opinion
Philadelphia’s Broken Jewish
Education Pipeline
BY ZEV ELEFF
hiladelphia needs new models to educate
its Jewish children. The day schools,
preschools, camps, synagogue programs
and youth groups that my children attend are
terrific. Our local educators rank among the
very best. The trouble is that not enough Jewish
families take advantage of these sites of Jewish
education. In economic terms, we have a pipeline
problem. The 2019 “Community Portrait: A Population
Study of Greater Philadelphia” conducted by
the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
provides the most recent data on Jewish edu-
cation in Philadelphia. The report tabulates that
6% of age-eligible Philadelphia Jews attend
Jewish day schools, and 11% are enrolled in
supplementary Jewish schools. About 7% of
age-eligible children participate in Jewish youth
groups. Neither are the typical pipelines to for-
mal Jewish education well used. Just 7% of
Philadelphia Jewish families send their young
children to Jewish preschools, and only 15%
register their children for Jewish camps.

The Jewish communities on the Main Line
score somewhat better, mostly because of
the higher concentration of Orthodox children
enrolled in day schools and camps.

How does all this compare with other
American Jewish communities? Including the
Philadelphia census, I collected 16 community
population studies conducted since 2011. My
list included peer communities in Baltimore,
Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit,
Pittsburgh, Miami and Washington, D.C. The
Philadelphia enrollment numbers ranked in the
bottom quarter (usually last or second-to-last) in
each educational setting.

What accounts for this? In 1989, sociologist
David Schoem worried that for most American
Jews a commitment to supplementary Jewish
education represented a “stepping out” of an
otherwise typically American daily routine.

But indigenous factors also provide import-
ant insight. Children represent just 12% of the
Greater Philadelphia Jewish community, which
is tied with Palm Beach, Florida, for the lowest
tally among population studies I reviewed. The
dearth of young people makes it challeng-
ing for synagogue schools, camps and youth
groups to recruit pupils. These, of course, were
the figures before COVID did much to further
16 AUGUST 18, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
attenuate the footholds of synagogues and youth
movements. Day schools face an even steeper challenge:
Public schools and non-Jewish private schools
in Philadelphia’s largest Jewish hubs are very
good. Three-quarters of Greater Philadelphia Jewish
families send their children to public schools,
and another 10% enroll in non-Jewish private
schools. When asked for their rationale, almost
a third of parents explained that they simply
prefer public schools. This group would, no
doubt, be the most difficult to convert to day
school families. Only 15% reported they felt day
school tuition was too expensive.

These families aren’t just opting out of day
school. Most Jewish public school families (two-
thirds) do not enroll their children in part-time
synagogue schools.

How, then, can our community restore the
Jewish education pipeline? Some organiza-
tions understand that it pays to leverage public
schooling rather than supplement it.

For example, Makom Community’s after-
school programs provide meaningful Jewish
education for children residing in Center City
and South Philadelphia. Makom synergizes
Jewish text-based study with an innovative
approach to urban education. Just as important,
Makom transports students from public schools
to its facilities and remains open during public
school closures. They’re there for public school
families. Jewish Student Union offers another model.

JSU convenes faculty-sponsored student clubs
in nine public high schools in the Greater
Philadelphia area. JSU’s programs during lunch
hour and after school aim to strengthen “Jewish
identity and connection to Israel.” JSU is liter-
ally “stepping into” the routines of hundreds of
Jewish teenagers.

Gratz College offers a final example. Gratz
offers dual enrollment courses that fulfill high
school requirements and provide an under-
graduate-level transcript for students seeking
college credit.

In addition, starting this year Gratz will oper-
ate the Youth Symposium on the Holocaust and
the Mordechai Anielewicz Arts Competition,
programs previously managed by the Jewish
Community Relations Council.

New models of Jewish education require us
to “step into” the daily routines of our children
and their families. This ought to inform how we
invest in traditional sites of Jewish education.

It also says much about the need to cultivate
efforts that see the public schools as a promis-
ing pipeline in Greater Philadelphia. JE
Rabbi Dr. Zev Eleff is the president of Gratz College.

elena_hramowa / iStock / Getty Images Plus
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feature story
Local Jews Deal with
KleinLife in Northeast Philadelphia helps
Jewish seniors in the surrounding area.

INFLATION CONCERN$
JARRAD SAFFREN | STAFF WRITER
L ibby Cohen, a 78-year-old Jewish resident of
Lower Moreland, probably would have struggled
more with infl ation in pre-COVID times. But
since the pandemic started in March 2020, she has
cut out her extra expenses.

Cohen describes herself as “very COVID-phobic,”
and the feeling prevents her from restarting many of
the activities she enjoyed in 2019. No longer does she
take bus trips to New York City to go to the theater
or drive to her local movie theater. She doesn’t go out
to eat anymore, either.

“I hardly drive anywhere,” the senior said.

Her only drives of the week are to KleinLife in
Northeast Philadelphia for a Wednesday morning art
therapy class and to the occasional doctor’s appoint-
ment. Otherwise, Cohen does “so many Zooms that
I love,” she says, like free events from libraries and
other organizations. She starts each day by doing
Wordle and Spelling Bee from Th e New York Times.

“Th ere’s so much out there that really I’m never
bored,” she said. “Th e one disadvantage is the lack of
human contact.”
Since Cohen is a senior citizen, her approach to
COVID is perhaps more cautious than the average
person. But in cutting back on nonessential activities,
she is like many area Jews right now, according to
Andre Krug, the president and CEO of KleinLife, the
community center in Northeast Philadelphia.

With infl ation near 40-plus-year highs, lower-in-
come Jews are not necessarily falling short of cov-
ering their basic needs. But they do not have much
room to pay for much beyond them.

Krug’s organization serves about 35,000 people a
year. About 90% of them live within 200% of the fed-
eral poverty line. Roughly 25% are seniors, and most of
those seniors are Jewish. And it’s those seniors, many
of whom are on fi xed incomes like Social Security and
a pension — usually receiving between $2,000 and
$2,500 a month — who are struggling the most.

“People are defi nitely complaining about the cost
to drive, about the cost of food,” Krug said. “Th ey
come to us looking for emergency food and things
of that nature.”
Photos by Stephanie Hampson
In the Northeast, there is minimal public trans-
portation, so residents need to drive to get to places.

Th is causes them to make choices. Instead of getting
lunch with friends, KleinLife clients go to the grocery
store to make sure that their refrigerators are stocked.

Th ere are plenty of other tough choices, too.

To fi x your car or to buy a new one. To get your
house repaired or to just let it sit as long as it’s still
functional. “It’s a struggle,” Krug said. “We’re just coming out
of COVID and now this.”
Many Jews around the Philadelphia area probably
feel the same way. Th e 2019 Jewish Federation of
Greater Philadelphia study “Community Portrait: A
Population Study of Greater Philadelphia” found that
“24% of Jewish households in greater Philadelphia
have an annual household income of less than
$50,000.” Th e study also found that 12% of Jewish
households are food insecure, and that “households
with children are more likely to be food insecure.”
Th e date of that study, 2019, shows that food
insecurity is an ongoing problem for local families.

But in 2022, according to Marianna Salz, the director
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