A new Jewish school has been inundated with five times the number of applications it can accept due to antisemitism after the October 7 attacks on Israel.
Emet Classical Academy — its name is the Hebrew word for “truth” — opened this September on the Upper East Side, and officials say the school has more interest than they have seats.
“Since the announcement a few weeks ago we have received hundreds of admission inquiries from families with children … in elite secular private schools, Jewish day schools, public schools and G&T [gifted and talented] program,” Rabbi Abraham Unger, head of school for grades 6-12, told The Post.
The school, founded by the conservative nonprofit religious organization The Tikvah Fund, will accept between 36 and 40 students per grade its first year, according to Tikvah CEO Eric Cohen.
Kira Krieger Senders (right) has applied for a place for her 10-year-old son. He attended an informational session with Rabbi Abraham Unger, pictured here, on Thursday. Stefano Giovannini
Kira Krieger Senders, 52, applied for a place for her 10-year-old son, who is currently in fifth grade at PS6 on the Upper East Side. She told The Post that, although she is happy with her son’s public school that promotes shared values, she has concerns when she enters high school.
“My biggest fear is antisemitism. I’m afraid my son will be targeted with some kind of antisemitic rhetoric or actions or sentiments that I don’t want him to have to deal with when he’s at school,” said Krieger Senders, who is Jewish, adding that he experienced anti-Semitic remarks from old friends after Hamas attack Oct. 7
Emet plans to offer a curriculum rooted in Western civilization and led by Unger, a political scientist and former professor.
“Our laser focus on the core ideas and texts of Western civilization makes us unique in the current education market — and certainly very different from what’s going on in most other New York public and private schools,” Unger told The Post.
Emet Classical Academy’s head of school, Rabbi Abraham Unger, told The Post that the school has more interest than they have seats. Stefano Giovannini
“The goal is simple: to form citizens who will strengthen American civic life and make great contributions to every field of human endeavor.”
Emet named “the spirit of American citizenship” as one of his seven founding pillars. Students will study Hebrew, Greek and Latin in addition to the arts and sciences, along with “strong connections to Zionism and modern Israel” and general “military history”.
In December, The Post reported the city Department of Education received more than 850 complaints about James Parra, a paraprofessional at Williamsburg’s Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School, who shared a photo of himself on Instagram wearing a keffiyeh scarf. The caption read: “It is a good time to remind you that Palestine will be free from river to sea in our lifetime.” He also called Israel a “racist” and “terrorist” state in a separate post.
Such anti-Jewish statements prompted Krieger Senders to find a school where his son would not only be safe, but also learn how to deal with antisemitism around the world.
Emet, which will be located in this building on the Upper East Side, named “the spirit of American citizenship” as one of its seven founding pillars. Stefano Giovannini
“You can’t control what happens [city] the education department will teach your child,” he said. “I believe that a school like Emet will provide my son with the knowledge and the means by which he will be able to talk to someone who is antisemitic and maybe even convince them otherwise.”
Krieger Senders also said she believes Emet will help her son develop unbiased critical thinking skills: “I want my son to come out of high school and be able to think for himself, and not be convinced by someone else that this is what he should believe.”
Another Manhattan-based mother with two daughters in middle and high school said her family was interested in Emet for the same reason.
“Many parents are concerned that schools are teaching in an ideologically driven way. DEI implements the curriculum in a way that transcends learning itself. Emet’s idea is not a rejection of DEI — but it doesn’t frame education through a DEI lens,” the mother, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Post.
Tuition for Emet, open to students of all religious backgrounds, is $36,000 a year. Krieger Senders (right, with Rabbi Under) believes Emet will help his son develop unbiased critical thinking skills. “I want my son to get out of high school and be able to think for himself,” he told The Post. Stefano Giovannini Emet, founded by the conservative non-profit religious organization The Tikvah Fund, will accept 36 to 40 students per grade 6-12. Stefano Giovannini
Tuition for Emet is $36,000 a year, according to an application seen by The Post, with merit scholarships available. Families from any religious background are encouraged to apply.
“The Emet Classical Academy will begin as a single bastion school in New York City, hoping to seed the larger Jewish classical movement,” Cohen told The Post.
“We are living in a moment of great Jewish revival in America. Many Jewish families and students feel the weight of Jewish history more deeply than ever before.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
