Jewish Community News

Newsbriefs: February 2008

Rabbi's Column: Why Choose a Jewish Day School?

By Rabbi Menachem Levine, Congregation Am Echad

Based upon the data and the various population studies that are now available, it appears that an astounding disintegration of the American Jewish community is in process.  The intermarriage rate is at least 47 percent among American Jews and out of approximately 5.2 million Jews in America today, one million classify themselves as being born Jewish, but having no identification with any religious group.
     The one segment of Jewish society that continues to grow rapidly is the Orthodox.  The intermarriage rate is the lowest by far (3-6 percent) and the birth rate is high (3.4 for Modern Orthodox and 6.7 for Ultra-Orthodox).  In fact, in the fall of 2006, Synagogue 3000 corroborated several other recent studies and stated that the Orthodox, which currently comprises 12 percent of the general Jewish population, now comprises the largest segment of Jews under 18.  The study stated that while only 43 percent of adults are affiliated with a synagogue, the number is 68 percent when it comes to Jews under the age of 18.  Of those young affiliated Jews, 37 percent, or 224,000, are with Orthodox synagogues, followed by 195,000 for the Reform and 147,000 for the Conservative.

What is the Orthodox’s secret to its unprecedented growth, even more astonishing in the face of the decline of many other segments of the Jewish community?

    An insight can be found in another study which was performed a year earlier. In a national survey, the Avi Chai Foundation noted that there are currently 205,000 students in Jewish day school across the country, which indicates a close to 10 percent increase over the past five years.  The study also stated that 80 percent of these day school students are Orthodox.
     Perhaps, one of the secrets to Orthodoxy’s unprecedented growth can be found here. It is logical that only if an individual finds his or her Judaism meaningful, important and valuable, will he or she be interested in finding a marriage partner with those same values and together give over their tradition to the next generation.

In what forum can this meaning be given over?

     One answer is in a Jewish day school.  In a school where Jewish values are taught and lived, and where all aspects of Judaism – Shabbot, kashrut, mitzvot like the laws of returning lost objects and visiting the sick – are learned and practiced as part of the everyday curriculum, children can acquire a true understanding as to what their Judaism is all about.  This knowledge will not only improve the national demographics in terms of intermarriage and assimilation, but more importantly it will provide each student with a true Jewish identity and solid foundation of Jewish literacy.
    It is fascinating to note that there is much historical precedence for this idea, one of the first of which is found in Genesis (46:28), in a verse which describes a crucial juncture of Jewish history – the Jews’ descent to Egypt.  Blessed with prophetic knowledge that this trip to Egypt would not be for a short visit, Jacob was charged with the responsibility of building the foundation for a community that could withstand the rigors of the arduous exile. With great forethought and wisdom, Jacob chose to send Judah ahead to set up what he felt to be the most essential institution to ensure the Jewish future of his descendants.

What task did Jacob assign Judah to do?  What all-important structure needed to be
built?

The Midrash, quoted by the foremost Biblical commentary Rashi, provides the answer: Judah went to prepare a House of Study for the brothers and their families.
     It is clear from this Midrash that Jacob understood that the first establishment which must accompany the founding of a Jewish community is a place for Torah study.  The reason for this is that a community not founded upon Jewish education cannot endure; by neglecting one of its foremost missions, the education of the adults and the youth, the community has sown the seeds for its eventual collapse. 
       We, who live in the 21st century, can understand how prescient the above Midrash is.  Jacob’s lesson still endures and remains to be learned. A Jewish education can be the answer for ensuring that we, and our children, will remain part of the eternal Jewish people.