The Koret Foundation has awarded a $10 million grant to the Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot in Tel Aviv, which will use the money to create the Koret International School for Jewish Peoplehood.

Museum officials announced the grant Jan. 17, saying it was the largest amount ever given to the nearly 40-year-old museum by a U.S. philanthropic foundation.

“With the visionary support of the Koret Foundation, the Museum of the Jewish People will be the unquestioned global hub for a new conversation about what it means to be not just Jewish, but a member of the Jewish people,” said Irina Nevzlin, chair of Beit Hatfutsot’s board of directors.

Museum officials said in a news release that the Koret International School will “dramatically reinvent and expand the work of Beit Hatfutsot’s International School for Jewish Peoplehood Studies” and become the museum’s educational centerpiece. The museum promotes its mission as an effort “to build connections across the Jewish people through a diverse, innovative celebration of 4,000 years of Jewish life, culture and history.”

The Koret International School will be part of the museum’s current overhaul, scheduled for completion in 2019. The project, including four new galleries that opened last year, was made possible by a $100 million fundraising campaign.

“While the new core exhibition will provide the visual symbols of Beit Hatfutsot to the next generation of visitors, it is through the Koret International School for Jewish Peoplehood that the museum’s values will be transmitted globally, through direct education, community engagement and resource development,” said museum CEO Dan Tadmor.

The grant is one of the largest by the San Francisco-based Koret Foundation to an Israeli institution.

“We are gratified to partner with Beit Hatfutsot, one of the world’s leading institutions in telling the long and extraordinary Jewish story,” Anita Friedman, president of the Koret Foundation, said in a news release. “In the 21st century, innovative Jewish institutions and meaningful new approaches are needed. The Koret International School will play a pivotal role in strengthening Jewish identity and Jewish involvement, and offers a powerful new opportunity to engage, inspire and educate.”

“Given current world events,” added Jeffrey Farber, CEO of the Koret Foundation, “this mission could not be more important.”