The mother of an eighth grade student called me at my office. She lives in a large metropolitan area where practicing as a Jew and following the Jewish way of life is relatively easy to accomplish. There are a large number of day schools – right wing, haredi, left wing –whatever you can think of. There are a glut of shuls, each one attempting to outdo the other, and there are many Jewish high schools. One could ostensibly live a very easy Jewish life there. There are all kinds of restaurants to sate the palate of the most serious eating connoisseur. In short life as a Jew was never easier.
Except for one thing.
Her son was graduating eighth grade this year and no Jewish high school would accept him. She began to cry as she narrated to me that for the last 10 years, including early childhood education, she has spent nearly $200,000 on her son’s education at a day school and now as he is graduating from elementary school, no Jewish high school wants to accept him as a student.
“Isn’t there an obligation upon the Jewish community to accept a day school graduate because of the mere fact that he is a product of a Jewish Hebrew day school?” she insisted. “My son is not a great student but he is not a discipline issue either! Don’t these schools have a moral and ethical obligation to the graduates of day schools to find a way or design a program for them and accept them in their schools?”
My heart went out to her and I immediately began the search for a school for this young man.
The story ends on a positive note. I was successful and the young man is doing fine in his new school.
But the question remains as to why parents of children who have ostensibly received a day school education – whose parents have invested huge amounts of monies into their education – could be refused acceptance?
The question becomes that much more severe and demanding when you are living in a small town outside a metropolitan city that doesn’t offer these multiple opportunities, and there is only one Hebrew high school servicing many smaller communities that converge on it for services. There the community must engage a principal who is keenly aware of his or her responsibilities to the entire Jewish community with special emphasis on day school graduates from local schools – a principal who has the talent and vision to include all graduates from the local day schools and is willing to even raise the necessary funds to service these questionable students so that they can attend a Hebrew high school and not be subjected to being forced to attend the local public high school. This gifted principal will understand the emergent nature of his vital role in shaping the future of the specific Jewish community.
While it is understood that every school wants to maintain a certain level of excellence and reputation and in many cases does not want to lower its academic and Judaic standards by accepting these challenged students, they nevertheless need to prioritize what is more important not only for the community but for the child as well.
Every Jewish child must be approached as a diamond. Some are successful academically, some become successful musically, some are early achievers and some are late achievers. The true Jewish educator is aware of the tremendous responsibility that he or she has and views an entering child in a high school as an opportunity to ultimately develop a person that will enhance our Jewish world in the future. Not as a burden, but as an opportunity. Not as a liability, but rather a chance to save a neshama.
It is as Abraham our forefather said to Malki Tzedek after successfully destroying the enemy and returning with a wealth of spoils: “Give me the souls and you may take the rewards.”
For the Jewish people, money is never the issue, nor is reputation, but rather the souls of our children and their continuance as Jews.