Two Philly-area Jewish schools are merging, a ‘proactive’ push to remain competitive in the region’s strong academic market

Two prominent Jewish day schools in the Philadelphia suburbs are set to merge, a decision school leaders say will keep the institutions competitive in the region’s strong educational market.

Perelman Jewish Day School, a private Jewish pre-K and elementary school located in Melrose Park and Wynnewood, and Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a Jewish middle and high school located in Bryn Mawr, will merge next year to become the only unified pre-K through twelfth-grade Jewish day school in the Philadelphia area.

Perelman and Barrack will maintain their current operations for the 2026-27 school year, while beginning to combine their admissions and development programs. Faculty, staff, and students will come under the unified school umbrella beginning in fall 2027. Perelman and Barrack will continue to operate on all three campuses.

School officials say the merger will help streamline curriculum development and strategic planning while bringing more families into the Jewish day school system by offering a consistent, pre-K-through-high-school experience.

Perelman Jewish Day School was founded in 1956 as the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Philadelphia. The school operates across two campuses, one in Melrose Park, which serves parts of Philadelphia County, eastern and northern Montgomery County, and Bucks County, and another in Wynnewood, which serves Center City and Philadelphia’s western suburbs.

Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, originally Akiba Hebrew Academy, was the nation’s first pluralistic Jewish secondary day school when it opened in Center City in 1946. The school moved to Merion Station in 1956, then Bryn Mawr in 2008. Barrack boasts numerous notable alumni, including Gov. Josh Shapiro and CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

Perelman and Barrack completed a partial merger in 2012, when the schools combined their middle schools into a single sixth-through-eighth-grade program on Barrack’s campus.

Tuition at Perelman ranges from $21,500 to $32,300 per year, and tuition at Barrack ranges from $34,900 to $42,700. Both schools offer tuition assistance. Perelman says it awards over $3 million in tuition assistance each year to families earning up to $500,000.

School leaders say the merger will ensure Perelman and Barrack are an attractive option for families in Philadelphia’s rich educational ecosystem, where parents can choose from dozens of strong public and private schools. Often, families choosing private education are looking for continuity from pre-K through high school, something that Perelman and Barrack have not been able to provide until this point.

The ability to have students “become part of an educational system from their earliest years and grow within that system” will be academically and socially “deeper and more impactful,” said Rabbi Marshall Lesack, Barrack’s head of school and a Barrack alumnus. Lesack will lead the unified school beginning in 2027.

Daniel Eisenstadt, a member of the Perelman board of directors who will chair the new, combined board, said the merger will also allow for more cohesive planning. The schools will be able to align their vacation calendars, external messaging, and curriculum plans.

Though the overwhelming majority of Perelman students already matriculate to Barrack, bringing the schools under one system will allow for more parity in what to teach and when to teach it. Elementary, middle, and high school teachers will be able to sit in the same room and plan best practices for everything from math to art to Jewish studies, considering the arc of a student from ages 5 to 18, Eisenstadt said.

Both schools’ enrollment has been “stable to growing” in the past few years, said Eisenstadt. Both he and Lesack were clear that the merger is not in response to a souring financial outlook, as can be the case when educational institutions merge.

“We’re both coming from a place of strength,” Lesack said.

Barrack reported revenue of $20.9 million in 2024, an increase of $3.4 million over 2023, according to tax records. Perelman reported a revenue of $13.4 million in 2024, up $400,000 from 2023.

However, Eisenstadt said, “there is a recognition that we operate in an environment where there are excellent other independent schools, and excellent public schools. Rather than waiting for a moment where we see a dip in enrollment or where there are challenges, I think the general feeling from a leadership point of view was, ‘Let’s be proactive.’”

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Amid rising reports of antisemitism, some Jewish day schools have seen a spike in enrollment, as families seek more opportunities for Jewish affiliation for their children.

When it comes to growing enrollment at Barrack and Perelman, however, Eisenstadt said there’s no one cause. He is “a little bit skeptical about the generic narrative” that the Israel-Hamas war and rising antisemitism have solely driven increased interest in Jewish education. He says Perelman and Barrack can’t rest on the assumption that larger forces will inevitably push families toward the Jewish day school experience. In a “dynamic world,” the schools need to continue to evolve, he said.

In Eisenstadt’s words, Barrack and Perelman can’t “assume that any one thing that’s occurred, any one event, or any one trend is the future.”

Lesack and Eisenstadt said many of the merger’s details are still up in the air and will be decided by the board. However they noted that there are plans for major investments across all of Perelman and Barrack’s facilities. Plans have long been in the works to find a new home for Perelman’s Melrose Park campus. School leaders say they are committed to having a continued presence in Philly’s northern suburbs.

Lesack and Eisenstadt acknowledged the challenges of merging two schools with different campuses and cultures. Yet there’s “an unbelievably strong foundation” upon which to build, Lesack said, citing the many families, values, and traditions that the schools already share.

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