Dena Coleman’s dedication ceremony called off due to rocket fire

A dedication ceremony for a new Israeli sports hall in memory of Yavneh College’s founding headteacher was postponed following the Hamas rocket attacks on Beer Sheva.

The dedication was due to take place at the new Empowerment and Excellence Centre at the Gevim School in Beer Sheva, which has been transformed by JNF UK donations from a former shelter into a state of the art sports hall. JNF UK – for which Dr Coleman served as a board member – will conduct the ceremony later this year.

The charity’s chairman Samuel Hayek said: “Dr Coleman is very much missed and provided an important link between JNF UK and Yavneh College. We are greatly saddened that the ceremony had to be cancelled but we are all very much looking forward to the dedication which will take place soon.”

Dr Coleman, died suddenly of meningitis in July last year aged 60, only weeks before she had been due to retire. She had been headteacher at the Borehamwood school since it opened and had been headteacher at Hasmonean High School for Girls.

Former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks called her “one of the truly great Jewish educators of our time”.