Max Bassli, 14, is already thinking about law school, Advanced Placement courses and college admissions. He has also thought about how to flee the antisemitism which both of his older siblings faced on campus, which is why he opted to attend a private Jewish day school.
The Bellevue, Wash., resident chose Northwest Yeshiva High School, an Orthodox high school on Mercer Island, after attending a pluralistic Jewish day school through eighth grade. He and his parents also considered public schools with larger Jewish or Israeli communities but did not want him attending Sammamish High School, where his older sister went.
“She went to school after Oct. 7 to find a lot of her friends posting on the internet or liking posts that were about ‘death to Israel’ and freeing Palestine,” the Seattle-area teen told JNS. “That was one of the biggest shocks for her to cope with.”
“Not even knowing how our family’s doing, because she couldn’t contact them,” he said. “They were in the mamad,” an Israeli safe room, “where they should be during bombings and had no reception to text back.”
Having her friends “turn against her” was a “big change” for Bassli’s sister.
“She’d have to go every day to school to face horrible antisemitic phrases,” he told JNS. “When she told my parents about it, it destroyed their hearts.”
His older brother was encountering anti-Israel encampments on the University of Washington campus at the same time, according to Bassli.
Watching both siblings navigate hostility was “awful,” particularly since their experiences echoed the stories their grandparents told. Bassli’s paternal grandparents escaped antisemitism in Kurdistan, and his maternal grandparents came from Odessa in the former Soviet Union, he said.
Bassli told JNS that he chose the day school, because “I really value education.” He also prefers a small class size, and the high school integrated him well. But adjusting to praying twice daily and a more vigorously religious schedule required some acclimation, he said.
“I told my sister and brother, ‘I’m going to have such a different high school experience than you guys,’” he told JNS.
The aspiring lawyer’s favorite class is Talmud, taught by Rabbi Yonatan Himelstein.
“It’s super interesting, because we’re learning about Jewish law and what the Jewish sages and the Mishnah say about different circumstances,” he told JNS. “It is slightly more challenging than the rest of my classes, and I love a good challenge.”
Rabbi Ben Aaronson, the head of school, told JNS that Bassli was right to weigh more than just fleeing Jew-hatred in public schools when he chose where to study.
“A Jewish high school is more than a refuge from antisemitism,” the rabbi said. “A dual curriculum is demanding. It requires students to balance complexity and nuance. They grapple with difficult questions and problems, as they are introduced to the greatest ideas civilization has to offer.”
“We might build a new device in STEM class, but we reflexively ask how and when it should be used,” he told JNS. “I find that our students rise to the challenge.”
(JNS sought comment from the Bellevue School District and from the University of Washington.)
