The world of Jewish education has gone through huge changes over the years. In this blog post, I want to focus on the expansion of Jewish day schools[1] in the last eighty years. Today, there are approximately 6,500 Jewish schools in operation across the world. The majority (4,489) are situated in Israel. The remaining approximately 2,000 schools are spread over some fifty countries in the Americas, Europe, Australasia, Africa, and Asia. This represents an explosion in the number and geographic distribution of Jewish schools.
The primary reason for this growth is the natural increase in the Jewish population. In Israel, for example, the Jewish population has increased over tenfold since 1948. Elsewhere, growth has been driven primarily by those who are religiously engaged. Since the 1980s, enrollment at Conservative, Reform, and community schools in the United States has generally remained steady, although there has been a decline in the last decade. In contrast, the figures for Jewish schools serving the Orthodox community have shown significant growth.
In the previous half-century, virtually all young Orthodox Jews attended Jewish schools, so this trend is not driven by shifting patterns of enrollment in Jewish schools. Rather, it is a function of rapid natural growth, notably in the Hassidic community, but also in the Yeshivish (non-Hassidic, ultra-Orthodox) one. High levels of fertility in the American Orthodox community have led to a massive increase in the population and as a result, has boosted the number of American Jewish schools to over a thousand (from around 30 in 1944, and 330 in the 1970s). This trend is noticeable in other countries with sizable ultra-Orthodox communities. In countries such as Austria, Belgium, Canada, and the UK, growth in Jewish education in recent years has been driven primarily by natural growth in the ultra-Orthodox community.
Another reason for the increase in the number of young people attending Jewish schools is that Jewish education is no longer the sole preserve of boys. The first Beis Yaakov school was opened in Poland a little over a century ago, in 1917, providing an opportunity for Jewish girls to attend Jewish school, while boys continued to be overrepresented in the Jewish school population outside of Israel well into the post-war period. Today, there is gender equality in Jewish schools, with approximately the same number of Jewish boys and girls attending such institutions.
Another significant shift in the Jewish school population outside Israel is the expansion of Jewish education for populations that are not religious. In western countries such as the United States, there has been a marked shift in attitudes toward education among the Jewish population. Initially, immigrants prioritized integration, sending their children to local schools to learn the local language and culture. In many places, Jews clustered in specific neighborhoods, with the result that the public schools Jewish children attended had large Jewish populations.
However, by the 1960s and 1970s, Jews had moved into the suburbs and were more geographically dispersed. Concerns over the transmission of Jewish identity led to the establishment of Conservative- and Reform-affiliated schools, in a complete reversal of their position on the issue in the 1950s. Similarly, in countries such as the UK there was considerable investment in making Jewish schools attractive to non-religious families as a means of maintaining communal engagement across generations.
Additionally, in the predominantly secular Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, there has been a renaissance of Jewish education. Under communism, Jewish schools were shuttered, but in the last thirty-five years around fifty Jewish schools have been established across the former Soviet Union and other former Communist states, such as the Czech Republic and Poland. They are attended by young people from non-religious families and provide both a Jewish environment and a good education. In the global south - Latin America, South Africa, and Australia - local conditions have favoured high enrollment rates in Jewish school for decades, with large numbers of children from non-religious homes attending Jewish schools.
Finally, the Chabad (Lubavitch) movement has been instrumental in setting up schools in smaller communities around the world. While some schools cater solely for children from Chabad families, many serve the broader community. Chabad schools have been established not only in countries with large Jewish populations such as the United States and France, but also in countries where there is no history of Jewish education, such as Thailand. These schools provide unaffiliated parents in smaller Jewish communities the opportunity to send their children to Jewish schools.
All of this raises the question: what is the future of Jewish schools? Some things seem predictable, for instance, Israel will likely remain the country with the highest enrollment rate and home to the majority of Jewish schools. The growth of the ultra-Orthodox community will probably continue, increasing both the number of Jewish schools and the number of young people who attend them. These conclusions are based on long-term demographic shifts that are unlikely to change much in the next few years.
Other changes in contemporary Jewish life are less easily unpacked. The evidence suggests that across Europe - not only in countries with large, fast-growing, ultra-Orthodox populations, but also in France, Denmark, and the Netherlands - demand for Jewish schools is increasing. This is partly driven by migration trends, with immigrants from Israel bolstering demand. Additionally, antisemitism may also lead parents who would not ordinarily have done so to choose Jewish schools for their children. The expansion of Jewish schools has been primarily a result of demographic developments but is also a testament to communal commitment, investment, and adaptability. Although there are challenges ahead, the future of Jewish schools looks bright.