Brett Ratner, Hollywood Producer and AMHSI Alum, Returns Home to the AMHSI Campus
Brett Ratner, middle, and AMHSI staff and madrichim
"AMHSI was the best school experience of my entire life!" This was one of the first sentences uttered by Brett Ratner as he stepped out of his Mercedes into the hot, summer sun at the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) campus this past Thursday.
This week, for the first time in over 30 years, the American filmmaker and producer returned to Israel in order to join Mariah Carey at her concert in Rishon LeTzion, Israel.
Ratner's first visit to Israel was as a sixteen-year-old high school graduate spending the summer with his Florida peers in 1986 at AMHSI, an accredited academic study abroad program for students from North America and around the world, to explore Israel and 4,000 years of Jewish history, while continuing with regular high school studies.
Despite the heat and the construction dust that followed him around campus, Ratner couldn't keep a smile off his face as toured the school. He pointed out the Friedman dorm, where he lived and slept for eight weeks as a student on the program.
Ratner remembers being at AMHSI, "as if thirty years ago was yesterday." He joked about the thin mattresses, lack of air conditioning and pre-arranged weekly phone calls full of static that students could expect at the time as opposed to renovated dorms, heat and air conditioning units and campus-wide wifi that students can expect today.
Brett and Mordechai Cohen, AMHSI Head of School, in the synagogue
While the campus may have changed since Ratner was here - the administration and classroom buildings are undergoing renovations in preparation for a full-scale campus remodeling, which will include two new dorms, a new school entrance, and additional landscaping – the content and values of the program are still the same.
The trips that Ratner remembers, glancing at the pictures on the walls of the Wohl dorm common room, are the same trips that AMHSI students go on today. It is astounding to realize that the AMHSI program of over thirty years ago is the same phenomenal program that exists today.
Ratner is just one of many alumni who returned to the AMHSI campus this summer. Whether it's been six months or thirty years, students overwhelmingly come back to campus when they visit Israel. According to these graduates, it is the connection that students forge with the land of Israel and their heritage as a result of the program that has made AMHSI one of the most transformational educational experiences.
Incoming Head of School, Mordechai Cohen, who accompanied Ratner on his tour, furthered this sentiment by saying, "It is an honor to have a former student return to our campus and to witness the strong and deep-rooted relationship that has been maintained over all these years because of the AMHSI program."
The campus, which is just twenty minutes from Tel Aviv, allows for an immersive Israel experience through informal encounters with Israelis, exposing students to the local culture, language, and environment, as well as providing them with a place to call home.
And indeed, one of Ratner's favorite AMHSI stories was heading to Tel Aviv on the weekends to stay at the Hilton hotel and experience the best of Israeli urban life.
While with Ratner it can be easy to forget that he is a celebrity and not just another graduate, the busy world of Tel Aviv and Hollywood didn't stay away too long. "I'll be just a few more minutes," said Ratner to someone on the phone. It turned out that his next stop was the mother of Israeli model, Bar Refaeli!
Brett checking out the vending machines at his old haunt, Ofer’s
Still, some things will always remain the same. With the start of the fall session still a week away, Ratner was left to pine for falafel stuffed in pita bread from then, on-campus kiosk, Shlomo's. Current students still love the Israeli fast food joint despite changing its name to Ofer's!
Brett, in AMHSI shirt, and AMHSI staff
About Alexander Muss High School in Israel
Since 1972 – 24,000 alumni later – AMHSI has been pioneering the academic and experiential study of Israel and Jewish history at the high school level. Students are inspired to live outside their books, encounter new ideas and challenge themselves to find their own link within the chain of Jewish continuity. AMHSI's unique pedagogical approach fuses formal classroom study and experience-based learning, enhancing students’ intellectual understanding of history and emotional connection to identity. Our bold vision of transforming tomorrow’s generation today encourages students to return to their home communities prepared to give back and inspired to become the rising generation of Jewish leadership.
