Natanel’s father was a school principal, and he grew up on a Kfar similar to where Kol Tzofayich is located.

“For me to be in a school like this is fulfilling a dream of bringing my own kids to that kind of environment,” he said.

Of teaching, he said he tries to share bigger-picture values and to have an impact on his students, beyond the subjects they are learning. His background is in the field of archaeology.

“It’s about bringing your personal values and teaching them to the next generation, to be a role model for the students, to show them your own unique way of being, of living, of cultivating Judaism,” he said. “To model for them someone who did not just do what was told to him as a kid but pursued his own passions. I show them that there is a way to do that.”

Natanel has been in the field for 15 years, and an educator for 12. He received degrees in archaeology from Bar-Ilan University, a teaching certificate, as well as professional development in his specific fields of education.

He started a course in archeology. The small group of students uses a special archaeological site recently discovered inside the Kfar. They are working with the government antiquity authority to survey the area, then start preparing for excavation.

Seventh and eighth graders get to help clean the area and uncover the archaeological remains on the surface.

“We started a unique and wonderful project in collaboration with the Antiquities Authority,” he said. “We found out that there is an ancient archaeological site in the kfar, and thanks to the new Gefen program of the Ministry of Education, archaeologists from the Haifa district came to us and, with the cooperation of everyone together, we started the project.”