"This is about Jewishness more than Judaism," said Ruth Ellen Gruber, an expert on European Jewry and author of "Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe." "I don't know if something called Judaism can survive if all it is is a vague sense of intellectual attitude. They're going to have to figure that out."
Still, no one disputes the vast changes and potential.
Budapest is the site of the largest of 40 schools set up across Europe by the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation aimed at promoting Jewish identity. At the Lauder Javne School in the western suburbs of Budapest, kindergartners played in the snow during recess on a recent day while older kids prepared Hanukkah decorations. In an English class, they learned words from the holiday, such as "miracle."
When the school opened in 1990, Principal Anna Szeszler held the first staff meeting in her kitchen with five teachers. Today, there are 70 full- and part-time teachers, 600 students from kindergarten to 12th grade, and a long waiting list.
Jewish studies and Hebrew are required courses up to the ninth grade, but the student body includes Jews and non-Jews.
Rather than "force" tradition on the children, Szeszler said, the school tries to show pupils how to enjoy it, convinced that will be the best way to attract them to Jewish life.
"The next generation," she said, "will be involved more easily. It takes time and you have to keep going."
tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com
