MARBLEHEAD – During a recent visit to the Arthur J. Epstein Hillel School on Community Road, kindergarteners were busy with a lesson about dipping apples into honey for a sweet New Year.
Students in the first and second grade classroom had come from the school’s garden, where they sampled vegetables as part of the science curriculum, and the room smelled of basil. Third grade students were writing about their hobbies. Fourth graders were learning multiplication arrays. In the combined fifth and sixth grade classroom, sixth grader Ada Freudenberger said they were studying vocabulary for the book, “The Girl Who Drank the Moon,” by Kelly Barnhill.

After several weeks of financial uncertainly last winter, in which the more than 70-year-old school faced closure, the Epstein Hillel School (formerly Cohen Hillel Academy) held its first day on Sept. 1.
It opened as a pre-kindergarten through sixth grade elementary school, after a financial crisis last year and budget cuts forced the closure of the middle school.

A successful “Step Up to the Moment” fundraising campaign over the winter saw the community work together to save the school. It raised $2.82 million of a $3 million goal. The funds spared the only Jewish day school north of Boston from closure and kept it sustainable.

“It was a very painful process to make the decision to close the upper school,” said Head of School Amy Gold. “But we had to really work on expenses, and the budget had to be rightsized; it just wasn’t sustainable for us.”

“Our [fiscal 2027] budget represents roughly a 25% reduction from [fiscal 2026],” board Chair Shira Kraft, class of 1997, said in an email. “A significant portion of those savings comes from the closing of the middle school – a bittersweet strategic decision that allowed us to right size the budget and focus our resources on building an exceptional pre-K through sixth grade experience where children develop the confidence, curiosity, and strong Jewish identity that will carry them into whatever comes next.”

New this school year, the school is offering a combined fifth and sixth grade classroom with three students in each grade. Tuition stayed at $18,000.

“The Step Up to the Moment campaign was a tremendous show of support from the community that gives EHS an important bridge toward a sustainable model,” Kraft said.

“Everybody is coming into the school year feeling just so happy to be back after the crisis of last year,” Gold said. “It was a lot for everybody to process emotionally and the families who are here are just so grateful that the school is in our community and that everybody is super-focused on the mission and proud to be here and wants the school to grow.”

The school’s enrollment on Sept. 1 was 54 students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, Gold said. That’s down from 83 in the 2025-2026 school year when the school was pre-K through eighth grade, according to the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s website.

The school offers a combined first and second grade classroom and a combined fifth and sixth grade classroom. The school has long offered multi-age classes in “specials” such as physical education, music and art, Gold said.

Classes have one lead teacher in a room of up to 14 students. The one class that has two full-time teachers is the pre-K classroom, with 12 students. The kindergarten classroom holds 11 students, and the combined first-and-second-grade classroom has 10.

With the closure of the upper school, there was a staff reduction of subject area teachers in math, science, language arts, social studies and Hebrew/Jewish studies, Gold said.

Gold said there are advantages to small schools. The pull of EHS is the relationships teachers develop with students “because the teachers know the children here so well as learners,” she said.
It’s a school where students feel they belong, are more independent and are not afraid to take risks academically or socially or try new things, Gold said.

The school year started off with an all-school assembly, during which new students were welcomed with blessings, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the regular sounding of the shofar for the month of Elul, symbolizing new beginnings.

“The teachers are just so happy to be here and to be back together and for our community to come back together and to be really starting off … on the right foot,” added Gold.

The school also held a pre-Shabbat Oneg celebration at Devereux Beach on Sept. 4 to welcome back students and families.

“Our boys are in fourth and fifth grades,” Kraft said, “and the school year has kicked off with so much joy. The feeling of gratitude among parents is palpable.”

“Our boys can’t wait to come home each day and share exciting tidbits from fourth and fifth grades: how much they love their teachers, their little buddy assignments, getting to be classroom reporter or greeter of the week. There’s an energy in the building that’s hard to miss,” Kraft said.

Students learn Hebrew every day, including modern spoken Hebrew, Gold said. Students have Jewish studies three times a week, and learn about the holidays, prayers, Israeli culture and history, and Torah.

“Being Jewish, it’s not an afterthought here, it’s completely part of their day,” Gold said.

As to the school’s future, Gold said EHS is forming a strategic planning committee for that purpose.

“Long-term viability will require growth in enrollment and tuition revenue, alongside continued philanthropy,” Kraft said. “Our strategic planning process will help us identify the strongest strategies for advancing both of these critical revenue streams and building a more sustainable model for the future.”

“The opportunity before us is bigger than balancing a budget,” she added. “It’s ensuring that families north of Boston continue to have access to an exceptional Jewish education and a deeply connected community for generations to come.”

“We are thrilled to be part of a school community that takes the time to get to know our boys so well,” said parents Lisa and Jon Levin in an email. Their boys are second grader Nate Levin and fourth grader Elijah Levin. “The small class size allows them to receive a more personalized education that meets them where they are and pushes them to be challenged. The teachers and staff are thoughtful and caring. My boys love coming to school each day. They’re proud of their Judaism and are getting an incredible education.”

“Lauren and I were thrilled to be able to send Sigmund (Siggy) to Pre-K at EHS this year!” said Sam Andler, the father of a pre-K student, in an email. The Andlers are new to the school this year. “We’ve poured time, energy, and resources into the school and are thrilled to be seeing firsthand why it is so special and important to so many people. We knew the value of a Jewish day school education, and are familiar with the statistics, but seeing the ‘magic’ through our 4-year-old’s eyes is beyond what we could have expected. From his first drop-off where he was welcomed with open arms and broad smiles, to our first Kabbalat Shabbat as a family, it’s clear this community is special, and we are so grateful to get to be a part of it.”

Immediate past board chair Michele Cohen, who helped lead the campaign to save the school, remains on the board of directors. She was “very, very hopeful” for the future of the school after the uncertainty of the last year or two. She was in awe of those who have stepped up to leadership positions, people she described as having “incredible skills and talent.”

“I could not be more excited for the year ahead of us,” she said.

Contact reporter Ethan M. Forman at ethan@jewishjournal.org.