Members on each of our committees are fully engaged on a number of projects that interconnect and that we hope will eventually form an integrated program of action for GAJE.

The Political and Legal Action Committee is taking part in CIJA’s Task Force on Affordable Jewish Education. Even as we participate in the task force’s deliberations, we are also monitoring its progress with great interest. In addition to our work with the task force, the committee is also pursuing the feasibility of other steps in relation to possible legal or political action to help make Jewish education affordable.

The Marketing Committee is trying to assemble the pieces of a program of a community event to be held in the late summer or early fall.

And the Funding Committee is constantly meeting with a variety of individuals from different business and financial disciplines to present newly imagined funding options to the public at large.

•••

Yesterday we celebrated Purim.

Unlike Esther and many of her co-religionists who lived in those days in Shushan, Purim, we wear no literal or metaphorical masks to succeed as Jews in our community. Our Judaism is as vital to us as the air we breathe. It informs who we are to the rest of our world and even, to ourselves. Who would we be without our Judaism?

On March 16, Tablet published a story by Olivia Gordon, entitled A Second Chance For a Jewish Education. It is a poignant cri de ceour by the author who laments not having been more interested in her Jewish education or in a significantly Jewish way of life as a young child.

Later in life, married and with children, she decides it is important to try to find for her children a way of life that had eluded her.

She does not write about day school. She writes about supplementary school, or what she refers to as cheder. Nor is the story about an exorbitant cost of Jewish education. But it touches a sensitive nerve because of the longing the author depicts for a system and level of knowledge and a way of life she had once spurned.

“In September, Humphrey [the author’s son] will move up into cheder proper—and I’m excited. There aren’t many Jews in Oxford, but through cheder, he will get to make Jewish friends his own age. The cheder leader is so full of fun ideas for the children that apparently these days they don’t want to miss a week. There are sleepovers, a summer camp, and all kinds of creative arts and drama. And when it comes to learning Hebrew, now that I’m grown up, I think, “How amazing to get to learn this back-to-front, ancient language.” I can only hope Humphrey sees it the same way, but I’m already looking forward to studying Hebrew along with him—and giving myself a second chance.”

As an adult, the author understood that she no longer needed the mask she had worn in her younger days. And she embraced the opportunity to live her Jewish life anew.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

GAJE

Next week, March 23 and 24, we will be celebrating Purim. Because we are in a leap year, the holiday coincides with the advent of spring. More than all of our holidays, Purim, is a visual and experiential delight for our young children. But all of our holidays, in significant ways, are geared toward our children. A mere four weeks later, we will be celebrating the actual Festival of Spring (Pesach). In so doing, we will usher into our respective personal and family lives a period of seven weeks that throb with profound communal significance. We will celebrate and commemorate Pesach, Yom Hashoah v’Hagvurah, Yom Hazicaron, Yom Ha’atzmaut and Shavuot, all deeply significant and ethereal moments on our earthly Jewish calendar.

Include the children.

Participating in the holidays is one of the ways that helps embed forever into the souls of our children the precious, life-sustaining sense of belonging to the Jewish people.

Helping embed that life-long sense of belonging is the essence of the first purpose of GAJE’s activities.

•••

Many people know Michael Steinhardt as the American philanthropist who, along with Charles Bronfman, helped found the successful Birthright program that has introduced thousands of Jewish youth to the State of Israel.

As reported recently in the Jewish Exponent of Philadelphia, Steinhardt is embracing a new cause to place high on the community’s agenda. He now “wants to change the way we think about day school education.” His key concern is how to expand non-Orthodox day school education in the United States to reach “a much wider group of people.” According to Steinhardt, fewer than 10 percent of non-Orthodox children go to day schools.

“The community writ large should reflect upon the fact that the great majority of non-Orthodox young people don’t attend day schools and ask why that is,” Steinhardt told the Jewish Exponent.

Steinhardt argues that without a redefinition of communal values, the future looks bleak. He wants to lead the discussion about redefining those communal values.

“The fact is,” Steinhardt says, “day-school graduates are much better-educated Jews than their peers who don’t have a day school education.” And at the end of the day,

Steinhardt may not define Jewish education the way we might in Canada or include the same curricula components as we might in Montreal and Toronto. But based upon unassailable empirical evidence from study after study, observers of Jewish communities around the world, including in Canada, do agree with him that it is Jewish education that is the prime determinant of Jewish continuity.

Helping make Jewish education affordable is the essence of the second purpose of GAJE’s activities.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

GAJE

• The Limmud Toronto Conference last weekend was a tremendous success. Large numbers of people attended the conference and enthusiastically participated in the diverse offerings of study, discussion and debate.

The presentation by Jeff Stutz on behalf of GAJE was well received. Participants reported that the presentation was instructive and at times, inspiring.

• We are in the planning stages of a community event to be held later this year. The objective of the event will be to further discuss how our community can start taking urgently needed steps to resolve the affordability crisis. Details will follow in due course.

• • •

In sharing his thoughts on Parshat Pekudei, Rabbi Marc Angel, the leader of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals in New York, writes about the importance of offering praise for praiseworthy behaviour.

Rabbi Angel suggests “May the Shekhinah rest upon the work of our hands” is the highest form of praise a person can receive. Knowing that one is doing praiseworthy work, Rabbi Angel says, will evoke a “feeling of spiritual bliss” which he adds is “the ultimate human fulfillment.”

This is the blessing of praise we extend to all individuals and organizations, parents, teachers and administrators who strive to make Jewish education available and affordable to the children of our community.  May the “Shekhinah rest upon the work of your hands” and may you all, as a result, experience that sense of “ultimate human fulfillment” knowing that what you are doing is immensely important for the future generations of Jews.

• • •

Shabbat shalom.

GAJE

GAJE will be part of the Limmud Toronto Conference this weekend on Sunday March 6. We hope that you will attend the conference and especially the session concerning GAJE. We hope that you will tell friends and family about the conference and urge them to attend too.

For information about the conference, visit www.Limmud.ca.

•••

We have posted an article entitled “The Day School Enterprise Can Succeed” on the Articles page of our website. It appeared in late February on the eJewish Philanthropy website.

The nub of the article deals with the importance of day schools in fostering a sense of Jewish vitality for the future while acknowledging the many problems that beset the day school structure in North America.

“Where we all agree is that Jewish day schools are a vital component of any vibrant Jewish ecosystem. As communities grapple with how to creatively and strategically engage the next generation of Jews they must not forget that day school education offers an unparalleled depth of knowledge, strength of identity building, and richness of community for students and families.

“Communities must chip away at the challenges inherent in the current Jewish day school model with strategies that maximize resources and continue to make day schools attractive to a broad range of families.”

That is precisely why GAJE has formed. We are trying to help steer a community-wide conversation not only to ensure that day schools remain attractive to the a broad range of families but rather more, to ensure the permanent viability of Jewish education in its fullest sense in our community.

Our community-wide is being mirrored throughout communities in North America. Federation professionals, lay leaders, organizations, think-tanks, foundations, and parents and grandparents of students in day schools around throughout North America are mobilizing to for the same purpose.

The complete article can be accessed from the Articles page on our website.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

GAJE

• We have recently started to feature stories written by parents about the financial and, in some cases, other hardships they face in sending their children to day school. The stories are a testament to the determination of families to provide a Jewish education to their children. The stories can be found on our website and on our Facebook page.

• Once again we remind our followers that GAJE will be part of the upcoming Limmud Toronto Conference on Sunday March 6. We hope that you will attend the conference and especially the session concerning GAJE. We hope that you will tell friends and family about the conference and urge them to attend too.

For information about the conference, visit www.Limmud.ca.

•••

Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, is one of North America’s most experienced and seasoned advocates on behalf of the Jewish people and of Israel. When he was recently in Jerusalem, Hoenlein spoke to the Times of Israel. The interview was published on February 14.

Hoenlein described how the majority of Jewish youth in the United States is incapable and unprepared to respond to the barrage of anti-Israel sentiment they hear on campus, and worse, with the brazen expressions of anti-Semitism with which they must constantly contend.

The interview began with Hoenlein recounting a meeting 45 years ago in New York with then Israeli deputy Prime Minister Yigal Alon.

Alon urged Hoenlein to convey to community leaders that the most far-reaching, most beneficial use of community philanthropic dollars was “to invest in Jewish education. You’ll do more for Israel’s future if you raise your generations and invest the money there.”

That very same message was delivered in December 2011 to Jewish community leaders of Canada by then Foreign Minister of Israel, Avigdor Lieberman. His plea was published on the front page of The Canadian Jewish News.

The following are some highlights from the Times of Israel article. Hoenlein’s observations inform our efforts with very special relevance…

“The biggest danger we face is a historic danger … apathy, indifference and ignorance,” said Hoenlein.

“We really have a generation who are ignorant — there’s a country song that when you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything. And they fall for anything because they don’t know anything. They don’t have any kind of core foundation,” he said.

That may be the result of a Jewish education that is limping along on what seems like its last legs in all but the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. Day schools, which were once the core of formative Jewish education, are in widespread financial trouble or deemed unaffordable for an increasing cross-section of American Jews…

“When kids come to campus, for the most part they are not prepared to respond,” said Hoenlein. “Anti-Semitism and anti-Israel movements on campus are a very serious issue. That 75% of American Jewish kids said they’ve experienced or witnessed anti-Semitic events on campus — it should be an alarm bell for all of us, but it’s not.”

According to a July 2015 report using Birthright applicants’ data, three-quarters of students polled reported hearing anti-Semitic comments on campus. The most commonly heard statements were that Jews have too much power (52%), that Israelis behave “like Nazis” toward Palestinians (44%) and that the Holocaust was a myth or exaggerated (37%)….

Now is the time to “shake things up from the bottom,” said Hoenlein, to offer Jewish students more options for engagement — before they disengage unilaterally.

The complete article from the Times of Israel can be accessed from the Articles page on our website.

•••

Shabbat shalom.

GAJE

• We remind you that GAJE will be part of the upcoming Limmud Toronto Conference on Sunday March 6. Limmud is a dynamic educational program in many communities around the world. We hope that you will attend the conference and especially the session concerning GAJE. We hope that you will tell friends and family about the conference and urge them to attend too.

For information about the conference, visit www.Limmud.ca.

• We have recently started to feature stories written by parents about the financial and, in some cases, other hardships they face in sending their children to day school. The stories have been sent to us at the initiative of the writers. While protecting the writers’ privacy, they are a courageous testament to the strength and determination of families to provide a Jewish education to their children.

You can read these stories here.

•••

In October 1996, the Centre for Jewish Studies held a groundbreaking conference at York University on the subject of “Creating the Jewish Future.” Three years later, the proceedings of the conference were published in a volume under the same title. Professors Michael Brown and Bernard Lightman were its editors. It is a volume of many treasures.

Professor Brown, a renowned historian and scholar, is the former Director of the Centre for Jewish Studies at York University. The Introduction he wrote for the publication is a summary description of the overall condition – demographic, cultural, social, religious and communal – of North American Jewry as of the mid 1990’s. Prof. Brown succinctly sets the stage for the purpose of the conference and for the results conference organizers hoped to achieve. Among the many gem-like statements by Prof. Brown is the following inspiring exhortation. It applies to our work.

“If North American Jewry wishes to survive into the next millennium, it cannot allow blind forces to determine its destiny. It must create its own future out of the legacy of the past and the realities of the present. As Morton Weinfeld notes in chapter 19 of this volume, the future is not determined; it need not be accepted passively; it can be shaped and created. But if the community is to take its fate into its own hands, then present reality and future goals must be clearly defined and squarely faced.”

We must – and we will – help our community shape and create a future in which Jewish education is affordable.

Shabbat shalom,

GAJE

The CIJA Task Force on Ensuring Affordable Access to Jewish Education met last week. GAJE has a seat on the task force. Our representative reported the following discussion at the meeting.

• Despite the benefit to Jewish community institutions by the operation of the federal Security Infrastructure Program (SIP), the program needs to be updated. CIJA will be launching an advocacy campaign in the near future to establish more rational approval criteria and to secure additional funding to help further defray the schools’ mounting security costs.

• The Task Force was examining implications for tuition of pending amendments to the Income Tax Act and discussed possible opportunities specifically for Ontario.

• The Task Force was considering how to bring the provincial government to act to rectify disparities among disabled students in Ontario to equal and uniform access to health support services in their respective schools.

• CIJA reminded members of the task force that its present focus is to try to infuse some money within a relatively short time frame into the day school system to lighten the burden for families, at least somewhat, and in the process to help boost individual and communal morale that there are indeed solutions to the crisis of day school affordability.

  ***

  We are also pleased to remind GAJE followers that we will be making a presentation at the upcoming Limmud Toronto Conference on Sunday March 6. Limmud has now become an annual fixture in the educational calendar of many communities around the world. It is one of the dynamic learning experiences in our own community. We hope that you will attend the conference and especially the session about GAJE. We hope as well that you will tell friends and family about the conference and urge them to attend too.

  For information about the conference go to www.Limmud.ca

  ••••

  Some of our members may be aware of The Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). It is an independent professional policy planning think tank based in Jerusalem. Its mission is to ensure the thriving of the Jewish People and the Jewish civilization by engaging in professional strategic thinking and planning on issues of primary concern to world Jewry. The institute’s board of directors is comprised of individuals with significant policy experience from around the world. Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat is chair of the board.

  Each year the institute publishes major studies and policy papers. The centerpiece of its publishing corpus is its Annual Assessment “of the situation and the dynamics of the Jewish people.”

  The most recent Annual Assessment for 2014-2015, like all of its predecessors, is a treasure trove of information and informed opinion. One of its key chapters deals with “Jewish Identity and Identification in America.” Even though the research data relate specifically to the situation in the United States, the material is relevant to Canada as well.

  One of the conclusions regarding the fostering and maintaining of Jewish identity among Jewish youth is the following:

  “The clear policy implication of these newly mined data on Jewish education, consistent with a long research literature, is that Jewish schooling matters. The creation, expansion, and effective marketing of excellent, attractive, and affordable Jewish educational non-Orthodox day school programs and supplementary school programs for teenagers, is an area where communal intervention can make a measurable difference in the quality of American Jewish identity and the transmission of Jewish identity to the next generation of American Jews.”

  As the JPPI study emphatically notes, Jewish education matters!

  But if it is not affordable, and fewer families, as a result, decline to begin the process or opt out of formally educating their children Jewishly, we will inevitably break the line that transmits Jewish identity to the next generation.

  Shabbat shalom.

  GAJE