Fewer numbers, bigger decisions: rethinking our institutions

The Johannesburg Jewish community is steadily shrinking. When I matriculated at King David Linksfield, more than 200 students graduated alongside me. Last year, Linksfield’s matric class comprised just 147 students. The decline is even more evident in the early grades, with the current Grade 1 class at Linksfield numbering about 65 students. My son’s Grade 3 year isn’t much larger. Anecdotal reports suggest that King David Sandton and King David Victory Park are facing even greater challenges, with some early grades having student numbers in the teens.

This raises important questions about the future of our schools. Take the high school as an example. A campus that once accommodated more than 1 000 students may, within five years, have fewer than 500. Yet, the costs of maintaining its vast infrastructure will continue to rise, placing a heavier financial burden on a shrinking parent base, many of whom are already grappling with escalating living costs, particularly the high price of kosher food. At the same time, ensuring that teachers receive competitive salaries is essential to retaining quality educators, but with fewer students per teacher, the cost per child will inevitably increase.

Additionally, it is quite likely that King David Linksfield parents are, in effect, subsidising the King David Victory Park and King David Sandton campuses, which are facing even greater enrolment challenges. As student numbers dwindle across these campuses, the financial strain on the entire network of schools intensifies. This further underscores the need for strategic consolidation and careful resource allocation to ensure the long-term sustainability of Jewish education in Johannesburg.

These challenges extend beyond schools and into our broader community institutions, including shuls. Historically, large synagogues have closed only when financial pressure and dwindling congregations made it impossible to sustain them, often when they could no longer gather a minyan. The recent merger of the Victory Park and Emmarentia shuls is a case in point. Perhaps it’s time to consider a more proactive approach, particularly within the “ghetto”, where multiple shuls, many of which are struggling to maintain their congregations, operate within just a 1km radius of one another. Instead of sustaining multiple underutilised facilities, a more unified approach could help ensure that shuls remain financially viable while continuing to serve as vibrant centres of Jewish life.

These realities demand thoughtful discussion and proactive planning. How do we ensure that our community institutions remain financially stable while continuing to meet the needs of Jewish families in Johannesburg? Perhaps it’s time to embrace consolidation, rethinking how we allocate resources to build a more sustainable future for both our children’s education and our broader community infrastructure. In some cases, sentimentality may need to give way to difficult but necessary decisions, prioritising the long-term resilience of our community over short-term emotional attachments.

• Adam Marcus, Johannesburg