In a few days, as the Australian school year begins, my daughter will be returning to a Jewish school after three years at an independent girls’ school. That school was wonderful. Her teachers and her cohort were thoughtful, kind, and genuinely supportive of her, including of her strong Jewish identity.

She did not have to hide who she was. During her Year 9 year in the country, away at boarding school, she ate kosher meat and celebrated Shabbat rituals with her non-Jewish housemates, lighting candles and sharing challah and grape juice. A large Israeli flag hung beside her bed, and she wore T-shirts with Jewish phrases, not as provocation, but as expression.

As she prepares to return to a Jewish educational environment, I find myself thinking not only about her experience, but about the experiences of Jewish children who do not have that option, those attending public and non-Jewish independent schools, where support often depends on the goodwill of individuals rather than on clear institutional frameworks.

Recently, a post on X described a New York parent whose fifth-grade child was required to watch a video claiming Israel deliberately killed children during the Gaza war. When the parent questioned the material, they were told the school would not be teaching students about the October 7 Hamas massacre.

Disturbed by this, I contacted a friend involved in Jewish education in the United States to ask whether this was unusual. The response was blunt: “This is a daily occurrence here.” That reply reframed the issue entirely. This was not a single rogue teacher or an isolated lapse in judgment. It was a pattern. In Australia, we are fortunate to have a strong Jewish day school system, but it does not encompass every Jewish child. Australians should not be reassured by the “It can’t happen here,”  a........

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