Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic Schooling in Canada

1. The Jewish Day Schools of Canada

25 CHAPTER ONE THE JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS OF CANADA Seymour Epstein Introduction While this chapter will deal primarily with Jewish day-school education in Canada, it is important at the outset to properly define the borders of Jewish education as it is perceived by the Jewish community. Until the enlightenment in Europe, all Jewish education was religious in nature, a direct result of the famous verse in Deuteronomy 6:7: “Impress them upon your children . Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.”1 This commandment (mitzvah) to transmit “them”—meaning the texts, values, laws, and customs—from one generation of Jews to the next, and to have study pervade all of human existence, is the root cause of the deep passion that Jews have had for education across the ages and throughout the world. In the modern age this commandment has manifested itself among all kinds of Jews: the secular of all stripes and the religious of all denominations . In Canada, while the first half of the twentieth century saw several large Jewish secular schools thrive in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec , by the end of that century most Jewish day schools were religious institutions or, at least, gave some religious instruction. In addition to the diverse array of institutions that have been created by Jews in their efforts to interpret the command to educate their children , another important aspect of Jewish education is that it is not solely for young students. As implied in that verse from Deuteronomy—which AIMS AND PRACTICES 26 requires both that the commandments are passed down to one’s children and that each person continue to recite them every day—Jewish study is meant to be a lifetime pursuit, and institutions for advanced adult study exist in every viable Jewish community. These range from synagogue-based (and obviously denominational) courses to academic Jewish studies on the campuses of Canadian universities. While the latter are clearly secular and scientific in nature, the liberal sector of the Jewish community views them as a legitimate form of Jewish study. The various strands of Orthodoxy have mixed views of academic Jewish studies and maintain many of their own institutions for the observance of the study commandment: yeshivot (for single men), kollelim (for married men), and women’s study groups. All of these have the purpose of both teaching Jewish traditional texts and educating toward a full observance of Jewish customs and values. Jewish education for children and young adults exists in three different spheres: 1. day schools with a full daytime curriculum of general and Jewish studies; 2. complementary schools (once called supplementary schools, and before that, Talmudei Torah) with after-hours and weekend schedules and a curriculum of only Jewish studies; 3. the informal domain of youth groups, summer camps, and educational trips to Israel. Each of these different programs exists in all of the various religious streams with curricula that are specific to each type of school. This diversity in Jewish educational options is most evident in the subject of this chapter, the 74 day schools across Canada, situated in the cities of relatively large Jewish populations: Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg , London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. In Toronto, for example, it is common to find two such schools situated next to each other on one city block but with very different Jewish studies curricula due to vast ideological differences. This theme of diversity will be illustrated throughout the chapter by references to the schools, their differing curricula, and the wide spectrum of their educational objectives. The differences in ideology , religious denomination, and pedagogical style are significant and make it clear that Jewish schooling across Canada is not a single entity, but rather a multi-faceted mosaic. The Canadian Jewish community shares many similarities with the American Jewish community to its south. In addition to shared European THE JEWISH DAY SCHOOLS OF CANADA | EPSTEIN 27 historical influences and roots, its pattern of integration and assimilation into the broader community is similar. Comparisons to American schools, therefore, can help illuminate the distinctiveness of Jewish schooling in Canada. A major factor that distinguishes Canadian Jewish education from its counterpart in the much larger community of the United States is the percentage of children in day schools. In the United States, most Jewish children attending a formal Jewish school are in complementary schools...