Are you a polar bear, a pika, or a cuttlefish? A lesson for Jewish day schools

We typically assume that climate change is an unmitigated disaster for everyone and everything. The plight of polar bears on receding ice caps is well known, as is that of coral reefs and certain types of butterflies. Some species, though, are actually thriving in the midst of changed conditions. For instance, jellyfish populations are exploding. Because of milder winters, wild boars are thriving; so are cuttlefish. As the climate transforms, some species adapt and thrive, others decline, and still others find new ways to survive against the odds.

What do these ruminations have to with Jewish education?

The team at Rosov Consulting, where I am the principal and managing director, recently conducted a study initiated by UnitEd, on behalf of the Israeli government’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, on the impact of rising antisemitism on Jewish day schools worldwide, with a special focus on trends since October 7, 2023. What we found is that, much like the natural world’s varied response to climate change, some cities’ Jewish day schools have thrived since October 7, while others have struggled to adapt. Those differences prompt the question of what it takes for communities — and specifically their schools — to adapt to rapidly changing times. Which resemble polar bears and which look more like cuttlefish?

Jews everywhere are experiencing profound social and cultural changes in how their fellow non-Jewish citizens relate to them. Jewish communities in North America, Europe, Australasia, and, to a lesser extent, Latin America, are seeing generationally high incidences of antisemitism; they are feeling much less secure than 10 or 20 years ago. In the course of our study, we reviewed such phenomena, and it is clear that few countries have avoided these trends.

These patterns are widely known by now; they don’t need repeating here. What is much less well known — and the prompt for our work — is what these changes have meant for Jewish day schools and especially for Jewish day school enrollment. How have schools fared in this changing climate? Our analysis of enrollment data and our interviews with school heads revealed widely varying responses. We found polar bears, cuttlefish, and pikas. And those variations are instructive.

Paris

Like the pika, small alpine mammals that are running out of high-altitude habitats due to global warming, Jewish schools in Paris are being acutely challenged to adapt and thrive. Over the last decade, due to a decline in the quality of public education and because of concerns about violence and antisemitism, about 2,000 students a year from religiously traditional families transferred from public schools to Jewish day schools. These trends meant that, even prior to October 7, many Jewish schools (especially in and around Paris) were already operating at capacity.

Since then, there has been a further surge of interest from secular families wanting to leave private schools due to antisemitic incidents. But without creating more capacity — without opening new schools and new kinds of schools for secular Jewish families — the Jewish community will struggle to meet such demand. This type of work requires both short-term flexibility — temporary classrooms to accommodate an influx of learners and expanded teacher rosters, for example — and long-term visioning. Should Parisienne schools fail to adapt to the present climate in their city, much like the pika, they will run out of supportive habitats. 

Toronto

Like cuttlefish, a species that reproduces quickly and has adapted well to rising ocean temperatures, Jewish day schools in Toronto have responded nimbly and decisively to the changing socio-political climate. Incidences of antisemitism in Toronto public schools have been less frequent and extreme than in France, and yet aggregate enrollment in non-Haredi schools has consistently risen for the last five years, in the last year by almost three percent. Schools attribute these increases in part to rising antisemitism in public schools. 

No less important, and where the adaptiveness of the local Federation has been decisive, the community launched a massive endowment project about four years ago to make tuition more accessible. In the last 18 months, it has instituted an initiative to help public school students transfer to day school Hebrew and Jewish studies. This September, with Federation help, three schools are opening additional kindergarten classes to accommodate a surge in demand. 

Australia

In a community that has long boasted one of the highest rates of day school enrollment in the world, Australian day schools started to experience declining numbers between 2020 and 2023. Like polar bears losing their sea ice, these schools seemed to be losing the stable conditions that once allowed them to thrive: community cohesion, religious traditionalism, and affordable tuition. In 2024, the first full school year after October 7, that decline halted; there was even a marginal increase in enrollment. 

Nevertheless, despite numerous antisemitic incidents, stabilized enrollment numbers may not have been caused by the rise in antisemitism, but rather by the development of a new community-wide scholarship registration mechanism. Like the polar bear, where as bad as things look right now the full impact of climate change is yet to be seen, it is premature to definitively explain the Australian case. What is worth noting is that without further adaptation, these communities may miss a generational opportunity to regrow their schools.

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Species only thrive in changing climates when they adapt. The communities that have seen the greatest enrollment increases are not necessarily those that have witnessed the greatest changes in the local social and cultural climate. They are places where interventions have been put in place in response to or in anticipation of the changing climate — responses such as alternative tuition programs, focused efforts on kindergarten recruitment, and concierge-style programs where community programs help guide parents’ school choices. Unlike some of the other inhabitants of Planet Earth who are unable to choose how to respond to changing circumstances, our communities and schools can choose whether to be like polar bears, pika, or cuttlefish. 

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The study described here and this blog post were written in partnership with Matt Reingold, senior project lead at Rosov Consulting, and newest member of the Rosov Consulting team. Matt is editor of Education after October 7: Essays about teaching and learning in the Jewish diaspora – due for release next month.