Children at The Epstein School in Atlanta. About two dozen Israeli children attended the school temporarily in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. Courtesy of Prizmah/The Epstein School
By Beth Harpaz
January 11, 2024
More than 1,000 Israeli students temporarily enrolled in Jewish day schools in the U.S. and Canada after Oct. 7, according to a new report.
The report from Prizmah, a network of day schools and yeshivas, said 95% of the 110 schools surveyed by the organization reported inquiries or enrollment from Israeli families seeking respite from the war.
Another 40% of day schools in the survey reported inquiries or enrollment from families whose children already attend public or private schools in the U.S. or Canada. The top reasons for those transfer inquiries were concerns about antisemitism; discomfort with how local schools responded to the war in Israel, or a desire for a Jewish environment.
The inquiries from local families may further impact enrollment in the fall, said Prizmah CEO Paul Bernstein. “They could well be thinking about day schools as places to give their kids a supportive and deeply welcoming Jewish home, as well as some who are trying to get away from the experience or fear of antisemitism in other environments,” he said in a phone interview.
Prizmah’s report, issued this month, collected data from 99 schools in the U.S. and 11 schools in Canada, representing about a third of all schools in its network. The data covered enrollment and inquiries from Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, through Dec. 8.
Hosting Israelis: A meaningful experience for schools
Danny Karpf, head of the Rodeph Sholom School on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, admitted 30 Israeli students in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks, along with seven local students who transferred in midyear from public or other independent schools.
The local families “sought us out due to rising antisemitism and an understanding that the positive Jewish identity students develop at Rodeph Sholom School is more important than ever,” Karpf said.
Most of the Israeli students have already gone back, but seven remain enrolled and three from the same family intend to stay permanently.
“It has been deeply meaningful for our community to feel even more connected to Israel through these children and their families,” he said. “We have all been proud to contribute to the effort to support Israel through this work.”
In Atlanta, The Epstein School hosted two dozen Israeli children, some of whose families had been impacted by the Hamas attacks on kibbutzim. “Many of them had been going through various trauma therapies, staying in hotels and were displaced,” said the school’s director, David Abusch-Magder. “There was a local effort to bring them to Atlanta to have some room to breathe.”
The Solomon Schechter school in Bergen County, New Jersey, hosted a total of 56 students from Israel. “Around Thanksgiving some families began to return to Israel and that number increased through December,” said head of school Steve Freedman. “By winter break, most families returned to Israel.” But 18 students remain and plan to stay through the end of the school year.
“We warmly welcomed these students and their families into our community and fast friendships were made — some for a lifetime,” he said. “The profound gratitude that the families shared with us was overwhelming and humbling. It felt like this was something we could do, in a small way, to help during this horrible time in our history.”
He added: “For me, personally, this ranks as one of the most meaningful things I did in my career as a Jewish educator and leader.”
Meeting the new students’ needs
Nearly half of the schools with Israeli transfer students said they had waived tuition for them, while others charged them on a prorated basis or made decisions case by case with a first month free and discounts afterwards. More than half said they obtained funding to support the Israeli children from local federations, donors, philanthropists and foundations.
More than two-thirds of the schools said additional staff was required to support the Israeli students’ English language-learning needs. Of those schools, one in five hired new staff, 17% used volunteers, and 26% said they need more staff.
Some of the new students also had mental health needs. To support them, 6% of schools hired new staff, 7% are using volunteers, 16% haven’t yet hired staff to meet those needs and 46% said they’re covered by staff already in place.
The report commended the schools’ “collective resilience,” with the help of Jewish community organizations, in meeting the “evolving needs” of Israeli families.
Of the schools surveyed, 44% are nondenominational day schools, 27% are Orthodox, 14% are Conservative, 11% are described as Pluralistic, which includes Jews of all backgrounds, and 5% are Reform.
Community, Conservative, Pluralistic and Reform schools enrolled 11 temporary Israeli students on average while Orthodox schools had six on average. The Western region of the U.S. and Canada had the most temporary Israelis, with 187 and 167 respectively.
