The Yael Foundation announced the finalists for its 2026 Yael Awards on January 28, recognizing schools and programs across four continents that are building Jewish identity in communities from Kyiv to Córdoba. The awards ceremony will bring together educators and leaders from dozens of countries under this year’s theme: “Own Your Flame.” At a moment when Jewish communities face intensifying pressure worldwide, the finalists represent institutions refusing to retreat—schools in Ukraine operating under wartime conditions, growing programs in Central Asia’s remote Jewish populations, and revitalized educational centers across Latin America and Europe.
How does Jewish education sustain a people scattered across continents, speaking different languages, facing vastly different challenges?
The Bible provides the answer through Moshe’s final charge to the Jewish people: “And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). This is not advice. This is the mechanism of Jewish survival itself. The Sages understood that education is the transmission system—the only system—that has carried Jewish identity through empires, exiles, and attempts at erasure. Without it, Jewish continuity stops in a single generation.
The 2026 finalists span 23 countries, from the Ronald S. Lauder Jewish Day School in Sofia, Bulgaria, to Pri-Etz Haim School in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The Community Impact Award category includes ten finalists, among them Gan Meorot in Córdoba, Argentina, and JBO in Amsterdam. The Academic Excellence Award recognizes institutions like Ibn Gabirol School in Madrid and Or Menachem in Mykolaiv, Ukraine—a city that has endured Russian missile strikes throughout the war. The Innovator of the Year category features schools including Hatikva in Barcelona and Simcha School in Kyiv, which continues operating despite ongoing conflict. The Jewish Experience of the Year Award honors eleven programs, from Beis Aharon in Pinsk, Belarus, to TTH Barilan School in Rio de Janeiro.
“The finalists represent what is possible when Jewish education is led with clarity, excellence, and responsibility,” said Chaya Yosovich, CEO of the Yael Foundation. “Across very different local realities, these schools and programs are building strong Jewish identity, meaningful learning, and resilient communities.”
The Foundation will also present two honorary awards. Dov Forman, great-grandson of Holocaust survivor Lily Ebert and bestselling author of Lily’s Promise, will receive the Influence for Good Award. Forman has reached millions through digital platforms, turning his great-grandmother’s testimony into education for a generation that will be the last to hear directly from survivors. “As the number of Holocaust survivors dwindles and antisemitism goes increasingly unchecked, education has never been more urgent,” Forman said. “Using every medium available to educate and challenge ignorance is essential.”
Agam Berger will receive the Voice of Jewish Identity Award. Berger, whose moral clarity has resonated across Jewish communities worldwide, represents the kind of steadfast commitment to Jewish identity that these awards celebrate.
The three-day program preceding the ceremony includes sessions with internationally recognized speakers. Tal Ben-Shahar, former Harvard lecturer known for his work on positive psychology and leadership, will address attendees on the science of happiness and positive leadership. Keren Elazari, the cybersecurity expert whose TED Talk “Hackers: The Internet’s Immune System” reached global audiences, will speak on harnessing the hacker mindset for innovation and leadership. Rabbi Shlomo Farhi will deliver an address on forging a distinctive Jewish future. Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt, religion editor at the Forward, whose writing has appeared in The Atlantic, will participate in a fireside chat on faith, technology, and modern Jewish life.
An international judging panel will select the winners, including Natan Sharansky, the Soviet refusenik who spent nine years in the Gulag for the crime of wanting to live as a Jew; Chizhik-Goldschmidt; Robert Singer, CEO of World Jewish Congress; Max Neuberger; and Yosovich.
Founded by Uri and Yael Poliavich, the Yael Foundation invested €40 million in 130 schools across 45 countries in the past year alone. The Yael Awards, established to recognize excellence in Jewish education globally, highlight institutions that demonstrate how education builds not just knowledge but identity, confidence, and continuity.
The February ceremony will gather these educators at a time when their work matters more than the accolades themselves. Jewish schools in Ukraine teach children in bomb shelters. Programs in Western Europe counter rising antisemitism while maintaining academic standards. Communities in Central Asia and Latin America strengthen Jewish life in places where assimilation could easily erase it within decades. These are not symbolic gestures. They are the continuation of what Moshe commanded: teach your children, speak these words constantly, make Jewish identity inseparable from daily life. The finalists are doing exactly that—and the future of Jewish continuity depends on it.
