The Shirley and Milton Gralla Junior High School

The Shirley and Milton Gralla Junior High School was opened in 1971, at the request of Israel’s Ministry of Education, with 130 children from the economically depressed Jerusalem neighborhood of Katamon. Today, children as young as 12 are accepted to our seventh grade program with full room and board. Many celebrate their Bar Mitzvahs with their families at the school. Rabbi Doron Book, a veteran Boys Town Jerusalem teacher and himself, an alumnus of the school takes these young boys under his protective wing and with the help of our social workers and guidance counsellors provide an outstanding introduction to Boys Town Jerusalem.

Boys from as far away as Kiryat Shmona and Metulla in the north, and Eilat and the Negev in the south, as well as a wide variety of economic and ethnic backgrounds (France, Ethiopia, FSU etc.), begin their Boys Town learning and living experience. For many, it is their first time living away from home (although wherever possible they are encouraged to be home home for weekends and holidays).