Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai Comes to West Orange

West Orange was honored with the visit of Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who arrived just in time to celebrate Israel's 63rd birthday with a special talk on education at the JCC. 

Huldai spoke to a crowd of 100 following a screening of 2011 Oscar winning short documentary Strangers No More, about the Bialik-Rogozin school in Tel Aviv. The short documentary screening took place Sunday night at the Leon and Toby Cooperman JCC in West Orange. The Legow Family Israel Program of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest sponsored the event. 

Strangers No More is a short documentary about Bialik-Rogozin, a K-12 school in Tel Aviv, that teaches 750 children from 48 different countries and all different types of backgrounds. The film told the harrowing stories many of the students face and their struggles as they get used to a new life in a new land.

Following the short documentary, Josh Weston, a philanthropist from Montclair who is involved with the Tel Aviv Foundation, moderated a Q&A with Huldai and Dr. Meggie Navon, CEO of the Tel Aviv Foundation. Both of them stressed the importance of education and answered several questions regarding the documentary and their future efforts with education in Tel Aviv.

Huldai served in the Israeli Air Force for 26 years.  Following his retirement, he decided to pursue his dream of becoming an educator by becoming principal of Gymnasia Herzlia in Tel Aviv, where he was the principal for more than 2,000 students.  

It was at that point in time, that he felt it was his obligation to help Tel Aviv as a whole by running for mayor and eventually went on to become the ninth mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa. During this time many refugees from Africa were crossing over the Egyptian borders into Israel and their kids were not receiving the proper education, Huldai explained. 

As mayor, Huldai made it his goal to have Tel Aviv set an example on behalf of all of Israel to accept these students and provide them with a proper education, regardless of their background — whether they were African refugees, illegal foreign workers or legal foreign workers. 

"It is our human obligation to receive the proper human education," Huldai said. He said the school has set a prime example for all that he is passionate about and as mayor he has put much of his own money and time into making sure this school gives students an opportunity.

Huldai and Navon, also discussed a future school in Tel Aviv that they plan to open for more students, as well as a new science institution called Chemda, so that high school students can get a better science education.

"It was an unbelievable experience to watch the transformation of these kids," said  Ollie Pomerantz, a West Orange resident who attended the event. "There are no schools like this school."