A year after Covid restricted almost all social and other inter-connections among most human beings around the world, a number of leading individuals involved in Jewish education in North America conducted an assessment of the state of Jewish education as a result of the intervention of the pandemic.
When the school year ended this summer, some five years after the post-Covid assessment, a similar assessment of the different areas within the Jewish education sector of North America was published. It was no longer a pandemic that forced adjustments to the delivery of Jewish education. Rather, it was a confluence of other events – equally unparalleled in our lifetimes – that forced changes to the infrastructure of Jewish education. As the authors of the recent assessment wrote: “Much has changed since many of us first participated in these updates during the pandemic: the Oct. 7 attacks and the experience of rising antisemitism; back-to-back wars in Israel; and the overall polarized nature of politics and society today.”
And so, eight scholars and educators published, The state of Jewish education: Insights from leaders across the field. The authors wrote about seven specific educational sectors: early childhood education; adult learning; part-time Jewish education; Jewish camp; Jewish day schools; Israel education and college engagement; and Jewish community education.
The document is illuminating. It is also encouraging despite the challenges and deficits that the authors documented. It is encouraging because the assessment itself was undertaken as an awareness of the communal needs of the hour and of the resolve required to respond as needed.
Space does not permit excerpting from the entire article. Rather, we shall share only some excerpts from the section dealing with Jewish day schools. It is entitled, Investing in excellence: Update on Jewish day schools, and was written by Paul Bernstein, CEO, Prizmah.
(We do recommend the entire article to our readers. It can be found at: https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/the-state-of-jewish-education-insights-from-leaders-across-the-field/?utm_source=cio)
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“Over the last six years, Jewish day school enrollment has grown consistently year after year… The question is no longer whether our schools are good enough; increasingly, Jewish day schools are competing with the best independent and public schools in their communities. Alumni are visible as leaders in government, business, and across Jewish communal life.
“Among Jewish college students, Jewish day school alumni are four times more likely to feel a strong connection to Israel than their non-day school peers and twice as likely to say Jewish identity is central to their lives…. Investing in Jewish education is the most meaningful response to antisemitism, and visionary philanthropists are increasingly acting on that conviction.
“The challenge to building a thriving Jewish community in the wake of Oct. 7, 2023, is not a lack of resources, but whether we direct those resources toward deep and transformative Jewish education. As Bret Stephens argued, the goal should be “to make high-quality Jewish day school education available and affordable to every Jewish family that wants one.”
“Affordability remains a significant barrier.…At the same time, sustaining growth depends on educational excellence. Too many schools still lack the resources to invest sufficiently in outstanding teaching and leadership. The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks reminded us that “teachers are the unacknowledged builders of the future,” and lasting change depends on attracting, training and mentoring, as well as retaining exceptional educators.
“A Jewish day school education delivers strong academic outcomes but is ultimately about far more than academic achievement. Our schools build the Jewish and general foundations for a lifetime’s success, based on this promise: “If you know who you are, you can be anything.”
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There is more detail in the full article regarding the evolution, since 2021, within the day school sector. Readers of this weekly update will not be surprised by the generally positive news reported about day schools. Indeed, in our own community, as reported here, we have witnessed the meaningful, generous responses by “visionary philanthropists” (See, for example, Kaelen Sherman) to the increased manifestations of antisemitism. Indeed, the demand for places in Jewish day school here now exceeds the supply. That is a new challenge that the community must and will, undoubtedly, solve.
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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 considering doing so.
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Shabbat shalom
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education
July 24, 2026
Grassroots for Affordable Jewish Education 