London - Facing Shrinking Numbers, Day School Admits Non-Halachic Jews

London - The decision by a London-area Orthodox day school to admit students with only a Jewish father is provoking outrage in parts of the community.

King Solomon High School’s move brought a vehement reaction from some members of the local community, including Rabbi Alex Chapper, who said the policy “effectively recognizes the liberal definition of who is a Jew.”

King Solomon’s headmaster, defended the move. With a 2003 English law prohibiting state-funded religious schools from holding empty places for members of their own faith, the school had to seek solutions to fill the spaces or admit students with no Jewish ancestry.
Under the law, all schools must have 30 students in each classroom.
“It wasn’t our decision. The law dictates what we must do to fill our spots,” said Spencer Lewis, the school’s director of Jewish studies.

Chapper contended that most parents in his congregation condemn the decision. “A majority of parents chose to send their children to the school in the knowledge that they would be mixing with only Jewish children, and this is now undermined,” he said in a recent sermon. “Parents of existing pupils have been betrayed.”
But the school said they hadn’t heard any complaints from parents. Discussions between Chapper and the school’s governors are ongoing. “The policy is set for 2007, but I’ve been having meetings with school leaders and hope we can find alternatives for 2008,” Chapper said. “I’m against the decision the governors made, not the school itself."