Tel Aviv — Students at the Max Fein Vocational High School in Tel Aviv are used to overcoming challenges. The school has long been known as a place where students who have fallen through the cracks in Israel’s state educational system—whether due to trauma, family problems, mental health struggles, or socioeconomic hardship—get an opportunity to rewrite their life trajectories. Children come from diverse backgrounds, including immigrants, refugees, and students who dropped out or were expelled from their previous schools. But when the school was damaged by Iranian missile strikes during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, it brought a new kind of hardship.
“In the heart of Tel Aviv, where missiles have fallen and protests flood the streets, our students are fighting personal battles just as fierce,” Ofir Levy, the school principal, who spent 10 months in military combat reserve duty since Oct. “They have been amazing about it. Because this school is more than a classroom. It’s a home, a sanctuary and a second chance.”
Israel’s longest-ever war may be at its end, but two years of conflict have left their mark on Max Fein.