Outrage at Ohel Shem High School: Principal suspends student for putting on Tefillin

In a shocking display of hostility toward religious expression, the principal of Ohel Shem High School in Ramat Gan, Israel Viluzhny, has banned students from putting on tefillin—a sacred Jewish ritual—at the prestigious secular institution, sparking fury among students and parents alike. Exclusive footage captures a tense standoff between Viluzhny and Orel Malik, a student whose only “crime” was donning tefillin during a break in the school hallway. “Here we don’t put on tefillin—that’s what I decided,” the principal can be heard declaring, his tone cold and unyielding.

The incident has exposed a deep rift at Ohel Shem, a school of roughly 1,400 students aged 14-18, where a grassroots spiritual awakening has taken root since the horrors of October 7, 2023. Speaking on Rabbi Moshe Ben Lulu’s program Hafuch Al Hafuch (Upside Down), Malik, the initiative’s organizer, described how the Hamas attack ignited “a strong thirst for Judaism” among his peers. What began as a modest fundraiser—students pooling pocket money to buy one pair of tefillin—blossomed into a phenomenon. “The tefillin were fully occupied,” Malik said. “Everyone wanted to put them on during breaks.”

But the school administration didn’t share the students’ enthusiasm. Malik recounted how a teacher was caught tearing down notices advertising the tefillin station, an act he witnessed firsthand. “I saw her ripping them up,” he said, disbelief still audible in his voice. Undeterred, Malik took the story to Channel 14’s The Patriots with host Yinon Magal, shining a spotlight on the school’s stifling response. The next day, he was hauled into Viluzhny’s office and reprimanded: no notices, he was told, could go up without administrative approval.

The students pressed on, expanding their effort. When a ninth-grader asked to carry the project into the next year, he stationed a second pair of tefillin outside his classroom. That’s when the administration’s intolerance boiled over. A teacher spotted the boy putting on tefillin, charged down the hallway, and berated him. “This isn’t acceptable nowadays!” she shouted, according to Malik. The student was summoned to Viluzhny’s office and, astonishingly, suspended from school. Malik, too, faced a reprimand and a stern warning from the principal.

In the footage, Malik’s frustration erupts as he confronts Viluzhny: “Are you God? Who are you to forbid me from putting on tefillin? It’s my right!” The principal’s decree—that a fundamental Jewish practice has no place in his school—has left many reeling. For a generation grappling with war and loss, the tefillin initiative offered meaning and connection. That Viluzhny would crush it underfoot is, to put it mildly, vile and unacceptable.

This isn’t just a school policy—it’s a betrayal of Jewish identity in a country founded as a haven for it. Ohel Shem’s students aren’t staging protests or disrupting classes; they’re quietly reclaiming a tradition during their own time. Yet Viluzhny, cloaked in secular authority, seems determined to stamp out even this flicker of faith. His actions don’t just defy reason—they spit in the face of a nation still mourning its dead and fighting for its soul.

Education Minister Yoav Kish has recused himself from the ongoing controversy surrounding the confiscation of tefillin at Ramat Gan's Ohel Shem High School, citing a conflict of interest as his son attends the institution.

"I am prevented from handling matters related to Ohel Shem school in Ramat Gan due to a conflict of interest," Kish stated. "The case has been transferred to the Ministry's Director-General for urgent investigation and resolution."

Emess contributed to this article.