Back to School: Jewish Day School in the Lives of Adult Jews

Index

Index 179 Adon Olam, 118 adult study groups, 156 baalei teshuvah, 143 “believing without belonging,” 7, 25 Ben Gurion Jewish Day School (pseud.), 14, 20, 25, 41, 134, 145; parents, 47, 52, 56 Berger, Peter, 6–7, 9 bet kenesset (house of meeting), 16, 90, 91–96, 159 bet midrash (house of study), 16, 90, 95, 96–103, 159 bet tephilah (house of prayer), 90, 103–9, 159 birkat hamazon, 115 birthright Israel trips, 155 Bolman, L. G., and Deal, T. E., 70, 74, 78, 82 book fair, 83 brachot, 115 Canadian Jews, more traditional than American Jews, 19–20 case study approach, 9, 133 Centerville (pseud.) Jewish day schools, 137; affiliation with particular Jewish denominations, 23; Frankel School, 15, 134, 137, 143–44; Hafetz Haim School, 15, 134, 137, 143; Hirsch Academy, 15, 134, 139–40, 146–47; Leo Baeck Academy, 134, 136, 138–39, 145–46, 149–50; as typical suburban denominational schools, 21–22 challah, 121 Chanukah program, 83, 106–10 charter schools, 2 Chumash, 147 Cohen, Steven M., 7, 8, 57–58 Coleman, J., 39 Coleman Report of 1966, 2 collective effervescence, 106 communitas, 104, 138 communities of kinship, neighborhood , and mind, 60, 92 “community of difference,” search for, 61–62 conversionary families, 127, 149; anxieties about belonging, 61; limited Jewish social and cultural capital, 126 cultural construction, subatomic work of, 88, 130 cultural ghettoization, concerns about, 40, 43, 58 culture, poststructural view of, 5–6 Danforth Jewish Circle, 128 davening, 115 Davidman, Lynn, 90, 156 Davie, Grace, 7 derech eretz, 30 Dewey, John, 3 document analysis, 15 “downtown” day schools, 21 Downtown Jewish Day School (DJDS): admissions, 29; annual Chanukah performance, 106–10; behavior, dress, and dietary codes, 30–31; commitment to religious and ideological pluralism, 10, 11, 23, 29, 33; commitment to the “core of the city of Toronto,” 32; common elements with other public and private schools, 12; communal and educational context, 19–21; comparison of sample schools with, 135; and Downtown Jewish Day School (DJDS) (continued) “construction of “downtownness,” 20, 23; created by parents, 18, 79; enactment of its philosophy, 33–35; establishment with matching funds from private foundation, 21; faculty, 26–27, 84; families, 24–26; governance , 28–29; integration of Jewish and general curriculum, 32; lack of correlation between satisfaction with quality of education and ongoing enrollment, 69; limited significance of Canadian context in study of, 148–50; openness to nontraditional family structures, 23; school ceremonies, 83, 104–10; sixth-grade graduation, 105; small size and social cohesion among adults and children, 136, 137; statements of school’s philosophy, 31–33; students , 12, 27–28; as “thin place,” 109, 164; three functions traditionally performed by synagogue, 90; tuition and subsidies, 29–30; typical of non-Orthodox day school, 11; as value community, 12 Downtown Jewish Day School (DJDS) PARENTS, 9; children’s school experiences as portals to Jewish life for parents, 86–87; disengagement from denominational Jewish life, 24–25; emotion-laden assumptions about Judaism and education, 98, 115–16; founding parents, 75, 76, 79; school serves need historically provided by synagogue, 85, 90, 159; sense of themselves as “downtown” people, 50, 73–74, 92, 129; tendency to be nonconformists, 125; utopianism, 103, 138 Downtown Jewish Day School (DJDS) PARENTS, EFFECTS OF SCHOOL ON, 35–36; as bet kenesset (site for social fellowship), 91–96; as bet midrash (site for adult learning), 96–103; as bet tephilah (site of religious and spiritual inspiration, 103–9; building of Jewish social and cultural capital, 130–31; development of adult Jewish life at home, 111–12; effects of children bringing school into homes, 112–15; generational shift in center of gravity of family, 121–22; integration of adaptations with existing family culture, 129, 160; reassessment of views of themselves as secular Jews, 97–98; sense of communitas, 103–4, 129, 130 Downtown Jewish Day School (DJDS) PARENTS, INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL: assistance with “kabbalat Shabbat,” 13–14; board involvement as source of Jewish engagement, 93–94; campaign for middle school expansion, 94–96; effect of newness of school on, 137–41; formation of “functional community,” 12; intense political activity, 80–82; involvement provides possibility of self-affirmation, 85–86; involvement tied to dynamic of school choice, 76–77; involvement tied to strong educational convictions, 72–74; and limited Jewish social and cultural capital, 129, 141–42, 147; parent committees, 74–75; parents as governors attempting to shape policy, 78–82; parents as members of a selfchosen community, 82–88; parents as...