear.
Still, Trump was triumphant.
“The fact that we were able to pull off both of these operations, without a SINGLE American killed, or even wounded, just proves once again, that we have achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies,” he said in his statement.
US air crews are trained in what to do if they go down behind enemy lines, measures known as Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape, but few are fluent in Persian and face a challenge in staying undetected while seeking rescue.
The conflict has killed 13 US military service members, with more than 300 wounded, US Central Command says. No US troops have been taken prisoner by Iran.
While Trump has repeatedly sought to portray the Iranian military as being in tatters, they have repeatedly been able to hit US aircraft.
Reuters reported on US intelligence showing that Iran retains large amounts of missile and drone capability. Until just over a week ago, the US could only determine with certainty that it had destroyed about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.
The status of about another third was less clear, but bombings probably damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers, Reuters sources said.
The US and Israeli war on Iran has spread across the Middle East, killing thousands and hitting the global economy with soaring energy prices that are fueling fears of inflation.
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On Easter, Pope Leo Urges World Leaders to End Wars, Renounce Conquest
Pope Leo XIV waves from the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after delivering his “Urbi et Orbi” (To the city and the world) message, on Easter Sunday at the Vatican, April 5, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Pope Leo urged global leaders in his Easter message on Sunday to end the conflicts raging across the world and abandon any schemes for power, conquest or domination.
The pope, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the Iran war, lamented in a special message to the thousands gathered in St. Peter’s Square that people “are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent.”
“Let those who have weapons lay them down!” the first US pope exhorted. “Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace!”
Leo did not mention any specific conflicts in the message, known as the “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing. It was unusually brief and direct.
The pope said that the story of Easter, when the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead three days after not resisting his execution by crucifixion, shows that Christ was “entirely nonviolent.”
“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination, and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars,” Leo urged.
Leo, who is known for choosing his words carefully, has been forcefully decrying the world’s violent conflicts in recent weeks and ramping up his criticism of the Iran war.
In a sermon for the Easter vigil on Saturday night, he urged people not to feel numbed by the scope of the conflicts raging across the world but to work for peace.
The pope made a rare direct appeal to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, urging him to find an “off-ramp” to end the Iran war.
In his address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday to the Square below, decorated with thousands of brightly colored flowers for the holiday, Leo offered brief Easter greetings in ten languages, including Latin, Arabic and Chinese.
The pope also announced he would return to the Basilica on April 11 to host a prayer vigil for peace.
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Temple Mount Set for Limited Reopening to Jews and Muslims
Israeli National Security Minister and head of Jewish Power party Itamar Ben-Gvir gives a statement to members of the press, ahead of a possible ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jerusalem, Jan. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
i24 News – Israeli authorities are preparing to partially reopen the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to both Jewish and Muslim worshipers for the first time since the start of the war with Iran, under a tightly controlled and highly restricted security arrangement, i24NEWS has learned.
According to details obtained by i24NEWS, the Israeli police, backed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are also expected to permit limited access for Jewish worshipers to the Western Wall as part of the same phased plan.
Under the framework, access to the Temple Mount and surrounding holy sites would be restricted to small groups of up to 150 people at a time. In the event of a missile alert, all visitors would be immediately evacuated in accordance with emergency protocols.
The decision follows a recent Supreme Court ruling allowing demonstrations in a limited format. Police argue that a consistent standard must apply across both civic gatherings and religious sites, with Ben-Gvir insisting that “there cannot be one rule for demonstrations and another for the Temple Mount.”
However, the reopening contradicts recommendations from the Home Front Command, which has advised keeping sensitive sites closed due to the ongoing risk of missile attacks.
Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin has proposed transferring authority over such security-related decisions exclusively to defense officials, an initiative that could reshape the balance between the judiciary and security establishment regarding restrictions on public access.