Twenty years ago, Israel stood at a critical junction in the future of its education system. It faced an uncomfortable truth that our classrooms were relics of the past.
Decades-old teaching methods, traditional classes, and using blackboard and chalk and rigid lesson structures had changed little, even as the world transformed. Our human capital, Israel’s greatest natural resource, was being shortchanged.
It was then that we embarked with the Negev and Galilee Ministry and the Education Ministry on a bold experiment to transform education by introducing the 1,000 Smart Classes initiative.
This was not some modest pilot tucked away in one region – it was a strategic leap to force change at scale, with the full knowledge that failure was possible but that the cost of doing nothing was certain decline.
What made that initiative succeed was not just the technology itself, but a unique coalition encompassing a historic education network (World ORT), the Israeli government, and visionary Jewish philanthropy from the Diaspora.
Each partner brought something vital to the table: deep pedagogical experience, the authority and scale of public policy, and a commitment to Israel’s future that transcended borders.
Within two years, 1,000 smart classrooms sprang up across the country.
The model wasn’t perfect, but it brought Israeli education into the 21st century, normalizing technology in everyday teaching. Today, the idea of teaching without technological tools seems unthinkable. Yet this shift did not happen organically – it was driven by strategy, partnership, and an urgent sense of national mission.
Now, two decades later, we stand at another crossroads, one arguably even more consequential.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is entering our lives at dizzying speed. Unlike smart boards or networked laptops, AI is not just another tool, it’s an entirely new paradigm that will reshape how we think, work, and learn.
AI can transform purpose of education system
AI will transform not only the content of education but its very purpose.
Many of today’s jobs will vanish or radically change by 2050. Traditional rote learning, training students for predictable, rule-bound tasks, will become obsolete. Instead, tomorrow’s citizens will need to master adaptability, critical thinking, collaboration with machines, and creative problem-solving.
Yet Israel’s education system, like so many worldwide, remains stuck between eras.
Classrooms may have smart boards, but many teaching methods still rely on frontal instruction, inflexible timetables, and standardized tests that measure memory more than insight.
While the rest of society is being disrupted by AI in healthcare, defense, finance, and entertainment, our schools risk being left behind, churning out graduates unprepared for the world they will inherit. We can’t let that happen.
Just as we refused incrementalism 20 years ago, we must now adopt a similarly ambitious vision for the AI age. That means rethinking education from the ground up.
FIRST, WE need to redefine what we teach. Rather than simply imparting static knowledge, we must train students to learn continuously, question assumptions, and collaborate with intelligent systems. Curricula must evolve to prioritize problem-solving, interdisciplinary thinking, and ethical reasoning about AI’s power and risks.
Second, we must reinvent how we teach, and the “classroom” itself must transform.
AI-driven personalized learning can adapt to each student’s strengths and weaknesses in real time, freeing teachers to become mentors, facilitators, and guides. Schools should become flexible learning hubs, breaking free from rigid bells and timetables to support project-based learning and teamwork.
Third, we must prepare our teachers.
Technology is only as good as the humans who use it. Without massive investment in teacher training and support, even the best AI tools will go underutilized or misapplied. We need a new generation of educators who understand both pedagogy and technology, and who can model lifelong learning for their students.
Finally, we must renew the spirit of partnership that made past transformation possible.
THE ISRAELI government cannot do this alone. We need our technology sector to step up – not just to sell products but to initiate collaboration on educational solutions with long-term impact.
We need our universities to constantly research and test new models of learning. We need parents and communities to buy in. We need the government to allocate significant resources and to create partnerships with philanthropists and educators from the Diaspora.
Perhaps most crucially, we need to once again harness the power of Jewish philanthropy worldwide, recognizing that the future of Israel depends on maintaining our edge in human capital. The bottom line is that it depends on the type of education we provide our children.
Twenty years ago, a visionary and unique philanthropist like Seymour Schulich didn’t just donate money, he recognized the moment and seized it. We need that spirit again. The 1,000 Smart Classes initiative would never have happened without the Schulich Foundation donating very substantial funds towards this educational start-up.
This is not optional. Without a dramatic shift, Israeli schools risk becoming stagnant, uninspiring, and irrelevant, our children will disengage, and our workforce will falter.
Most importantly, Israel’s hard-won technological advantage could erode.
Nevertheless, if we act decisively, we can turn this moment into an opportunity. We can make Israel not only the Start-up Nation, but the education innovation nation, a model for how small countries with limited natural resources can turn human potential into global leadership.
We’ve done it before. Let’s do it again.
The writer is the chairman of the Center for Jewish impact and former CEO of the World Jewish Congress and chairman of the board of World ORT.