Four Israeli teachers describe how TikTok and Instagram turned them into recognizable online personalities, while they kept teaching in classrooms across Israel. The article profiles Dorin Tal Asulin, 38, from Ashdod; Shira Gold, 30, from Kiryat Bialik; Nitzan Houri, 30, from Lod; and Efrat Tahar, 39, from Beersheba. Their followings range from 6,074 on Instagram to 56,600 on TikTok, and all say students, parents, and even strangers now identify them in public.
Asulin, a history and civics teacher at Mekif T in Ashdod, has 7,181 TikTok followers. She said she began posting after opening TikTok to follow her daughter, and a video filmed on a family trip to Mini Israel went viral under the title, “The history teacher does not go on vacation.” She now posts short clips tied to school life and lesson content, but says she limits filming in class to preserve discipline: “It is important to keep distance and discipline.”
Gold, an English teacher at Mיתרים school in Kiryat Bialik, said her real breakthrough came only after she became a teacher, even though she had first come to social media as a singer-songwriter. She now uses short teaching clips and classroom methods, and said she also opened a business for private lessons. Houri, who teaches special education and Bible at the Atid Technological High School in Lod, uses her videos and a podcast, “Education on the Road,” to show how she handles classroom challenges, after learning she had to stop trying to be overly strict and instead “be myself.”
Tahar teaches Hebrew at Al-Hayat school in Arara and has 56,600 TikTok followers. She moved from Bible and Jewish thought studies, to substitute teaching, to prison education, and then back to schools serving Arab students. She said she teaches not only language but also Jewish holidays and cultural context, while learning from her students in return. Across the profiles, the teachers say their audiences include students, parents, fellow teachers, and many adults over 18, and they stress the same advice: love the job, set clear boundaries, use humor carefully, and remember that the teacher is also a role model.
