Lauder - Morasha School

The Lauder - Morasha School in Warsaw, Poland is a Jewish day school opened by the Ronald S. Lauder foundation in 1994, building upon the success of the Lauder Kindergarten created in 1989. It is the first school under Jewish auspices in Warsaw since 1949. In 2007, its enrollment was 240 students, ranging in age from three to sixteen years old (pre-school to Grade 9).

The school's founding director was Helise E. Lieberman (1994-2006); its current director is Polish-born Rabbi Maciej Pawlak.

The school is not a religious academy; students are taught Hebrew and Jewish tradition and culture (in addition to the complete standard Polish curriculum), but there are no compulsory religious activities.

The school's historic building was designed by Henryk Stifelman and served as a facility for Jewish senior citizens prior to World War Two. Its ruins were restored for the school by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation.

The Lauder-Morasha School has a sister school -- Lauder Etz Chaim -- in the western Polish city of Wroclaw and they constitute part of a larger Lauder school network of some 36 schools and kindergartens in sixteen Central and Eastern European countries from Germany to Russia and from Estonia to Bulgaria.

External links

* http://www.rslfoundation.org/html/ourwork/ourwork_poland.htm
* http://www.karlschatz.com/photoprojects/poland.shtml photoproject
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/473134.stm First Jewish school opened in Poland] BBC News, October 12, 1999