Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, whom we quoted in last week’s update, has written a thoughtful article – Having the courage to meet our moment
– in which he reflected upon the ubiquity of manifestations of courage throughout modern Jewish life.
The trigger for his mini-meditation was the closing keynote address by Susan David at the Prizmah Conference last week in Boston. Ms David suggested that “courage is not the absence of fear; courage is fear walking.”
Ms David focused on the prevalence of courage of course, as the response to the uniquely challenging and anxious times in which we, the Jewish people, find ourselves these days.
Bernstein provided a more precise context for the need to summon up courage. “Globally and throughout the Jewish world,” Bernstein wrote, “this is a moment when fear abounds. The scars of a worldwide pandemic are still healing; threats of antisemitism loom large; the State of Israel is under attack; and we live in a dangerously polarized political and social climate. Like all the generations before us, we must do what we can to ensure a better future for the world and for our people — to hold those fears and keep moving forward.”
Bernstein’s statement about ensuring a better future called to mind the axiomatic and profoundly insightful prescription by the late Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who believed and wrote: “If you want to save the Jewish future, you have to build Jewish day schools – there is no other way.”
Rabbi Sacks was unambiguous. The Jewish future depends upon the proliferation of Jewish education. “You have to build Jewish day schools,” he said emphatically.
In today’s context, i.e., the context depicted by Bernstein, Rabbi Sacks’ instruction means building day schools despite the fear and the anxiety of our times.
Again, Bernstein provides some detail and some nuance to what such courage might look like.
“When I think about what it means to have courage and Jewish day schools, I am reminded of the relationship that is at the core of learning between teachers and learners. Educators in our schools show up every day, no matter the news headlines or their own fears, in order to continue the task of building a better future. Their courage is worthy of our highest respect. Teachers and school leaders have been and will continue to be the heroes and the role models our students need to eventually replace them as the teachers, leaders and thinkers of tomorrow, seeding generation after generation of Jewish connection, continuity and remarkable contribution both to our community and wider society.
To Bernstein’s list of “heroic” figures, GAJE adds the young families who enroll their children in Jewish education, despite (and because of) the current anxieties, and despite the heavy cost.
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Bernstein’s article is available at:
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We wish to remind our supporters: GAJE still awaits the decision of the Court of Appeal on our motion seeking leave to appeal the September 2024 decision by the Divisional Court that dismissed our application to bring about fairness in educational funding in Ontario.
If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit, please click here. Charitable receipts for donations for income tax purposes will be issued by Mizrachi Canada. Your donations will be used for the sole purpose of helping to underwrite the costs of the lawsuit. For further information, please contact Israel Mida at: imida1818@gmail.com
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Shabbat shalom
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
February 14, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 