January 17, 2025

At Tabeetha School in Israel, religion doesn’t matter. Christian, Jewish and Muslim kids study, play and celebrate the holidays together. It’s a wonderful lesson in hope and tolerance.

As a special present for the holidays, ISRAEL21c brings you an inside look at a very unusual school in Jaffa, where children of all faiths study, play and celebrate together.

Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist… no-one cares. The 330 children at Tabeetha school, age two to 18, have learned to live in peace with one another, even while living in the fractious Middle East.

We spoke to three children studying at the school, Noni Batshon, 9 – a Christian; Yair Kalika, 10, who is Jewish; and his best friend, Adam Assai, 10, who is Muslim.

Tabeetha is the only Church of Scotland school in the world, and it’s been running for 156 years, since Scottish woman, Jane Walker-Arnott opened a school for girls in Jaffa.

Watch our film and receive a beautiful dose of hope this holiday season.

Executive Producer – Jonathan Baruch
Producer/Director – Haim Silberstein
Story – Nicky Blackburn
Camera – Ari Amit
Editing – Shahar Beeri, Yarden Levi

(Israel21c)