Providing a Jewish education for every Jewish child is a goal that the Torah world should truly strive for. Money should never ever be an obstacle to that. No matter what the financial condition of any parent or his disposition to Torah is. The decision to educate ones children Jewishly should be free of any financial impediments so that anyone can send his child to a religious school as easily as to a public school.
But is that possible? Or is it a pipe dream? I think it’s possible.
And the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago has taken a big step in that direction. Too acheive the goal of a new initiative many of the wealthiest Orthodox Jews in Chicago have already pledged major sums of money to it. But before I get to a description of this project, a question arises. Should one ever support an institution like the Federation that gives money equally to Orthodox day schools and non orthodox day schools? The answer seems to be a resounding yes!
There has been much discussion in the world of Orthodoxy about local Jewish federations and their relationship with the Torah world. The argument has been that the Torah world should avoid supporting them at all even if it means forgoing theor contributions since many of their leaders often anti Frum. The claim is that they throw ‘peanuts’ at us that come with unwanted strings attached and in exchange we give credibility to an organization that supports heterodox movements that are antithetical to Torah Judaism.
I can’t speak for communities outside of Chicago, but this has not been the attitude here. The Torah world not only advocates supporting the Jewish Fedration, but is the beneficiary of tremendous financial support from it. The Federation not only supports religious institutions financially, it supports them morally as well. Federation leadership here has learned long ago the value of Jewish education and has been prioritizing much of its monetary allocations to religious schools of all denominations. The Orthodox day schools are the largest beneficiaries of those funds. We get the lion’s share of that money. By far. That’s because we have the most educational institutions.
This didn’t happen over-night. The relationships we in the Torah world have with the Federation was cultivated over decades by dedicated Orthodox lay and religious leadership that has been on the Federation board during all that time. Relationships of true friendship now exist between us.
And this is one of many reasons Chicago does not seem to be going through the tremendous struggles and high tuitions that many other Jewish communities are enduring. This doesn’t mean that every day school is flush with money, far from it. Many are still operating on deficit budgets. But not all are and certainly not as much as other Jewish communities it seems.
The project at hand is the creation of an endowment fund. This is an unprecedented fund-raising initiative... at least here in the Chicago Jewish community. From the Federation’s JUF News website:
The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago crafted a plan targeting the schools' greatest financial dilemma: how to create a long-term source of funding as they struggle to find money for immediate needs. Working with 15 schools throughout the Chicago area, the Federation agreed to ask major donors to pledge $100,000 or more each to its Jewish Day School Guaranty Trust, an endowment that will generate revenue for the schools in perpetuity. Then, to meet current needs, the Federation came up with a way to significantly boost payments to the schools even before that money is received.
What makes this so incredible is that there actually is enough wealth in this community for such a project to succeed. I presume that not only will Orthodox benefactors contribute but so too will many non Orthodox ones.
I have always maintained that the crises in funding Jewish education was solvable. That there was enough wealth in the Torah world to do it. That the typical middle class parent does not have to be milked bone dry by oppressive tuition bills that actually lower the standard of living for many families so that their children will receive a decent Torah education. And this project proves it. The money is indeed there.
But what about the concern that money donated to this project will also go toward supporting heterodox movements?
Not a problem. At least not according to 2 of the biggest Torah personalities in the city and perhaps the United States or even the world:
Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Levin and Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, the pre-eminent spiritual leaders of Chicago's Orthodox community, have called the initiative "remarkable and innovative.…This program has our fullest support. We are deeply committed to helping it succeed.…There is no greater challenge for Tzedaka (charity) in our community than to significantly increase funding for day schools."
The first announced contributor to this fund is Andrew Hochberg. He is donating 1 million dollars. He is not Orthodox but is an active board member of the Federation.
But he is not the largest contributor. This morning I happened to see a donor list at Bnei Ruven where I attend a Daf Yomi Shiur. There were many familiar names on that list in various different categories... many people I know, many of those I am friends with. But there was only one name at the top, in a category by himself: Rabbi Morris I. Esformes.
