The festival of Shavuot begins on Sunday night.
Like all our holidays, it has its own ethno/culinary flare. But it is, truly, about more than cheesecake and blintzes. It is and has always been about Jewish education.
It is only through education that we can fulfill the obligation – the promise – from that epochal moment some three and a half thousand years ago, to begin to teach the laws, traditions, customs, history, ethics, and their underlying values – to our children.
It was on that first Shavuot ever that the imperative to teach our children to be lifelong learners was enshrined in the theology of the Jewish people. We thus understood from the very beginning of our existence as a distinct, law-and-learning-based people, that the forward sharing of our people’s story and traditions was the deeply engrained mechanism that will ensure our permanence from one generation to the next.
In language intended to penetrate the soul, the Torah tells us that all Jews were present at Mount Sinai for the Giving of the Torah (the origin of Shavuot). Unlocking the memory of that history-changing moment is, essentially, the purpose of Jewish education. With memory restored, just as we did some 3,500 years ago, we stand each day, at the foot of that small desert mountain in common purpose and shared peoplehood with other Jews.
That is why, irrespective of century or community, establishing schools for the education of our children was the first and highest priority for community elders. Teaching has been always sanctified. Teachers have been always revered for their indispensable role in helping perpetuate the permanence of who we are.
That only Catholic education is fully funded by the government of Ontario, in the year 2025, to the exclusion of all other religious groups, should be unacceptable. It should affront the consciences of the Premier and his cabinet. How can Ontario promote such discrimination in modern, civil society? Of course, it cannot. And that is why, as readers of this weekly update know, GAJE is asking the courts to declare unconstitutional this overt discrimination in educational funding.
In the post-October 7 world, we believe this objective is more vital than ever.
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GAJE expects to be before the Court of Appeal in the Fall, arguing for the right to a hearing on the merits of our application for fair educational funding in Ontario. When we learn the date of the hearing, we will share it with our readers.
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. Chag Shavuot Samayach. Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
May 30, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 