Adam Hummel is a thoughtful, articulate, bold firebrand on behalf of the Jewish people and just causes. He writes a regular column, Catch, on Substack. We have occasionally brought his ideas to the attention of readers of this weekly update. Today we do so again.
Earlier this week, Hummel published an essay aimed at rallying urgent community action to what he describes as an unfolding crisis for young Jewish parents in Toronto: the insufficient supply of spaces in day school for the increasing demand by Jewish parents.
The article is entitled We Can’t Turn Jewish Kids Away.
“Families are choosing Jewish education in numbers we have not seen in decades,” Hummel writes. “Parents who once wavered are now decisive. People who never imagined day school are walking in and asking how soon they can start. The demand is real, and it is inspiring. Unfortunately, many are now being placed on wait lists.”
Hummel elaborates. “…October 7 happened, and the outside community’s relationship with Jewish identity, Jewish safety, and Jewish continuity changed literally overnight. The toxicity in the public-school boards showed parents and students what their teachers and colleagues really thought. Maybe day school could, now be, an option? Our day schools rose to the occasion.
Suddenly, the limiting factor wasn’t tuition. It was physical room.”
“[T]his moment is not a blip,” he writes. “It is not a fad. It is not a panicked reaction. It is an awakening. Jewish parents are choosing Jewish schools because the case for Jewish education has never been stronger, never been clearer, and never been more empirically supported.”
Hummel accuses no-one for the apparent shortage in classrooms. Indeed, he praises the community decision makers and institutions for responding as quickly as possible to the unforeseen surg born of unprecedented menace to Jews around the world.
“Federation, board members, donors, and school administrators have all been scrambling to assess the scale of this moment and determine what is needed not just now, but ten and fifteen years from now. They are trying to ensure that new builds are adaptable, flexible, and sustainable, especially given past closures, relocations, and the understandable nervousness that comes with committing tens of millions of dollars to long-term infrastructure.”
Hummel pleads with us to “think big” and tells us what he means by “big”.
“This…is an emergency. It is one grounded in hope though, rather than fear. Perhaps, that distinction motivates something different in our subconscious or desire to reach for our wallets and chequebooks, but if ever there was a moment that called for bold investment, it is now.
“This is not a Jewish guilt trip. This is an invitation to take part in something generational. …The moment demands … a communal mindset that sees Jewish education not as a personal project, but as a collective responsibility. Every Jewish child deserves a seat,”
GAJE agrees with Hummel.
Indeed, so does the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and its educational umbrella infrastructure. New classes were opened last year in some schools and in some synagogues to accommodate increased demand for places. There are undoubtedly plans for more in the months to come.
Hummel urges that the response to these difficult times should be far-seeing, building for all tomorrows the truest infrastructure for permanent, proud Jewish life: a comprehensive educational system.
“No child should be denied a Jewish education” has been the guiding mission of UJA Federation and its predecessor organizations from the very first day, more than a century ago, when Jewish men and women banded together to create the core planning and sustaining structures of our community life.
The late educator, historian Michael Brown would remind his students that the future has not yet been written. It falls to us in the present, each day, every day, as we are able, to take up the metaphorical pen and write the future as we must, in partnership with Heaven, to help ensure the perpetuity of our people that has always been our belief.
Hummel calls us to act in the single most effective way to enable us to affirm our peoplehood against those who strive to erase it. We must raise Jews.
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Hummel’s op-ed can be read at:
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If you wish to contribute to GAJE’s lawsuit to achieve fairness in educational funding, 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 Thank you, in advance, for doing so.
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Shabbat shalom
Am Yisrael Chai
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education (GAJE)
December 5, 2025
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 