Representatives from eleven local schools from the Far Rockaway / Five Towns community — HALB, HAFTR, TAG, BBY, Shulamith, HANC, YOSS, Ateres Miriam, YKLI, YDT, and BY5T — came together for a groundbreaking conversation on strengthening how we educate and support neurodiverse students in our mainstream schools.
This historic evening was coordinated through a collaboration between Yahalom NY and Rishpei Aish. Yahalom NY, a division of Agudath Israel of America, is a trusted resource where families raising children with special needs can find support, guidance, referrals, answers, and hope.
Tova Wacholder, director of Yahalom NY, served as emcee and facilitated the roundtable discussion with insight and sensitivity, ensuring every voice was heard.
Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel of America and Mr. Richard Altabe, Former principal of HALB, founder of Sha’ar Lev — drawing on decades of leadership and deep experience in Jewish education — anchored the evening with powerful, heartfelt words about our collective responsibility to help every child actualize their unique, G-d-given potential.
Mrs. Esti Schiffmiller — mother, advocate, writer, and founder of Rishpei Aish — described the trailblazing mission of this growing grassroots movement: building strength-based, Torah-aligned support for neurodiverse Jewish children. Rooted in lived experience and powered by partnerships with educators, families, and communities, Rishpei Aish is sparking a paradigm shift in how we see, support, and celebrate every child.
The roundtable format allowed school leaders — representing a range of sizes, locations, and both hashkafic and educational philosophies — to share successes, identify challenges, and explore practical solutions that support both the whole child and the whole school.
Leaders exchanged ideas on increasing access to resources, enhancing teacher training, implementing flexible support models, expanding integrated co-teaching, strengthening social-skills and peer-mentoring programs, deepening family-school partnerships and parent support, and embedding strength-based approaches across curricula and culture. The conversation was candid, collaborative, and constructive, with a shared focus on turning vision into systems adaptable to each school’s unique environment.
As the evening closed, a shared sense of camaraderie, enthusiasm, momentum, and purpose filled the room. School representatives pledged to continue collaborating, keep showing up, and keep turning passion into action — for every child, together. Many followed up with words of appreciation, saying how inspired they felt to keep building on the support, connections, creative ideas, and shared ownership that emerged.
For more information about Yahalom NY or to access support and resources, please reach out at [email protected].
To get involved with Rishpei Aish: The Inclusion Revolution — whether by joining the movement, contributing, or bringing this conversation to your school or community — please contact us at [email protected].