Getting More Jewish Kids into Jewish Schools

Roughly 12,000 Jews live in Indianapolis, says Rabbi Aryeh Birnhack, Judaic studies principal of Hasten Hebrew Academy in Indianapolis, Indiana. “Many of them have simply never heard of our school.”

Thanks to a new initiative, Rabbi Birnhack is hoping that will change. Launched this fall by the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools (CoJDS), the initiative is an integrated marketing campaign encouraging Jews to send their children to Jewish schools. The campaign is dubbed “Coming Home” because, as Rabbi Heshy Glass, founding national chairman of CoJDS, explains, “This is about Jewish schools for Jewish students.”

“As unaffiliated Jews move farther away from any Jewish connection, it’s even more important to get in front of them now,” says Rabbi Birnhack. “If we get just one more student in our school as a result of this campaign, that’s success. We will be saving one Jewish neshamah.”

Every conversation in the broader Jewish world has changed in the aftermath of October 7, says Rabbi Glass. “For the past few years, we’ve been hearing stories of Jewish families feeling less comfortable in public schools, as alternative identities are celebrated and woke culture seeps in,” he explains. “Now, after October 7, there’s also antisemitism added to the mix. It can become very difficult for a child to navigate.”

“With growing feelings of discomfort post-October 7, we saw the opportunity to actively promote Jewish schools,” says Rabbi Glass. “Our goal is to help schools be successful, across the board,” explains Rabbi Glass. “Yes, they need training. Yes, they need staff. But they also need students.”

The New York–based CoJDS is dedicated to the development and improvement of Jewish day schools, working with about 250 schools across North America and throughout the world.

CoJDS engaged ColdSpark, an agency that has run high-profile political campaigns, to create the campaign, which is leveraging social media, earned media and direct mail to reach Jewish families. This marketing campaign is building on previous efforts to grow enrollment including providing workshops to parents and scholarships for families “on the fence.”

For starters, the project is focused around five day schools in smaller communities across the country: Plainview, Long Island; Indianapolis, Indiana; Huntington Beach, California; Portland, Oregon; and Richmond, Virginia.

The choice of schools was strategic, Rabbi Glass explains. “We picked communities where the school has capacity to absorb more children and is sophisticated enough to accept families with limited Jewish backgrounds,” he says. The schools in these communities are what CoJDS refers to as “anchor schools.” The continued health of Jewish life in these communities hinges on the strength of the local day school.

Each school is contributing a small amount toward the campaign, but the majority of the funding is being raised by CoJDS. “Philanthropy is truly fueling this effort,” adds Rabbi Glass.

While the current climate of growing antisemitism will hopefully open people’s minds to consider Jewish schools for their children, Rabbi Glass says, securing funding for efforts like this to foster Jewish education in the US has become a much bigger challenge in the post–October 7 world.

“Since October 7, federations have been sending money to Israel,” he says. “It’s important, and Israel needs the funds. But most donors aren’t focused on Jewish education right now.”

The same challenge has faced Hadassa Halpern, executive director of the Ronald S. Lauder Impact Initiative in North America. She is overseeing a similar campaign that is promoting enrollment of Jewish children in Jewish day schools in cities with large Jewish populations.

If we get just one more student in our school as a result of this campaign, that’s success. We will be saving one Jewish neshamah.

Though the Lauder campaign was conceived prior to October 7, it launched its pilot effort this year. It is focused on five pluralistic Jewish schools across four cities: Boca Raton, Florida; Detroit, Michigan; Boston, Massachusetts; and the Washington, DC area—with hopes to expand to more schools across North America each year.

“The funding landscape is completely different” since October 7, says Halpern. “Funders are giving money to causes in Israel and toward fighting antisemitism. It is not necessarily strategic to divert support from strengthening Jewish identity and knowledge in the Diaspora, but that’s the reality. There are still 7 million Jews in the US who are looking for opportunities to engage—now more the ever.”

Halpern notes that although the two campaigns focus on different types of schools in different locations, the fundamental goal of both efforts are aligned: “It’s about how to get more Jewish kids into Jewish schools,” she says.

An ad currently being run by the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools (CoJDS) as part of its “Coming Home” initiative, an integrated marketing campaign encouraging Jews to send their kids to Jewish schools. Courtesy of CoJDS

Thus far, neither campaign can measure its success, as both got into full swing after the current school year had begun. Both Rabbi Glass and Halpern are hoping to plant seeds that will germinate as parents think about the future.

In the months following October 7, there was a reported uptick in interest in Jewish day schools from families that suddenly felt uncomfortable sending to public or non-Jewish private schools, but the interest hasn’t yet translated into enrollment, says Halpern.

“I think it’s because people in the US believe things will blow over,” notes Halpern, who is originally British. “In Europe, we know that’s false. We’ve seen that once there’s antisemitism, it doesn’t simply go away. Americans believe it will pass—though that might change this year. One thing is clear: Everyone is more open to having these conversations now.”

Although people may be feeling more uncomfortable as Jews since the events of October 7, Rabbi Birnhack stresses that the campaign isn’t about capitalizing on fear. “We want to give over the message, in a positive way, that people should consider our school,” he says. “We’re not pushing urgency. We want to cultivate the idea in people’s minds, so when they’re thinking about enrolling their kids in school for the coming year, they’ll have us in mind.”

For his part, Rabbi Glass hopes that the Coming Home campaign will be a success, and the data will encourage major funders and philanthropic foundations to invest in the cause.

“The kiruv organizations are worried about Jews living in Florida and Las Vegas,” he says. “But who is worried about those living in Indianapolis or Richmond? We need to lead the charge.”

Rachel Schwartzberg is a writer and editor who lives with her family in Memphis, Tennessee.