Some 2,300 Netanya seventh graders head out on a journey through Jerusalem
About 2,300 Netanya seventh graders toured Jerusalem's Old City and the Western Wall Tunnels. Here's why schools call it an open classroom.
About 2,300 seventh-grade students from Netanya schools visited Jerusalem this week. According to the local news site Netanyanet, which reported the trip on 15 November 2026, the visit was part of the «Bar/Bat Mitzvah year» — the school year Israeli schools devote to growing up, tradition and questions of identity.
The route: Old City alleys and the Western Wall Tunnels
According to the source, the students walked through the alleys of the Old City, visited historical sites and went down into the Western Wall Tunnels — the underground route running along the western wall of the Temple Mount, one of the most striking places to encounter Jerusalem’s ancient history. They also met people representing different links in the «chain of generations».
A lesson outside the classroom
The trip is described as a journey through history, heritage and Jewish and Israeli identity. The idea is to turn Jerusalem into an «open classroom»: connecting what students learn in school with their personal and community identity, and strengthening their sense of belonging to their city. The photo from the trip was provided by the Netanya Municipality.
What the «mitzvah year» means in schools
Seventh grade in Israel coincides with bar and bat mitzvah age — 12 to 13. Many schools run special programmes that year: family-roots projects, meetings with parents and grandparents, and tours of sites tied to Jewish history. A visit to Jerusalem is one of the most traditional parts of such a programme. The scale of Netanya’s trip — around 2,300 children — suggests it covered nearly the entire seventh-grade cohort in the city.
What we know and what we don’t
The source did not name the participating schools, the staff in charge or the exact date — only that the trip took place this week. No quotes from the organisers were given. If the municipality or the schools publish more details, we will update this article.
Source: Netanyanet, 15.11.2026
Photo: Netanya Municipality (via Netanyanet)
