Jewish Day School Education: Preparing Our Children For The Future

I grew up right here in Baltimore going to public schools. I received my Jewish education at Beth Israel’s Hebrew school. Although I wanted to attend confirmation at Beth Israel, my parents made it clear that I would be continuing my Jewish education at the Hebrew High School program at Baltimore Hebrew College (as it was known then). This was supplemented by my active involvement in Kadima and USY, and of course, a recognizably Jewish home. When I went to college I majored in business with minors in Spanish and Jewish studies. I was originally inspired to pursue the minor in Jewish studies largely due to the fact that I had already earned 6 college credits from the program at Baltimore Hebrew College so I thought it would be an easy addition to my program.

I found the Jewish studies classes in college to be just what I needed to take my studies to the next level. However, it was in college that I encountered students that had attended Jewish day school. I quickly realized that I while I thought I had a good grasp of Jewish history and Jewish law, my education was really elementary compared to theirs. In addition, in many cases these were the students who really became the Jewish leaders in college. These students clearly were comfortable with their Jewish identity (as I was) but their Jewish education informed them and enabled them to quickly respond to the issues of the day, particularly to the Jews for Jesus who often visited our campus, or to the Palestinian students who were forever demonstrating about campus. This was probably the first time I really ever thought about the value of a Jewish day school education.

What’s going on at our college campuses today? Surely the Jews for Jesus haven’t gone away. Students rallying for Palestinian rights have increased. And antisemitic incidents on college campuses are growing every year. More and more Jewish students on campus are being marginalized. So it was not a surprise when I opened up my email this morning to find a message from a friend about a disturbing thing that happened at UC Irvine in February. On February 8th Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren came to speak at the University. During the course of his speech he was interrupted repeatedly by students representing the Palestinian cause. Eleven students were arrested that evening for trying to block the inalienable American right to free speech. I had heard about this a few weeks ago but seeing it first-hand on YouTube was eye-opening. Here is the link so you can view it for yourself: YouTube - Uncivilized Tactics at UC Irvine (High Quality)

There are many reasons that we send our children to a Jewish Day School. Chief among them is for them to acquire an excellent education combined with a commitment to a joyous and deep Jewish identity. Ideally our students will be prepared to be leaders for the Jewish world of tomorrow. We might not realize it often, but we are training our children to be advocates for the Jewish future. That includes their ability to respond to challenges against Israel on college campuses in the not-to-distant future. It is my hope that the experience of a Jewish day school education will help to meet this goal on all its levels.

~Anne Tanhoff Greenspoon
Director of Admissions