The fullness and the endurance of the Jewish tradition depends on the ability of one Jewish generation to pass on Jewish education to the next.

That education happens in a variety of places, at the synagogue, in the home, at summer camp.

But that education happens nowhere as conscientiously, as in Jewish schools, day schools, and yeshivote.

In America, unlike in some other Western nations, private and religious schools are not automatically

supported by the government.

And so the Jewish families who most want that kind of robust Jewish education for their children are stuck paying real estate taxes that support often expensive public school systems

that their children do not attend. And on top of that, they also pay expensive tuition at their

children's Jewish school. Ask any religiously observant family, and you'll understand that the

financial strain of raising Jewish kids in these circumstances is ubiquitous, and it is exacting.

The consequence is that even with both parents working, there are some

number of Jewish families who are quite simply priced out of Jewish institutional life.

But there are some hopeful signs at the national and state level that policies are being

reconsidered and that old laws are being overturned, creating very exciting new possibilities for the

Jewish community and at schools.

Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host, Jonathan Silver. My guest today is Jason Bedrick,

director of Policy at Ed Choice, which is on the front lines of advancing educational freedom

for all American children. Today, we speak about the Supreme Court's decision handed

down just this week in the Espinosa case, ruling that if states agreed to support private schools,

then they cannot discriminate against religious schools. We talk about Jason's research into the

curricular fights in New York City and the Haredi Yeshivote there.

And we talk about Florida Governor DeSantis' dramatic expansion of school choice in his state

and what it could mean for the Jewish community there.

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