GAJE champions Jewish education because Jewish education provides the best odds of raising young Jewish children to become strongly identifying, committed Jews as adults. Thus, GAJE’s singular mission is to try to help such education be truly affordable for young families.
Jewish education in Jewish schools is profoundly important for its own unique, precious sake. Since October 7, however, because of the radically disgusting and disorienting appearance here, of thuggish, even intimidating, anti-Jewish behaviour, some families are actively seeking a supportive community of co-religionists in Jewish schools.
It is not overstatement that in a profound sense, some public schools and boards have betrayed Jewish parents and Jewish children. There are documented cases since October 7, of some public schools and boards, devolving into hostile environments for conscientiously identifying Jews who no longer feel welcomed there.
As an example, last week we brought readers’ attention to the heartbreaking revelation by Hannah Schwartz, a high school student in Toronto of the anti-Jewish bullying with which she had to contend last year.
Hannah wrote that wound of the bullying penetrated deeper because of the lack of response from peers and especially from leaders in positions of responsibility. “Yes, we need to be safe from hate and violence,” Hannah wrote. “But there’s something we need just as much, now more than ever. We need allies, not bystanders.”
In addition to the bullying Hannah described within schools, a recent curriculum-altering initiative by the Toronto District School Board, if adopted, will likely make the situation for Jews much worse.
On June 20, Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees voted 15-7 to add the term “anti-Palestinian racism” (APR) to its anti-racism strategy. A working group will be established to create a stand-alone strategy to address anti-Palestinian racism and discrimination in schools. The board will introduce a “professional learning series” on the topic.
Much has been written about this endeavour, most of it in increasing tones of warning and alarm. Expert and lay observers alike fear that the APR strategy is intended and will undoubtedly be used as a sword, not as a shield, to strike at as well as down, the fundamental elements of Jewish life, history, folkways and tradition. If the non-democratic, railroading method by which the initiative was presented and adopted at the TDSB is indicative, then the fears of the measure’s opponents are well-founded.
Casey Babb, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an international fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and an advisor to Secure Canada recently published, in the Globe and Mail, his own warning regarding the APR proposal. His conclusion is harrowing.
“Going forward, senior decision makers – particularly those responsible for educating and protecting our children – need to start having more realistic and difficult discussions before moving toward knee-jerk initiatives that could threaten certain groups of people. Indeed, there are reasons why hundreds of concerned parents, educators and community leaders protested outside the building where the vote took place. They’re worried about the future of their children in Canada’s public-school system, and many are left feeling more vulnerable than they ever have before. One Jewish community leader recently told me that despite all of the things he has seen since Oct. 7, the situation in the schools is what has him the most worried.”
We should take notice. We should oppose this latest effort unfolding within some of Ontario’s publicly funded schools, to demonize, distort and delegitimize the biblical, modern, Jewish story.
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Babb’s article is available at:
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The appeal by the Government of Ontario of Judge Eugenia Papageorgiou’s refusal last summer to throw out GAJE’s application for fairness in educational funding, was heard in early June by a panel of three judges. The court reserved its decision.
GAJE will publish the court’s decision as soon as it is known to us.
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit for fairness in educational funding in Ontario, please click here.
For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of underwriting the costs of the lawsuit.
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Shabbat shalom.
Am Yisrael Chai.
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
July 19, 2024
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 