France: Crisis in Jewish education as schools close due to falling pupil numbers

The Jewish Chronicle reports:

A senior educator has warned of a crisis in Jewish education in France as schools close due to falling pupil numbers.

Four of France's 200 Jewish schools have shut down over the past year because Jews have been leaving France or moving to safer areas, said Jo Toledano, who until September headed the Alliance Israelite Universelle, an educational umbrella group.

The Unified Social Jewish Fund (FSJU), which oversees France's Jewish schools, said 1,500 pupils left the network last year.

Rising Jew-hate is widely blamed for the dropping numbers.   A record 8,000 French Jews made aliyah in 2015. Many others left for destinations such as Canada, the US, the UK and Spain.

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