As students across Israel return to classrooms, educators are once again taking on responsibilities that sometimes extend far beyond math and history. For one dedicated educator, the lesson plan isn’t the only tool she uses to help students.

Brenda Horwitz Prawer, a long-standing educator, has always dedicated herself far beyond normal school hours. With four decades of experience in education, Horwitz Prawer has spent much of her professional life teaching and guiding youngsters in her community as they face academic challenges. But that wasn’t enough for her. She also chose to train as a United Hatzalah volunteer and become a civic leader in her community.

Today, she serves as Deputy Mayor and City Council Member in Maale Adumim, where her responsibilities include overseeing religious education and citywide suicide prevention initiatives. At the same time, she serves as a medic and coordinator of United Hatzalah’s Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit, working with volunteers and residents of her hometown of Maale Adumim and surrounding areas, ensuring that anyone who has experienced a traumatic event has a place to go to receive emotional and psychological support.

One of the most challenging chapters of her educational career came during the crisis that followed the October 7 attacks and the outbreak of war on Israel’s northern border.

As communities were evacuated and thousands of Israeli families were displaced from their homes, Horwitz Prawer was tasked with helping establish an emergency school for displaced high school students from the northern town of Shlomi. Within a week, Brenda established a functioning educational framework for teenagers whose lives had been suddenly disrupted.

The challenge was not simply academic. Students arrived at this newly established school after experiencing the worst tragedy to befall the Jewish people since the Holocaust. They had been displaced from their homes and faced extreme uncertainty about the foreseeable future. Restoring a sense of routine meant creating an environment where young people could once again feel some measure of stability.

For Horwitz Prawer, there is a direct connection between being an educator, a deputy mayor, and a Psychotrauma specialist with United Hatzalah.

Her mission is to bring security and safety to the citizens of Maale Adumim. Similarly, as coordinator of the Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit in Maale Adumim, Brenda is involved in treating wounds and injuries that cannot always be seen or treated with a bandage, medication, or medical equipment, but are no less real or critical.

As Israeli youth embark on another school year still overshadowed by political and regional unrest, Brenda reminds us that education is ultimately about preparing youngsters for much more than standardized examinations and earning good grades. It is about learning to navigate life’s uncertain times.

Similarly, United Hatzalah isn’t only about responding to emergencies. We have a responsibility to help prevent emergencies from developing in the first place. That is why United Hatzalah invests so much in education, technology, and community-based programs designed to support the health and safety of those who are most vulnerable. It is our mission to nurture people before they fall ill by offering at-home services to the elderly and providing education about basic life safety. And it is our responsibility to be there within minutes, whenever and wherever someone needs assistance.