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June 6, 2003/Sivan 6 5763, Vol. 55, No. 41
Day school students reflect on Jewish identity
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Intermarriage, assimilation and low affiliation rate are the symptoms. Could Jewish day school education be the cure?
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A plethora of studies have shown a marked decrease in Jewish observance in the United States, and while communities grapple with how to reverse the trend, Jewish day schools seem to have the answer.
The 1990 National Jewish Population Survey reported that children who attended congregational schools were more than twice as likely to intermarry as graduates of full-time Jewish schools.
Additionally, the national report of the Task Force on Jewish Day School Viability and Vitality concludes "day school education has a strong positive impact on Jewish identity development with high school education achieving the most positive impact."
According to the report, there are an estimated 212,000 students in 810 Jewish day schools in North America and the student population has more than tripled since the 1960s.
Locally, the 2002 Greater Phoenix Jewish Community Study reported that 7 percent of the approximately 14,000 children being raised Jewish in the Valley attend Jewish day school. While there is no statistical information about the impact of Jewish day school education on Jewish identity locally, anecdotal evidence suggests that the national findings hold true for the local community as well.
Jay Schechter, headmaster of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School - the first pluralistic high school in the Valley - believes that a day school education is important to forming a strong Jewish identity.
"A Jewish day school education gives students a chance to feel pride in who they are," he explains.
And his students agree.
Ruthie Storch, a sophomore at the high school, has always attended Jewish day school, first at Solomon Schechter Day School and then at Phoenix Hebrew Academy. She characterizes her family as "pretty observant" and attributes much of her Jewish identity to attending Jewish day school and attending Camp Ramah, the summer camp of the Conservative movement.
In her second year at the high school, she says she has really benefited from the variety of views the community high school has exposed her to.
"This is what being Jewish is all about, all different sections coming together in one place. We all have our differences - different beliefs, how we should pray, how we should observe - but the bottom line is we're all Jewish," she explains. "I feel very comfortable here. We learn from others and we share our experiences and everyone seems to be very tolerant. No one really feels excluded."
Like Storch, Anna Harris is a sophomore at Jess Schwartz. She also attended Solomon Schechter and the academy in elementary and middle school. Harris believes that the community nature of the high school has helped her grow as a young Jewish woman.
"It's so diverse and I found myself challenging ideas that I had already accepted as true. I'm still in the process of coming to my own conclusions about things, but I feel that this experience of being with several different groups of people ... helped me grow as a person."
Harris believes the impact of a day school education can affect students for their entire lives.
"I just really want to stress the fact that I think that Jewish day school, even from a very early age, can shape who you become in the future," she explains. "If the education system there is that which inspires you to be a good person and to be tolerant, I think it really can affect how you grow up as a nice, mature, menschlich (kind) person."
Sara Loeb, a junior at Jess Schwartz, attended Solomon Schechter in elementary school, then public school in seventh through ninth grade. She says it was a difficult transition from a Jewish day school where she was "surrounded by other Jewish people all the time" to a public school, but she found the move back to a day school to be a "comfortable change."
"I think (Jewish day school) makes me appreciate (my Jewish identity) more ... it helps you accept it and understand it," she says.
Illyssa Adler, a sophomore at Jess Schwartz, always attended public school while growing up. She was raised in a Conservative family.
"We have a lot of Jewish morals, Jewish values, but we've never been shomer Shabbos (Sabbath observant). We have never gone to services every Saturday, but we have an appreciation for (Judaism) at home and that's where it's mostly carried out," Adler says.
Adler reports that since attending day school, she has taken more of an interest in attending shul on Saturday and learning about Judaism.
"It makes me aware of my identity and have a stronger Jewish identity," she says. "In certain Judaic classes I learned a ton of ideas that I never knew existed in Judaism and because of that, now I'm curious more and more to learn on my own."
This year was Lindsey Palmer's first at a Jewish school, as a freshman at Jess Schwartz. While her family belongs to Temple Emanuel, Palmer says they "were not observant at all" before she began attending the school. She says the change has been a major transition, but she has enjoyed it.
"It was a big lifestyle change, but now everything I do involves Judaism," she says. "We've been doing Shabbat and we've been following the holidays. (My parents) know it's now important to me and I'm trying to reevaluate my life."
Tobee Waxenberg, middle school director of Pardes Jewish Day School, finds that strengthened Jewish identity
This poem was written by Kyoko Krumwiede's sixth-grade class at Pardes Jewish Day School. It was in response to the question "How does it feel to be a Jew?"
How it feels to be a Jew
I am different.
You can't tell, though - it's not the way I look, it's the way I feel.
As a Jew I feel gifted.
Judaism embraces life and good deeds.
We are strong because we survived wars. We are wise because we learn from our errors.
I am proud to be a Jew.
I have confidence in who I am.
I have patience to complete things. I strive to do well.
I respect people. I think!
I am lucky to have a tool to live by.
There is a sense of happiness in my religion.
I'll never have any doubts about my heritage.
On Shabbat, when I see the candles lit,
the wine drunk,
the challah tasted,
the blessings said -
I get all my new might and strength from God.
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