Background

The Palo Alto School for Jewish Education (PASJE) is an independent, non-profit Sunday school with classes from kindergarten through the eighth grade. Part of the Peninsula Jewish community for over 35 years, the school has helped create a positive sense of identity, culture, and heritage for hundreds of students and families.
PASJE families represent the rich diversity of Jewish expression and identity. Our school seeks to provide an environment in which all children and parents are comfortable.

    Our school includes:
  • • families seeking a Jewish education that emphasizes culture, history, ethics, and heritage
  • • families seeking a sense of Jewish community
  • • interfaith families
  • • single-parent families
  • • families temporarily in the Bay Area

PASJE was founded by parents and continues to be run by a parent board. The school is not affiliated with a synagogue. All parent are encouraged to attend board meetings and participate in decision-making.
The curriculum at PASJE reflects the school's goal of instilling a positive Jewish identity in our children through history, culture, tradition, and family celebrations of major Jewish holidays.
PASJE classes meet once a week on Sunday mornings from 10 to noon, September through late May.

PASJE is a non profit school supported almost solely by tuition fees.(Scholarships are available.)
We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, or national origin.

Mission

PASJE's mission is to nurture our children's Jewish identity through the study and celebration of Jewish history, culture, values, and language, and to create a Jewish community for our families

A Parent's Reflection

As my second and last child graduates from PASJE, I find that I feel very lucky that, 14 years ago, new to the Bay area, we attended the 1990 PASJE Purim Carnival to take a look at the school and excitedly signed up for Sunday School. Our daughter, a first grader then, now a junior in college, joined a large class and had one excellent teacher after another, music and Israeli dancing, culminating in 8th grade where the entire class was invited to the many Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, gave erudite talks on their research projects on Jewish topics and went to a festive dinner with their teachers. Many returned as aides.

My son, a member of a very small class, has had a different but also very good experience at PASJE. This small group has worked well together and has enjoyed excellent rapport with their teachers, some of the same ones that his sister enjoyed and some new ones. The topics of Jewish history, ethics, law and Israel, which they learned and discussed on Sunday mornings, are near to their hearts and engaging, and I think that the process has helped them to define themselves and their perspectives.

The enthusiastic, talented, and committed teaching staff, the well chosen texts, the inclusive environment, and the holiday celebrations have all contributed to what I feel was an important component of my children's Jewish upbringing.

--Orit Yefet, June 2004