Pelech was founded by Rabbi Shalom Rosenblüth and his wife Penina as an alternative to the
Beis Yaakov girls' educational system, but was banned by the
Haredi establishment soon after its establishment. It first opened in the clubhouse of the
Bnei Akiva youth movement in
Pardes Hannah in 1963. When Rosenblüth and his wife relocated to Jerusalem, the school moved with them to
Bayit Vegan. From the outset, the school curriculum included
Talmud as a compulsory subject, a revolutionary step in the Israeli religious educational system, where girls did not study Talmud. After the
Six-Day War, the school was given an abandoned building on
Mount Zion. The student population totaled 50 girls. Rosenblüth taught Talmud, mathematics and physics, and his wife taught English. Other teachers were Rabbi
Yehuda Amital, Rabbi
Mordechai Breuer, Professor
André Neher and Dr. Hananel Mack. In 2008, Pelech topped a
Ministry of Education list of schools with the highest number of students graduating with honors. Classes include divinity studies and enhanced general studies. Majoring in both physics and Talmud is not unusual. In 2011 Pelech opened a Junior High School and added grades 7 and 8, and Rachel Tzur was appointed as the head of the middle-school classes. == See also ==