Jewish Day Schools in America: ‘Wokes’ major target
I recently read with a great deal of despair the comments that crossed the Atlantic from
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Diaspora Affair Minister. He noted that, “We are losing large parts of
the Jewish people as a result of the small percentage of Jews who send their children to Jewish
Day Schools. Thus, The Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemisitm Ministry will invest NIS
150 million in establishing a new project to substantially expand the number of children in
Jewish Day Schools in North America.”
Under the current watch, the Diaspora Affairs Committee unveiled a project titled, “Aleph Bet”
during a briefing at the Knesset Immigration Absorption Affairs and Diaspora Affairs meeting.
The minister went on to say; “There is a major crisis in Jewish education in North America
outside the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox communities. The Aleph Bet project will be focused
on schools in North America with an emphasis on training teachers for Jewish education and
Israel studies, as well as principles for Jewish Day Schools.”
This investment from Israel of some $44 million in U.S. dollars comes at a critical time. Like
other schools in America, Jewish Day Schools are undergoing a crisis as the “woke culture”
tsunami overtakes our nation. As the new campaign from Israel points out, we are in the midst
of a crisis where we could literally lose an entire generation of Jews as a result of the lack of
participation in Jewish Education.
Wikipedia describes a Jewish Day School as a modern Jewish educational institution that is
designed to provide children of Jewish parents with both a Jewish and a secular education in
one school. While some schools may stress Judaism and Torah study others may focus more on
Jewish history, Hebrew Language, Yiddish language studies, secular Jewish culture and Zionism.
Axios online recently reported: “Hebrew School Enrollment in U.S. Drops Sharply.” The feature
went on to report that student enrollment in “supplementary” Hebrew schools across America
from 2006 to 2020 has fallen by 45%. This is according to a study by The Jewish Education Project,
a nonprofit that supports Jewish educators. About 27% of Jewish Day Schools closed during that
period and of the 761 schools that closed, 556 closed their doors permanently.
Today, many Jewish day schools in America teach ideas revolving around “impacting the world
with courage and compassion” and diversity statements now precede or even replace any
mention of the Torah. Orthodox schools encourage social activism on behalf of social justice
groups whose platforms align with anti-Zionism. Over the past ten years, hundreds of orthodox
Jewish youth in our nation participated in national walkouts for the Black Live Matters
movement and gun control. The long held Jewish foundational values of decency, kindness and
empathy, as integral components to the Jewish identity and culture, have tragically dropped
down on the list of priorities.
It is evident that the “woke culture” has come for America’s children—both Christian and Jews!
Now, like never before, history is being re-written before our eyes. It is imperative that we
remember and teach our mandate: “Never Forget!” We must with haste entrust this battle cry
to the next generation.
Studying antisemitism in the context of Nazi ideology illuminates the manifestations and
ramifications of prejudice, stereotyping, xenophobia, and racism. Antisemitism persists in the
aftermath of the Holocaust and is now dangerously on the rise. Teaching and learning about the
Holocaust creates a forum for examining the history and evolution of antisemitism—an
essential factor that made the darkest hour in humanity possible. A close examination of the
tactics used to promote antisemitism, including hate speech, propaganda, manipulation of the
media, and group targeted violence, can help students understand the mechanisms employed
to divide communities.
These tactics are being implemented in today’s culture!
My own nonprofit organization, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN), is drawing a line in
the sand and reaching out to national educators in America. We are demanding Holocaust and
Civic Standards be returned to our nations classrooms. The vital points and goals of these
standards include:
Draft Holocaust Standards that teach our children about their Jewish classmates and neighbors.
We strongly advise that the Holocaust Standards include teaching that the Jews have always
been an integral part of American and world societies and are an asset to our communities.
Connecting children in K-5 to their Jewish friends helps build empathy through education so
that when they begin to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust in 6 th -12th they will already
have a foundation of understanding of who and why the Jews were targeted.
This perspective must be given so our children will come to connect Hitler’s rise to power with
the 3,000-year history of persecution and hatred targeted at the Jews and how Hitler’s “Final
Solution” to the Jewish Question was a modern-day continuum of that age-old hatred.
The Holocaust revisionism that is growing more pervasive in the United States must be stopped.
American education has not been successful in combating antisemitism in our classrooms. We
must choose a new path that will teach the multifaceted nature of both the normalcy of
American Jewish relations and the abnormality of Jew-hatred. This will assist our students in
understanding that antisemitism is the sign of a deep-seated problem in our society.
We stand strongly on the platform of teaching TRUE American history to our children. America
was built on Judeo-Christian values—this history must NOT be rewritten as it forms the very
foundation of our great nation.
The Founding Documents that are based on Torah principals must be taught. Our children must
be connected with the real roots of the nation, not the re-written propaganda and
indoctrination based curriculum that is infiltrating classrooms across the nation.
We must demand that the civic standards in America’s classrooms teach the true historical facts
as well as the Judeo-Christian values and principles from the Torah that the Founding Fathers
used to build the foundation on which America is built.
Together we stand as Christians and Jews to protect that which is most dear to us: The Future
of our children.
Learn more about our work at: www.pjtn.org.
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