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Dry Bones
The Price Of Learning
n the wake of a sagging economy, and con-
tinuing demand for strong dual programs in
secular and Jewish studies, Detroit Jewry's
day schools anticipate hiking their tuition.
That's the price of an intensive, high-quality Jewish
education. Or is it?
Both Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit
and the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
have announced tuition increases of $1,000, boost-
ing their top-tier charges next school year to $9,900
and $12,500, respectively. At least two other local
day schools envision a boost in their tuition, too.
A double whammy of less return on investments
and the lack of a substantial "rainy day" fund has hit
Hillel, where the typical yearly increase is
$400. The Academy, open just two years,
attributes its 9-percent jump in tuition to
adding a 12th grade this August.
Their reasons are different, but each result is the
same — a bigger burden on parents, who still must
pay public school taxes and battle the relentless rise
in costs to live Jewishly. To help soften the blow,
Hillel two years ago unveiled a tier payment system,
which reduces tuition according to adjusted gross
income.
Dramatically higher school funding and scholar-
ship support through the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit is a reason to be cautiously
optimistic about the state of our schools — day,
congregational and supplemental. But the
Federation, through its Annual Campaign, doesn't
have unlimited resources. So we urge it to hold all
of our schools more accountable for their spending
practices. Schools that accept "public" money via
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the Annual Campaign automatically open them-
selves to a high level of scrutiny.
Tuition-wise, metro Detroit's Jewish day schools
compare well nationally. But they're still beyond the
radar screen of many middle-class families. The
dilemma arises in that parents expect a better edu-
cation for their children at a Jewish day school, but
suffer sticker shock when they see the price tag,
however well it compares to similar schools around
the country.
Rightly, trustees and headmasters of our day
schools are focusing more of their attention not
only on fund-raising, but also on the world of giv-
ing — namely, grants, trusts, foundations, gifts, phi-
lanthropists and mid-level donors. That's
because they no longer can rely on tuition
alone to meet the increased cost of paying
teachers, maintaining buildings, buying
equipment and assuring a strong dual curriculum.
Clearly, the very timbers of our day school frame-
work are at stake, especially as our congregational
schools discover ways to pep up tired Hebrew and
Sunday school programs.
In response, we as a community must more tight-
ly limit day school tuition immediately and develop
creative ways to balance day school budgets. The
impetus and leadership to do this must come from
the Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education, the
educational visionary for Detroit Jewry.
This day-school high alert comes at a crossroads
in the diaspora. A new Jewish Agency for Israel
study projects that Israel will be home to the major-
ity of world Jewry sometime after 2030. Mixed mar-
riages will reduce the number of Jews elsewhere
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EDITORIAL
Two Ways To Be Brave
ay One: The Arab press has been
filled in recent days with paeans of
praise to Wafa Idris, a 28-year-old
Palestinian who blew herself up on
Jaffa Road in Jerusalem three weeks ago, killing her-
self and an 81-year-old Israeli.
Arab columnists have likened her to the
Virgin Mary and Joan of Arc.
"Palestinian women have torn the gender
classification out of their birth certificates, declaring that
sacrifice for the Palestinian homeland would not be for
men alone," said one writer in a typical encomium. "On
the contrary, all Palestinian women will write the history
of the liberation with their blood, and will become time
bombs in the face of the Israeli enemy. They will not set-
tle for being mothers of martyrs."
Next week, Jews all over the world will celebrate a
woman of a very different stripe. Queen Esther
never considered that killing herself was the most
helpful thing she could do for her people in the
kingdom of Persia. Instead, the story goes, when she
learned of Haman's wicked plot to have the Jews
slaughtered, she bravely went unsummoned to King
Ahasuerus and revealed the treachery.
That Haman and his henchmen were hanged was
an incidental outcome. The important fact was that
by a brave and pacific act, one woman wrote herself
into the book of history. No need to blow herself
up. No need to inspire others to "martyrdom."
The world remembers the Esthers because they act in
selfless and positive ways, to make life better for all. Think
about all the wonderful examples of just the last quarter
century, like Nobel Prize winners Betty Williams and
Mairead Corrigan, honored for trying to end the violence
in Northern Ireland, and Jody Williams, who
led an international campaign to ban land-
mines. Think of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
or think of Mother Teresa, women who made
the world better without killing innocent civilians.
Only a people that demeans its own women could
believe that Wafa Idris is a wonderful role model. If
a Palestinian history is read several millennia from
now, her name will not be remembered. However
large she looms in the Arab press today, the futility
of her act will not even warrant a footnote because
what she did inspires only sadness. She cannot be a
reason for getting intoxicated with joy.
EDITORIAL
Way Two: It is heartening to read that at least one
Arab leader may dare to stand up for giving Israel
international recognition.
The plan, as outlined by Saudi Crown Prince
Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Suad in an interview
because only a fraction of the children of such mar-
riages regard themselves as Jews.
Ultimately, unless we take tuition limits seriously,
we risk losing to the well-regarded public school sys-
item more and more families who want the benefits
of a day school education, but who are stretched to
afford even today's tuition.
❑
with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman,
would have Israel withdraw to the 1967 boundaries
— except in Jerusalem — and recognize a
Palestinian state. In return, the Arab states would
recognize Israel's sovereignty, would normalize
diplomatic and trade relations with the Jewish state
and provide meaningful guarantees for its security.
The tough issues of control of Jerusalem and the
right of return for Palestinian refugees would be left
for future negotiation.
The immediate issue is not whether this is or isn't
a sound plan for bringing some lasting peace to the
region. What is noteworthy is the possible begin-
ning of an Arab realization that they must lead
because the Palestinians are not able to find their
own way out of the dead-end they have reached.
For long, wasted years, the Arab leaders have
confined themselves to either silence or anti-
Zionist rhetoric. They found it convenient to let
the terms of the debate be set by Palestinian
Authority leader Yasser Arafat and the Palestine
Liberation Organization, in effect letting the tail
wag the dog.
The prince's initiative may not come to much.
Israel, and its American allies, may not find it a
worthy basis for talks. But the fact is that he
deserves credit for a responsible and necessary step
that his fellow leaders have feared to take. ❑
2/22
2002
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