Recently, The Jewish Federation of North America released a report prepared by Rosov Consulting detailing the Challenges and Opportunities on the Jewish Day School Landscape.
The published findings provide a beautiful picture of what Jewish Day School is, a place to facilitate and the cultivate relationships among families, act as incubators of community leadership, and enhance the meaningfulness of communal and interpersonal life informed by Jewish values, but those examples are not the primary reason for why it's important.
Jewish Day School is important because we are a distinct group of people and this is a way to connect us to our ancient wisdom to live our ethics. It is a vehicle to create and ensure the next generation of Jews. With students learning and understanding sacred texts and Hebrew, it makes for people to have a higher grasp of understanding and comprehension. This example alone sets our students on a road to success.
What this report reflects is a mandate as to why families should include Jewish Day School in their family planning budgets, when really we should be asking families what their hope for the Jewish future is – there’s no financial line on a budget for hope.
So now we must ask ourselves, is hope for the Jewish future worth fighting for?