The second of the three Biblical pilgrimage holidays – Shavuot – begins next Tuesday evening. It was on Shavuot, of course, that a rabble of slaves began the never-ending process of being a people governed by law with one time-transcending…

The pattern has been established. And it is devastating. The Board of Directors of Associated Hebrew Schools (AHS) announced this week that it must downsize its northern GTA branch. The extent of student enrollment cannot justify housing the school in…

In the urgent though quite frustrating debate about the future of Jewish Day School education, an argument is occasionally raised that the key factor for declining enrollments is not the cost of tuition, but rather the conclusion by many parents…

Earlier this week, the government of Saskatchewan invoked the rarely used notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to overturn a ruling of the Court of Queen’s Bench that held it was unconstitutional for the Saskatchewan government to…

The government of Ontario delivered its new budget statement this week announcing its plans to spend some $130 billion in fiscal 2017-2018. The two key policy areas the government highlighted with specially boosted spending were health and education. According to…

With the extensive Pesach holiday period behind us this year, GAJE is moving forward with initiatives in funding and in public advocacy. The funding committee has held encouraging introductory meetings with federation officials aimed at incorporating reimagined methods for brining…

To replace the actual eating of the paschal lamb that took place on the very first Passover night in Goshen, our Sages over the years devised the Seder. It is the paradigmatic teaching moment. Deliberately so. They wanted to convey…

Fight for moderation, balance, compassion and inclusiveness. We have celebrated the recent dramatic reduction in next year’s tuition at TanenbaumCHAT because it is evidence of the seriousness with which the community is responding to the crisis of educational affordability. But…

Passover is less than three weeks away. The centerpiece of the holiday’s ritual, the Seder, was designed as the paradigmatic instrument of education for our children. It is not too soon, therefore, as we prepare for the holiday to think…

An article written by Shawn Evenhaim, a successful businessman, philanthropist and Jewish school activist in California, entitled “Tuition Revolution”, appeared last week on the eJewish Philanthropy website (http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/jewish-day-schools-its-time-for-a-tuition-revolution/). Evenhaim issues a clarion call to the Jews of North America. “We…