Waldorf News

Israel: Ein Bustan—sowing seeds for hope and peace 

Israel: Ein Bustan—sowing seeds for hope and peace

By Gal Mosenson

Ein Bustan is a Jewish-Arab non-profit organization near Kiryat Tivon that works in the field of bilingual and multicultural education based on Waldorf education.

With this approach, the project was the first of its kind in Israel and still offers the only multicultural kindergarten in the north of the country.

The organization was founded in 2005 by Jewish and Arab parents from neighboring communities and gives the children opportunities to get to know and interact with each other from an early age.

The political situation requires great adaptability on the part of the children and their parents as well as the teachers.

Gal Mosenson, who is involved in the project, told us about the current situation in January 2025:

“Our Ein Bustan project runs a crèche with 14 children aged one to three, and a kindergarten with 30 children aged three to six. Both are located not far from each other in H’ilf, a village near Kiryat Tivon.

The children and staff speak both Hebrew and Arabic, whereby we ensure a balanced distribution of languages.

The children come mainly from the neighbouring villages of Kiryat Tivon and Basmat Tabun, but also from other nearby villages and towns. They come from Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Druze families.

We supporters of Ein Bustan share a social vision in which everyone lives together in equal recognition, peace and mutual understanding.

We try to achieve such a reality by sharing the languages and cultures of others and by seeing the differences between people as an enrichment and not as a source of conflict.

With our bilingual curriculum in Hebrew and Arabic, we have created a common ground for compassionate and unprejudiced listening.

We also keep the doors open for any child whose parents wish to join us.

If a family cannot afford the school fees, we help from the scholarship fund. We are always looking for supporters for this fund.

We at Ein Bustan also organize activities for adults that promote dialogue and understanding in the Jewish and Arab communities—for example, study groups, courses, listening circles, lectures, cultural events and joint family activities such as hikes, picnics, storytelling and more.

The sense of togetherness that we have created through the values we live by in our everyday lives has helped us a lot over the years to cope in difficult times like these.

We have been at war in the south and north of Israel for over a year now. In the last two months of 2024, the fighting in the north escalated and so the war reached us when the first rockets flew in the Galilee region.

This situation forced us to close the kindergartens for a fortnight. We made the necessary adjustments and, with the authorization of the Home Front Command, one of four regional commands of the Israel Defense Forces, we were able to reopen quickly.

It was better for everyone to return to the daily routine—for the children, parents and educational staff. Social interactions, handicrafts, gardening, listening to songs and stories – these are all healing activities for all of us.

However, we have had to change the daily routine of the kindergarten—we have cancelled excursions and now only hold activities indoors, and in our courtyards, so that we can reach the shelters quickly, if necessary.

We were only able to build these thanks to the quick and generous donations from our partners and friends in Israel and around the world.

These days, there is a ceasefire and restrictions have been lifted. But we are always prepared for changes—so that we can continue to offer the children a very good education, even in difficult times.

We are full of hope that this year will bring with it the spirits of reconciliation and peace. In any case, we will continue to sow the seeds for a better society and a better future for our children.

This article was initially published by Freunde der Erziehungskunst (Friends of Waldorf Education), Germany. You can read this article, and many others, on their website here.

You can support Ein Bustan with your donation here.