Why you love (or hate) our ‘Too Jewish’ billboard

This campaign is first and foremost about drawing attention to the amazing things happening at the Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island (JCDSRI). From our Design Lab to KinderSTEAM (our partnership with Brown and RISD STEAM) to our upcoming theater collaboration with the Islamic School of Rhode Island and the Center for Dynamic Learning, our school is redefining Jewish education. We are both on the cutting edge of education and deeply grounded in our millennia-old tradition. We are proud of our school, and we want to share our pride.

But our campaign is also about where we find ourselves today as Jews. For hundreds of years, Jews lived in fear as a disenfranchised minority. For too long, Jews were afraid to be “Too Jewish.” We wanted to fit in, to be accepted and to live with the same rights and opportunities as anyone else – so we kept our Judaism quiet. We sent our children to public school, where they would blend seamlessly into America’s wonderful melting pot. But now, with assimilation as much a risk to Jewish identity as anti-Semitism, our needs have changed. As respected and often prominent members of society, we recognize that Judaism is not an identity assigned to us, but a choice that we make each and every day.

At JCDSRI, we often hear that parents did not consider our school for their children because it is “too Jewish” – whatever that means. The campaign’s tagline is “Challenge Your Assumptions.” We mean to challenge the preconceived notions that people have about Jewish day school. Moreover, we hope to engage our community in a discussion about what it means to be Jewish today. It is a challenge to check our assumptions and see one another as complex, intelligent, real people who share something special.

So if you love the billboard, it’s probably because you are proud of being Jewish, and you’re not afraid to show it. You know that with our demographic challenges, we can’t sit passively and hope people somehow find themselves engaged in Jewish life. The hour is short and the time is now. If our community is to thrive, we need to reach out to people where they are, not wait for the unaffiliated families to find us.

And if you hate the billboard, maybe it’s because it breaks the unspoken rule that we Jews are supposed to lay low and not make a stink. Jews don’t advertise – at least not in public! But in the great marketplace of ideas, it just won’t work for Jews to advertise to other Jews through the newspaper alone. We are a part of the larger world, and we need to engage it. Maybe you hate it because it feels dangerous; a way to attract unwanted attention. I understand this, too. But Jews have never needed to advertise to get unwanted attention. It came to us anyway.

This campaign is about all of us. It’s about having deep, meaningful conversations that matter. It’s about exploring community and values and identity. Whether you love or hate the campaign, we hope you will use it to foster these conversations with your family and friends.  What could be more Jewish than that?

ADAM TILOVE is Head of School at Jewish Community Day School of Rhode Island.