The organization (Hamifal) was founded in 1943 by the late Ms. Recha Friar (an Israel Prize winner) with the aim of educating and rehabilitating at-risk children, aged 6-17 who have grown up in a disadvantaged environment. Hamifal: an educational children’s home, is a warm and rehabilitating home which provides and promotes an educational framework for more than 800 at-risk and homeless children.

The organization consists of seven youth villages, eight family dormitories and two day-care centres.  

The children integrated into our institutions face various familial complexities; including struggling parents, the loss or death of one or more of their parents, living in an unfavourable or destructive environments, and/or more. At the organization, we provide these children with a wide range of support and guidance in order to help them get as far as possible in their lives, despite the circumstances of their homes.

The organisation is unique due to its novel education-therapy model. 

The organization’s institutions have a novel structure which promotes and combines the good of family life with additional central social services. The youth villages are based on the family cell model which consists of 12 boys and girls of different age groups living together with a married couple and their children. The married couple serve as “home parents” to our children and are part of the permanent village staff who surround the children.

Each family group (“family home”) lives in a separate building. The youth villages of Hamifal are comprised of a number of such family units, each of which houses its own independent living space and shares a larger site. 

The children living in the youth villages are integrated into the community’s educational frameworks and enjoy a wide range of tutoring, as well as many enriching activities during the afternoons. 

If this sounds like a home – it’s because it is indeed a home for children who otherwise would have lost their way as individuals and as members of society. 

The organization’s family educational model has proven itself successfully and has since been adopted by other boarding schools in Israel.