More Jewish Children, Not Another Campus |
The news that investor Alon Abadi donated a reported $100 million campus to Chabad was met with admiration and gratitude, and rightly so. Any act of generosity toward Jewish life deserves respect. Chabad has done remarkable work worldwide, and Jewish centers play an important role in community, learning, and connection.
But if we are being serious about the future of the Jewish people, it is worth asking whether this was the most urgent place for such an extraordinary gift.
Because while Jewish centers are plentiful, Jewish children are becoming fewer.
Across the United States and around the world, Jewish families are quietly making painful decisions. Some are choosing not to send their children to Jewish schools. Others are choosing not to have additional children at all, not because they do not value Jewish life, but because they simply cannot afford it.
I have personally met Jewish friends in Los Angeles who have said plainly that they do not think they can afford another child partially because of the cost of Jewish education. These are........