“You gotta have the vision. You gotta have the lay leadership. You gotta have the professional talent. That is our tripod.”
This is coming from a man who should know what “you gotta have” — Rabbi Joshua Elkin, the executive director of the Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education, a Boston-based group that funds Jewish day school growth in North America.
“The Bay Area [Jewish day schools have] that in spades.”
The growth of Jewish day schools in the Bay Area has been meteoric in the past two decades, says Elkin. Nearly 20 years ago there were two day schools. Today there are 14. The schools here are also setting the pace for Jewish day schools across the country through outreach to a broader Jewish population with Israel-themed education and programs focusing on tikkun olam and tzedakah, he said.
Whereas, day schools across North America attract a student body that is 70 percent Orthodox, Elkin said, the Jewish day schools in the Bay Area have succeeded in attracting a demographic that is more reflective of the Jewish population here.
While students from Orthodox families are certainly represented among the Jewish day school student body across the Bay Area, also attending are children from families affiliated with Reform, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Conservative synagogues, along with families with no synagogue affiliation, and Russian and Israeli families. Also, a significant numbers of Jewish families with a non-Jewish parent make up a school population that is anything but parochial.
Respecting Jewish diversity is part and parcel of South Peninsula Hebrew Day School’s approach in Sunnyvale. The school — founded by Jim Joseph in 1971 and the first Bay Area Jewish day school south of San Francisco — prides itself on being a “true community school” with students from devoutly Orthodox to unaffiliated homes.
And while in the joke in which the “Jewish” Robinson Caruso built two synagogues on his island (so he could have one he would never attend), the school is building one synagogue this year for its community of parents, faculty and students. In addition, the school has plans to build a library, art studio and a computer center.
And South Peninsula Hebrew Day School isn’t the only one who is building.
Both Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto and Yavneh Day School in Los Gatos are moving into new buildings this fall. And Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School of Palo Alto, Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School of Foster City, Oakland Hebrew Day School and the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco all occupy buildings that are less than four years old.
“That’s a tremendous amount of building,” Elkin said. “You don’t do that unless you have to. They all outgrew their facilities. That they have grown tells us that the community is resonating with them. That’s why they are enrolling their children in schools in numbers beyond anything we could have imagined 20 years ago.”
Yavneh is unpacking boxes at their new facility at the brand new Levy Family Jewish Campus in Los Gatos. The day school shares the campus with the Addison-Penzak Jewish Community Center of Silicon Valley, the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley and affiliated early childhood and senior adult programs.
In addition to taking advantage of the facilities provided by the JCC — in particular the pool which will be used for physical education — Yavneh plans to incorporate intergenerational experiences into its educational program. Students from Yavneh’s upper elementary school will be reading to children in the adjacent JCC preschool. Yavneh also hopes to invite senior citizens to interact with their students as well.
“The community is pulling together. That’s fabulous for us,” said Joni Quintal, Yavneh’s principal. “It’s all right here which is really wonderful.”
Further up the 101, another Jewish day school is unpacking its boxes within spitting distance of another Jewish community campus. Kehillah Jewish High School now sits across the street from the future Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto.
“This high school really represents the finest level of classroom facilities,” said Len Lehmann of the school’s board of directors. In addition to an art studio, the school boasts a beit midrash (traditional house of study), a “gorgeous” science lab and “smart boards” in each of the school’s classrooms.
A “smart board,” Lehmann explained is an “electronic version of old white board projected on the board from the computer. This encourages the teacher to prepare a multimedia lesson,” he said. “The school made a serious commitment to technology.”
Further up north, two other Jewish day schools — the Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City, and the Brandeis Hillel Jewish Day School in San Francisco and Marin are rolling out an innovative Israel-education program of their own.
This summer, five teachers from the respective schools traveled to Israel to meet with educators at schools in the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s sister region Etzba HaGalil, the “finger of the Galilee.” Together, the Israeli and American educators created a shared curriculum on water issues and conservation in Israel and California that will be implemented this year.
Several Jewish day schools in the area also include Israel trips as part of their curriculum.
Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto is among them. In addition, the school boasts of an innovative tzedakah curriculum that has been recognized in philanthropy circles nationwide.
But lest you think that students at Jewish days schools only pray, do mitzvot and study Talmud all day, the schools deliver an excellent general education as well.
This year at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco, a new addition to the Judaic faculty plans to integrate outdoor education with Judaism.
Two schools — the Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette and Gideon Hausner are starting robotics programs this year. The Eitz Chaim Academy in Los Gatos along with Yavneh, are rolling out new arts programs. And at the Brandeis Hillel schools, the music program continues to grow. In addition to two school bands, students can also choose to participate in an a cappella group. In the third grade, students learn guitar. In the fourth grade, they study the recorder.
But the benefit of a Jewish day school education often extends to the students’ parents as well.
“There are increasing number of Jewish families … where parents are looking for a deeper connection to Judaism, to Jewish life, to Jewish community and sense of the collective,” Elkin said.
“People are looking for a deeper literacy and grounding in Jewish tradition [while also] looking for an excellent general education.”
For many families, Jewish day schools are a port of entry into the Jewish community, said Dean Goldfein, the head of school of the Contra Costa Jewish Day School (CCJDS).
Hence the school has made Jewish family education high on its list of priorities for the upcoming year. “From participation in tefillah to Cinema in the Sukkah, it should be a fun learning year for many generations of CCJDS families,” said Goldfein.
CCJDS’s East Bay “cousin” on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel, Tehiyah Day School in El Cerrito also underscores the fact that community-building is at the core of the school’s mission.
“The palpable sense of community enjoyed at Tehiyah is like no other,” says Joan Rubin, Tehiyah’s director of communications. “Our students and their families form unusually strong bonds of friendship and enjoy an interconnectedness that is without equal.”
According to Elkin, the Jewish day schools in the Bay Area possess the winning combination of a stellar general education, combined with the meaning, spirituality and sense of community that only a Jewish day school can provide.
“The magnetic quality of these schools has really shined through and caught the attention of people,” said Elkin. “I don’t think there is an end in sight.”