Ideas & Issues

Better Option

Enrollment up at French Jewish schools due to anti-Semitism, poor public schools.

"It's very worrying because there's more and more demand
PHILIP CARMEL
for places," Guez said. 'All the creches around here are full, so
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
the mothers either have to stop working or look around for
Paris
other alternatives."
desire for stronger Jewish identity is helping fuel
Numbers are up not just at Orthodox day schools.
skyrocketing enrollment at Jewish schools across
More than 80 percent of students in Jewish schools attend
France.
private
schools where the Ministry of Education pays teachers'
That thirst for Jewishness has been compounded
salaries
and enforces the national curriculum, Petit-Ohayon
by disillusionment with French public schools and a wave of
said.
This
shows they are not opting out of French society
anti-Semitic attacks across the country.
entirely.
The
other 20 percent study in fervently Orthodox
With more than 30,000 students beginning the year in
schools that do not need to follow
Jewish schools, the United Jewish
the state curriculum.
Social Funds — French Jewry's
The network of institutions run
umbrella social and educational
"I don't want m y kids to be
by
ORT also is reporting a sharp
agency, known by the acronym
increase
in enrollment.
FSJU — estimates that around half in a position o f not knowing
Guy
Sepiak,
director-general of
of all school-age Jewish children in
ORT
in
France,
said demand for
about
Judaism.
France attend Jewish schools.
spots
is
particularly
high among
—
Sabine
Smadjar
Sabine Smadjar, a mother of two
junior high school students as
girls, lives next to a Parisian high
Jewish parents want to pull their
school that a Jewish student had to
children
out
of
state-run
schools
due to falling educational
leave earlier this year because of constant anti-Semitic abuse.
standards
and
a
fear
of
anti-Semitism.
Smadjar didn't have to think hard before registering her
With rising demand at ORT schools in the Paris suburbs,
school-age child at one of the largest and oldest Jewish schools
classes
at those institutions are so full that ORT is restricting
in Paris, Lucien de Hirsch.
its
acceptance
of non-Jewish children. At ORT's largest school
But even though Smadjar is a former student there, her
in the Paris region, Jewish students now make up 95 percent
child may not have a place at Lucien de Hirsch this year: The
of the student body, up from 75 percent last year.
school had about 1,500 applications, for far fewer spots, said
Patrick Petit-Ohayon, director of education for FSJU.
Other Influences
Since 2000, enrollment in France's Jewish schools has risen
Teacher
strikes in French public schools last year, and higher
by 3 percent a year. This year, early FSJU estimates put the
standardized
test scores at private and parochial institutions,
growth figure at 4 percent.
also
have
contributed
to the shift away from public schools.
Smadjar said the main reason for putting her daughter in a
"There is a certain crisis within the state sector, and Jewish
Jewish school was a desire to build her Jewish identity "I don't
parents are often just as likely to send their children to non-
want my kids to be in a position of not knowing about
Jewish
— and even Catholic — private schools," Petit-
Judaism," she said.
Ohayon
said.
But for Smadjar's husband, Yann, security was at least as big
However,
he rejected the notion that FSJU was unable to
a concern. "If we stay in France, it's vital that we send the chil-
meet
the
demand
for Jewish education. He said the FSJU
dren to a Jewish school," he said. "That applies as much to a
prefers
to
increase
the numbers of classes within existing
nursery school as it does to a high school because today, there
schools
rather
than
building new schools. "We have to be
are so many problems with the state sector over subjects such
careful. There was a similar rise in the early 1990s and there
as educating about the Shoah."
were demands to build, but it leveled off toward the end of
the decade, when the schools were still not full."
Growth Spurt
But, he added, "since the beginning of the second
At Yabne, a big Jewish school in the south of Paris, parents
[Palestinian]
intifada and the rise in anti-Semitism, we're back
who want their children to start school at age 3 have to regis-
to
those
earlier
figures."
ter a child by the January following his or her birth.
A
new
poll
by
a demographer at Israel's Bar-Ilan University
But newer schools that still have room for more students
showed that 6 percent of French Jews plan to move to Israel,
are where the numbers are really burgeoning.
with 36 percent saying they might consider the option.
Laurence Guez, a mother from an Orthodox neighborhood
"We have to see how things evolve," Petit-Ohayon said in a
in Paris, said extra classes had been added this year for some
recent
interview with the French Jewish weekly Actualite Jitive.
grades at her children's Chabad-Lubavitch-run school, Sinai.
"Taking
into account the increasingly massive aliyah of French
Guez, also director of a Lubavitch nursery school, or creche,
Jews,
it
would
be a shame to open schools that later risk being
said that this year she was unable to accept any more children
empty.
t_J
at her own institution.

Remember
When •

From the pages of the Jewish News
from this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50
and 60 years ago.

To commemorate the 50th anniver-
sary of the Danish government's
refusal to participate in the Nazis'
final solution, the Detroit Jewish
community is spearheading a cam-
paign to thank the Danish people
for their courage and compassion.

198'

The Jewish Historical Society o
Michigan dedicates a historical
marker in memory of David
Heineman, designer of the city of
Detroit flag.

Detroiter Celia Meyers Broder is
honored with this year's Butzel
award, Detroit Jewry's top honor.

United Hebrew Schools announces
the new affiliation with Temple
Beth-Am in Livonia for a special
Hebrew school program for temple
members.
Mrs. Max Sacks of Rimat Gan,
Israel, a leading member of the
Israel Mizrachi Women's
Organization of America, will
address the inaugural tea of the
Batya Chapter in Detroit.

- wommigarwm

Tova Ronai, young Israeli singer
and dramatic star, will be featured
at the Julius M. Singer testimonial
dinner in Detroit.

Kopel Kahn, Henry C. Keywell an
Isidore Kowal, co-owners of the
Barium Hotel in Detroit, will offer
free lodging, meals and transporta-
tion to 250 servicemen for Rosh
Hashanah.
Rabbi Bernard Zeiger of Temple
Beth Israel of Jackson has accepted
the call to become rabbi of Temple
Emanuel of Roanoke, Va.

— Compiled by Hol6iTeasdle,
archivist, the Rabbi Leo M Franklin
Archives of Temple Beth El

10/10

2003

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