Imagine you are in a batting cage without a bat and hard balls are being fired at you in rapid sequence. That’s where we are today, locally, nationally, and internationally. I cannot focus on all of the world’s problems, but I want to draw attention to an important issue facing our local day schools, and by extension all of us.
We have read recently about the realities of parents facing tuitions that they cannot afford. In addition, many parents who heretofore did not receive financial assistance are now out of work. We have also seen that our schools have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to make their schools safe during this pandemic. Businesses are closing. Charitable giving is down. Hence, the perfect storm.
How does a community respond? Better yet, how should a community respond? In a roiling sea of conflicting priorities I suggest that we prioritize based on the Talmudic dictum that the needy of your community have first priority—עניי עירך קודם as implied by Deuteronomy 15:11.
According to Rav Herschel Schachter, the designation of “your city” for this purpose is based on association, rather than geography. In practical terms it may mean your specific school or the schools in your community.
One reason why “charity begins at home” is a practical one. Since our resources are limited, we can’t reasonably help everyone, so we might as well start with those who are closest to us, whose needs we can most easily evaluate.
I propose that in order to deal with the present situation, we (meaning all of our rabbis and communal leaders) encourage a moratorium on charitable giving outside our community and focus on our day schools. I acknowledge that there are manifold needs to be met in Israel and elsewhere and that many worthy institutions need funding. But that’s what prioritizing means. Charitable triage if you will. This also means encouraging non-day school people to do likewise. We are in crisis mode and our schools and our children are in need.
We are talking about Jewish education and the fate of the Jewish people. We should encourage Jews who are near as well as those who are far away. Meaning, if they are far, let’s bring them closer to our “town,” i.e., to our consciousness.
We are a charitable community and we support institutions all over the globe. However, our community’s schools must take first priority until this pandemic is over. “The world is sustained by the breath of school children.” No long drashos or homilies. The Torah teaches us not to stand aside when a life is threatened. Our children are our future and if our schools are in danger so are they and so are we.
This does not mean spending more charitable dollars (although that would be nice). It simply means diverting one’s donations to local day schools. “You cannot stand idly by” (VaYikra 19:16).
For the long term I urge that we pursue tuition tax credits and revisit the issue of the large numbers of non-teaching staff in our day schools.
Rabbi Wallace Greene has had a distinguished career as a Jewish educator and day school advocate.
