BaltimoreJewishLife.com | U.S. Hebrew Schools See Sharp Drop In Enrollment, Face Closures

Falling membership at synagogues could be a contributing factor, said a senior managing director at a Jewish education non-profit

Across the United States, Hebrew schools are shutting down in droves and student enrollment has been almost halved. A new report by The Jewish Education Project covering 2006 to 2020 found there was less interest in learning about Judaism.

About 27-percent of schools teaching Jewish history and rituals, Hebrew and Torah, were closed in the 14 years examined by the nonprofit. In addition to the school closures, the same period saw 45-percent drop in enrollment in said institutions.

Speaking on the likely causes, falling membership at synagogues could have contributed, Rabbi Dena Klein, The Jewish Education Project's senior managing director of new models, said to Axios.

“There are a number of changes in the way that Jewish Americans are living their lives today that may cause them to be less likely to seek out Jewish education in religious school settings," said Klein, but “they [the schools] all said that one of their priorities was creating a sense of belonging."

That being said, the Jewish population in America grew from an estimated 5.3 million, or 2.2-percent of U.S adults, up to 5.8 million in 2020, according to a 2013 Pew Research Center survey.

Sharp increase in anti-Semitism

A report found a sharp increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States and other Western countries in 2022, with visibly identifiable ultra-Orthodox Jews the main victims of the assaults. The study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Israel’s Tel Aviv University (TAU) and published in collaboration with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Dr. Carl Yonker, a senior researcher at the Center, pointed to a trend of the “normalization of crazy conspiracies” in U.S. public discourse. New York City recorded the most anti-Semitic assaults of all cities worldwide.

May 2023 was declared Jewish American Heritage Month by U.S. President Joe Biden. In a statement, he called upon “all Americans to learn more about the heritage and contributions of Jewish Americans,” and Biden added, ““I will not remain silent in the face of this anti-Semitic venom, vitriol, and violence.”