For a long time, there was a need for a Jewish community high school. Several attempts had been made, but unfortunately, for whatever reason, it never came to fruition.
In 1994, Dr. Ed Zeligman, Dr. Neima Langner, and Paul Bregman, along with a few others, got together to form a Jewish community high school. Their dream was that the Jewish community would have a high school that not only would conform to government educational standards, but would also provide a Jewish education in order to ensure Jewish continuity. In 1995, their dream was beginning to become a reality. In the school’s first year, the students in grade 9, and 4 girls in grade 10 had transferred to Yitzhak Rabin. The original name of the school was “The Ottawa Jewish Community High School”, but it was changed to Yitzhak Rabin after he was assassinated at the end of the first year to honor his memory.