The trend towards assimilation which has characterised the Jewish People has highlighted the importance of Jewish education as one of the primary means of dealing with this process which foreshadows the disappearance of the Jewish People as a distinct national and religious entity. The overt purpose of the syllabus of the Jewish Day School movement in South Africa is to inculcate a Jewish identity based on a traditional religious orientation and Jewish national pride expressed by a commitment to the Jewish People and to the State of Israel. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the school in fulfilling these aims. A questionnaire study was conducted at the Jewish Day School in Durban, Carmel College in May 1990. Eight dimensions of Jewish Identity were defined and multiple regression analysis was used to test whether they were statistically associated with each other. Two additional tools were used: an open-ended question designed to elicit from whom the pupils demarcate themselves when they define themselves as Jews and a delineation of the attributes of a “good Jew”. In 1991 an additional questionnaire on the family background and its relation to the specifically Jewish dimensions was administered to a sample of Carmel pupils. The findings revealed that the pupils manifested a strong Jewish identity expressed in the importance they attributed to Mitzvot, and Jewish credo in the desire that their children be Jews, in the instinct to associate with other Jews. Moreover, the results suggest that their sense of commitment to the welfare of other Jews does not preclude a concern for non-Jewish society as well. The pupils stressed the importance of being proud to be Jewish and being knowledgeable about Judaism. These findings were true of all categories examined: gender, denomination, standard at school and years of study at Carmel College. The study indicated that Jewish education had a positive impact on identity, but the magnitude of the impact was mediated by family background. No marked differences were found in the intensity of Jewish identity between Caramel pupils and the Jewish pupils attending government schools, although the latter tended to manifest a lesser commitment to the Jewish People and the State of Israel. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1992.

Carmel College, a Jewish Day School, was established to provide Jewish education for the children of the Durban Jewish community. Inasmuch as the school has always had a small contingent of non-Jewish students, a decision was made in 1994 to fill the school to capacity with non-Jewish students. Although, Carmel is in essence, a multi-cultural school in that it has a nearly fifty per cent non-Jewish population, implementing a multi-cultural education programme would be counter-productive to the goals of Jewish education. In that Orthodox Judaism is not assimilatory, it can be conjectured that Jewish education is incompatible with multi-cultural education. This study investigates the attitudes of the Jewish community towards the educational transition taking place in Carmel College, as a result of the change in the student population ratio. The study commenced with a generative phase which comprised of a review of relevant literature, document analysis, semi-structured interviews and a situational analysis. Issues that emerged from this phase of the research became the focus of further investigation using questionnaires. Findings have revealed the dilemma of managing a Jewish school in a multicultural environment. Whilst parents believe in the importance of Jewish education many are unaware of its unique and separate nature. The filling of the school with non-Jewish students has raised important issues. The findings indicated that Jewish studies teachers feel inhibited in their classes and are unable to deal with sensitive issues. The increased enrolment of non-Jewish students has not only created greater potential for assimilation but undertones of cultural dissension within the student body were also evident. As there is little provision made for multi-culturalism, non-Jewish students are recipients of a curriculum which lacks relevance and is foreign to their needs. If Carmel is to continue to provide Jewish education for its community it will have to re-structure the curriculum in order to provide a more intense Judaica programme for Jewish students and at the same time cater more effectively for non-Jewish students. To this end, parents and other stakeholders will have to be enlightened about the purpose of Jewish education and the need for change. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, 1996.