California's failing economy is wreaking havoc on Jewish life and education. The longest recession since World War II has taken its heaviest toll among white-collar workers and professionals meaning that plenty of Jews have been hit.
That's led, in turn, to declining synagogue membership and enrollment in Jewish schools.
In the upmarket San Fernando Valley suburb of Encino, at least one religious institution is kicking back. Last month, the Conservative synagogue Valley Beth Shalom the first congregation in the U.S. to train "para-rabbinic" counselors ran ads offering no-questions-asked, free Hebrew school classes (valued at $ 600 per child) and reduced membership rates to all comers. Funding was raised internally from well-off members alarmed at the attrition rate in the community.
Within two weeks of announcing the new policy, observed a delighted Harold Schulweis, the congregation's rabbi, over 100 new families had signed up. "Jewish life has been pricing itself out of existence," Schulweis said. "Since 1960, the number of Jewish children enrolled in any kind of Jewish education has dropped by almost half. Schulweis regards the current effort as a pilot for an even more ambitious endeavor. "What I'd like to see," he says, "is the opening of our day school to those who may not be able to afford a tuition of $ 6,000 per child per year."
Local synagogues have adopted a wait-and-see posture toward the innovation. Undaunted, Schulweis has proposed his effort be adopted nationally. Sheli Teitelbaum / Los Angeles