THE COMMUNITY JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: A NEW EXPERIENCE IN JEWISH EDUCATION
THE COMMUNITY JEWISH DAY SCHOOL: A NEW EXPERIENCE IN JEWISH EDUCATION
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Date
1993
Authors
Kasoff, Geraldine Nussbaum
Advisor
Male, George
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Abstract
The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the origins
and development of the Community Jewish Day School in
America, a new form of education for the American Jewish
community. It was different from earlier, single-ideological
day schools that had emerged in the early part
of the twentieth century. This dissertation describes the
emergence of this new form of education by looking at three
different cities at three different times.
What has emerged from this research is that by 1946
Philadelphia presented its Jewish community with a four-pronged
configuration necessary to build a community Jewish
day school. First, there existed a strong desire to
intensively educate their children outside the home in an
institution that could integrate both General and Judaic
studies. Second, there was also present an ability to pay
for private education and a sufficient population ready to
leave the public school for a period of time. Third,
Philadelphia in 1946 also provided a comfortable host
environment in which Christian neighbors were doing similar
things for their children. Fourth, the families who came
forward were representative of varied Jewish religious
backgrounds requiring this welcoming environment and a
pluralistic setting. The traditional, single ideological
school was not suitable -- the diversity of the first
families demanded a respect for Jewish heterogeneity.
Again in 1972 and in 1982, the demographics, cultural and
religious needs, economic resources and hospitable
environment merged. Numbers, a strong commitment, ability
to pay and a comfortable host environment were all present.
The dissertation traces the development of this unique
trans-ideological institution by relating it to the major
changes that have occurred within the American Jewish
community, the world Jewish scene and in American society.
The dissertation presents the Community Jewish Day School by
placing it within the events and trends in the larger
historical and social environment of the American Jewish
community. The study further suggests that this form of
education, in fact, is a reflection of the much larger
pluralistic society of mid-twentieth century America.