About
History, Mission, Core Values, & Diversity
Perelman Jewish Day School was founded in 1956 in a small room in the basement of Har Zion Temple in Philadelphia, with just 39 students enrolled.
Today, we’re known as Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School. Over the last 6 decades, we’ve expanded to serve over 350 students in two centers located on beautiful campuses in Wynnewood and Melrose Park. We are accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS), a member of the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS) and Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.
Today, we’re known as Raymond and Ruth Perelman Jewish Day School. Over the last 6 decades, we’ve expanded to serve over 350 students in two centers located on beautiful campuses in Wynnewood and Melrose Park. We are accredited by the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools (PAIS), a member of the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS) and Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools.
Our school serves students from all types of families and socio-economic backgrounds. We are a diverse and caring community, where every student has a special place. We’d love to learn about your unique child.
At Perelman Jewish Day School, we strive to be an inclusive community reflective of a kaleidoscope of Jewish life for students, their families, our faculty, and our staff. Through ongoing education, dialogue, and action, we aspire to break down barriers to equity and to cultivate a culture of empathy and understanding that reflects the highest ideals of our Jewish heritage. We believe this work enriches our learning experiences, broadens our perspectives, and strengthens our community. As we endeavor to make the world a better place for the next generation, we educate our students and ourselves about how biases and actions can perpetuate prejudice and injustice. We are dedicated to creating an inclusive space where students, families, faculty, and staff representing a plurality of identities feel welcome, supported, and empowered to thrive.
Perelman Jewish Day School’s core values of Kavod (Respect), Derech Eretz (Character), and B’Tzelem Elohim (In God’s Image) drive this commitment. Integral to our work as a dynamic independent Jewish day school, Perelman actively seeks to strengthen our community, both internally and as global citizens, by exploring and honoring differences, and understanding and celebrating diversity— including those relating to race, sex, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic background, learning style, political beliefs, religious observance, and physical abilities.
In making this statement, Perelman is inspired by the Jewish precept of Klal Yisrael (the unity and collective identity of Jewish peoplehood) which teaches that expressing and experiencing differences in ideology and practice is critical to our identity. Expanded more broadly, Klal Yisrael, together with the Torah’s commandment Tzedek, tzedek tirdof (Justice, justice you shall pursue), informs our work to build a more equitable world.
Forman Center
Kindergarten - Grade 5 • 7601 Old York Road, Melrose Park, PA 19027 • 215-635-3130
Stern Center
PreK - Grade 5 and Administrative Offices • 49 Haverford Road, Wynnewood, PA 19096 • 610-658-2518
