Shalom,
I have been following the conversation about the cost of Jewish Day School education over the past decade, and I have been involved with attempts at solving the problem in various different ways. We should always strive to improve the quality and efficiency of day schools, and we should try to make their education accessible to all people who want it. However, I have come to a general conclusion which I think is worth adding to the conversation.
At any given point in time in history, teaching Torah to Jews costs whatever it costs, just like feeding, clothing and housing Jews costs whatever it costs. If you believe in Hashem and his promise to us, you also believe that Hashem will give us the resources to meet our needs. To my mind, that is why Jews have been successful in the secular world throughout human history. Hashem gives us the skills to accumulate the resources to meet our needs. It is unquestionably true in the world today. The cumulative Jewish wealth in America and in the world is enormous, almost unfathomable.
Whatever Jewish education costs, the wealth and income potential in the Jewish community is sufficient to pay for it. We just have to gather together the Jews with those resources, including myself, and get us to commit to pay for it, before we pay for other "necessities" and luxuries.
Yes, we should make day school more affordable. Yes, we should be as creative as possible to maximize each family's self-sufficiency and enjoyment of the world. But, no matter how efficient you make it, it still costs what it costs, and we have the resources to pay for it. We just need to harness our resources and apply them.
I don't have an answer to how to do that, beyond my own philanthropy. But no matter how many brilliant educators, consultants, and communal leaders we gather to solve the other problem, we will always need the legal owners of the the Jewish people's resources necessary to pay for the solution to agree to do so.
Sincerely,
-- David Magerman
President, The Kohelet Foundation
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2016 06:21PM by mlb.
