Jewish Day School in Manhattan, NYC

Abraham Joshua Heschel School:
Abraham Joshua Heschel School, located on West End Avenue in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is an independent, Jewish day school offering a pluralistic approach to Jewish learning in addition to secular studies. We have four school divisions consisting of Early Childhood, Lower School, Middle School and High School. The quality of our humanities, arts, and science programs has enabled our graduates to be welcomed by outstanding institutions of higher learning. We engage our students in a meaningful relationship with the language, culture, land, and people of the State of Israel.

The Heschel School was founded in 1983 and it continues to be nationally renowned for the values and ethics upon which it was established. We now have more than 800 students in nursery through to grade twelve, spanning three buildings. Our approach to education, pluralism, and concern for students' intellectual, emotional, and spiritual development informs our daily interactions in the school community. Our school is characterized by team teaching and an integrated curriculum. We select faculty who have demonstrated mastery of their subjects, encourage academic excellence, and support our mission.

We strive to cultivate the spiritual lives of our students and nurture their commitment to Jewish life. We help them understand and respect a range of Jewish practice and traditions.

The Heschel School sees as essential the creating of a community with families from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, practices, and beliefs. The school is devoted to equal participation–boys and girls, men and women–in all aspects of the school's religious, intellectual, and communal life.

Our school is dedicated to the values and principles that characterized Rabbi Heschel's life: integrity, intellectual exploration, traditional Jewish study and practice, justice, righteousness, human dignity, and holiness. It regards the texts of the Jewish tradition and the history of the Jewish people as fundamental resources for developing ideas, beliefs, behaviors, and values to shape and inspire the lives of individuals in our time.

The Heschel School is organized into four divisions based on the developmental levels of the children.

- Early Childhood Program:
Nursery, Pre-Kindergarten, and Kindergarten.

- Lower School Program:
Runs from Grade 1 to Grade 5.

- Middle School Program:
Includes Grades 6 to 8.

- High School Program:
Includes Grades 9 to 12.

Our Curriculum:
In an academic setting that values open, engaged inquiry, the school's curriculum interweaves the best of both Jewish and general knowledge and culture throughout the day. Within the context of this integrated and interdisciplinary approach, the school honors the intellectual integrity of the core subjects. 

Our educational ideals are drawn from the strands of the Jewish, Western, and world traditions to which we belong. They are reflected in our deep concern for the whole child and the balance in each student's academic, aesthetic, emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual growth.

The creation of the Abraham Joshua Heschel School was spearheaded by founder Peter Geffen in 1981. Together with educators and lay people from a broad spectrum of the Jewish community, they worked to project a vision for a pluralistic Jewish school. In the fall of 1983, The school opened its doors to twenty-eight students with the commitment to offer a first-rate education in a diverse, pluralistic, Jewish environment.