ABOUT US
Transforming lives for over 60 years.
Heller High offers high school students from across North America a unique semester in Israel. Students take a deep dive into Jewish history and Israeli culture through classroom learning and field trips all the while continuing their general studies.
For over 60 years the URJ’s immersive semester program in Israel has transformed the lives of hundreds within the Reform Jewish community. The program continues to meet the changing needs of students and families, combining a Reform Jewish perspective with top-notch general studies.
In 2023, URJ Heller High partnered with Alexander Muss High School in Israel (Muss), hosting the program on the Muss campus in Hod Hasharon. This collaboration means that AMHSI manages academic accreditation and administration, while the Heller High team continue to ensure studying Jewish and Israeli history through the lens of Reform values, while creating a community of students. Students live together, celebrating Shabbat and holidays in the Reform tradition, and in close contact with the Israeli Reform Movement. Under the leadership of Rabbi Orli Moss, Heller High continues to offer its flagship Jewish History course, featuring special trips and interactions with Reform Movement leaders in Israel.
We are committed to making this life-changing experience accessible to all accepted students, with financial aid options like the URJ Teen Israel Organizing Fellowship and additional need based generous scholarships. Both Heller High and AMHSI aim to deepen students' understanding and relationship with Israel and Judaism, while maintaining their home school curriculum.
OUR STORY
MEET OUR TEAM
ORLI MOSS (she/her)
Director
Rabbi Orli Moss has dedicated her career to working with individuals and communities in areas such as creative Judaism, value clarification, Jewish peoplehood, and Israel education. In July 2023, Orli joined the URJ as Director of Heller High and is delighted to work with teens, empowering them to create a vibrant and intentional Reform community. She helps them explore various aspects of Reform life, including ritual, spiritual, and social justice, while fostering a unique and distinct identity for Heller High students who come to Israel for a semester-long, identity-forming, and life-changing experience. With strong local ties, Orli is committed to connecting students to Israelis and Israeli society in an authentic way.
A product of the Conservative movement and ordained at HUC-JIR Jerusalem, Orli is dedicated to building a strong liberal Jewish voice in Israel. Having grown up in a youth movement and worked with gap year programs in the past, Orli believes in empowering youth through experiential learning. Rabbi Orli Moss is a dedicated educator specializing in Jewish pluralism in both informal and formal settings. In 2015, she returned home to Israel with her family after three years of Shlichut (emissary for the Jewish Agency) in NYC, where she established and ran the Israel Engagement Department at B’nai Jeshurun
Orli holds an MA in Jewish Pluralist Education and a BA in Sociology & Anthropology from Hebrew University, Jerusalem. In 2021, she was ordained at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute for Religion, Jerusalem. She lives in Kfar Saba with her husband Jonathan and their children Nomi, Tomer, and Poppy.
KATE BLUMENTHAL (she/her)
Coordinator, Teen Israel Fellowships
Kate Blumenthal joined the URJ as Coordinator of Teen Israel Fellowships in March 2025, bringing with her 15 years of expertise in Jewish identity exploration, leadership development, project management, and Israel engagement. Throughout her career, she has coordinated immersive Jewish leadership conferences across the diaspora and brought teens and young adults from North America to Israel, witnessing first-hand the transformational power of Jewish communal experiences. Kate is passionate about Jewish peoplehood and believes deeply in the importance of investing in teens to secure a strong, Jewish future.
Kate holds a BA in Religion from Hofstra University and lives in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband, Gary, and their children, Asher and Talia.
OUR HISTORY
The program is named for Isaac (z”l) and Helaine Heller (z”l).
URJ Heller High began as NFTY EIE (Eisendrath International Exchange) High School Semester in Israel and was known by this name for decades. Audrey Heller's remarkable journey on EIE in 1972 inspired her parents, Isaac (Ike) and Helaine Heller, to support the program. She returned home with a deep connection to Israel, a profound pride in her Jewish identity, and lifelong friendships.
In 1975, the Hellers made this journey possible for many more teens by creating the Heller Family Scholarship Fund.
The program was renamed URJ Heller High; the Isaac and Helaine Heller High School in Israel, a year after Ike passed away in 2015 when Helaine endowed the program with a generous gift to ensure that many more students could continue to experience this life changing program in Israel.
Ike and Helaine’ legacy lives on through this program, offering countless students the opportunity to connect deeply with their Jewish identity and heritage.
