A Census of Jewish Schools in the Former Soviet Union for 1993-94 School Year

Sergio DellaPergola, Esther Bassan, Uzi Rebhun, and Dalia Sagi’s article reports a census of formal Jewish education in the former Soviet Union during the 1993/94 school year. Conducted within the Data Bank of Jewish Education in the Diaspora, the study aimed to document a rapidly emerging school system after decades in which most Jewish religious activity and formal Jewish education were forbidden. Using questionnaires and JDC survey data, the authors identified 218 Jewish schools in 13 former Soviet republics, serving 17,809 pupils with 2,041 teachers. About half the schools were in the other European republics, 42% in Russia, and 8% in Asian republics. Supplementary schools made up 73% of institutions, but day schools enrolled nearly half of pupils because they were larger. Most schools were non-Orthodox: 56% secular, 24% communal, 5% Reform, 11% Charedi, and 4% mainstream Orthodox; among pupils, 51% were in secular schools and about 20% in Orthodox schools. Enrollment increased dramatically—45% in one year among schools with comparable data, and 97% in day schools—despite continuing emigration. The authors compare the FSU to other Diaspora communities, noting smaller schools and lower coverage: only about 11% of Jewish children in Russia received Jewish education. They conclude that the system’s existence and growth were extraordinary but still fragile and shaped by Jewish reawakening, outside institutional support, politics, socioeconomic instability, and emigration.