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{{Short description|Modern Jewish educational institution}}
{{Hatnote|See [[yeshiva]] and [[Bais Yaakov]] for strictly Orthodox (mostly [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]]) Jewish schools.}}A '''Jewish day school''' is a modern Jewish educational institution that is designed to provide children of [[Jews|Jewish]] parents with both a Jewish<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/nyregion/new-york-city-eases-pre-k-rules-to-allow-prayer-breaks.html
|date=February 19, 2015  |author=SHARON OTTERMAN
|title=City Eases Pre-K Rules to Allow Prayer Breaks}}</ref> and a [[secular education]] in one school on a full-time basis. The term "[[day school]]"<ref>"Day school definition, a school open for instruction on weekdays only, usually from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. {{cite web
|url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/day-school |title=Day school - dictionary.com}}</ref> is used to differentiate schools attended during the day from [[Hebrew school|part time weekend schools]] as well as secular or religious "[[boarding school]]" equivalents where the students live full-time as well as study. The substance of the "Jewish" component varies from school to school, community to community, and usually depends on the [[Jewish denominations]] of the schools' founders. While some schools may stress [[Judaism]] and [[Torah study]] others may focus more on [[Jewish history]], [[Hebrew language]], [[Yiddish language]], [[Jewish culture]], and [[Zionism]].

==Types==
Not all Jewish day schools are the same. While they may all teach Jewish studies or various parts of [[Torah]] and [[Tanakh]], these studies may be taught from various points of view depending on each school's educational policies, the board of directors in charge, and the nature and make-up of both the student body and the professional teaching staff.

The majority of Jewish day schools teach classes between [[Kindergarten]] and [[8th grade]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jewish Studies in Day School: A View into the Present and Future - Jewish Theological Seminary |url=https://www.jtsa.edu/hidden-page/jewish-studies-in-day-school-a-view-into-the-present-and-future/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=www.jtsa.edu |language=en-US}}</ref> Some day schools may be entirely religious, and indeed most [[yeshiva]]s ([[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox]] schools that emphasize [[Talmud]]ic studies) are day schools. However, the traditional yeshivas are different institutions when compared to [[Modern Orthodox Judaism|Modern Orthodox]] Jewish day schools. While traditional [[Haredi Judaism|Haredi]] and [[Hasidic Judaism|Hasidic]] yeshivas are only for boys, with girls attending [[Beis Yaakov]] schools, they do not encourage their students to plan for college education and professional careers. On the other hand, Modern Orthodox day schools are often [[coeducation]]al and stress the secular component of the curriculum, as many parents wish to have their children educated at a high enough level to be admitted to college and university in order to train for a profession.

The [[Solomon Schechter Day School Association|Solomon Schechter Day Schools]] in the United States and Canada teach Judaism from the perspective of [[Conservative Judaism]], and there are schools that similarly teach Judaism from a [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] or even non-denominational perspective. These latter are usually called pluralist day schools, and many belong to RAVSAK, a network of pluralist day schools.

Jewish day schools may be entirely secular. One of the largest day schools in the world is the [[King David Schools, Johannesburg|King David School system]] in [[Johannesburg]], [[South Africa]] that educated thousands of Jewish students, stressing the teaching of [[Hebrew language]] and [[Zionism]], since the majority of students and the teachers are not fully religiously observant.

In many Jewish day schools, students are taught to read, speak, and understand the Hebrew language. Usually beginning in grade school, students have intensive Hebrew studies. This is challenging for many students, since Hebrew uses different letters and a different script than [[English language|English]], [[French language|French]], and other languages that use the [[Latin alphabet]].<ref>[http://www.ancientscripts.com/hebrew.html Ancient Scripts].</ref>

==History==
The first Jewish day school in North America was established in 1731 at the [[Congregation Shearith Israel]]. [[German Jewish]] immigrants who arrived in the 19th century establish day schools in their own communities, but this movement to establish Jewish day schools had lost momentum by the 1870s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Jewish Schooling in America |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-schooling/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=My Jewish Learning |language=en-US}}</ref> This was caused by the perception among American Jews that not sending your children to public schools was "un-American".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2021-01-18 |title=Will Jewish schools finally address their segregationist past? |url=https://forward.com/culture/451039/jewish-day-schools-segregation-history/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2018-08-29 |title=A History of Jewish Day Schools |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-rise-of-jewish-day-schools |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Tablet Magazine}}</ref> Most American Jewish day schools founded in the late 19th and early 20th century were Orthodox and [[Ultra Orthodox]] institutions founded by recent immigrants, modelled after Eastern European [[cheder]]s, which emphasized religious learning over general studies. During the [[interwar period]] of the 1920s and 1930s, a movement began in the United States to create modernized Jewish day schools which were more secular and emphasized general studies alongside Jewish learning, as well as [[Liberal Jewish]] schools.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Kara |last=Baskin |title=A Local (Somewhat Brief) History of Jewish Day Schools |url=http://www.jewishboston.com/read/a-local-somewhat-brief-history-of-jewish-day-schools/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=JewishBoston |language=en-US}}</ref> Between 1917 and 1939, over 23 Jewish day schools were founded in the New York Metropolitan area.<ref name=":1" />

After [[The Holocaust]] and the aftermath of [[World War II]], the interest in Jewish day schools increased dramatically.<ref name=":0" /> In 1944, [[Torah Umesorah]] was founded<ref name="BloomB">{{cite web
|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profiles/companies/0275591D:US-national-society-for-hebrew-day-schools
|title=National Society For Hebrew Day Schools|website=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|title=Community and Polity: The Organizational Dynamics of American Jewry
|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=082760565X  |isbn=082760565X
|author=Daniel Judah Elazar  |date=1995| publisher=Jewish Publication Society }}</ref> to expand the number of Jewish day schools, especially beyond those already found in New York City.<ref name="Mishpacha">{{cite web  |date=March 16, 2011  |author=Dovid Sussman  |url=http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/853/In-the-Land-of-No-He-Said-YES  |title=In the Land of No, He Said YES  }}{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Day schools<ref>"Founded in 1969. The Day School is one of the best preschools in the ... area." {{cite web |title=Preschool, Mothers Morning Out - The Day School |url=http://www.thedayschool-sscc.org}}</ref><ref>"It was graduation day for the Steppingstone Day School in Kew Gardens, Queens, and the 5-year-olds in their little white gowns and mortarboards ..." {{cite news
|newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 23, 1993 |author=Michael T. Kaufman |title=A Graduation Ceremony Earns Special Cheers
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/06/23/nyregion/about-new-york-a-graduation-ceremony-earns-special-cheers.html}}</ref> were established in great numbers in the [[United States]] and in other Western countries such as [[Canada]], [[England]], [[South Africa]], [[Australia]], and in [[South America]]. In the United States the dislike for, and decline of, the old-fashioned [[Talmud Torah]]s and a disenchantment with [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]] led to a push for the formation of full-time all-day dual-[[curriculum]] schools. The Talmud Torah system of afternoon schools was deemed "failing to transmit ''[[Yiddishkeit]]'' in a compelling manner to students who arrived tired in the afternoons and were constantly subjected to assimilationist influences in American culture."<ref name="HaModia">{{cite news |date=June 23, 2016 |title=This Day In History 18 Sivan/June 24 |newspaper=HaModia |url=https://hamodia.com/columns/day-history-18-sivanjune-24/}}</ref>

[[White flight school|White flight]], caused by the [[Desegregation in the United States|Desegregation of American schools]], also led to increasing numbers of Jewish day schools as parents removed their children from public schools.<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Rivka |last1=Press Schwartz |date=2020-04-24 |title=Race and Us: White Flight and Jewish Day Schools |url=https://www.hartman.org.il/race-and-us-white-flight-and-jewish-day-schools/ |access-date=2022-05-19 |website=Shalom Hartman Institute |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1960, approximately 60,000 children in the United States, 10% of the school age Jewish population, attended Jewish day schools.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Rosenfeld Gorsetman |first1=Chaya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptMVAgAAQBAJ&dq=jewish+day+school&pg=PR9 |title=Educating in the Divine Image: Gender Issues in Orthodox Jewish Day Schools |last2=Maryles Sztokman |first2=Elana |date=2013-10-01 |publisher=Brandeis University Press |isbn=978-1-61168-459-9 |pages=11 |language=en}}</ref> By 2014, there were 861 Jewish day schools in the United States, with an enrollment of 255,000 children.<ref>[http://avichai.org/knowledge_base/a-census-of-jewish-day-schools-in-the-united-states-2013-14-2014/ Avi Chai Census of Jewish Day Schools in the United States - 2013-14]</ref> [[Chabad]] day schools made up 9 percent of all US Jewish day schools, but have enrolled only 5 percent of students attending such schools.<ref>The Chabad Sociologist. (2013). "Comparing Full Time and Part Time Numbers at Chabad Schools". Chabadsociologist.wordpress.com. http://chabadsociologist.wordpress.com/2013/08/06/comparing-full-time-and-part-time-numbers-at-chabad-schools/.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Hebrew school]]
* [[Jewish education]]
* [[Private school]]
* [[Religious education]]
* [[Religious school]]
* [[Talmud Torah]]
* [[Yeshiva]]

== Further reading ==

* {{Cite book |last1=Pomson |first1=Alex |title=Inside Jewish Day Schools: Leadership, Learning, and Community |last2=Wertheimer |first2=Jack |publisher=[[Brandeis University Press]] |year=2022 |isbn=978-1684580699}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101111012106/http://www.peje.org/ Partnership for Excellence in Jewish Education]
*[http://www.lookstein.org/ The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education]
 
{{Jewish education}}
{{Jewish schools in the United States}}
{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States |Religious education}}
{{Jewish day schools in Canada}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Jewish day schools| ]]
[[Category:Jewish educational institutions]]
[[Category:School types]]