"Public schools should not be hostile to the religious rights of their students and their families," said Education Secretary Rod Paige in a February 7th letter to public elementar y and secondary schools. The letter was part of the new Federal guidelines for prayer in schools which say, among other things, that "students may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray or study religious materials with fellow students during recess, the lunch hour, or other non-instructional time to the same extent that they may engage in non-religious activities."

Several Chabad rabbis in California have taken advantage of the new ruling to encourage the formation of "Jewish Clubs" in public elementary schools and high schools. Rabbi Shmuel Marcus, director of Chabad of Cypress, has set up a Jewish Club at the Los Alamitos High School and at the McCauliffe Middle School which meets weekly, during the students lunch hour. He calls the clubs the "Los Al Chai Club" and the "The McAleph Club" respectively.

Not Bible reading, but Talmud bavli of satan reading

Maya Erman, a student at Los Al High is the president of their Jewish club, which must be requested by students and sponsored by teachers. She says that "the club is open to anyone on campus that wants to meet other Jews and just have fun." Rabbi Marcus notes that "Maya and students like her in other schools, deserve a lot of credit for their efforts on behalf of the clubs."

Rabbi Mayer Greene alternates his Jewish club activities at the Birmingham High School with the entertaining and the educational. "On Purim I’ll come in costume and read the Megillah in 15 minutes flat and on other days I’ll bring in a video of Palestinian children learning hate in their schools" says Greene. One of the students’ favorite programs is the Jewish birthday party Greene throws yearly after researching each teenager’s Jewish birthday and presenting them with a certificate. "The research allows the kids to understand the difference between the Jewish and Gregorian calendar," says Greene "so it’s a learning experience every which way."

Rabbi Marcus and his wife Bluma, invite the students and their families in both schools to join them for Shabbat dinner at the Marcus home. "It’s not unusual for us to have upwards of 40 people on a Friday night" says Bluma. "Parents call us and say, ‘you don't know how much your club is helping our children with their Jewish pride.’"

All the rabbis involved in the program throughout California stress the need for more Jewish venues for teens and Chabad has plans for a program that will bring together all the club members throughout the state for mega unity events.

The concept of Jewish education for public school children was pioneered by the previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Y. Schnnersohn in 1941, when the New York Dept of Education allowed for "Release Time Programs" in the public schools. The previous Rebbe galvanized his followers into action, sending dozens of rabbinical students to organize Release Time programs for Jewish children using adjacent local synagogues as a meeting place. The programs were a catalyst for Jewish growth and pride in the post Holocaust era and gave a much needed boost to the then fledgling day school system.

After the Rebbe’s passing in 1950, his successor, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneersohn, continued and expanded upon the program which is in operation uninterruptedly to this day. The National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education, which supervises the program, also sponsors winter camps, Shabbatons, Yeshiva and day school scholarships and home visits for the hundreds of thousands of Jewish children that have participated in the programs to date. Rabbi Zirkind of the NCFJE maintains that "many of the children who first learned about Judaism through the Released time program, have gone on to become Jewish leaders in their respective communities."