One of the questions I am asked most often is “What is a community day school after all?” This query is frequently followed by the questioner’s attempt to answer it himself: “Schools where anything goes… Judaism-light… private schools for Jewish kids…Orthodox schools disguised as liberal schools… schools that can’t make up their minds what they want to be or who they want to serve.” In an attempt to avoid a second round of Q&A (question-and-assume), I offer that a Jewish community day school is “created in the image of the local community in which it is found, and that the school understands Jewish diversity as a strength and not a threat.” Of course, this begs an explanation of what we mean by Jewish diversity, and given the theme of this issue of HaYidion, I attempt to offer one now.
”Pluralism” is an express ideology that suggests that divergent paths can and will be positively altered in the presence of others. “Peoplehood” suggests the potential for a powerful collective identity (both praiseworthy, if complicated school missions). Jewish diversity in the Jewish community day school setting is an unbiased, non-hierarchical acknowledgement of the vast potential that will arise by welcoming and honoring the myriad expressions of what it means to be a Jew into one school.
Most Jewish community day schools use the term “pluralistic” to describe their position in the day school marketplace, highlighting the fact that they are not movement affiliated or theologically dogmatic. Research on community day schools suggests that most are non-denominational, meaning that the school holds at bay all trappings of denominationalism, or trans-ideological, meaning that a range of denominational expressions is captured in the life of the school (often Reform-to-Conservative or Conservative-to-Modern Orthodox). Few, in fact, are authentically pluralistic, and within these limited ranks, the more sophisticated schools see their pluralism as a goal, not a given.
So if not pluralistic, then what? I posit that “Jewish diversity” may be a useful term and lens through which to view our schools. The 1990s conversation on diversity, despite much Jewish leadership, was largely about race, economics and to a lesser degree, gender. Jews were by and large assumed to be “white” and “middle class” and as such, were lumped into the majority. While most Jews did not see themselves in the “of color” camp, placement in the “not of color” column was equally fallacious. The upshot of this unfortunate matter is that within the Jewish community “diversity” as a term has room to grow.
Just as the United States and Canada, at their theoretical best, are an amalgamation of hyphenated-North Americans, so too is the Jewish community day school an ingathering of hyphenated-Jews: Torah-observant-Jews, black-Jews, Jewishly-unafilliated-Jews, Sephardic-Jews, intermarried-Jews, liberal-Jews, gay-Jews, working-class-Jews, cultural-Jews, single-parent-Jews, very-Yekkish-Jews, Jews-by-choice, synagogue-affiliated-Jews, Jews-who-need-more-than-one-hyphen-Jews, and certainly more.
Bringing together Jews of all stripes is in and of itself a lofty goal; of course, we are in the schooling business, so the focus cannot rest on gathering alone. Jewish community day schools that are committed to Jewish diversity must be prepared to meet diverse needs. Rather than suggest simple solutions to complex challenges, allow me to instead posit a theoretical framework for attending to a Jewishly diverse population:
Jewish diversity is too important an issue to limit to this column. We invite all readers to go to: www.ravsak.org/jewishdiversity to share how your school attends to Jewish diversity. You are welcome to post under your own name or anonymously.
It strikes me that one of our obligations as Jewish educators is to give our students a better, richer, more purposeful Jewish life than the ones we live. If Jewish diversity can be woven into the tapestries of our schools – side by side with threads of Torah, Hebrew, Zionism, Jewish values, and gemilut chasadim (acts of righteousness) – then we may be one step closer to fulfilling that dream. ♦
CAT, RAVSAK’s online, highly participatory middle school program in Jewish history, will have four new schools taking part in the fall:
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