The Abraham Joshua Heschel School

The Abraham Joshua Heschel School (AJHS) is an independent, pluralistic Jewish day school in New York City serving students from nursery through 12th grade. Named in memory of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the 20th century’s great Jewish leaders, teachers, and activists, the school is dedicated to the values that defined his life: intellectual exploration, integrity, love of the Jewish people and tradition, and a commitment to hesed (lovingkindness) and tzedek (justice).

Heschel is a pluralistic, egalitarian community that welcomes families from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, practices, and beliefs, with boys and girls, men and women participating equally in all aspects of the school’s religious, intellectual, and communal life. The curriculum interweaves the best of Jewish and general knowledge and culture, treating the texts of Jewish tradition and Jewish history as fundamental resources for shaping ideas, values, and ethical living.

Founded in 1981 by Peter Geffen, with its high school opening in 2001, the school today enrolls roughly 950 students across its lower, middle, and high school divisions, located on West End Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The school aims to cultivate responsible, active, and compassionate citizens and leaders who build bridges within the Jewish community and between Jewish and other communities.