Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsElliot SchwartzDr. Schwartz is Executive Director Emeritus, Bureau of Jewish Education of Rhode Island.

The focus of my remarks will be narrow: Title V of S.1141, the “AMERICA 2000 Excellence in Education Act.” This section of the bill, entitled “Parental Choice of Schools,” authorizes the appropriation of federal grants for local educational agencies that implement educational choice programs; assures that Chapter I remedial educational services will be available for children participating in educational choice programs; and provides special grants for educational choice programs of national significance. A key aspect of these provisions—and one of its most controversial — is the requirement that an “educational choice program” must include both public and nonpublic educational options. Thus, for example, section 523(b) defines “educational choice program” as: a program adopted by a State or by a local educational agency under which (1) parents select the school, including private schools, in which their children will be enrolled; and (2) sufficient financial support is provided to enable a significant num...

Wearing a swastika armband, I entered the classroom carrying a copy of Hitler's Mein Kampf. Placing it on the music stand I employed as a makeshift lectern, I peered around the room until the students became silent. Then I began to read sections of Hitler's venomous tome, the hateful words cutting through me like a knife. As I read, I noticed that a few students stiffened. I had students analyze Hitler's quotes, addressing them as either “Herr” or “Fraulein.” After this lesson, I explained why I used such tactics. I told them death and destruction during World War II was only part of studying the Holocaust. Learning where the Jew-hatred came from and its context within Nazism was also important. And that meant comprehending Mein Kampf. Closing the book, I removed the twisted cross and slowly tore it into small pieces.

The subject of Jewish family education has become prominent in the last few years. At one of a series of regional conferences on the subject, the author presented a keynote address1, whose theme revolved around perceptions of the “client,” and the need for the community to become committed to the idea of Jewish family education. There is a widespread recognition that Jewish survival cannot rely only on the education of children, but must rely on the education of their parents, too. Though Jewish educators have always known that the home needs to reinforce the school, it is only recently that concerted efforts have been made to conceptualize and develop programs for Jewish family education.

Introduction Family B'nai Mitzvah programming presents a “window of opportunity” for bringing parents and students together within a peer group setting and for community building within the synagogue setting.