Students in 12th grade at ORT Danziger High School in Kiryat Shmona held their graduation celebration on Monday evening, after Home Front Command approval arrived less than a day before the event. The ceremony took place just a few kilometers from the Lebanese border, against the backdrop of the war and repeated rocket fire in the north.
The class’s show focused on six years of childhood and adolescence that were anything but normal. Instead of appearing beaten down, the students presented themselves as resilient and mature, shaped by years of evacuations, uncertainty and military attacks. Mai Aizik, who was evacuated with her family to Herzliya, said, “You cannot describe in words the six years we went through.” She added that life had meant “nothing stable or taken for granted,” but that they had “won it all” and learned to handle hardship.
Several students described the cost of displacement. Ofir Chaliva, evacuated with his family to Tel Aviv, said the class was less connected than a normal graduating group because they had not lived those six years together, and that many do not understand what it means to leave home thinking it would be for a week and return after a year and a half. Roy Friedman, evacuated with his parents and six siblings, said the repeated delays and uncertainty were painful, but also a rare experience that taught him to find the good in life. Roi Tiar said he plans to build his future in central Israel after the army because of the greater opportunities there, though he hopes to return to Kiryat Shmona to raise his children.
The students did allow themselves to smile at the event, but Yovel Danan said the burden remains. “We were rehabilitated, but what is going on inside? There is still a long way to go,” he said. Class teacher Hadar Shper, who followed her students even when they were scattered across the country, described months of sleepless nights, fears and constant alerts, and said she could only wish that they return safely from military service. Principal Ofir Zafrani called them a strong cohort that developed unusual resilience, but said it pained him that they missed most of their high school years, with “five out of six years” spent away from the school.
