Israeli Students Face Two-Week School Break for Autumn Holidays
Israeli schools will close for two consecutive weeks in September due to holiday scheduling. The long break stems from a labor agreement creating a bridge between Yom Kippur and Sukkot.
The school year has barely begun, but students are already heading into the autumn holiday season this month. This year, the schedule will feature two full consecutive weeks of vacation, spanning two complete school weeks.
Erev Rosh Hashanah will be observed this coming weekend. The holiday will result in the loss of only one school day — Sunday, September 13 — since the holiday itself falls on Friday and Saturday, when many students either do not study or have a shortened day.
The Holiday Bridge
The primary logistical challenge for parents begins shortly thereafter. Israeli students will receive an additional two full weeks of vacation, running from Sunday to the following Sunday. This is due to a labor agreement that grants teachers three vacation days during the "bridge" between Yom Kippur and Sukkot, in exchange for teaching on Isru Chag. This is not the first time such a bridge has been implemented.
Yom Kippur will fall on Sunday and Monday, September 20 and 21, resulting in two missed school days. Following the wage agreement signed during the tenure of former Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, three vacation days will be observed between Yom Kippur and Sukkot — from Tuesday to Thursday, September 22-24.
Immediately following this, the Sukkot vacation will begin, running from Friday to the following Saturday, September 25 to October 3. In practice, classes will only resume on Sunday, October 4, creating a continuous two-week break from school.
Election Day and Future Reforms
In addition, students will have another day off in October for the Knesset elections, scheduled for Tuesday, October 27. School buildings will be requisitioned to serve as polling stations.
Against this backdrop, the incoming education minister will have to decide whether the school system will transition to a five-day workweek. Under this proposal, Yaffa Ben-David, secretary-general of the Israel Teachers Union, demands that teachers work only four days a week, meaning they would not work on Fridays and would retain an additional day off, as is currently the practice.
Negotiations on the new teachers' contract are set to begin immediately after the elections.
