More Jewish children, not another campus
The news that investor Alon Abadi donated a reported $100 million campus to Chabad was met with admiration and gratitude, and rightly so. Any act of generosity toward Jewish life deserves respect. Chabad has done remarkable work worldwide, and Jewish centers play an important role in community, learning, and connection.
But if we are being serious about the future of the Jewish people, it is worth asking whether this was the most urgent place for such an extraordinary gift.
Because while Jewish centers are plentiful, Jewish children are becoming fewer.
Across the United States and around the world, Jewish families are quietly making painful decisions. Some are choosing not to send their children to Jewish schools. Others are choosing not to have additional children at all, not because they do not value Jewish life, but because they simply cannot afford it.
I have personally met Jewish friends in Los Angeles who have said plainly that they do not think they can afford another child partially because of the cost of Jewish education. These are committed, thoughtful Jews who want to raise Jewish families. The barrier is not values. It is tuition.
The Unspoken Crisis of Jewish Tuition
Jewish day school tuition in many cities rivals, and sometimes exceeds, private college costs. For middle-class families who earn too much to qualify for meaningful financial aid but nowhere near enough to pay comfortably, the numbers simply do not work.
As a result, families make compromises:
- One child instead of two
- Public school instead of Jewish day school
- Supplemental education instead of immersive Jewish education
Over time, these compromises compound. Communities shrink not because people do not care, but because participation becomes financially unsustainable.
This is not a marginal issue. It is a structural problem facing Jewish continuity.
Imagine a Different Use of $100 Million
Imagine if a gift of this magnitude had gone toward a Jewish tuition fund designed to support families across regions, backgrounds, and denominations.
Such a fund could be structured as a permanent endowment, professionally managed, with part of the principal invested so it grows over time. Annual distributions could provide tuition assistance to thousands of families year after year.
Instead of supporting one physical campus, the impact would reach Jewish homes, classrooms, and children around the world.
That kind of investment would not just sustain institutions. It would sustain people.
Buildings Do Not Secure the Future. Children Do.
We already have many synagogues, centers, campuses, and organizations in Los Angeles and across the country. Many struggle not because they lack buildings, but because they lack enough young families to fill them. I understand that this particular gift was intended as a gesture of gratitude for support Chabad provided to Abadi’s family years ago. This argument is not meant to single out one donation, but to raise a broader question about communal priorities going forward. At the same time, Jewish schools themselves must also be part of the solution, finding ways to control costs, rethink models, and make tuition more affordable for the families they hope to serve.
A Jewish center without children is ultimately unsustainable.
This is not an argument against Chabad. I come from a Chabad family and received rabbinical ordination from a Chabad yeshivah, nor is this a criticism of generosity. The Lubavitcher Rebbe was known for personally helping families with the costs of weddings and other financial needs, underscoring that supporting Jewish families has always been central to Chabad’s mission.
This is a question of communal priorities. If given the choice between another Jewish center and helping Jewish families afford to raise Jewish children, the choice should be obvious. Ideally, we would do both. But if we must choose, Jewish continuity and more Jewish children must come first. A gift of $100 million toward a tuition endowment could not only provide direct assistance to families, but also fund programs to work with schools on innovative ways to reduce tuition, making Jewish education more sustainable and accessible over the long term.
A Call to Jewish Philanthropy
Jewish philanthropy has always been visionary. Today, it must also be practical.
If we want Jewish continuity, vibrant communities, and engaged future generations, affordable Jewish education is not optional. It is foundational.
The most enduring Jewish legacy is not a name on a building.
It is a child who grows up Jewish and is able to remain so.
