entrance to an Islamic school

As a Jewish parent, I’m horrified by calls to ban Islamic schools

As a Jewish person, I am constantly reminded of my minority status, and the lack of understanding of my culture. Every Christmas, for example, I am asked how I am celebrating. I’m not, I tell them. Jews don’t celebrate Christmas.

And it’s fine. I get it. Australia is big, and the Jewish community is extremely small. I can’t expect everyone to understand who we are.

Having said that, I want my children to understand. I want them to be familiar with their cultural background and history. They are alive because their great-great-grandparents escaped pre-war Eastern Europe, and I want them to appreciate their heritage.

And so I enrolled them in a Jewish school. It is inclusive – all religions are welcome – but it incorporates Jewish Studies, Jewish History, and Hebrew (the language of prayer) into the weekly lessons.

The school doesn’t opt out of the standard Australian curriculum. The Jewish subjects are taught in addition to the secular subjects, meaning my kids’ school day is longer than those at public schools. They learn the meaning of each Jewish festival, they learn to sight read Hebrew, and they learn the history of the Holocaust and the Jewish people.

I am thrilled with the education they receive. My own knowledge of Jewish history and culture is patchy at best, and I simply could not offer my children that depth of understanding. What’s more, there is a sense of community at the school, a subgroup within the wider community, with families sharing a similar culture and heritage.

Read the full article by Kerri Sackville at The Sydney Morning Herald.