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Facing declining enrollment, Schechter Manhattan to shutter at end of school year
(New York Jewish Week) — Schechter Manhattan, a Conservative Jewish elementary and middle school on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, will close at the end of the school year.
The school is framing the closure, which it announced in a video chat with parents on Tuesday evening and in a subsequent email, as a collaboration with Rodeph Sholom School, a nearby Reform Jewish school that is affiliated with a synagogue of the same name. Schechter is encouraging its 63 students, in grades K-8, to enroll at Rodeph Sholom, which will also be hiring Schechter’s head of school and another senior administrator to lead a new Judaic studies program.
“Schechter Manhattan will be planning and working towards joining forces with Rodeph Sholom School as of July 1, 2024, thereby ceasing operations as an independent entity on June 30, 2024,” read Tuesday night’s email from the trustees of the school, which was founded in 1994 and moved in 2011 to a new development on 100th Street and Columbus Avenue.
Schechter Manhattan’s closure means that only one school with roots in the Conservative movement — the Solomon Schechter School of Queens, which identifies as a “community” school — remains in the five boroughs. Schechter’s leadership attributed the closure to declining enrollment at schools throughout New York City, as well as a cost per student that has become untenable as the school averages seven students per grade.
“Demographic change, social trends and shifting parent priorities are affecting all manner of private schools, including Jewish day schools,” the email read. “Moreover, in a post-denominational world, boundaries between Conservative, Reform, non-denominational and interfaith communities no longer serve our shared desire to provide a vibrant, sustainable, and high-quality Jewish education to the next generation of Jewish leaders and lay public.”
The school also acknowledged that the name “Schechter,” once signifying a major network of egalitarian Jewish day schools, had become a hindrance to enrollment. On a Frequently-Asked-Questions page, the school wrote, “the Schechter brand has experienced challenges that did not make sense to carry over to the new school.”
Under the terms of the partnership, Rodeph Sholom is working to recruit at least 28 Schechter students, or nearly half of Schechter’s student body, by Dec. 1. Those who enroll by that date will get a range of perks, including paying their current Schechter tuition for the next two years and only moderate increases in the following three years.
That’s a big deal, because the two schools’ tuition rates are significantly different. Schechter has advertised a sliding scale for tuition based on income level, with payments running anywhere from $10,000 to $45,750 per student. Rodeph Sholom also offers tuition assistance, but its rates go much higher, up to a maximum of more than $63,000 per student for its oldest grades — one of the highest Jewish day school tuition rates in the country. Philanthropic support is enabling the tuition benefits for Schechter Manhattan parents, according to the FAQ page.
The Dec. 1 deadline is high-stakes: If the 28-student threshold is not met by then, the deal is off, and all students would have to go through Rodeph Sholom’s regular admission process — and pay its regular tuition.
In either case, according to the FAQ, some element of Schechter’s program will be incorporated into Rodeph Sholom. Chris Aguero, currently Schechter’s head of school, will lead the new Advanced Judaics and Hebrew Language Program along with Shira Jacobson, currently Schechter’s assistant head of school. The FAQ page said the new Judaics program would offer “a level of creativity and rigor commensurate with the Judaics and Hebrew language options currently offered at Schechter Manhattan.”
In addition, Rodeph Sholom will absorb three Schechter board members. The FAQ page said other Schechter faculty “will also be invited to teach” at Rodeph Sholom, though it did not provide further details.
“Change is never easy,” the email said. “This decision wasn’t taken lightly but was made with the future of our students and the strength of Jewish education at heart. We cherish the memories, experiences, and values we’ve shared as Schechter Manhattan, and we’re excited about the new journey with Rodeph Sholom School.”
The closure is not the first for a Schechter school in the area. The Solomon Schechter High School of Manhattan merged with a New Jersey Schechter school in 2006 and closed down permanently the following year. A Long Island Schechter school closed the next year, in 2008.
Meanwhile, other small Jewish schools across the region have also struggled: Brooklyn’s Lamplighters Yeshiva, a decade-old Montessori school in the Chabad tradition, closed in 2020, and the Idea School, a Modern Orthodox high school in New Jersey, closed in June.
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The post Facing declining enrollment, Schechter Manhattan to shutter at end of school year appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.
