As Israeli schools opened their doors on September 1, there are two-and-a-half million K–12 children in Israel. Unfortunately, a teachers strike kept half a million tenth-to-twelfth graders at home. Meanwhile, there are 179,300 children starting first grade and 144,000 high schoolers entering twelfth grade. For schools and students affected by Hezbollah’s rockets in the north, more bomb shelters have been placed as well as increased air defense systems. Normally, the Iron Dome missile defense system only reacts to incoming rockets if it appears they will fall in urban areas. For students who need to take school buses, the air defense will now protect those open areas. In addition, there are still 17,000 students who are displaced from their homes in Israel’s north. They will continue another year of attending school in their temporary neighborhoods or pop-up schools near their hotels or other places where they are living.

Please pray for the children of Israel to settle safely into their new school year. Pray for the teachers and administration who guide and teach these children.

Read more at The Times of Israel . . .