PARIS – One of Paris’s up-and-coming educational institutions is offering a revolutionary approach to early-childhood and elementary education. The Abravanel Institutions, established in 2024, has already captured the attention of parents with its unprecedented 55% growth after just one year since it opened its first classroom experiences. The secret sauce? An innovative educational approach that bridges ancient wisdom, time-honored tradition, and contemporary cognitive science.
The institute, which started as an ambitious vision, has quickly materialized into a thriving community of 140 students aged three to 10. Perhaps most striking is the school’s diverse composition: the majority of its pupils would otherwise enroll in public schools, where they would not be exposed to Jewish education. “Our unique program draws on a nurturing environment that feeds both intellect and soul,” says Cécile Berdugo, principal of the Abravanel Institutes.
Breaking educational boundaries
“We refuse to accept that rigorous academic excellence and deep spiritual learning are in competition,” asserts Berdugo. “They are mutually enriching forces that will help create more well-rounded and thoughtful human beings.”
This philosophy manifests through three primary pillars that guide Abravanel’s traditional educational models. First, the cultivation of a joyful Jewish identity that permeates daily life through music, storytelling, and lived experiences rather than formal rote instruction. Second, the integration of cutting-edge cognitive and neuroscience research to ensure that learning approaches are grounded in the latest understanding of how children’s minds develop. Third, bilingual pedagogy creates an immersive environment where French and English instruction in core subjects develops critical thinking and cultural literacy simultaneously.
Stepping into one of Abravanel’s classrooms during a typical morning, the integration is apparent immediately. Students transition seamlessly from learning math to engaging with Torah lessons, from conducting science experiments to exploring Jewish history. Hebrew study begins in preschool, not as a foreign language requirement but as a natural bridge to textual learning and cultural connection.
Addressing Jewish educational challenges
The school’s leadership acknowledges the profound challenges facing Jewish education today. Unity within Jewish communities remains a pressing concern in an era of increasing fragmentation. Abravanel addresses this by bringing together children from diverse religious backgrounds – from highly observant families to those with minimal Jewish connection – creating space where all families feel welcomed and inspired.
Another significant challenge involves reframing Jewish studies as intellectually engaging rather than burdensome. The school tackles this through music, storytelling, deep text exploration, and community action, helping students experience Judaism as a living, joyful tradition that enhances rather than competes with secular learning.
Administrative and financial constraints present challenges, as Jewish schools often operate with limited resources while maintaining high educational and security standards. Security concerns particularly affect Jewish institutions in France, requiring daily vigilance. Rather than create fortress-like environments, Abravanel responds with careful planning while ensuring that the children grow up with confidence and joy rather than fear.
Living learning
What makes this educational approach truly distinctive is its foundation in cognitive science research, creating environments that work with physiological and psychological norms of how children naturally learn best, as opposed to just continuing in the assembly-line mentality of educational norms that haven’t changed since the early 20th century. The result is classrooms that are simultaneously calm, joyful, and focused.
The school’s commitment to excellence begins with exceptional teachers. Abravanel invests heavily in staff development, requiring monthly training sessions while providing competitive salaries, a supportive atmosphere, and benefits such as sports classes. This commitment to educator quality manifests in every classroom interaction.
A particularly touching example of the school’s philosophy occurs during regular tutoring sessions between the youngest children (ages three to five) and first-graders. Several times each year, younger children prepare morning snacks – washing, peeling, cutting, and arranging fresh fruits and vegetables brought by families. When the older students arrive, they’re welcomed with food lovingly prepared by their slightly younger peers. In return, the older children read stories, help teach the younger kids to write their names, and engage in fun and educational games. These moments of multi-age engagement foster empathy and responsibility across age groups.
Redefining Jewish identity
Perhaps most revolutionary is Abravanel’s approach to fostering and strengthening Jewish identity and pride. Rather than relying on obligation or requirements, the school builds a willing buy-in on the part of the students and their families by encouraging lasting experiential learning through joy, meaning, and belonging. Jewish life is lived as vibrant and alive, with Jewish holidays celebrated through immersive, child-centered experiences where music plays a central role.
Every Rosh Hodesh, professional musicians teach children piyutim from diverse Jewish traditions – Sephardi, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, and others – helping them discover the richness of global Jewish heritage. These moments blend festivity with deep education, nurturing both pride and curiosity about Jewish culture.
Students don’t merely receive tradition; they engage with it actively. Children learn to ask questions, investigate texts, and find personal meaning. Torah learning becomes an exploration of ideas rather than memorization of fact. Students are challenged to think, connect, and feel connected and empowered with their relationship to Judaism.
The school particularly emphasizes that individual differences strengthen community. Every child’s unique qualities are celebrated as contributions that enrich the collective experience, teaching mutual respect and empathy as foundations for building a vibrant Jewish future.
Parents become active partners in this educational journey through monthly workshops covering topics such as child development, emotional health, and family dynamics. These sessions create dialogue and alignment between families and the school, fostering a unified community of shared values where academic excellence, personal growth, and human connection flourish together.
The school’s approach to character development extends beyond academics into meaningful community engagement. Students regularly participate in service projects tied to Jewish holidays – supporting homeless individuals around Sukkot, raising funds for Torah learning during Hanukkah, or preparing food packages for families in need before Passover. These initiatives connect Jewish values to real-world action while giving deeper meaning to religious observance.
Abravanel demonstrates remarkable commitment to inclusive education, maintaining small class sizes and training teachers in cognitive science and child development to support diverse learning needs. When students require additional support, the school collaborates with external professionals and has hired dedicated specialists to ensure that every child can thrive within the community.
A vision for future leaders
In times when fragmentation threatens communities from within, Abravanel’s students are learning to listen carefully, hold nuanced perspectives, and bring people together around shared values. They’re developing leadership skills rooted in service rather than status, empathy rather than ego.
Whether these children become teachers, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, or parents, the school wants them to regard themselves as links in Jewish history’s great chain – responsible for both honoring the past and shaping the future.
Beyond France’s borders
As Abravanel enters its second year, its growth trajectory suggests that parents and educators hunger for educational models that transcend traditional boundaries. The school offers a template that other institutions might adapt to their own cultural contexts.
The success raises important questions: Can schools successfully integrate rigorous academics with deep cultural learning? Can diverse student bodies thrive in environments rooted in specific traditions?
Early evidence from this French experiment suggests that the answer to both questions is yes.
For more information about innovative Jewish educational approaches and impactful Jewish experiential learning, contact the Yael Foundation.
This article was written in cooperation with the Yael Foundation.